EVERY WOMAN IN THE BIBLE WOMEN IN THE AGE OF THE KINGS: AHIMOAM, The Women of Israel, Michal (addendum) WOMEN IN THE AGE OF KINGS: Not every woman highlighted in the Bible books that record the history of Israel's monarchy were members of a royal family. Nor were all treated as cavalierly as Michal. Brave women as well as victims, heroines as well as villainesses, powerful queens as well as rural farm-wives all appear. Each is worth visiting, for each has a story to tell, with insights for people of every time and place. AHINOAM, THE WIFE OF SAUL (Scripture reference: 1 Samuel 14:50) Date: About 1025 B.C. Name: Ahinoam [uh-hin-oh-am: brother is delight ] Main Contribution: Unknown. AHINOAM'S ROLE IN SCRIPTURE: The Ahinoam to whom Saul was married is mentioned only one time in the OT: Saul's wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. David married a woman of the same name, of whom we also know little except that she gave David his first born son, Amnon. Yet David's Ahinoam is mentioned no less than six times in scripture.
The reason may be because David is far more significant in sacred history than Saul. Her name is never associated with the name of Saul's sons or daughters, although as Saul's sole wife she must have borne them. It is almost as if Ahinoam were a ghost, so insubstantial a presence in the royal household that no one took notice of her. The impression is strengthened when we recall the experience of Michal, Saul's daughter. Where was Ahinoam when Saul chose to use Michal's innocent love to ensnare David? Where was Ahinoam when Saul tried to kill David and Michal bravely stood by her husband? Where was Ahinoam when Saul pronounced Michal's marriage to David to be over, and gave his daughter to another man? Perhaps by then Ahinoam had died. Or perhaps, Ahinoam was one of those well-meaning but ineffective individuals who wanted the best for her daughter, but was too fearful to intercede on her behalf. How many women enter marriage with such a strong desire to please their husbands that their own identity gradually slips away? How many women, after years of marriage, know only the things their husbands like or dislike, and no longer have tastes or opinions of their own? And how many women become so insubstantial that, when their children most need their support, they simply have nothing to give? AHINOMAN: AN EXAMPLE FOR WOMEN TODAY: While it is easier for some people to be assertive, we all have responsibility to confront others. This is especially true for the married. When we see a spouse using poor judgment, or not looking at all the options, or doing wrong (to name a few) we need to speak up. When a spouse points something out to us, we should carefully weigh the message and its implications. After all, husbands are to love their wives sacrificially, as Christ loved the church. And true love whether from a husband or a wife doesn't ignore or become hostile. THE WOMEN OF ISRAEL: (1 Samuel 18: 6-8)
It's strange Saul seems to have cared nothing for the feelings of his daughters or for their opinion of him. But he cared deeply about the opinion of strangers. After David had killed Goliath, David became a folk hero. As David led his troops to victory after victory, his fame surpassed that of the king. The women of Israel came out of all the cities of Israel to celebrate, singing: Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands (1 Sam. 18:7). How fascinating that it was the song of women celebrating David's triumphs that aroused Saul's anger and jealousy, and turned the king against his loyal supporter AN EXAMPLE FOR TODAY: How like Saul we are at times, playing to the crowd while not taking our family's feelings into account. The image of Saul's desires against David should help us remember that the crowd should not influence our thinking. As a member of our own crowd we also have a personal responsibility. A crowd may call for someone to jump from a ledge. Perhaps that's the time we should start another chant: Don't jump!. Saul would fit right in with some politicians, not only playing to the crowd but also being swayed by what the crowd thinks a waffle king! MICHAL: SAUL'S DAUGHTER (addendum- January 2015). Scripture reference: (1 Sam 14:49; 18: 17-28; 19:10-17;25-44) ( 2 Sam 3:13, 14; 6:16-23; ) (1 Chronicles 15: 25-29). Date: About 1025 B.C.
Name: Michal [Mi-kul: who is like God? ]. Main Contribution: David's first wife, she sided with him against her father Saul and helped save his (David's) life. MICHAL'S ROLE IN SCRIPTURE: Michal fell in love with David as a young girl. Her father, Saul hoped to use her love to get rid of David. When Saul's plot failed, he married the young couple. Later when Saul could no longer disguise his hatred of David, Saul openly tried to kill David. Michal helped David escape, but she was left behind. Her father declared Michal's marriage to the outlawed David over and gave her in marriage to another man. Years later, after Saul's death, and with David about to become king of a united Israel, David demanded Michal be returned to him. David motive was political, for marriage to Saul's daughter strengthened his claims to be Saul's successor. Michal was torn from her second husband and returned to David. We see Michal's bitterness in the final scene in which she appears. As David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem he led the procession, dancing and singing ecstatically, Michal, watching was overcome with contempt and despised him in her heart. When David entered his palace, Michal met him and spewed out her loathing. David coldly dismissed her and cut off all relations with her. The text simply says, therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death. MICHAL: A CLOSE-UP Michal is as much a victim of men as any woman in Scripture. And the men who used and discarded Michal were the very men to whom she should have been most able to trust. Michal's first betrayer was her father, Saul. Rather than seek the happiness of his daughter, Saul was quick to use her love for David as a snare to get rid of him. He was utterly insensitive to the pain David's death would have caused Michal. After David was forced outside the law by the king, Saul again ignored his daughter's feelings and married her to another man. Rather than value his daughter as a person and show concern for her, Saul used her as a pawn to gain his own private ends. Michal's second betrayer was her first love, David. Despite the loyalty Michal had shown toward David and the risks she had taken for him, there is no record that David tried to retrieve his young bride after their separation. Instead David married other women during his outlaw years. It was not until after Saul's death, after negotiations had begun to make David ruler of all Israel, that David remembered Michal. Then he demanded that she be taken from her second husband, to whom she had been married at least ten years and returned to him.
