Michal was the 2nd daughter of King Saul. When David defeated Goliath, Saul promised him his oldest daughter in marriage but, typical for Saul, he changed his mind and gave her to someone else. He later offered David, Michal, and David killed 100 Philistines as the bride price.
Michal loved David and risked her life to preserve his life at the hands of her father. David escaped, leaving Michal behind, and, in his absence, Saul gave Michal to another man. Years later, when Saul died, David claimed her back – a political move, I suspect, as Saul had been king of Israel while David had been king of Judah. Michal’s poor, hapless 2nd husband followed her weeping to the border with Judah and then was ordered back.
I expect Michal would have been pretty indignant about being used firstly as a reward and then as a political pawn for claiming the throne of Israel. The last straw for her was looking out her window and seeing the Ark of God returning to Jerusalem. There was a huge celebration and she saw David joyfully whirling and twirling and leaping in his undergarments.
Michal thought his behaviour was vulgar and told him so in no uncertain terms when she came out to greet him. The Bible informs us that she “had no children to the day of her death” (2 Sam. 6:23), leaving us to read between the lines.
Jesus has told us a parable about the kingdom of heaven being like a king inviting people to come to the wedding of his son. The invited guests despised the invitation, sneered at it, made light of it and even killed the messengers. The king was furious and destroyed the murderers and their city and then invited everyone that he could find to the wedding. One of those guests was not appropriately attired and he was thrown out. Jesus remarked that “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14).
Michal didn’t know her place before the king and insulted him. The rude people in the parable didn’t know their place before the king and rejected him. We have all been invited into the kingdom of God but it is up to you on how you will receive that invitation. You can choose to insult it like Michal. You can choose to reject it like those invited to the wedding feast. You can choose to refuse to follow the dress code on the invitation. You can choose to humiliate and kill those who hand you the invitation, but at the end of the day, the wedding is going ahead with or without you.
The invitation has been issued. Just make sure you read the dress code: ‘Unclothe your heart before God’.
“So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall. For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable” (Heb. 4:11- 13 NLT).