The whole thrust of the Bible opposes reincarnation. It shows that man is the special creation of God, created in God’s image with both a material body and an immaterial soul and spirit. He is presented as distinct and unique from all other creatures—angels and the animal kingdom alike. The Bible teaches that at death, while man’s body is mortal, decays and returns to dust, his soul and spirit continue on either in a place of torments for those who reject Christ or in paradise (heaven) in God’s presence for those who have trusted in the Savior. Both categories of people will be resurrected, one to eternal judgment and the other to eternal life with a glorified body (John 5:25-29). The emphatic statement of the Bible, as will be pointed out below, is that “it is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). This statement and the concept that mankind’s creation in God’s image is unique from the animals and even angels stand totally opposed to the idea of reincarnation—dying and coming back as another person or in the form of an animal or insect. The claim of some that they have information of past history is nothing more than some kind of encounter with demonic powers who have been present throughout history.

Below is information from A Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli. (InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove).

Six Basic Theories

The human race has come up with six basic theories about what happens to us when we die.

1. Materialism: Nothing survives. Death ends all of me. Seldom held before the eighteenth century, materialism is now a strong minority view in industrialized nations. It is the natural accompaniment of atheism.

2. Paganism: A vague, shadowy semiself or ghost survives and goes to the place of the dead, the dark, gloomy Underworld. This is the standard pagan belief. Traces of it can be found even in the Old Testament Jewish notion of sheol. The “ghost” that survives is less alive, less substantial, less real than the flesh and blood organism now living. It is something like a “ghost image” on a TV set: a pale copy of the lost original.

3. Reincarnation: The individual soul survives and is reincarnated into another body. Reincarnation is usually connected with the next belief, pantheism, by the notion of karma: that after the soul has fulfilled its destiny, and learned its lessons and become sufficiently enlightened, it reverts to a divine status or is absorbed into (or realizes its timeless identity with) the divine All.

4. Pantheism: Death changes nothing, for what survives death is the same as what was real before death: only the one, changeless, eternal, perfect, spiritual, divine, all-inclusive Reality, sometimes called by a name (“Brahman”) and sometimes not (as in Buddhism). In this view—that of Eastern mysticism—all separateness, including time, is an illusion. Therefore, in this view, the very question of what happens after death is mistaken. The question is not solved but dissolved.

5. Immortality: The individual soul survives death, but not the body. This soul eventually reaches its eternal destiny of heaven or hell, perhaps through intermediate stages, perhaps through reincarnation. But what survives is an individual, bodiless spirit. This is Platonism, often confused with Christianity.

6. Resurrection: At death, the soul separates from the body and is reunited at the end of the world to its new, immortal, resurrected body by a divine miracle. This is the Christian view. This view, the supernatural resurrection of the body rather than the natural immortality of the soul alone, is the only version of life after death in Scripture. It is dimly prophesied and hoped for in the Old Testament, but clearly revealed in the New.

For both (5) and (6), the individual soul survives bodily death. That is the issue we shall argue here. We do not take the time to argue against paganism (2) or reincarnation (3) or pantheism (4) here, but only against modern materialism (1), since that is the source of most of the philosophical arguments against immortality in our culture.

Ten Refutations of Reincarnation

Christianity rejects reincarnation for ten reasons.

1. It is contradicted by Scripture (Heb 9:27).

2. It is contradicted by orthodox tradition in all churches.

3. It would reduce the Incarnation (referring to Christ’s incarnation) to a mere appearance, the crucifixion to an accident, and Christ to one among many philosophers or avatars. It would also confuse what Christ did with what creatures do: incarnation with reincarnation.

4. It implies that God made a mistake in designing our souls to live in bodies, that we are really pure spirits in prison or angels in costume.

5. It is contradicted by psychology and common sense, for its view of souls as imprisoned in alien bodies denies the natural psychosomatic unity.

6. It entails a very low view of the body, as a prison, a punishment.

7. It usually blames sin on the body and the body’s power to confuse and darken the mind. This is passing the buck from soul to body, as well as from will to mind, and a confusion of sin with ignorance.

8. The idea that we are reincarnated in order to learn lessons we failed to learn in a past earthly life is contrary to both common sense and basic educational psychology. I cannot learn something if there is no continuity of memory. I can learn from my mistakes only if I remember them. People do not usually remember these past “reincarnations.”

9. The supposed evidence for reincarnation, rememberings from past lives that come out under hypnosis or “past life regression” can be explained—if they truly occur at all—as mental telepathy from other living beings, from the souls of dead humans in purgatory or hell, or from demons. The real possibility of the latter should make us extremely skittish about opening our souls to “past life regressions.”

Please Note: While I would agree with the demonic aspect, I do not agree with the idea of purgatory nor can I agree with the idea of the souls of dead humans communicating with living people. The dead are confined, according to Scripture, and cannot reveal themselves. This is suggested in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 and by the extreme surprise of the witch of Endor when she saw Samuel who was dead (see 1 Sam. 28:8f). She claimed to be a medium or one who contacts the dead, but when Saul requested that she contact Samuel and when God brought him forth, it startled her and brought great fear. This appeared to be her first experience with the real thing, i.e., with seeing the dead because this is normally not possible. When people do experience such experiences or contact, what they are seeing or experiencing is better identified as demonic.

