And Michal the daughter of SaulMichal was the youngest daughter of King Saul, Israel's first king. Her marriage to David was politically significant, initially intended to solidify David's position within Saul's family. This relationship was complex, marked by love, political maneuvering, and eventual estrangement. Michal's identity as Saul's daughter is crucial, as it highlights the ongoing tension between Saul's house and David's rise to power. Her lineage also emphasizes the transition from Saul's rejected kingship to David's divinely appointed rule.
had no children
In ancient Israel, childlessness was often seen as a sign of divine disfavor or personal misfortune. It could also have significant social and political implications, particularly for royal families, where lineage and succession were paramount. Michal's barrenness may symbolize the end of Saul's dynastic line, contrasting with the fruitful lineage of David, from whom the Messiah would eventually come. This barrenness is not explicitly attributed to divine judgment in the text, but it serves as a narrative closure to her story and her father's legacy.
to the day of her death
This phrase underscores the permanence of Michal's childlessness. It suggests a lifelong consequence, possibly linked to her earlier actions and attitudes, such as her disdain for David's worshipful dance before the Ark of the Covenant. Her death without offspring marks the end of her personal story and the extinguishing of Saul's familial line through her. This finality contrasts with the enduring legacy of David's line, which is central to biblical prophecy and the messianic hope fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
MichalThe daughter of King Saul and the first wife of David. Her relationship with David was complex, marked by love, political alliance, and later estrangement.
2.
DavidThe second king of Israel, known for his heart for God and his role in uniting the tribes of Israel. His actions in bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem are central to this chapter.
3.
SaulThe first king of Israel and father of Michal. His reign was marked by disobedience to God, leading to his downfall and the rise of David.
4.
JerusalemThe city where David brought the Ark of the Covenant, establishing it as the political and spiritual center of Israel.
5.
The Ark of the CovenantA sacred chest that held the tablets of the Ten Commandments, representing God's presence with His people. Its return to Jerusalem was a significant event in Israel's history.
Teaching Points
The Consequences of Disdain for WorshipMichal's barrenness is a direct result of her disdain for David's worship. This serves as a reminder of the importance of honoring sincere worship and the presence of God.
The Role of the Heart in WorshipDavid's heart was fully devoted to God, as seen in his uninhibited worship. True worship stems from a heart aligned with God, not from external appearances or societal expectations.
The Impact of Family Dynamics on FaithMichal's relationship with her father Saul and her husband David illustrates how family dynamics can influence one's faith journey. It's crucial to seek God's perspective amidst familial tensions.
The Significance of God's PresenceThe Ark symbolized God's presence among His people. Prioritizing God's presence in our lives leads to spiritual blessings and guidance.
The Importance of Obedience and ReverenceThe account underscores the need for obedience and reverence in our relationship with God, as seen in the consequences faced by those who did not honor Him properly.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of 2 Samuel 6:23?
2.Why did Michal remain childless according to 2 Samuel 6:23?
3.How does Michal's attitude contrast with David's worship in 2 Samuel 6?
4.What lessons can we learn from Michal's response to David's worship?
5.How can we ensure our worship is sincere and pleasing to God?
6.What other biblical examples show consequences of despising God's chosen leaders?
7.Why was Michal, daughter of Saul, childless until her death according to 2 Samuel 6:23?
8.How does Michal's childlessness in 2 Samuel 6:23 reflect on her relationship with David?
9.What theological implications arise from Michal's punishment in 2 Samuel 6:23?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from 2 Samuel 6?
11.Who was Michal in the Bible?
12.In 1 Chronicles 15:29, Michal criticizes David's dance--does this episode conflict with the portrayal of Michal in 2 Samuel, creating an inconsistency in her character and motives?
13.2 Samuel 6:20-23 - How does Michal's punishment for her criticism align with other biblical teachings on marriage and respect between spouses?
14.Why does 2 Kings 23:25 suggest Josiah surpassed even David in devotion, seemingly contradicting other texts that exalt David's faithfulness?What Does 2 Samuel 6:23 Mean
And Michal• Michal first appears in1 Samuel 18:20 as Saul’s daughter who loves David; her relationship with him has been turbulent ever since.
• By the time we reach2 Samuel 6, Michal is watching David rejoice before the LORD as the ark enters Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:16). Her contemptuous response reveals a heart out of step with David’s wholehearted worship (cf.1 Chronicles 15:29).
• Scripture repeatedly sets Michal in contrast to David’s devotion, underscoring that spiritual posture matters more than royal heritage.
the daughter of Saul• This reminder of her lineage links Michal to Saul’s failed kingship (1 Samuel 15:26-28). God has already rejected Saul’s line, and the text subtly shows that Michal has aligned herself with her father’s spirit rather than with David’s passion for God (cf.1 Samuel 19:11-17).
