1 Samuel 19:17

17 And Saul saith unto Michal, `Why thus hast thou deceived me -- that thou dost send away mine enemy, and he is escaped?' and Michal saith unto Saul, `He said unto me, Send me away: why do I put thee to death?'

1 Samuel 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.

1 Samuel 19:17 In-Context

15 And Saul sendeth the messengers to see David, saying, `Bring him up in the bed unto me,' -- to put him to death.
16 And the messengers come in, and lo, the teraphim [are] on the bed, and the mattress of goats' [hair], [for] his pillows.
17 And Saul saith unto Michal, `Why thus hast thou deceived me -- that thou dost send away mine enemy, and he is escaped?' and Michal saith unto Saul, `He said unto me, Send me away: why do I put thee to death?'
18 And David hath fled, and is escaped, and cometh in unto Samuel to Ramath, and declareth to him all that Saul hath done to him, and he goeth, he and Samuel, and they dwell in Naioth.
19 And it is declared to Saul, saying, `Lo, David [is] in Naioth in Ramah.'
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.