David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of
Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing… Wearing a linen ephod,
he was dancing before the Lord with all his might… As the ark of the
Lord was entering the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched
from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before
the Lord, she despised him in her heart. 2 Samuel 6:12-16
Here’s a straight question that calls for an honest answer: Do you ever despise people from your heart?
One particular example: do you ever despise them because of the way they choose to express their love of God?
Think of two extremes in Christian worship. At one end of the spectrum is the full-on, uninhibited “happy-clappy”. His or her worship might be quite wildly uncontrolled, involving tongues-speaking, dancing, falling on the floor, you name it. At the other end is very controlled “liturgical” worship. This involves people dressed in robes and vestments, with processions, incense, chanting and, again, you name it.
Eyeing one another over a wide gulf, each group is tempted to consider itself superior to the other: and that is where the danger of despising the other group arises.
2 Samuel 6 tells us that Michal, David’s first wife, “despised him in her heart” (verse 16). Why? Well, he was heading a triumphant procession to bring the sacred chest, the “ark of the Lord”, up to his new capital city of Jerusalem. And she saw him from her window, wearing only some kind of light linen garment, and “leaping and dancing before the Lord”.
As far as Michal was concerned he was, to use an old-fashioned expression, making an exhibition of himself. Later, when they’re alone, she delivers a scathing, sarcastic blast: “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave-girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” (verse 20).
David hits back – and hard: he strongly defends his behaviour, and bitingly tells her that it was God he was wanting to please, not her, so he’ll take no lessons from her, thank you very much. The writer then tells us that Michal “had no children till the day of her death” – presumably because she never again shared his bed.
Michal despised David. David rejected Michal. Which raises the question: who was right and who was wrong?
The Bible gives no clear answer to that question; but there can be little doubt that it is basically on David’s side. For all his many faults he was a passionate lover of God, and though he sometimes expressed this love in ways that might seem rather exaggerated, his heart was right.
We should bear in mind too that the event described in 2 Samuel 6 was no routine act of worship, which I am sure would have been much more sedate.
No, it was an act of national celebration – we might compare it to a royal wedding, or the euphoria when peace is declared at the end of a war. The ark of the Lord, the sacred box at the very heart of Israel’s identity, has been through various dangerous and humiliating adventures – but now at last it is back where it belongs! So some serious rejoicing is in order.
But perhaps we can also feel a touch of sympathy for Michal. She clearly had – what shall I call it? – a sense of decorum, which is surely a good thing. (Perhaps sometimes we could do with a bit more of it?) Michal felt that things should be done in a fitting manner, and – yes, well, having the king prancing about publicly in little more than his underwear does perhaps seem a touch “over the top”.
Indeed, had Michal been able to look a thousand years into the future, she might have felt she could quote scripture in her support. Can one imagine Christ himself – “great David’s greater Son”, as the hymn describes him – acting in this way? Doesn’t Paul, writing to the unruly Christians of Corinth, scold them and tell them that “everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (1 Corinthians 14:40)?
Whatever, the fact is that some forms of worship (and I’m not speaking here only of the strongly liturgical type) have the effect of killing stone dead any sense of joy or emotion in the presence of God. All very orderly… all very correct… all very proper. But – where is the living God? It is, as David said, him that we are seeking to please. Isn’t there, then, a place for letting our spiritual hair down?
The main point to take from the sad story of Michal is simple: whatever our own preference when it comes to styles of worship, we are not to despise our fellow-Christians or secretly view them with contempt.
If you feel like digesting a truly challenging word, try Philippians 2:3 for size: “…in humility regard others as better than yourselves.” Even better, the words of Jesus himself: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1).
Always think the best, not the worst!
Lord God, help me, by your Spirit, to love, worship and enjoy you with all my heart – whatever form that might take. Amen.
Here’s a straight question that calls for an honest answer: Do you ever despise people from your heart?
One particular example: do you ever despise them because of the way they choose to express their love of God?
Think of two extremes in Christian worship. At one end of the spectrum is the full-on, uninhibited “happy-clappy”. His or her worship might be quite wildly uncontrolled, involving tongues-speaking, dancing, falling on the floor, you name it. At the other end is very controlled “liturgical” worship. This involves people dressed in robes and vestments, with processions, incense, chanting and, again, you name it.
Eyeing one another over a wide gulf, each group is tempted to consider itself superior to the other: and that is where the danger of despising the other group arises.
2 Samuel 6 tells us that Michal, David’s first wife, “despised him in her heart” (verse 16). Why? Well, he was heading a triumphant procession to bring the sacred chest, the “ark of the Lord”, up to his new capital city of Jerusalem. And she saw him from her window, wearing only some kind of light linen garment, and “leaping and dancing before the Lord”.
As far as Michal was concerned he was, to use an old-fashioned expression, making an exhibition of himself. Later, when they’re alone, she delivers a scathing, sarcastic blast: “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave-girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” (verse 20).
David hits back – and hard: he strongly defends his behaviour, and bitingly tells her that it was God he was wanting to please, not her, so he’ll take no lessons from her, thank you very much. The writer then tells us that Michal “had no children till the day of her death” – presumably because she never again shared his bed.
Michal despised David. David rejected Michal. Which raises the question: who was right and who was wrong?
The Bible gives no clear answer to that question; but there can be little doubt that it is basically on David’s side. For all his many faults he was a passionate lover of God, and though he sometimes expressed this love in ways that might seem rather exaggerated, his heart was right.
We should bear in mind too that the event described in 2 Samuel 6 was no routine act of worship, which I am sure would have been much more sedate.
No, it was an act of national celebration – we might compare it to a royal wedding, or the euphoria when peace is declared at the end of a war. The ark of the Lord, the sacred box at the very heart of Israel’s identity, has been through various dangerous and humiliating adventures – but now at last it is back where it belongs! So some serious rejoicing is in order.
But perhaps we can also feel a touch of sympathy for Michal. She clearly had – what shall I call it? – a sense of decorum, which is surely a good thing. (Perhaps sometimes we could do with a bit more of it?) Michal felt that things should be done in a fitting manner, and – yes, well, having the king prancing about publicly in little more than his underwear does perhaps seem a touch “over the top”.
Indeed, had Michal been able to look a thousand years into the future, she might have felt she could quote scripture in her support. Can one imagine Christ himself – “great David’s greater Son”, as the hymn describes him – acting in this way? Doesn’t Paul, writing to the unruly Christians of Corinth, scold them and tell them that “everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (1 Corinthians 14:40)?
Whatever, the fact is that some forms of worship (and I’m not speaking here only of the strongly liturgical type) have the effect of killing stone dead any sense of joy or emotion in the presence of God. All very orderly… all very correct… all very proper. But – where is the living God? It is, as David said, him that we are seeking to please. Isn’t there, then, a place for letting our spiritual hair down?
The main point to take from the sad story of Michal is simple: whatever our own preference when it comes to styles of worship, we are not to despise our fellow-Christians or secretly view them with contempt.
If you feel like digesting a truly challenging word, try Philippians 2:3 for size: “…in humility regard others as better than yourselves.” Even better, the words of Jesus himself: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1).
Always think the best, not the worst!
Lord God, help me, by your Spirit, to love, worship and enjoy you with all my heart – whatever form that might take. Amen.
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