1 Samuel 19:17
in 1 Samuel 19And Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away and he has escaped!” Michal replied, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away, or I will kill you!’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me thus, and let mine enemy go, so that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?
KJV
And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?
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This verse in 1 Samuel 19
Commentary
10 notes on this verseNow Michal's name means "reign," because sin reigned over our nature up to that time. And at the very time he himself was born, he [the Lord in the figure of David] went out through a window. And the window indicates the return to the light again of the one who made himself known to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.And his image is seen on the bed. For the angel says to those seeking the Lord in the tomb, "Why do you seek the living with the dead? He is not here; he is risen."
This site's exposition
there was the idol in the bed
on 1 Samuel 19:16-17
The messengers find "the idol in the bed with the quilt of goats’ hair on its head," and Michal's device serves its purpose before Saul's own men. Saul turns on his daughter for deceiving him, and she answers with a second lie, that David threatened her life. Barnes reads her line as self-protection, a wife turning her father's anger onto an absent man.
This site's exposition
Why did you deceive me like this
Matthew Henry turns the charge back on Saul. A wife is bound to cleave to her husband, and Henry holds that Saul had no right to ask his daughter to betray hers to his spear. Saul calls David his enemy in the same breath.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
And not in war only, but also in peace the need of deceit may be found, not merely in reference to the affairs of the state but also in private life, in the dealings of husband with wife and wife with husband, son with father, friend with friend, and also children with a parent. For the daughter of Saul would not have been able to rescue her husband out of Saul's hands except by deceiving her father. And her brother, wishing to save him whom she had rescued when he was again in danger, made use of the same weapon as the wife.
The Medieval Church1 voice
And Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus? etc. The unbelieving Jews said to the early Church: Why, having neglected our traditions, did you prefer to believe in Jesus and confess that by rising He put our guards to flight? To which …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
What a base spirit was Saul of, to expect that, because Michal was his daughter, she must therefore betray her own husband to him unjustly. Ought she not to forsake and forget her father and her father's house, to cleave to her husband? Those that themselves will be held by no bonds of reason or religion are ready to think that others should as easily break those bonds.
"God," says Mr. Henry, "inclined the heart of Saul to hearken to the voice of Jonathan." 8. And David, &c. - So David continues his good service, tho' it was ill requited. They who are ill paid for doing good, yet must not be weary of well doing, remembering how bountiful a benefactor God is, even to the evil and unthankful.
And Saul said unto Michal,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Why should I kill thee? - To avert Saul’s anger from herself, she pretended that David had threatened her life unless she facilitated his escape.
Let me go; why should I kill thee? - That is, If thou do not let me go, I will kill thee. This she said to excuse herself to her father: as a wife she could do not less than favor the escape of her husband, being perfectly satisfied that there was no guilt in him. It is supposed that it was on this occasion that David wrote the fifty-ninth Psalm, Deliver me from mine enemies, etc.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
He said to me… You delivered me into the hands of a bandit. 1 She placed the blame for Dovid’s escape on Shaul. He drew his sword at me until I let him leave.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
21 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֨אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| שָׁא֜וּל | shaul | Saul | H7586 → | 402 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מִיכַ֗ל | mikhal | Michal | H4324 → | 18 times |
| לָ֤מָּה | lamah | <to> why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| כָּ֙כָה֙ | kakhah | thus | H3602 → | |
| רִמִּיתִ֔נִי | rimitini | have you deceived me | H7411 → | |
| וַתְּשַׁלְּחִ֥י | vateshalechi | and you have let go | H7971 → | 845 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֹיְבִ֖י | ʾoyevi | enemy my | H341 → | 282 times |
| וַיִּמָּלֵ֑ט | vaiyimalet | and he has escaped | H4422 → | 95 times |
| וַתֹּ֤אמֶר | vatomer | and she said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מִיכַל֙ | mikhal | Michal | H4324 → | 18 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| שָׁא֔וּל | shaul | Saul | H7586 → | 402 times |
| הוּא־ | hu'- | he | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| אָמַ֥ר | ʾamar | he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֵלַ֛י | ʾelai | to me | H413 → | 5510 times |
| שַׁלְּחִ֖נִי | shalechini | let go me | H7971 → | 845 times |
| לָמָ֥ה | lamah | <to> why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אֲמִיתֵֽךְ׃ | ʾamitekh | will I kill you | H4191 → | 839 times |
וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
שָׁא֜וּלSaul
shaulH7586 →402 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מִיכַ֗לMichal
mikhalH4324 →18 times
לָ֤מָּה<to> why?
lamahH4100 →752 times
כָּ֙כָה֙thus
kakhahH3602 →
רִמִּיתִ֔נִיhave you deceived me
rimitiniH7411 →
וַתְּשַׁלְּחִ֥יand you have let go
vateshalechiH7971 →845 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אֹיְבִ֖יenemy my
ʾoyeviH341 →282 times
וַיִּמָּלֵ֑טand he has escaped
vaiyimaletH4422 →95 times
וַתֹּ֤אמֶרand she said
vatomerH559 →5305 times
מִיכַל֙Michal
mikhalH4324 →18 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
שָׁא֔וּלSaul
shaulH7586 →402 times
הוּא־he
hu'-H1931 →1879 times
אָמַ֥רhe said
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
אֵלַ֛יto me
ʾelaiH413 →5510 times
שַׁלְּחִ֖נִיlet go me
shalechiniH7971 →845 times
לָמָ֥ה<to> why?
lamahH4100 →752 times
אֲמִיתֵֽךְ׃will I kill you
ʾamitekhH4191 →839 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 2:16When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years…
it leads to
- Isaiah 59:7
Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
- Proverbs 28:15
Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.
- Revelation 17:6
I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.
- Isaiah 59:7
Through
1 Kings 21:20When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So you have found me out, my enemy.” He replied, “I have found you out because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of…
it leads to
- Romans 7:14
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
- 2 Kings 17:17
They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- 1 Kings 21:25
(Surely there was never one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, incited by his wife Jezebel.
- 1 Kings 18:17
When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”
- Romans 7:14
Through
2 Samuel 2:22Once again, Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I show my face to your brother Joab?”
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 3:27
When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside into the gateway, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died on account of the…
- 2 Samuel 3:27
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Samuel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory of Nyssa, ON THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PSALMS 2.16.272-73; John Chrysostom, ON THE PRIESTHOOD 1.8; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.