10. Reincarnation cannot account for itself. Why are our souls imprisoned in bodies? Is it the just punishment for evils we committed in past reincarnations? But why were those past reincarnations necessary? For the same reason. But the beginning of the process that justly imprisoned our souls in bodies in the first place—this must have antedated the series of bodies. How could we have committed evil in the state of perfect, pure, heavenly spirituality? Further, if we sinned in that paradise, it is not paradisical after all. Yet that is the state that reincarnation is supposed to lead us back to after all our embodied yearnings are over.

If the answer is given that our bodies are not penalties for sin but illusions of individuality, the pantheistic One becoming many in human consciousness, no reason can possibly be given for this. Indeed, Hinduism calls it simply lila, divine play. What a stupid game for God to play! If Oneness is perfection, why would perfection play the game of imperfection? All the world’s sins and sufferings are reduced to a meaningless, inexplicable game.

And if evil is itself only illusory (the answer given by many mystics) then the existence of this illusion is itself a real and not just illusory evil. Augustine makes this telling point.

Where then is evil, and what is its source, and how has it crept into the creation? What is its root, what is its seed? Can it be that it is wholly without being? But why should we fear and be on guard against what is not? Or if our fear of it is groundless, then our very fear is itself an evil thing. For by it the heart is driven and tormented for no cause; and that evil is all the worse, if there is nothing to fear yet we do fear. Thus either there is evil which we fear, or the fact that we fear is evil. (Confessions, VII, 5)

(See also Justin Martyr, Dialog with Trypho [ca. a.d. 180], and Albrecht, Reincarnation, for extended Christian critiques of this idea.)

The following information is from The Bible Has the Answer by Henry M. Morris and Martin E. Clark (Master’s Books, El Cajon).

The first, most glaring dissimilarity between reincarnation and Biblical doctrine occurs in the idea of a recurring cycle of existence. Does each person live many times in the same or different form? The Bible says, “It is appointed for men once to die, and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). The Scripture pictures death as a separation of the soul from the world, Christ Himself describing death as God requiring man’s soul (Luke 12:20). When a saint of God dies, rather than merely being promoted to a higher status for another lifetime, he enters his eternal estate, secured for him by God’s grace. The divinely inspired apostle exclaimed, “We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Christ’s record of the rich man and Lazarus shows that both the saved and the unsaved enter their respective rewards following death (Luke 16:19-31).

So then, one’s life is not followed by an indefinite number of succeeding lifetimes. This vital difference established, more tangible differences emerge.

Classical ideas of reincarnation know nothing of a personal God who enters holy relationships with His creatures. In fact, ultimate reality is usually conceived as a cognitive process within man himself, rather than as a personal God.

Further, reincarnation schemes make men’s spiritual advancement contingent upon his mortal efforts, attempting to make merit outweigh demerit. Christianity shows, however, that salvation cannot be earned by sinful man, but rather, it is merited by Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death and resurrection for all who believe. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Also, many theories of reincarnation hold that man’s spiritual, physical, and moral conditions are determined by a former life and therefore not under his control. Physically, this has led to a passive, pessimistic acceptance of untold misery that was actually unnecessary. Spiritually, it is even more devastating. The Bible reveals that no one is bound in his sins against his will, and though born under Adam’s curse, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Through God’s forgiving grace, “though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Consequently, the Christian does not worry about his merit outweighing his demerit, for his sins have been forgiven, God having promised, “I will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12).

Finally, some people attempt to equate reincarnation with the Christian doctrine of resurrection, but in doing so, violate the meanings of both reincarnation and resurrection. Reincarnation advances a future life on earth, bound by similar constraints and physical laws, while the resurrection speaks of that time when earthly bodies with all their accoutrements will be transformed and fitted for their eternal estate (John 5:29). Reincarnation holds that matter is essentially evil, while resurrection demonstrates that there is no moral dualism between matter and spirit. Reincarnation posits a future life in a different body (or even a different order of physical life), while resurrection promises that one’s own body will take on a new, incorruptible, glorified form. Describing the resurrection, Paul stated, “It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body . . . it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42, 44).

Editor's Note: This was originally shared at a Women’s Retreat, October 14-16, 2017,
and edited for Bible.org Spring, 2019

Word Version Series Handout (Click Here).     PDF Version Series Handout (Click Here).

This series focuses on Influence. Originally it was shared at a Women’s Retreat, and is provided as a full resource with audio, text, handouts for notes, and small group questions. This study is a continuing look at biblical women who influenced their world for God ( see Women of Influence Surrounding the Life of Moses.)

Are you a woman of influence? Do others see you as a woman of influence?

In our world, people of influence get our attention and they change our lives.

Influence is about affecting, changing, swaying people’s thoughts, opinions or their actions or either good or bad. I desire to be someone who influences others for good, don’t you?

In this study, we are going to look at 4 different women: one is the daughter of a powerful man, one is a desperate wife, one whose husband is away at war, one is an end of life care-giver.

All these women of influence dramatically affected the life of David. Each can teach us timeless truths that can help us impact our families, our friends and our world for good.

I. Introduction:

Influence means “the power to change or affect someone or something” (Webster’s Dictionary)

With that definition, everyone in this room is an influential person.

