Ssssh! It’s a secret
Some show everything to the world
but we know that in silence
in quiet knowing
there is Truth
there is Wisdom
there is the One
Ssssh! It’s a secret
Tell only those who know
only those who serve
only those who are called
to serve Truth
to serve Wisdom
to serve the One
Ssssh!
About the poem and illustration
As the Ark of יְהוָ֔ה entered the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and whirling before יְהוָ֔ה; and she despised him for it…
Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “Didn’t the king of Israel do himself honor today—exposing himself today in the sight of the slavegirls of his subjects, as one of the riffraff might expose himself!”
…So to her dying day Michal daughter of Saul had no children.
II Samuel 6: 16, 20, 23
Michal, daughter of Israel’s King Saul, wife of King David, dared criticize the king. Dared to suggest that he dishonored the divine by dancing for the amusement of the servants while bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. Strutting his stuff and being all about David when he should have been all about יְהוָ֔ה.
We don’t know exactly what David’s reaction was, but it seems reasonable to assume that her criticism led to estrangement between them. Certainly, that she had no children as a result of her speaking implies that they did not live together nor sleep together as husband and wife. Her choice, or his?
In a class I took (Priestesses of the Hebrew Bible, taught by with Rabbi Jill Hammer) we were challenged to write what Michal might pass on to her successor priestesses. This poem is my reflection on that. For information on Kohenet’s offerings, visit their website.
The painting illustrating this post is David and Michal by Virginio Grana, 1865, view 2, oil on canvas – Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti, accessed at Wikimedia Commons on 12/16/21.