Like Saul, David showed an utter disregard for Michal's feelings or desires. David did not consult her when he demanded she be returned to him. David, motivated by a calculated assessment of the political situation rather than love, showed that he was just as willing to use Michal s her father had been. How terrible for Michal and how betrayed she must have felt, to be treated as an object by both her father and her first love. How helpless she must have felt. She had no control over her own life and no trust in the men who had showed themselves so willing to misuse her. We can understand the bitterness so clearly expressed when Michal confronted David after the Ark of the Covenant had been brought to Jerusalem. David might make a show of worshiping God, but Michal must have thought him the world's greatest hypocrite. How could a person who treated her as David had have a love for God? Michal must have felt that everything David was calculated and that he treated others as he had treated her. THE ARK OF THE COVENANT The Ark of the Covenant was a box-like object that was to rest in the innermost room of the Tabernacle or Temple. It was hollow, and contained a sample of the manna God had provided for the Israelites during the wilderness years, the original Ten Commandments, and the staff of Aaron, the high priest. Its most significant feature was the cover, called the mercy seat, over which two golden figures of angel hovered. Once a year the high priest of Israel sprinkled the blood of a sacrificial animal there, and God accepted the offering as a covering for all of His people's sins. The Ark of the Covenant was the most holy object in Israel, and bringing it to Jerusalem established that city as the religious as well as political capital of the nation. MICHAL: AN EXAMPLE FOR TODAY While we should be able to trust those we love, we need to remember that they are all too human. The only One we can trust completely is God. While we can understand Michal's bitterness, she demonstrates the cost of remaining bitter. Even though she was justified in feeling bitter, we need to give our bitterness up to God. Only then will the Holy Spirit work His ministry of healing in us and return our joy. JEZEBEL:
Not all women in the royal houses of Israel and Judah were as helpless as Michal seems to have been. Some women then as now were gifted with unusually strong personalities and were able to grasp and to hold power. One of these women was Jezebel the wife of King Ahab of Israel. Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of Sidon. The marriage was undoubtedly arranged between the two royal houses, but Jezebel proved to be no minor clause in an international treaty. She brought into the marriage a passion for the religion of her homeland and a strength of will that enabled her to dominate her often-indecisive husband. The royal couple quickly set out to replace the worship of the Lord in Israel with the worship of Baal. They imported prophets from Jezebel's homeland and sought to exterminate the prophets of the Lord. Only the intervention of Elijah and miracles that God enabled him to perform turned the general population back to the Lord and thwarted Jezebel's plans. One incident reported in Scripture reveals the relationship between the two rulers and the power Jezebel held in her own hands. Ahab wanted a vineyard, owned by a man named Naboth, that lay just beyond the palace. The king asked Naboth to sell the plot of land to him, offering either a better field or money in exchange. But Naboth refused. When the land of Canaan had been distributed to the members of the 12 tribes centuries before, the plot Naboth now owned what been given to Naboth's ancestors. It was as if God Himself had chosen that particular plot for Naboth's line, and he refused to give the king the inheritance of my fathers (1 King 21:4-16). Disappointed and sullen, Ahab returned home to bed to sulk, and refused to eat. When Jezebel asked what was wrong, Ahab told her about Naboth's refusal to trade/sell the land. Jezebel comforted him with Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I'll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So, she wrote letters in Ahab's name, placed his seal on them and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city. She wrote: Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify that he had cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death. So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city did as Jezebel directed in the letter she had written to them. As soon as Naboth was dead they sent word to Jezebel. As soon as Jezebel was notified of Naboth's death, she told Ahab Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, he is dead. So Ahab proceeded to take the land of Naboth. This account make clear that Jezebel wielded royal power. She wrote letters in Ahab's name. She sealed the with the royal seal. Yet everyone knew that she had penned the letters, for
when the elders and nobles of Naboth's city carried out the thinly disguised judicial murder, they did not report to Ahab but to Jezebel! All the people feared Jezebel. She was feared so much that her evil command was obeyed without protest. It is not easy to be a woman of the royal family in the age of kings. Yet strong women like Jezebel succeeded by the force of their personalities to gain a power which enabled them to treat men as men treated women: as objects to be used for the ruler's ends, without consideration and without concern. When Eve chose to disobey God's command in Eden she could not have imagined the consequences, for her, and for all her daughters. God's announcement your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you (Gen: 3:16), spelled out consequences that history has confirmed in tragedy after tragedy. Seldom has the calamitous effect of the Fall on women been more clearly seen than in the experience of women like Michal whom we meet in the age of the kings. And seldom has the nature of men and women alike been more viciously twisted than in women like Jezebel who, rebelling against her subservient state, adopted as her own the traits of woman's oppressors. Anymouse MORE INFORMATION ON JEZEBEL, LATER ON!