“Women of Influence” is a phrase that’s not original to me. Every fall I attend the “All about Influence Conference” at Dallas Seminary. Every woman there, whether speakers, attenders, or those serving; all of them, just like you and me, are women of influence. God has created us, as women, all of us, with purpose and the ability to affect our world for good or bad. You have that influence.

So, let’s look at the women surrounding the life of David, the man after God’s own heart. I have come to care deeply for these women who influenced David’s life and I look forward to meeting each of them; there must be so much more to their stories. Yet, the bible has recorded their names, and glimpses of their lives for a purpose. Our job is to discover that purpose. Why are they included in the Word of God? What can we learn from them?

Three women are David’s wives and one is not a wife, not a concubine but she is invaluable to David. One woman saved his life from certain death. Another saved his career and reputation; one saved the Kingdom and the last woman saved him from pain and loneliness in his latter days. The seemingly little acts of these four women dramatically influenced David and radically changed the world around him. It’s in the seemingly little acts, that we too can change our world.

II. Overview Of The Life Of David (I Sam 18)

Before we look at the women, let’s look at David.

I wonder if you enjoy biblical art like I do? Biblical art takes the story I read in Scripture and makes it real for me. I’m so visual and I remember when David became “real” to me. I was 12 years old when our 6th grade field trip went to New York City. The statue of David by Michelangelo was on loan from Florence, Italy. I was overwhelmed! The story is that in 1501 a large block of uncut marble sat in a dusty cathedral workshop. But Michelangelo saw something in that rock; by 1504 he had taken that rough piece of stone and transformed it into a masterpiece called David. 13 ½ feet tall, this larger-than-life physical size was intended to capture David’s colossal spiritual strength. He is called a “man after God’s own heart”. Just as it took years to chisel away at the rough edges of the marble to smooth the sculptures’ surface to perfection, there were also years of refining, testing, training for the man of God to be God’s King of Israel and our women of influence were part of God’s plan for David.

• In the Bible we first meet David when the Lord sends the prophet Samuel on a mission to find and anoint Saul’s replacement as King of Israel due to Saul’s rebellious heart and sin. In Bethlehem, Samuel meets seven of Jesse’s amazing sons, but not the one God had chosen. He asks “Don’t you have any more sons?” The youngest, red-headed David is brought in from tending the sheep and God says “This is the one” This anointing by Samuel doesn’t mean David becomes king immediately, it means he is designated by God to be next in line.¹
• During this time, Israel is at war with the Philistines and David’s older brothers are soldiers in King Saul’s army. When David is sent by his father to check on them, he volunteers to fight Goliath. With God’s strength, he defeats the enemy and his life as a soldier, a warrior begins. Overnight he becomes a superhero and is rewarded by Saul who gives his daughter Michal to David to become his wife. She is our first influential woman that we will study.
• As David becomes more successful, Saul becomes more jealous of him and this hatred forces David to flee and become a fugitive, running away from Saul’s death threats. During those wilderness years, David meets our second woman of influence, Abigail, the wife of Nabal. What a fascinating story, filled with intrigue and suspense.
• Years passed and Saul dies in battle opening up the way for David to become first the King of Judah and then ultimately the King of all Israel, reigning a total of 40 years. When he was established in Jerusalem, known as “the City of David”, when his army is off at war, David spies a beautiful woman named Bathsheba who is our third influential woman. That spying led to a sexual encounter that led to a pregnancy, that led to a murder that led to a cover-up. It’s that cover-up that becomes a breaking point in David’s life. Yet, it is through this tragic event that David truly learns God’s forgiveness and mercy. Ultimately:

“David’s greatness shines in both his ability to take responsibility for his actions and the humility of his admission and the repentance that follows. This is part of the reason that the ultimate redeemer of the Jewish people and the world will descend from David’s line- he will be ‘Messiah son of David’.”²

• And yet, as also true in our lives, the consequences of his sin followed him the rest of his life. David’s family life gets very messy and complicated: There’s incest, murder, rebellion, plagues and political upheavals all the rest of his life. It’s at the end of his life that we meet the fourth woman, Abishag. She is not a wife, not a concubine but a care-giver, an essential care-giver.

1. One of the reasons we need to study these women is so that we may more fully understand holistically the man David, and his life: both personal and professional.

“The David stories alternate between a presentation of the private man and the public figure, so that in the end family affairs and affairs of state are intermingled, each having an effect (influence) upon the other.”³
– Adele Berlin

I had an annual physical recently. While waiting for the doctor, I was in the examining room talking to the nurse who was taking my blood pressure “ How are you doing today?” I asked. She answered “not so good.” Surprised, I asked her “why”? She proceeded to tell me about her teenage son and his troubles, that were her troubles too. Abruptly she stopped and apologized saying “I’m trying to leave my family problems at home, but that’s hard.” Yes, it is hard. In fact, almost impossible, to separate, to compartmentalize all our problems. It was hard for David too.

2. Another reason is that we can learn life lessons from them. We can learn from their successes and their mistakes how to be God’s influential women.

