Saturday Sisters: Royalty

Do you have the life you want?
Either way, yes or no, how are you responding?

   

  They both married the king, but that didn't mean their lives were perfect.  

Expectations

  Michal expected privilege, or at least prestige.  After all, Daddy was a king himself.  And she married David first.  She probably understood that, according to the customs of the time, she wouldn't be the only wife, but she expected to be head wife.

     Abigail knew Michal had been left behind when David fled for his life.  And there was another wife actually on the scene when she accepted his proposal.

Reactions

  Scripture tells us little about either of these women, in keeping with the usual policy of telling human stories in short sentences.  But their husband is one of the most written about men in the Bible,  and it is fair to look at the wives' lives through the lens of the husband.
  Neither woman had control of her life circumstances.  A princess is a pawn to further her father's political interests.  Abigail, wife of the local squire, had to manage her household almost behind her husband's back.  There are hints that he was an abusive man.

Pride and Humility

  Michal began her marriage in hero-worship.  She ended her days as David's rejected wife because of her pride and insistence on the dignity of position instead of genuiness of worship of God.  Hmmm, sounds like Daddy's little girl again.
  We first meet Abigail rushing to rectify her husband's error, even to the extent of bowing face in the dirt and apologizing as if the sin were her own.  We read nothing against her, though, as a human being, we know she could not have led a perfect life.  
  David's harem could not have been an easy place in which to live.  We see the rivalries of his sons later.  Did they learn this from their mothers?  In any case, such rivalries are not uncommon among king's sons, and  queen is a much better position than harem member.

Multiple Choice Response

   Abigail and Michal chose their responses to their life.  We have the same opportunities in the face of less than ideal circumstances. 

  How do i choose?


 There is more in the Bible about King David than any other person, except Jesus Himself and possibly Moses.
You will find Michal's history in I Samuel 18, 19, 25:44, and II Samuel 6.
Abigail's story is in I Samuel 25, with mentions in David's story in I Samuel 27, 30, and II Samuel 2.