Michal & Abner - 2nd Samuel 3:12-39

Even though Abner’s having sex with a concubine that belonged to the king was an obvious power grab, he was still furious that the king had a problem with and so vowed to do everything he could to make David king over all of Israel. So he contacts David and asks if he’s willing to make an alliance. David says yes but only if he returns Michal, Saul’s daughter and David’s first wife, to him. It says that David then sent a message to Saul’s son, the king, demanding the return of Michal to him. I don’t know the dynamics of the message being sent and all that but David messages the king, and the king sends Abner to get her from the man that her father married her off to. While returning from her other husband’s house, her husband followed behind her crying. I took this to mean that he really loved her and was devastated that she had to leave and I really didn’t like that, just another woman being used as a pawn, but TB had some interesting explanations that makes me feel a little bit better about the whole thing. He says, “Basically Michal and David were still married. David had paid the bride price and it is salient that no mention is ever made of betrothal and payment by Phaltiel to Saul for Michal… That she was removed from David and given to another was more akin to kidnapping (although it certainly would not have been terms so in that era.) Now had she REFUSED to come back to David, that is another issue; the Law would not have forced her to return and there is no hint that she didn’t want to come back to David.” It was a little bit comforting to know that it appears that she at least had somewhat of a choice in the matter, especially now that her father was dead.

The scene must have been irritating because eventually Abner tells the husband to go home, so he does. TB asks if the husband followed the party crying uncontrollably, “did he love her that much? Possibly; but Phaltiel has also just lost his connection to Saul’s family that David is gaining back… Getting Michal back would serve the practical purpose of making David once again part of Sau’s house through marriage… By being legally bonded to Saul’s family through Michal, David would add to the legitimacy ( by earthly custom) of having a right to the throne of Saul’s old kingdom as a successor.” This made sense because I had just assumed that David wanted Michal back because he wanted to be controlling and possessive, but this explanation makes sense.

Not only does Abner get Michal back, thus, giving David an in to the throne that way, but he also starts going around to all the elders of Israel trying to convince them to support David as king. Joab is out with his men doing military operations and when he finds out that Abner had switched alliances, Joab is very angry and tries to convince David that Abner is lying and manipulating him. When Abner comes back from his treaty discussions with the various elders, Joab wants to “talk” to him and kills him as revenge for killing his brother. In my opinion, Abner warned the kid many times to back off the if Abner hadn’t killed him then he would have been killed, so self-defense to me. It’s also important to note that this wasn’t just a blood feud thing, according to the Torah, men had the right to exact revenge on their killers, even if it was an accident, thus the sanctuary cities. So it’s possible that the brother felt justified in killing Abner because it was allowed in the Torah. God has to deal with people where they are, and I’m sure that’s really frustrating for him.

The news of Abner’s death is devastating to David, probably for a lot of reasons. Abner was very effective as a kingmaker, he had already worked hard for him in the short period of time that they were aligned. He was a very effective military commander that would have been a great asset to David in future campaigns. And Abner’s death while staying with David was problematic to his gaining support for the throne, so David goes on the PR offensive. He spreads the word far and wide that Joab had killed Abner as part of a blood feud for killing his youngest brother. He commands all the people to mourn for Abner and he himself mourns. I’m sure that his sorrow over Abner’s loss was genuine, but I can’t help but compare it to the actions of Amalekiah after he had the Lamanite king killed. Just some interesting similarities is all. David goes to great lengths to make sure that everyone knows that he had nothing to do with Abner’s death and that he was greatly mourning it.