III. Michal (1 Samuel 18:1-19:17; 2 Samuel 25:44; 3:6-16; 6:1-23)

Michal was the first, and in some ways, the most interesting, of David’s wives…she is a full-fledged character with opinions and emotions of her own.⁴
– Adele Berlin

Michal’s story is a sad one. Like a pale and spindly sapling forever caught under a canopy of larger trees, Michal is emotionally trapped by the men around her: her father, King Saul and her husband, King David. Decisions are made for her as she is handed off from one man to another and trapped by power grabs. She is eventually cast aside, having no children to call her own.⁵
– Lindsay Hardin Freeman

You will have to decide whether you think Michal’s story is “seemingly” sad or not. Either way she is a vital part of David’s story; she is an important influence in his life. Although we don’t have her entire story, we have two accounts involving Michal and David that turned his life and her life in a different direction. The first story is when she falls in love with David, marries him and protects his life from her father Saul. The next time we see her with David things have dramatically changed in their marriage. Instead of loving and protecting, we find her belittling and ridiculing David; wounding instead of helping. The question begs why? What has happened? How does love turn to hurt?

A. Michal, Saul’s Daughter, Marries And Protects David (1 Sam 18:1-19:17)

Let’s set the context of our story. David has killed Goliath, that’s what everyone is talking about; this young, good-looking guy. Saul is initially impressed with David’s skill so he says David you are going into the army soldier! As David became more and more successful in battle, Saul became more and more jealous, envious of his victories. The better David did the more suspicious and angry Saul felt toward David. “Saul soon uses David for target practice.”⁶ Given to great mood swings, Saul would get fearful and mad. In those moments he would hurl his spear at David trying to pin him down, to intimidate him, to scare him, ultimately to kill him. Scriptures tell us that Saul down deep understands this conflict he has with David is all about the Kingdom. He is losing his grip on his throne and David is going to replace him. However, Saul is not going to give up without a fight and a plan. His first plan is to offer David his oldest daughter in marriage.

I Samuel 18:17 Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”

Saul was hoping the Philistines would kill David and that would be the end of it. Not so fast. David modestly declines the offer, saying he and his family were unworthy to be part of the kingly family. We don’t know but perhaps the family was unable to pay the dowry. So, the oldest daughter Merab is given to another man. Michal enters the story

I Samuel 18:20-21 Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. 21 “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So, Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”

This time, Saul gives him a way to pay the bride price: go to battle and bring back 100 Philistine foreskins and you can have my second daughter. This is really a smoke screen. Saul doesn’t want foreskins; he wants David dead. But a deal is a deal. Saul likes this deal thinking David will probably die in battle. David also likes the deal. He likes the idea of being the king’s son-in-law; and we’re sure Michal likes the deal. The scriptures tell us she loves David. In fact, “She is the only woman in the Old Testament of whom it is said that she loved a man”⁷. The deal gets done. David comes back with proof of not 100 but 200 dead Philistines that he has killed. So, there is a wedding. David and Michal are married, both for the first time. But stop for a minute.

Can’t you imagine how happy she is? It seemed to be what David wanted too.

Most of us have been to a wedding and seen that joy and glow. We attended a wedding recently in New Orleans. The bride was just radiant, and the groom couldn’t keep from smiling. You could see they were so happy to be getting married.

David and Michal are happy too; but Saul is miserable,

I Samuel 18:28-29 When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David,29 Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.

David’s father-in-law was his enemy. You may have had or currently have a difficult father-in-law or mother-in-law, but this is the extreme: to have your father-in-law want to kill you.

It’s evident from the text that Saul was both mentally and emotionally unstable. He was given to fits of rage and remorse. He could turn from the rational to the irrational quickly and there were no ways to gauge what would set him off. David has already been dodging Saul’s spear but as time progresses there is an outright contract on his life and he is in danger. Let’s pick up the story in chapter 19.

We’re in the living room, Saul is playing with his spear, David is relaxing and playing the harp.

I Samuel 19:9-16 But an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, 10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.11 Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.”12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. 13 Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head. When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, “He is ill.”15 Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.” 16 But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats’ hair.

“Quick thinking on Michal’s part saved his life”⁸

She rescued the husband she loved from certain death. She protected him. She masterminded his escape. We see two parallel truths:

Truth: Love protects and love defends even at personal risk.

I Corinthians 13:4-8a Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs, love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, love never fails.

Application:

As you look back over your life, can you see where God has used other people to lovingly protect you? Parents, teachers, friends? Have we loved well those that God has put in our lives? Have we protected and defended them? Michal lovingly protected David.

Truth: Loving others well cooperates with God’s eternal purposes.

In this story God used Michal to save His anointed future King David. I wonder was she aware, did she believe at this time that David would be the next King? We don’t know at this point. But we do know God was using her to accomplish His plans. This little rescue, saved the life of the future King of all Israel. This little escape saved the lineage of the Messiah. This little plan of Michal’s was used of God for eternal purposes. I’m just amazed aren’t you that God wants to use us too and our little lives for Kingdom purposes.

Psalm 139 tells us that we have been uniquely created as human beings. Ephesians 2:10 says we have been uniquely re-created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us. Good works that have eternal purposes, just like Michal.

Application:

Thinking of your own life, in what ways do you see God using you for His purposes? Where do you see yourself loving others in such a way that affects them, has influence in their lives? Maybe he’s called you to love someone who’s unlovely or unloving? Last week during our small group time as we were going over a selected passage and I asked the question ‘What makes us unique as Christians from the rest of the world?’ Immediately, one in the group said “Christians love their enemies.” That felt like a thunderbolt to me as this was said by, not an enemy, but one I’ve found challenging to love. I sensed God was saying to me: “ He is right and you need to really love this person. Love with my love.” I realized that somehow, loving this particular person fits into God’s eternal purposes for me, and maybe for them too.

