II Samuel 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.

I want to start out in defense of Michal.  I believe most commentators don't consider her life story when they criticize her outburst.  When I read Michal's story, I ache for her. 

Part of David's reward for killing Goliath was to be marriage to King Saul's daughter (I Samuel 17:25).  David, however, humbly declined Saul's offer, and the king's older daughter Merab was given to someone else (I Samuel 18:18-19).  Reading on in the chapter, we see that Saul's other daughter, Michal, loved David, and Saul decided to use that in an attempt to have David killed.  David rose to the challenge, exceeded Saul's offer, and married Michal. 

In I Samuel 20, we read how Michal saved David's life.  This is the last the two see of each other for quite some time.  Saul gives Michal, still married to David, to another man, Paltiel (I Samuel 25:44), and David meanwhile amasses several other wives and concubines (II Samuel 3:2-5).

When Saul dies and David becomes king, David demands Michal back.  Michal would cement David's claim to the throne, since she made him Saul's son-in-law (incidentally, David did not need to be Saul's heir, since God Himself chose him to be king - I Samuel 16).  David sends soldiers to get Michal, and Paltiel follows, weeping (II Samuel 3:13-16).

This is the Michal we see in II Samuel 6.   She had been used as a pawn between her father and David, the man she loved, for years.  She is taken from her second husband, who apparently loved her, to be part of a harem.  David, for all his strengths, never focused on strengthening his home.  Even before the Bathsheba incident, David had failed miserably as a husband and as a father.  And so Michal, hurt and bitter, used and neglected, lashes out at David.

(we'll continue with Michal tomorrow)