• The phrase also highlights why her attitude is weighty: she could have been a bridge between the old regime and the new, yet she retains Saul’s pride and disobedience (Proverbs 16:18).
had no children• In Israel, bearing children was viewed as a blessing and sign of God’s favor (Psalm 127:3-5). Barrenness carried social stigma and, at times, divine judgment (Genesis 20:18;1 Samuel 1:5-6).
• After Michal’s scornful words, David proclaims, “I will celebrate before the LORD” (2 Samuel 6:21). The narrative then moves directly to this statement of her childlessness, suggesting a causal link—her attitude toward God’s anointed resulted in withheld blessing (cf.Numbers 12:15).
• Unlike other barren women later blessed with children (e.g., Sarah, Hannah), Michal receives no such reversal, underscoring the seriousness of her contempt.
to the day of her death• The phrase signals finality; the consequence was lifelong. There is no repentance recorded, no restoration offered, only the settled outcome of a hardened heart (Hebrews 3:12-13).
• It also seals the end of Saul’s direct line through Michal. God’s promise to establish David’s dynasty (2 Samuel 7:12-13) will not be mingled with Saul’s lineage, keeping the messianic line pure and reinforcing God’s sovereign choice (Isaiah 55:11).
summaryMichal’s permanent barrenness stands as God’s clear, literal judgment on her disdain for authentic worship and on Saul’s lingering legacy. The verse teaches that reverence for the LORD and His appointed leaders invites blessing, while contempt invites lasting loss.
(23)
Had no child.--The severest privation to an Oriental woman. It is quite possible that during Michal's long separation from David, while he was an outlaw, and she was married to Phaltiel (who was deeply attached to her,
2Samuel 3:16), they had become somewhat alienated from each other; and when the totally different spirit by which they were animated was brought out on this occasion, David determined to have no further intercourse with her.
Verse 23. -
Therefore Michal. The Hebrew is,
and Michal had no child, Michal's barrenness was long antecedent to this outburst of pride, and was not a punishment for it. It is noticed as a proof that the blessing of God did not rest upon her; and as such it was regarded by the people, and doubtless it lessened David's affection for her. We must not, however, suppose that he imposed upon her any punishment further than this verbal reproof. Nor does the interest lie in Michal's conduct, but in the glimpse which the narrative gives us of David's tender piety towards God, so exactly in agreement with the feelings which animate very many of the psalms. To unite with this a harsh bitterness to the woman who was his first love, who had so protected him in old time, and whom he had summoned back at the first opportunity because of his affection for her, is a thing abhorrent in itself, and contrary to David's character. His fault in domestic matters rather was that he was over fond, not that he was unfeeling. A little more sternness towards Amnon and Absalom would have saved him much sorrow. As for Michal, the story sets her before us as earing a great deal for David, and not much for Jehovah. She could not have approved of such a number of rivals in David's household, but she had not lost her love for him. And the narrative represents her as not having Jehovah's blessing in a matter so greatly thought of by Hebrew women, and as valuing too highly royal state, and forgetting that above the king was God. But she did David no great wrong, and received from him nothing worse than a scolding. In the parallel place (
1 Chronicles 15:29) the matter is very lightly passed over; and the reason why it holds an important place in this book is that we have here a history of David's piety, of his sin and his punishment. In itself a slight matter, it yet makes us clearly understand the nature of David's feelings towards Jehovah. It is also most interesting in itself. For David is the type of a noble character under the influence of grace. Michal, too, is a noble character, but she lacked one thing, and that was "the one thing needful." The removal of the ark is a matter so important as to call for careful consideration. For the time it established two centres of worship - one with the ark at Zion, the other at Gibeon. The ark in Saul's days had been forgotten (
1 Chronicles 13:3). It had long lain in the house of a simple Levite in the city of woods, and Saul's religious ideas were too feeble for him to be capable of undemanding the importance of establishing a national religion. Still, such as they were, they made him summon Ahiah, the grandson of Eli, to be his domestic priest (
1 Samuel 14:3); and subsequently he even set up at Nob the tabernacle with its table of shewbread, and other holy furniture, saved somehow from the ruin of Shiloh, with Ahimelech as high priest (
1 Samuel 21:1). But when in a fit of senseless jealousy he destroyed his own work, the nation was left for a time without an established religion. Gradually, however, this primary necessity for good government and national morality was supplied - how we know not; but we find a tabernacle at Gibeon, with the altar of burnt offerings, and the morning and evening sacrifice, and apparently the same service as that erewhile set up at Nob; only Zadok of the line of Eleazar is high priest (