Before we leave this story, to get some insight into David’s thinking, we need to look at Psalm 59. Looking back over that night, the night that Saul wanted to kill him, David writes:

Psalm 59:1-4 Deliver me from my enemies, O God;
be my fortress against those who are attacking me.
2 Deliver me from evildoers
and save me from those who are after my blood.

3 See how they lie in wait for me!
Fierce men conspire against me
for no offense or sin of mine, Lord.
4 I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me.
Arise to help me; look on my plight!

David cried “Oh God, save me, save my life.” God lovingly did save him and God used Michal to deliver David from certain death.

The story continues as David flees and escapes into the wilderness, Michal does not see him again for many years. David is a fugitive, running for his life, until Saul is killed in battle which results in a split Nation in crisis. David is made King of Judah for 7 years while Michal’s brother, Saul’s son, Ish-bosheth is King in Israel. Ish-bosheth has a falling out with his army general Abner after which Abner then switches sides, offering his allegiance and his army to join with David. David accepts, but on one condition.

2 Samuel 3:13-14 “Good,” said David. “I will make an agreement with you. But I demand one thing of you: Do not come into my presence unless you bring Michal daughter of Saul when you come to see me.” 14 Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, demanding, “Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins.”

Why does he want her back? It’s possible that David may have genuinely loved Michal. We know she had previously been in love with him. (I Samuel 18:20). Or perhaps it was a strategic political move. David also expressed that he had a prior claim to Michal. He had paid the bride-price, and she was still his wife when angry Saul gave her to Paltiel. But beyond all that, if David was seen as Saul’s son-in-law once again, David could claim to be legitimate successor to Saul’s throne.”⁹

So, during the years David was fleeing King Saul, Michal had been given to another man. She had been with him for at least 10-15 years as his wife when David demanded her to be returned to him. What had happened to her in those 10-15 years? Was she happy with him? Did she miss David? We don’t know, but we do her husband Paltiel deeply loved her and was devastated when she was taken from him.

2 Samuel 3:16 So Ish-Bosheth gave orders and had her taken away from her husband Paltiel son of Laish. 16 Her husband, however, went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go back home!” So, he went back.

Her loving husband was sent home crying; he was left behind weeping. David, on the other hand, at this time, had 6 other wives. ( See 2 Sam 3:2-5 chart in the handout).

Stop again for just a moment. I wonder what Michal was feeling when she said goodbye to her husband Paltiel? I wonder if she was crying with him? And what her thoughts were when she was brought into David’s household, seeing the 6 other wives and their children? How would you have felt?

B. Michal, David’s Wife, Ridicules David (II Sam 6:1-23)

After Michal’s brother Ish-bosheth is assassinated (II Samuel 4:6), David, who is 33 years old, becomes King over all Israel and captures Jerusalem for his capital city. His heart yearns to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. After the first attempt failed, David tries again and this time the ark is successfully brought to his city. David is so happy and so excited that finally the ark, the ark of Moses, the representation of God’s presence to His chosen people, will be with him in the city. Can you picture the scene; the ark is being brought up the hill, in the middle of the street, the crowds are following, singing, dancing, tambourines are playing. David has taken off his royal robes so he too can dance and skip and sing with the crowd. He has on the linen garment of a priest and he’s out front right behind the ark, leading the people in worship and singing and dancing. Scripture tells us in the procession there were hundreds of priests, musicians with harps, cymbals, lyres, singers, trumpets, elders of Israel.

I Chronicles 15:3 David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to the place he had prepared for it.

Think parade, think big parade, think of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

All Israel was there, celebrating with David, except Michal. She is not part of the celebration; she is watching from a window; watching with disgust.

II Sam 6:16 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.

David had brought the ark into the city and placed it in a special made tent, then offered sacrifices praising God. This was a big party. David ended with a godly blessing for all the people, sent them away with take home boxes of more food. What an incredibly happy time for him, a high point in his life, feeling God’s pleasure and the people’s happiness. His next move is to go home and bless his household. Let me read to you some different versions of this passage.

II Sam 6:20 “How glorious the king of Israel looked today! He exposed himself to the girls along the street like a common pervert!” (Living Bible)

“…a Burlesque street dancer” (Message)

I can’t imagine how painful her words felt to him at this moment. They would have surely pierced my heart. Listen to David’s response:

II Samuel 6:21-22 David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

Why was she so upset over his clothes? She accused him of being improperly dressed in front of the girls. What was wrong with his clothes? Nothing really, he was covered, in a linen ephod, but he was not in his kingly robes and he was dancing in the streets. She seems to be more concerned that he wasn’t acting like a King; he wasn’t acting like her father.

“Michal apparently did not understand David’s reasons for bringing the ark into Jerusalem. She seems to have regarded kingship in Israel as her father had.[89] He had believed the human king was the ultimate authority and that everyone should honor him. By referring to Michal as “the daughter of Saul” (v. 16) the writer linked her attitude with her father’s.

