MICHOL (Heb. Mikhāl: “who is mighty?” [?]; “the Almighty” [?]; “who is like God?” [?]). — Saul (v.), younger than her sister Merob. David (v.), having been denied Merob, who was due to him as the victor over Goliath (cf. I Sam. 17, 25), agreed, in order to have M. as his wife, to pay Saul, as a dangerous bridal gift, two hundred foreskins of slain Philistines (ibid. 18, 17–29).
M. loved David ardently, and saved him from her father’s deadly pursuit by lowering him from a window; moreover, in order to delay the pursuit, by a clever stratagem she made him appear to be ill in bed (ibid. 19, 11–17). Then M. was given by her father, in revenge, as wife to a certain Phaltiel (ibid. 25, 44). Later, at David’s request, she returned to him when he was king in Hebron (ibid. 3, 12–16), but, it seems, she was not as devoted as formerly. Indeed, she is seen hurling bitter sarcasms at David because he had danced before the ark during its transfer to Jerusalem (ibid. 6, 16–22).
She died without leaving children (ibid. 6, 23). Perhaps her sterility, the cause of such inferiority in comparison with the King’s other wives, contributed greatly to making her sensitive and ill-tempered.