2 Samuel 3:14

14 Therefore David sent messengers to Ishbosheth (And David also sent messengers to Ishbosheth), the son of Saul, and said, Yield thou my wife Michal, whom I espoused to me for an hundred prepuces of Philistines.

2 Samuel 3:14 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 3:14

And David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, Saul's son
When Abner's messengers returned to him, and acquainted him with the condition of David's entering into a league with him, it is highly probable that Abner sent them or others to David, to let him know that he could not do this of himself; that it was advisable for him to write to Ishbosheth, whose sister she was, and demand her of him; and that then he would use his interest with Ishbosheth to grant it, and this method David took:

saying, deliver [me] my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an
hundred foreskins of the Philistines;
two arguments he made use of to enforce his demand; one is, that it was his wife he required, to whom he had a right, and no other man; and the other is, that he had purchased her at a great expense, at the risk of his life, in slaying an hundred Philistines, whose foreskins he paid in for her at the instance of Saul; he mentions but one hundred, though he gave two hundred as her dowry, no more being required than one hundred; see ( 1 Samuel 18:25 1 Samuel 18:27 ) . Josephus very wrongly says six hundred ^F2; the Syriac and Arabic have here two hundred.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Antiqu. l 7. c. 1. sect. 4.

2 Samuel 3:14 In-Context

12 Therefore Abner sent messengers to David, and they said for him, Whose is the land? and that the messengers should (also) speak thus, Make thou friendships with me, and mine hand shall be with thee, and I shall bring (over) all Israel to thee.

13 And David said, Best, I shall make friendships with thee; but I ask of thee one thing, and say, Thou shalt not see my face, before that thou bring Michal, the daughter of Saul, and so thou shalt come, and shalt see me. (And David answered, Very well, I shall be friends with thee; but I require one thing from thee, and that is, that thou shalt not see my face, until thou bring Saul's daughter Michal to me; only then shalt thou come, and see me.)

14 Therefore David sent messengers to Ishbosheth (And David also sent messengers to Ishbosheth), the son of Saul, and said, Yield thou my wife Michal, whom I espoused to me for an hundred prepuces of Philistines.

15 Therefore Ishbosheth sent, and took her from her husband, Phaltiel, the son of Laish; (And so Ishbosheth sent some men, and took her away from her husband, Phaltiel, the son of Laish;)

16 and her husband followed her, and wept till to Bahurim. And Abner said to him, Go thou, and turn again; and he turned again. (and her husband followed her, and wept all the way to Bahurim. But Abner said to him, Go thou back home! and so he went home.)