“Her idea seems to have been that the king should avoid mixing with the people, and be aloof and inaccessible. As it was, she despised him for the very qualities that made him great, namely, devotion to the Lord and spontaneity in worship.”[90]”¹⁰

Michal missed it, missed the celebration, missed the worship, missed the blessing because she seemed to be more concerned about “what other people might think?” Her remarks had to deflate David’s joy, collapse his enthusiasm. She hurt him with her words.

This one sentence, verse 20, drips with sarcasm, ridicule and criticism. Her words were meant to shame him.

Truth: Our words have the power to help or harm.

Proverbs 12:18 Reckless words pierce like a sword
But the tongue of the wise brings healing

Proverbs 18:21 The tongue has the power of life and death
And those who love it will eat its fruit

Michal had reckless words to David; words that pierced him like a sword. Her words revealed she despised David. (v. 16) “Despised means to regard with contempt, distaste, disgust, or disdain, scorn, loathe.” (Webster’s Dictionary). We know how we can destroy others with our words, we know how other people’s words have cut our hearts too.

James 3:1-10 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

Illustration:

My tongue. I grew up in a Christian home where I felt loved and would always be taken care of, but at times the climate was critical and judgmental of others. What I interpreted that to mean for me was “being good really meant you should be perfect. “Then there would be no criticism. Just do everything right and you won’t get criticized. So, I came into a marriage with the thinking I could say anything that was true, or honest, or “right” even if it was harsh and critical. I didn’t see that my words were unkind or cruel. I’m not blaming my parents, or their parents, that was just the way I was. So, my patient, exasperated at times, husband would often say “Do you hear what you just said?” “Are you listening to your words?” Which would most times make me mad and then I would shut down and quit talking to him, you know that silent treatment! But God used him and his words to make me look at my words. I grew sick of the way I would use words to hurt him and others. Today, most of the time, I stop before I use those “reckless words.” I depend daily on the Holy Spirit to help me with my words and I’ve learned you can’t be perfect, so just let it go. I know I am very capable of still using words that pierce like a sword. For those times, you and I have forgiveness.

Application:

How about you? If someone overheard your words would they find them to be reckless? Hurtful? Critical? Do you speak differently to your family than you do at work? Or at church?

Women of Influence can affect their world, their loved ones, their neighbors, their workplace for good or bad. We’ve got to remember people are impacted by our words. Let’s challenge each other to intentionally choose to speak truth in love, kind words, gentle words, encouraging words, words that build up and not tear down.

Michal’s life is a contrast between loving someone so much that you risked your life to protect them and then later in life despising them so much you try to destroy them with your critical words.

When they were young, she saved his life from certain death. But then, later, her harsh words, flowing from a hard heart could not be taken back. Last thing we know about her, a tragic statement for her, living in her times.

2 Samuel 6:23 And Michal, the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

Let’s remember how we need to not only start well, but also finish well for the Kingdom. I want that for my life, don’t you?

¹ “David: The Shepherd and The Warrior”, SimpleToRemember.com; Judaism Online.

² “David The King,’ SimpleToRemember.com; Judaism Online.

³ Adele Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1994) 33

⁴ Berlin, 24.

⁵ Lindsay Hardin Freeman, Bible Women (Forward Movement, 2014) 186.

⁶ Freeman, 186.

⁷ Larry R. Helyer, “Hero and Heroine Narratives in the Old Testament” (Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Vol. SBJT 02:3, Fall 1998).

⁸ Freeman, 187.

⁹ The Quest Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House 1994) 404.

¹⁰ Dr. Thomas Constable, “Constable’s Notes,” NET Bible Study Suite www.NetBible.org.

I. Introduction

I know we’ve been talking all weekend about influence but I wonder if you ever question if what you do each day really matters?

Those Daily routines of meals, cleaning, work, carpool, childcare, doctor’s appointments, church ministries: does it all really count? for something? For Anything? I think that’s a question common to all women. Katherine Norris addresses this issue in her little book “The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women’s Work”. “Dailyness of daily life!”

“We want life to have meaning, we want fulfillment, healing even ecstasy but the human paradox is that we find these things by starting where we are, not where we wish we were.”¹

Daily, ordinary, seemingly insignificant, unnoticed are words that could describe our last woman’s life: Abishag.

There are only 4 ½ verses to read about Abishag. Just 4 ½ little verses describing how she influences the life of the King David. She does play a part in the beginning of Solomon’s reign in 1 Kings 2, but that’s another King and another story. Our focus is on the life of David; we have 4 ½ verses to cover. So, you can imagine researching material about Abishag was challenging. I googled her name and read everything I could find. I searched all my commentaries. I went on Christian and Jewish websites. I searched some 33 different theological journals’ sites. I spent more time searching for material on Abishag than what I found. And yet, I could not let her go. She intrigued me; and perhaps we are more like her than any of the other women.

At the beginning of her life, when she is young, strong and beautiful, Abishag is brought to the palace to take care of King David who is at the end of his life; he is old, fragile and dependent on her help. We will never know all the many times, day and night, that Abishag quietly cared for David’s basic needs, his ADL’s which stand for Activities of Daily Living.

