1 Samuel 25:44

But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish,.... Or "for Saul", c. (i) which is a reason for his marrying again, but no reason for marrying more wives than one.

But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim. Michal.

But, or for, as the Hebrew vau is ofttimes used. For this seems to be added as a reason why David took other wives, because Saul had given his former wife to another man, that he might as far as he could extinguish all relation and kindred to him, whom he hated; and withal, cut off his hopes and pretence to the crown upon that account.

1 Samuel 25:44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’ s wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which [was] of Gallim.Ver. 44. But Saul had given Michel his daughter.] This he had done as out of pure spite to David, so out of policy, say some, that he might not have by his wife any pretence or title to the crown. David’ s wife.] Whom he had so dearly deserved, and by whom he was now so causelessly deserted; for why should she give consent to be married to another? To Phalti.] Who is justly faulted for taking another man’ s wife. Which was of Gallim.] A town of Benjamin, near Gibeah.

(44) Michal his daughter.—The marriage of the Princess Michal to Phalti (Michal, we read, “loved David,” 1 Samuel 18:20) had taken place probably some time before. This high-handed act showed on the part of Saul a fixed determination to break utterly and for ever with David. Phalti was presumably a chieftain whom Saul was desirous of attracting to his fortunes. But the story of Miehal does not end here. After King Saul’s death, Abner, the uncle (or perhaps the cousin) of the late king, the well-known captain of his host, made overtures to David. David, however, only consented to a friendship with Abner if his young kins woman, the Princess Miehal, Saul’s daughter, was taken away from Phalti, and restored to him as his wife. Abner, we read, complied with the condition, and Miehal was taken from Phaltiel—as he is called in the account of this transaction, contained in 2 Samuel 3:13; 2 Samuel 3:16—and restored to David. An interesting and curious tradition respecting this man Phalti, or Phaltiel, is contained in the Talmud. In 1 Samuel 25:44 the second husband of David’s wife is called Phalti, and in 2 Samuel 3:15 he is called Phaltiel. Rabbi Jochanan said his name received that extension (el=God) to indicate that God had saved him from transgression. (The name Phalti being derived from the root palat—to cause to escape, Michal and Phalti never having lived together as man and wife.)—Treatise Sanhedrin, fol. 19, Colossians 2. Once more the daughter of Saul appears in the sacred history. (See 2 Samuel 6:20-23.) It was the greatest day in David’s life—the Ark of the Covenant was being brought up with solemn pomp from its place of long exile in Kirjath-jearim to the new sacred capital of the loved king. One sad incident alone, we are told, marred the glories of the day. Michal, his wife, as Stanley thinks, in the proud, almost conservative, spirit of the older dynasty, not without a thought of her father’s fallen house, looked on contemptuously as King David danced before the Ark with the priests, his royal robes thrown aside; and later in the day seems to have poured out before the king her scornful feelings. “Preceding the blest vessel, onward came, With light dance leaping, girt in humble guise, Israel’s sweet harper; in that hap he seemed Less and yet more kingly. Opposite, At a great palace, from the lattice forth Looked Miehal, like a lady full of scorn And sorrow.”—DANTE: Purgatory, 10 The sacred story goes on to say that Michal, as a childless wife in the royal palace of David, had time to mourn her fatal exhibition of pride. (See 2 Samuel 6:12-23.)

Verse 44. Phalti] Called also Phaltiel, 2 Samuel 3:16. Of Gallim.] Probably a city or town in the tribe of Benjamin; see Isaiah 10:30. It is likely therefore that Saul chose this man because he was of his own tribe. IN this chapter we have the account of the death of Samuel, who from his infancy had been devoted to God and the service of his people. He was born at a time in which religion was at a very low ebb in Israel, as there were but very few prophets, and no open vision - scarcely any revelation from God. Those who might be called prophets had no regular ministry of God's word; they were extraordinary messengers sent for a particular purpose, and not continued in the work any longer than the time necessary to deliver their extraordinary message. Samuel is supposed to have been the first who established academies or schools for prophets, at least we do not hear of them before his time; and it is granted that they continued till the Babylonish captivity. This was a wise institution, and no doubt contributed much to the maintenance of pure religion, and the prevention of idolatry among that people. Samuel reformed many abuses in the Jewish state, and raised it to a pitch of political consequence to which it had been long a stranger. He was very zealous for the honour of God, and supported the rights of pure religion, of the king, and of the people, against all encroachments. He was chief magistrate in Israel before the appointment of a king, and afterwards he acted as prime minister to Saul, though without being chosen or formally appointed to that station. Indeed, he seems on the whole to have been the civil and ecclesiastical governor, Saul being little more than general of the Israelitish forces. In his office of minister in the state, he gave the brightest example of zeal, diligence, inflexible integrity, and uncorruptedness. He reproved both the people and the king for their transgressions, with a boldness which nothing but his sense of the Divine authority could inspire, and yet he tempered it with a sweetness which showed the interest he felt in their welfare, and the deep and distressing concern he felt for their back-slidings and infidelities. He was incorrupt; he received no man's bribe; he had no pension from the state; he enriched none of his relatives from the public purse; left no private debts to be discharged by his country. He was among the Hebrews what Aristides is said to have been among the Greeks, so poor at his death, though a minister of state, that he did not leave property enough to bury him. Justice was by him duly and impartially administered, and oppression and wrong had no existence. If there ever was a heaven-born minister, it was Samuel; in whose public and private conduct there was no blemish, and whose parallel cannot be found in the ancient or modern history of any country in the universe.

44. Saul had given Michal] Probably he did it when David fled, to mark the completeness of the breach between them. David afterwards compelled Phalti (or Phaltiel) to restore him Michal (2 Samuel 3:15). Gallim] Only referred to again in Isaiah 10:30, from which passage it appears that it was between Gibeah and Jerusalem. The name of Phalti’s father Laish was probably derived from the place Laish mentioned in the same verse.

Saul’s giving Michal to Phalti was intended to mark the final rupture of his own relations with David (compare Judges 14:20; 2 Samuel 3:7; 2 Samuel 16:21).

44. Saul had given Michal… David’s wife, to Phalti — Hoping thereby to cut off one of David’s pretensions to the throne, and to attach a new family to his cause.