So Michal let David down through the window. He went away, fled, and escaped. Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with clothes. When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”
Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head.
Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’ ”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12, 15 Thus God moved both the son and daughter of…
Thus God moved both the son and daughter of this tyrant to favor David against their father.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–17 1Sa 19:12 So Michal let David down through a…
1Sa 19:12 So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.
Ver. 12. So Michal let down David through a window.] She bestirred her every way; love is laborious. Antiochus the Great gave Cleopatra his daughter to Ptolomy Epiphanes, king of Egypt, thinking to use her as an instrument to destroy him; but she, contrary to his expectation, clave to her husband, according as Daniel had before prophesied of her, "She shall not stand on his side." {Dan 11:17}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 17 Michal let David down through a window; because they…
Michal let David down through a window; because they lay in wait for him at the doors of the house, whensoever he should come forth there.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–17 So Michal let David down through a window,.... In…
So Michal let David down through a window,.... In like manner as Rahab let down the spies from her house in Jericho, when the king's messengers were in quest of them, Jos 2:15; and as the disciples let down the Apostle Paul at Damascus, to preserve him from the designs of the Jews upon him:
and he went, and fled, and escaped; he departed from his house, and ran with all the haste he could, and escaped the messengers that had beset the house, and were waiting for him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v13 Goats hair - Or, put great goats hair upon…
Goats hair - Or, put great goats hair upon his bolster; upon the head and face of the image, which lay upon his bolster, that it might have some kind of resemblance of David's head and hair, at least in a sick man's bed, where there useth to be but a glimmering light. Covered it - Upon pretense of his being sick, and needing some such covering.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 17 Verse 12. Let David down through a window] As…
Verse 12. Let David down through a window] As Saul's messengers were sent to David's house to watch him, they would naturally guard the gate, or lie in wait in that place by which David would come out. Michal, seeing this let him down to the ground through a window probably at the back part of the house; and there being neither entrance nor issue that way, the liers in wait were easily eluded.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12–14 1Sa 19:12. He fled and escaped — It seems…
1Sa 19:12. He fled and escaped — It seems likely that a considerable part of the eighteenth Psalm, namely, from the 1st to the 29th verse, refers to this escape of David. The 29th verse seems entirely descriptive of it, and applicable to no other event of David’s life that we read of. “By thee I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall.” Saul’s messengers, that were sent to slay him in the morning, undoubtedly surrounded his house, and were upon the watch, and therefore David had reason to look upon his escaping them to be a wonderful deliverance, in which the providence of God was concerned.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv13, 17 An image - “Teraphim” (see the margin), an image,…
An image - “Teraphim” (see the margin), an image, or bust in human form, and as large as life, of a kind of household god, to the worship of which the Israelites, and especially women, were much addicted.
A pillow - It was probably a quilt or blanket of goats’ hair and of common use as a bed-covering. Whether Michal drew it over the head of the teraphim, as if for warmth, and so covered it, or whether she disposed it about the head so as to look like hair, is not clear.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv13–14 Image. Hebrew Teraphim. Aquila, "figures." Symmachus, "idols." Some believe…
Image. Hebrew Teraphim. Aquila, "figures." Symmachus, "idols." Some believe that David had idols in his house, as ornaments, or to treat them with ignominy. (Mercer.) --- But others cannot persuade themselves that he would keep such dangerous things. What Michol took, might therefore be some sacred representation, or a statue of some great man. (Genebrard) (Kimchi; Maimonides) Or it might be some piece of wood, or clothes folded up, so as to make the guards believe that David was in bed. (Bochart, Anim. i. 2. 51.) See Genesis xxxi. 19. (Calmet) --- They would not examine very narrowly. (Haydock) --- The Taraphim denote both idolatrous and sacred things, Osee iii. 4. (Menochius) --- Skin. Vatican and Alexandrian Septuagint, "liver," still warm and in motion. (Tirinus) --- But they have followed a false reading, as well as Josephus and Aquila. (Calmet) --- Some have inferred that the hair of goats in that country is reddish, because it was designed to resemble David’s hair, of the same colour. (Tirinus) --- This is, however, uncertain. The skin might form his pillow or coverlet. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv13, 15 And Michal took an image, and laid it in…
And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed--"an image," literally, "the teraphim," and laid, not in the bed, but literally on the "divan"; and "the pillows," that is, the cushion, which usually lay at the back of the divan and was stuffed with "goat's hair," she took from its bolster or heading at the upper part of the divan. This she placed lower down, and covered with a mantle, as if to foster a proper warmth in a patient; at the same time spreading the goat's hair skin, so as to resemble human hair in a dishevelled state. The pretext was that David lay there sick. The first messengers of Saul, keeping at a respectable distance, were deceived; but the imposition was detected on a closer inspection.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv13, 17 13. An image — Margin, teraphim. See on Gen_31:17,…
13. An image — Margin, teraphim. See on Gen_31:17, and Jos_24:14. These images were common in Israel, as we may readily infer from the fact that they were tolerated in the house of the pious David. They were a relic of the old Aramaic idolatry. They seem to have been of human form, and were, perhaps, images of deceased ancestors.
A pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster — A better rendering of the Hebrew is, a texture of goats’ hair at its head, so as to make it resemble the head of a sleeping person with disheveled hair. Or the meaning may be, that she covered the face with a fly net woven of goats’ hair, a custom common in hot countries. Josephus, following the Septuagint, supposes that Michal placed under the bed cover a goat’s liver, yet quivering with life, to make the messengers believe that a living person was breathing there. But how long could she expect the liver of a slain goat to palpitate?
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12–17. David’s escape by the aid of Michal
12–17. David’s escape by the aid of Michal
12. through a window] Compare the escape of the spies from Jericho (Jos_2:15), and St Paul from Damascus (2Co_11:33). If David’s house, like Rahab’s, was upon the town wall, it would be easy for him to escape thus though the door was watched by Saul’s men.
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fled, and escaped] Thus began that fugitive life of hardship and peril, which was to form a new element in the education of the future king. See Introd. p. 40.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–13 (12) So Michal let David down.—The princess, his wife,…
(12) So Michal let David down.—The princess, his wife, knew well her father’s character, and conscious, now that the veil of his dark design was publicly lifted, that there was no hope for her husband any longer save in his instant flight, she “let David down through a window,” because the king’s guards were watching the door. With this desperate flight began those long weary wanderings, those perpetual risks of his life, which went on until the death of King Saul released David from his deadly enemy.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv13–14 Michal took an image. Literally, "the teraphim," a plural…
Michal took an image. Literally, "the teraphim," a plural word, but used here as a singular. Probably, like the corresponding Latin word penates, it had no singular in common use. It was a wooden block with head and shoulders roughly shaped to represent a human figure. Laban"s tera-phim were so small that Rachel could hide them under the camel"s furniture, (Gen_31:34) but Michal"s seems to have been large enough to pass in the bed for a man. Though the worship of them is described as iniquity, (1Sa_15:23) yet the superstitious belief that they brought good luck to the house over which they presided, in return for kind treatment, seems to have been proof against the teaching of the prophets; and Hosea describes the absence of them as on the same level as the absence of the ephod. (Hos_3:4) A pillow of goats" hair for his bolster. More correctly, "a goat"s skin about its head." So the Syriac and Vulgate. The object of it, would be to look at a distance like a man s hair. The Septuagint has a goat"s liver, because this was supposed to palpitate long after the animal"s death, and so would produce the appearance of a person"s breathing. But this involves a different reading, for which there is no authority; nor was Michal"s deception intended for close observation. She would of course not let any one disturb David, and all she wanted was just enough likeness to a man to make a person at a distance suppose that David was there. Soon or later her artifice would be found out, but her husband would have had the intervening time for effecting his escape. As the word rendered pillow, and which is found only here, comes from a root signifying "to knot together," "to intertwine," some commentators think that it means a network of goats" hair, perhaps to keep off flies. But this is a mere guess, and not to be set against the combined authority of the two versions. With a cloth. Hebrew, beged. This beged was David"s every day dress, and would greatly aid Michal in her pious artifice. It was a loose mantle, worn over the close-fitting meil. (see 1Sa_2:19) Thus Ezr_9:3, 5 says, "I rent my beged and my meil," which the A.V with characteristic inexactness translates "my garment and my mantle." In Gen_28:20, where it is rendered raiment, Jacob speaks of it as the most indispensable article of dress; and in Gen_39:12, where it is rendered garment, we find that it was a loose plaid or wrapper. In those simple days it was used for warmth by night as well as for protection by day, and it is interesting to find David in his old age still covered up for warmth in bed by his beged, (1Ki_1:1) where it is translated clothes.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v12 So Michal let David down through a window; and…
1Sa_19:12
So Michal let David down through a window; and he went, and fled, and escaped.