All weekend we’ve been talking about how these different women, Michal, Abigail, Bathsheba, and how they affected the life of David; saved him, turned his career around, changed the direction of his life. Now this woman, Abishag, she is different from the others. She is not a wife, not a concubine, she simply ministers to her King in the ordinary, somewhat messy at times, selfless way of a caregiver, a caretaker, a custodian of life. What she does seems insignificant and unnoticed but I think we’ll be surprised by her. So, let’s meet this woman, Abishag.

II. Abishag

I Kings 1:4 When King David was very old, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him.

The King is old. How old is he? We know he died at 70 years old. This event was in his last years, he is probably late 60’s, near 70. He is still the King, living in Jerusalem but he’s elderly and perhaps even bed-ridden. He’s cold! Very cold. He can’t get warm even when they pile blanket after blanket on top of him.

I remember when my dad got older. He would get chilled easily from his poor circulation. He could never keep warm. He’d wear a jacket all the time and his hands were always cold. When I’d visit him, in the same house I grew up in, the house would always be so hot. He’d keep it 80 plus degrees all year around, because dad was always cold, just like King David. So, the problem at court was how to get the King warm. The servants have an idea.

I Kings 1:2 So his attendants said to him, “Let us look for a young virgin to serve the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.”

Their advice was to find a young virgin to be his nurse and to lay next to him to keep him warm. This was a common solution: warm up an elderly person not only by covering with blankets but also by putting a healthy person in bed with him or her.² You would get warm from the other person’s body heat. It does work, you do feel warmer next to someone else. We have a grandson, Raleigh, and from the time he was a toddler, he loved to get really close when he slept with you. There’s always the chance of an arm of leg coming over on top of you, face right on your face. I can assure you, you definitely felt his body heat. David needed somebody’s body heat to keep him warm. The job description was not only to provide warmth but also v2 “to attend, to take care of him”. So, they started looking for just the right young girl.

I Kings 1:3 Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful young woman and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

They looked all over Israel “for a beautiful young woman.” Isn’t it interesting they weren’t looking for an ordinary looking woman, or an older woman; they wanted a beautiful young woman!

They found her, Abishag, a Shunammite. She was from the town of Shunem in northern Israel, some 60 miles north of Jerusalem. That was quite a search for her! They brought her to the King.

I Kings 1:4 The woman was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no sexual relations with her.

In Hebrew this literally says she will “stand before” the king, describes the role of a “‘caretaker’ and nothing more”³ Abishag is not a wife, she is not a concubine; she’s an attendant, a nurse, a home health or hospice caregiver. She is a special servant, but one whose presence was ignored.

I Kings 1:15 So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him.

In her role as caregiver she was present when David needed bathing, feeding, dressing, but the text is clear: she was not intimate sexually with him. We’re not told what kind of relationship they had, but he was dependent on her care. A few years ago, after my dad had “the fall,” he was in a long-term care facility. He could feed himself but needed help with his personal hygiene and walking. I thank God for all the wonderful caregivers he had, but one in particular was named Shirley. Dad loved Shirley. His eyes would light up when she came in the room and he’d say “There’s my girl Shirley!” She was kind, considerate and gentle and always concerned that he had his meals, he had his meds, that he was comfortable. She was his Abishag. When I think of Abishag, picture her in my mind, I think of all the Shirleys that right now are taking care of our elderly loved ones.

I mentioned at the beginning how little information I could find written about this woman. I’ve never heard a sermon preached on Abishag. I’ve never done a bible study about her before now. And yet, her she is forever inscribed in the Word of God; her story and her name are significant enough to be included in the Scriptures. So, as I pondered that, I wondered what can we learn from her, what lessons are in these few verses for us? As I was praying and asking God to give me something from Him that about Abishag, I read and re-read this verses, picturing this woman; imagining what her day looked like? What did she do, day in and day out, as she cared for David? Although she was at Court and he was the King, what she did was routine and ordinary, the same every day. I wondered if she ever heard a “thank you” or “you’re doing a great job” or “we couldn’t do this without you.” Maybe, or maybe not. I thought how many of us, at so many times, feel like we are unnoticed or what we do every day is seemingly insignificant. The routines of daily life seem to be going nowhere. Our ministries wear us out and we wonder if anyone cares? Taking care of a family, children, homework, car pool never has an end. At work, we question if what we do, day after day, is making a difference? Anywhere?

And then on August 21, I was reading the daily devotional from “My Utmost for His Highest” and God impressed me to pay attention: this is about Abishag and this ministry is important to Me. August 21 is titled “The Ministry of the Unnoticed”⁴

If you go on the website “My Utmost for His Highest’ Oswald Chambers, you’ll see on August 21, a photo of a woman from the knees down, in jeans and tennis shoes, you don’t even see her face. On one side of her is a floor mop and the other side is a mop bucket, a visual of cleaning floors, a task that we all know is definitely unnoticed!

The New Testament notices things that do not seem worthy of notice by our standards. “Blessed are the poor in spirit….” This literally means, “Blessed are the paupers.” Paupers are remarkably commonplace! The preaching of today tends to point out a person’s strength of will or the beauty of his character— things that are easily noticed….. At the foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is the genuine loveliness of those who are commonplace. …If I have no strength of will and a nature without worth or excellence, then Jesus says to me, “Blessed are you….The true character of the loveliness that speaks for God is always unnoticed by the one possessing that quality. Conscious influence is prideful and unchristian. If I wonder if I am being of any use to God, I instantly lose the beauty and the freshness of the touch of the Lord. “He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). And if I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord. Who are the people who have influenced us most? Certainly not the ones who thought they did, but those who did not have even the slightest idea that they were influencing us. In the Christian life, godly influence is never conscious of itself. If we are conscious of our influence, it ceases to have the genuine loveliness which is characteristic of the touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.⁵

We may never know what God is doing behind the scenes of our common, ordinary, unnoticed lives and ministries. One thing we can assured of: if our unnoticed deeds, seemingly insignificant ministries are dedicated to The King, following His will, then we are influential women and we will accomplish eternal good.

