All I could think about while reading this chapter was the ending. I was like, this is the scene where David is dancing around, and his wife Michal looks down on him with disgust! I always, always, always think about my hometown when I think about this scene in the Bible. It’s a good way for me to relate how David was feeling and how Michal may have been feeling, too. My hometown is pretty big on parades, but it’s huge on reunions. We have an all-school reunion every five years, and let me tell you what, it’s an event of all events. For three days, my little hometown of about 1,500 people almost doubles in size, and it’s a never-ending string of meetups and parties and dances – the whole shebang. And it reminds me of the day David brought the House of God home to Jerusalem. What a show it must have been! Just look at the attendees in verse 3: “Then David summoned all Israel to Jerusalem … .” And he did it right this time. If you remember from the last chapter, Uzzah lost his life when David tried to bring the Ark to the City of David the first time. We didn’t really understand why God struck him dead for touching the Ark, but this chapter clears it up a bit. Uzzah wasn’t a Levite, apparently. And God made it very, very clear a long, long time ago that only the Levites are to handle God’s House. David made sure that happened in his next move. It seems something’s always gotta rain on David’s parade, though. First, it was Uzzah’s death, and in this chapter, we see that his wife Michal is totally put off with David’s shenanigans. And that is what brings me full circle back to why this scene always reminds me of my hometown. In all our happiness and usually some drunkenness but certainly so much joyfulness, we always do some dumb stuff during our all-school reunion. After all the fun and silliness is over, there generally are a couple of regrets and hurt feelings and JUDGMENT. That’s the one I was getting to. We humans tend to judge people who do things that aren’t up our own alleys. This was Michal looking down on King David. She wasn’t a part of this parade. She had nothing to do with the fun. Now, that may have been her choice, or it may have just been by circumstance. Whatever the case may be, she wasn’t a part of it. She may not have even understood it fully. And she could have been a bit bitter about the whole situation anyway. I mean, she was the daughter of Saul, and we all know how his reign came to an end. Who actually knows Michal’s exact feelings, but we should at least try to understand where she’s coming from. Otherwise, we’re just as judge-y as she is.
Writing prompt: skew
I got way off topic here, and I’m not sure I did this chapter much justice. Write your thoughts about this chapter or elaborate on my skewed view of the events that took place when David brought the Ark to Jerusalem.
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