God's preservation of His anointed servant David stands out in this section as it does in the first one in this chapter (vv. 1-7). In both cases it was one of Saul's own children that came to David's rescue. Jonathan protected David at the beginning of this section (18:1-5), and Michal did so at its end (19:11-17). These acts of devotion bracket the chiasm noted above.
Saul resumed his purpose of putting David to death this time by using his servants (cf. v. 1). As Jonathan had done (v. 2), Michal told David what Saul was planning (v. 11). Then she aided his escape first by helping him flee from a window and then by fashioning a dummy in his bed and concocting a story that he lay sick. The household idol (Heb. teraphim) was a small image three or four inches high that many people carried on their persons or set up in their homes as good luck charms. Archaeologists have found many such images in Palestine. Evidently Michal intended the presence of this image beside (Heb. el) the bed to convince Saul's servants that David was seriously ill.
"Michal's ruse was probably effected by piling clothing, carpets, or the like on David's bed and covering it with a garment, allowing only the goats' hair at the head to show."214
The account of Michal's plan to provide David enough time to escape portrays her as a woman who had not committed herself completely to God. Was the household idol hers or David's? The text does not say, but other references to Michal and David elsewhere lead me to conclude that it was hers. The possessor of the household idols was sometimes the heir of the family in the ancient Near East, so perhaps Michal kept this idol for inheritance purposes as well as for worship. Perhaps teraphimhad some connection with childbearing (fertility; cf. Gen. 31:19 where barren Rachel kept teraphim).215
Saul expected more loyalty from his daughter than he received. Jonathan had described David as Saul's servant (v. 4), but Saul now called him his enemy (v. 17). Michal seems to have considered her lie justifiable (cf. v. 11). Jonathan had not lied to Saul (vv. 4-5). Both Jonathan and Michal's words resulted in David's safety temporarily, but Jonathan and Michal's characters contrast in what they said to their father and king.
Saul's daughter, as well as his son, was protecting David from death. God's care for David resulted in the breaking of strong loyalties. In the ancient world a daughter's loyalty to her father normally remained strong even after marriage. God overcame what was natural to protect His anointed and faithful servant.