Acts 13:36 Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep he was buried with his ancestors…

God has a purpose for each of our lives. We can lose sight of the big picture when we’re looking down at the ordinary. Abishag is a reminder of how the little deeds of our lives are important to God and that our very life can be a witness for Him no matter how young or old we are. We need to encourage each other in this truth.

III. Patsy

Patsy was the mother of a man in our small group from church. She was a believer in Jesus and had 5 children. Although the children were raised in the church, not all her kids were or are Christians.

Over the last 4 years Patsy’s health, mentally and physically had been declining. She had gone to live in an assisted care facility near her daughters. They would visit ever week or so. The other children would visit as they could, living farther away. In the several years that we’ve been in small group together, our group has prayed for Randy’s mom Patsy, for her health, for her living conditions, for her peace. From the beginning, as she declined, Randy would say to us and to his family “Mom is not going to die until God’s purposes for her life are accomplished” I remember every time we prayed for her, Randy was confident of that truth, not really knowing what those purposes were as her health deteriorated.

November was a huge turning point in this story. Patsy became dehydrated, very sick, to the point of death. The family gathered and it became evident that the facility had not taken the best care of their mother. So, as she recovered, she was moved to another place and most importantly one of Randy’s sisters said “I’m not going to let mom die from neglect.” She started visiting every day, then twice a day caring, spending hours and hours with her mother. Another important piece to the story is this sister was a prodigal from her Christian upbringing. She was embracing today’s new age spirituality and she had not raised her family in the faith.

But she was determined to care of her mom. Days would go by, Patsy would have moments of recognizing the family, of people she knew, but her over-all health was declining. Randy’s sister would faithfully do the laundry, check on her meals, visit and sit with her mother. We all wondered how long would Patsy live in this condition?

By summer, things declined rapidly, Randy went home to see her. He took his prayer book with him and his sister asked him to pray over their mother, to say familiar prayers, and to recite the Nicene Creed knowing his mother loved to recite it. For those of us who are not used to reciting ancient Creeds at church, the Nicene Creed dates back to 325 AD when the early church fathers were confronting different heresies. The Nicene Creed is a statement of Christian faith, an orthodox doctrinal statement about the essentials of our faith. Listen carefully to the words:

Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,
the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth
and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only‐begotten Son of God,
begotten of His Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
very God of very God,
begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father,
by whom all things were made;
who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary
and was made man;
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.
He suffered and was buried.
And the third day He rose again
according to the Scriptures
and ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of the Father.
And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church
I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins,
and I look for the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen. ⁶

This creed says: I believe in the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. I believe Jesus came and died for my salvation. I believe He is coming back to judge the world and I believe in Heaven, and a Kingdom without end. This is our Christian faith.

After several days, Randy went home. One night not too long after his visit, his sister said evening prayers with her mom. She recited the Lord’s prayer and the little night time prayer many of us grew up saying: “Now I lay me, down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die, before I wake, I pray the Lord, my soul to take. Amen.” Then she went home. When she got there, she as she was talking with her husband, processing her thoughts and emotions about her mom, she said “I just can’t stand the thought of mom not being in Heaven when she dies.” As she wrestled with that, she remembered: I know she believes in God; I know she always believed in the words of the Nicene Creed. I guess I believe them too. I believe in God. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe what the Nicene Creed says, so I guess I’m a Christian too. Five minutes later, the nursing home called and said Patsy had just died.

Had Patsy died before November, Randy’s sister would not have had all those days and months with her mom. She would not have had the opportunity to care for her mom; to sit with her, to pray with her, to have time for God to soften her heart. Patsy had no idea that her lingering, decaying body and mind would be used for God’s purposes in her own daughter’s spiritual life. Patsy would not die until God’s purposes for her were finished, but when they were finished, she died 5 minutes later.

Patsy, an elderly, dying woman, had like Abishag: the ministry of the unnoticed. To many people I’m sure she just was an old woman in a nursing home, but not to God. God had eternal purposes in mind for her as He did for Abishag and He has for you and me.

Application:

Influence. May we all be willing to use our influence no matter where we are, for God and His glory.

Influential Women: Michal, Abigail, Bathsheba, Abishag and You!

Each of you, every one of you, you are Influential, more than you will ever know this side of heaven. But It’s our choice whether we will use our influence for good and for God or not. I pray we will with God’s help.

¹ Kathleen Norris, “The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women’s Work” New York: Paulist Press 1998, 12.

² Constable’s Notes, www.bible.org

³ Jewish Study Bible, 671.

⁴ Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest” August 21.

⁵ Chambers

⁶ As found in the Lutheran, Missouri Synod version: http://www.lcms.org/Document.fdoc?src=lcm&id=954