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David a fugitive
In this passage there is a minute account of an appalling danger to which David was exposed.
I. Gods servants are frequently exposed to alarming dangers.
1. This danger came at an unexpected time. David was now the kings son-in-law, a great hero in the eyes of the nation, and beloved by all the people, and yet Saul thirsted for his blood.
2. This danger proceeded from a powerful enemy. Saul was himself a formidable antagonist, but he also had many servants, watching to do his bidding.
3. The danger assumed an alarming aspect. The kings assassins had tracked Davids steps to Gibeah, and surrounded the palace, and apparently guarded every way of escape. The dangers to which David was exposed are typical of the dangers that beset Gods servants now. We are surrounded by dangers ovary moment. Many dangers arise from natural onuses. Many dangers arise from spiritual influences: personal habits, social engagements, and Satanic agency.
II. Gods servants are frequently warned of approaching danger. Before God destroyed the old world He warned Noah, and commanded him to prepare an ark for himself and family. Before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah He revealed His purpose to Abraham, and warned Lot of the impending danger. Before Herod sent forth to day all the children that wars in Bethlehem God warned Joseph in a dream, not to return to his own country. Before Saul had completed his plan far the murder of David, Michal, his wife, told him saying: If thou save not thy life tonight, tomorrow thou shalt be slain.
1. Davids warning came from different sources. Jonathan and Michal warned David. Intimation of approaching danger comes in many ways. By dreams, suggestions, and Divine impulses. God speaks clearly by His word, earnestly by His son, and constantly by His Spirit.
2. Davids warning demanded immediate attention.
3. Davids warning led to decisive action. He listened to his wife and saved his life. Our safety depends upon decisive action.
III. Gods servants are frequently delivered from impending dangers. The context shows that God delivers His servants in four ways.
1. By friendly mediation. Jonathans prudent and persuasive intercession softened the kings obduracy. God can touch the hearts of our bitterest enemies.
2. By personal watchfulness. Saul had made the most solemn profession of reconciliation; but David kept his eye upon Sauls javelin, while his fingers were upon his own harp. The enemy of our souls never slumbers; whether we watch or not, he watches.
3. By conjugal fidelity. Saul gave David Michal to be a snare to him, but she proved a protector. The devil is sometimes outshot with his own bow.
4. By Divine interposition. The path marked out for David was dark and dangerous, but God saw him, led him, and defended him. (J. T. Woodhouse.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 14, 16 General Information:
General Information:
Michal helps David escape King Saul. She uses a household idol to make David's bed look like he is sleeping in it.
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she put a pillow of goats' hair at its head, and covered it with the clothes
Possible meanings are 1) the head of the idol was lying on the goat's hair pillow and Michal dressed the idol in David's clothes or 2) Michal used David's clothes as a blanket to completely cover the idol and made the "pillow" of goat's hair look like David's hair sticking out from under the blanket of clothes.
translationWords
false god
goat
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v13 19:13 an idol: Hebrew teraphim, which were household idols…
19:13 an idol: Hebrew teraphim, which were household idols (see Gen 31:30; Judg 17:5; 2 Kgs 23:24). The presence of an idol in the home of David and Michal might show the pervasive influence of pagan idol worship among the Israelites; perhaps the idol belonged to Michal. Apparently David did not object to its presence. (Cp. Rachel’s theft of her father’s household idols in Gen 31:19.) • Siblings Jonathan (1 Sam 19:1-7) and Michal (19:11-18) saved David from their father and undermined their father’s plans to eliminate him. Members of Saul’s royal family played a significant role in David’s rise, though David did not usurp Saul’s throne.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.