1 Chronicles 16:39, 40). He thus belonged to the senior line, while the last survivor of the race of Ithamar, Abiathar, Eli's great-grandson, was with David. Gibeon was in the centre of the tribe of Benjamin, some few miles from Jerusalem, with Nob lying halfway between; and probably Saul had permitted this restoration of Jehovah's worship at Gibeon, both because he half repented of his deed, and because the worship there was ministered by priests not allied to Ahimelech and Abiathar. But now the ark, which was Jehovah's throne, had been brought out of its obscurity, and solemnly placed in a tabernacle in Zion, with Abiathar, David's friend, the representative of the junior line, as high priest; and probably the only difference in the service was that David's psalms were sung to music at Zion, while the Mosaic ritual, with no additions, was closely followed at Gibeon. There was thus the spectacle of two high priests (
2 Samuel 8:17), and two rival services, and yet no thought of schism. Zadok had been one of those foremost in making David king of all Israel (
1 Chronicles 12:28); he and Abiathar were the two who moved Judah to bring David back after Absalom's revolt (
2 Samuel 19:11). The whole matter had grown out of historical facts, and probably David always intended that Zion should absorb Gibeon, and be the one centre required by the Levitical Law. But he was content to wait. Had he acted otherwise a conflict would necessarily have arisen between the rival lines of the priesthood, and between Abiathar and Zadok, the two men who represented them, and who were both his true friends. We find even Solomon doing great honour to the tabernacle at Gibeon (
2 Chronicles 1:3, etc.), but after the temple was built it passed away; and the race of Ithamar, weakened by the calamity at Shiloh, and still more by the cutting off of so many of its leading members at Nob, never recovered itself after Abiathar was set aside by Solomon for taking part with Adonijah. The line continued to exist, for members of it returned from Babylon (
Ezra 8:2); but though it produced a prophet, Jeremiah, it never again produced a high priest, and therefore only the line of Eleazar, to which Ezra himself belonged, is given in
1 Chronicles 6. Thus Abiathar's misconduct and the growing fame of Jerusalem put an end to all fear of schism. We easily trace in the Psalms the increase of the nation's regard for Zion. In
Psalm 24, written probably by David to celebrate the entry of the ark thither, it is simply "the hill of Jehovah... his holy place." In
Psalm 9. it is "his dwelling," but in
Psalm 20. a higher note is struck. Zion is "the sanctuary" whence Jehovah sends "help" and "strength;" and in
Psalm 48, written at a later date, Zion is found installed in the very heart of the people's love. Thus the Divine blessing rested fully upon David's work. To Jehovah's worship he gave a grand and noble centre, which from his day has had no rival, unless it be in some respects Rome. The city of David's choice has been, and continues to this hour to be, the most holy spot upon earth alike to the Jew and to the Christian, though to the latter it is so because of David's Son. At Zion, moreover, David's spiritual addition to the Mosaic ritual has given the Church its best book of devotion and the brightest part of its services; forevery hymn sung to God's glory, and every instrument of music played in God's house, is but the continuance of the prophesying with harp, psaltery, and cymbal (
1 Chronicles 25:1), first instituted by David, though, like all that was best in David personally and in his institutions, it grew out of Samuel's influence and the practices of his schools (
1 Samuel 19:20). Finally, the temple services were doing much to weld the discordant tribes into one nation, and would have succeeded in so doing but for the unhappy degeneracy of Solomon's latter years, and the obstinacy of his son. Yet even so, Jerusalem remains forever a memorial of the genius and piety of this extraordinary man, and the symbol of "Jerusalem the golden, the home of God's elect."
Parallel Commentaries ...
Hebrew
And Michalוּלְמִיכַל֙(ū·lə·mî·ḵal)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 4324:Michal -- wife of Davidthe daughterבַּת־(baṯ-)Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 1323:A daughterof Saulשָׁא֔וּל(šā·’ūl)Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 7586:Saul -- first king of Israel, also an Edomite and two Israeliteshadהָ֥יָה(hā·yāh)Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961:To fall out, come to pass, become, benoלֹֽא־(lō-)Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808:Not, nochildrenיָ֑לֶד(yā·leḏ)Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3206:Something born, a lad, offspringtoעַ֖ד(‘aḏ)Preposition
Strong's 5704:As far as, even to, up to, until, whilethe dayי֥וֹם(yō·wm)Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3117:A dayof her death.מוֹתָֽהּ׃(mō·w·ṯāh)Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 4194:Death, the dead, their place, state, pestilence, ruin
Links
2 Samuel 6:23 NIV2 Samuel 6:23 NLT2 Samuel 6:23 ESV2 Samuel 6:23 NASB2 Samuel 6:23 KJV
2 Samuel 6:23 BibleApps.com2 Samuel 6:23 Biblia Paralela2 Samuel 6:23 Chinese Bible2 Samuel 6:23 French Bible2 Samuel 6:23 Catholic Bible
OT History: 2 Samuel 6:23 Michal the daughter of Saul had no (2Sa iiSam 2 Sam ii sam) 
