Shmuel Alef 19:17

17 And Sha’ul said unto Michal, Why hast thou so deceived me, and sent away mine oyev, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Sha’ul, He said unto me, Let me get away; why should I kill thee?

Shmuel Alef 19:17 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 19:17

And Saul said unto Michal
After the messengers returned and reported what they had seen, when Saul either came to her at her house, or sent for her to his palace:

why hast thou deceived me so;
for deceiving his messengers was deceiving him, by pretending David was sick and in bed, when she had placed an image there, and had let him down through a window, and he was gone:

and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped?
as if she was more obliged to gratify the wicked passion of a father, than to provide for the safety of her husband:

and Michal answered Saul, he said unto me, let me go, why should I kill
thee?
though she was concerned for the preservation of her husband, yet not for his honour and credit, nor for her own veracity; she attempted not to vindicate her husband from the charge of being an enemy to Saul, as she might; but suggested that he was so desperate a man, that if she had offered to have detained him, he would have murdered her, and threatened, if she did, he would do when both were false; that he should say to her let me go, when it was she that advised him to go, and that if she refused he would kill her; which lies were framed by her to excuse herself, at the expense of her husband's reputation.

Shmuel Alef 19:17 In-Context

15 And Sha’ul sent the malachim back to see Dovid, saying [to them], Bring him up to me in the mittah (bed), to have him slain.
16 And when the malachim were come in, hinei, there was the terafim in the mittah, with a piece of woven goats’ hair at its head.
17 And Sha’ul said unto Michal, Why hast thou so deceived me, and sent away mine oyev, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Sha’ul, He said unto me, Let me get away; why should I kill thee?
18 So Dovid fled, and escaped, and came to Shmuel at Ramah, and told him all that Sha’ul had done to him. And he and Shmuel went and dwelt in the dwellings of the nevi’im.
19 And it was told Sha’ul, saying, Hinei, Dovid is at the dwellings of the nevi’im in Ramah.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.