Women with a Story to Tell: The 'Merry' Wives of David.

This will conclude the sub-series about the many wives of David. Let’s back up for a bit of perspective on this darker side of David’s life, his relationship with his wives and children. David was not much of a family man, it turns out. 

Let’s clarify the chronological order. I presented episodes according to the particular wife I was writing about. However, the stories do overlap as do the wives. So, what order did they come in and what difference did it make?

Michal was Saul’s daughter. King Saul only gave her to David so he could keep a watch on what David was up to. However, she loved David and warned him when Saul’s men were coming to do harm. David ran, Saul took Michal back and gave her to another husband, not a Hebrew. Only when David consolidated his kingdom did he recover Michal, but by then her love had turned to disgust. David already had at least two more wives. In the end, Michal was ignored and never had children. Her experience reflects the difficult life of a political wife. 

Ahinoam became David’s wife while David was on the run from Saul. She was the oldest wife to have a son, and so Amnon became the crown prince, heir to the throne.  

Abigail also became David’s wife also while he was on the run. She was the widow of a nasty old man who treated David as if he were a usurper; he was a conservative traditionalist who still supported Saul after God had rejected him. 

Maakah was the daughter of a local Canaanite king, Talmai of Geshur. This was another political marriage, an alliance this time. Maakah was a princess who gave birth to Absalom and Tamar, among others. Absalom considered himself the only royal among David’s sons, and so the rightful heir to the throne. That put him at odds with Amnon.

Haggith was the mother of Adonijah, another son who played a part in the successive attempts by David’s sons to overthrow him and take the throne.

Abital is mentioned only in II Samuel 3:4 as a wife, and again in I Chronicles 3:3. She did have children, but little else is written in the Biblical text. 

Eglah is listed as a wife in II Samuel 3:5. Little else is known about her. 

Bathsheba became David’s wife, as you know, through adultery and murder; David’s idea not hers. Their first child died, as I described, then she had a son named Solomon. 

That’s the order, now what about the order of the troubling events in David’s family? After the first troubles, remember the word of God as spoken through the prophet Nathan. David’s punishment for adultery and murder, God said, was this:  

“Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the LORD: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house….” (II Samuel 12: 11). 

 How did this play out? First, the oldest son, Amnon, born to Ahinoam, succumbed to his lust, just as his father did. Amnon raped his half-sister, the daughter of Maakah. David, who speaks so much of God’s love and justice, did nothing about it. No justice for Tamar, no comfort. No justice for her mother, Maakah. No justice for Amnon; he received no reprimand nor punishment.

 Second, Tamar’s brother, Absalom, found an occasion to do something about it. Like his father, he arranged a murder of his rival. Amnon was dead and again, King David did nothing about it. No reprimand for Absalom, no punishment. Amnon’s death also, conveniently, put Absalom next in line to succeed to the throne. 

 Third, Absalom, in his anger and resentment, could not wait until his father died. He gathered young men around him, made some alliances, and chased David out of Jerusalem. Later, in an ensuing battle, Absalom was killed by David’s top men. David now had two sons who died by the sword. Does that end it? Remember God’s word, “the sword shall never depart from your house.”  

 Fourth, with two older brothers out of the way, Adonijah figured that he was now next in line. The palace intrigue continues. The text says: 

“Now Adonijah son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, ‘I will be king’; he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, ‘Why have you done thus and so?’ He was a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom” (I Kings 1: 5-6). 

 What a poser; arranging everything so that he seemed like the glorious savior of the nation. He must really have some defect in his character to need such adulation. Dictators are like that.  

Adonijah held a great feast, inviting the king’s other sons and some of the royal officials. At the feast, Adonijah declared himself to be the king. However, other officials more loyal to David, such as the prophet Nathan, some priests, and the army leaders closest to David did not join Adonijah self-aggrandizement rally. They would not bend the knee to a false king.  

 Nathan went and told Bathsheba, and she went to the bed chamber of the old and failing King David. Her news woke him up, though. He gave orders to have Solomon ride the king’s mule to the Gihon fountain in Jerusalem where the prophet Nathan and the priest Zadok anointed Solomon as king over Israel. Then they had the trumpet blown loudly, and the crowd of people all shouted “Long live King Solomon!” Then, as ordered, David’s officers put Solomon on David’s own throne.

 The happy talk quickly subsided at Adonijah’s feast when they heard the trumpet and the shouting. Someone came in and told them that King David had put Solomon on the throne. The guests all scattered trembling as they fled. Adonijah ran to the temple and grasped the horns of the altar for refuge. Solomon, making a wise decision, sent this word to Adonijah: 

“If he proves to be a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the ground; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die" (I Kings 1:52).

What was the response?

"Adonijah came down and bowed to Solomon, and Solomon said to him 'Go home' (I Kings 1: 53). 

 Adonijah did go home, but he could not sit still. In his scheming and conniving, he was that close to becoming king. He continued to intrigue to find a wedge so that he could bend the rules and claim the throne. When Solomon found out about it, he had Adonijah put to death. Another son of David died by the sword.   

 What are we to make of this? Let’s let God sum it up because he foresaw this kind of trouble coming back. At Mount Sinai, God knew that, when the people finally settled in the Promised Land, they would get itchy and demand a king like all the rest of the nations. Funny how that happens.

God said, “…you may indeed set over you a king whom the LORD your God will choose. One of your own community you may set as king over you; you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you, who is not of your own community. Even so, he must not acquire many horses for himself or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You must never return that way again.’ And he must not acquire many wives for himself or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself. When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall remain with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes, neither exalting himself above other members of the community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom in Israel” (Deuteronomy 17: 15-20).