1. The queen-mother of king Abijah (2 Chron. xiii, 2) ; elsewhere (2 Chron. xi, 20) called Maachah (q.v.).
2. One of the national chieftains to whom Jehosha-
phat gave orders to instruct the people of the various cities of Judah in the sacred law (2 Chron. xvii, 7). B.C. 910.
3. The father of Achbor, which latter was one of the courtiers (perhaps a Levite) sent by Josiah to inquire of the prophetess Huldah concerning the newly-discov- ered copy of the Pentateuch (2 Kings xxii, 12). B.C. ante 623. In the parallel passage (2 Chron. xxxiv, 20) he is caUeu Micah, and his lather's name is written Abdon.
4. The son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan ; after having heard Baruch read the terrible predictions of Jeremiah in his father's hall, he went, apparently with good intentions, to report to the king's officers what he had heard (Jer. xxxvi, 11-13). B.C. 605. " Michaiah was the third in descent of a princely fami- ly, whose names are recorded in connection with im- portant religious transactions. His grandfather Sha- phan was the scribe, or secretary, of king Josiah, to whom Hilkiah the high-priest first delivered the book of the law which he said he had found in the House of Jeho- vah— Shaphan first perusing the book himself, and then reading it aloud to the youthful king (2 Kings xxii, 10). It was from his father Gemariah's chamber in the Tem- ple that Baruch read the prophecies of Jeremiah in the ears of all the people. Moreover, Gemariah was one of the three who made intercession to king Zedekiah, al- though in vain, that he would not burn the roll contain- ing Jeremiah's prophecies" (Smith). See Jeremiah.
5. The son of Zaccur and father of Mattaniah, Le- vites (" priests' sons") of the line of Asaph (Neh. xii, 35). B.C. considerably ante 446.
6. One of the priests who celebrated with trumpets the completion of the walls of Jerusalem after the exile (Neh. xii, 41). B.C. 446.
Mi'chal (Heb. Mikal', h^^^, rivulet, as in 2 Sam. xvii, 20; Sept. Mf^o^ v. r. MfXx<)X; Josephus, MixaXa, Ant. vi, 11, 4), the younger of king Saul's two daugh- ters (1 Sam. xiv, 49), doubtless by his wife Ahinoam (1 Sam. xiv, 50). In the following statement of the Bibli- cal history, we chiefly follow the graphic account of Mr. Grove, in Smith's Lict. of the Bible, s. v. See David.
The king had proposed to bestow on David his eldest daughter Merab ; but before the marriage could be ar- ranged an unexpected turn was given to the matter by the behavior of Michal, who fell violently in love with the young hero. The marriage with her elder sister was at once put aside. Saul eagerlj- caught at the op- portunity which the change offered him of exposing his rival to the risk of death. The price fixed on Michal's hand was no less than the slaughter of a hundred Phi- listines. For these the usual "dowry" by which, ac- cording to the custom of the East, from the time of Ja- cob down to the present day, the father is paid for his daughter, was relinquished. David by a brilliant feat doubled the tale of victims, and Blichal became his wife (1 Sam. xviii, 20-28). What her age was we do not know— her husband cannot have been more than twen- ty. B.C. cir. 1063.
' It was not long before the strength of her affection was put to the proof. They seem to have, been living at Gibeah, then the head-quarters of the king and the army. After one of Saul's attacks of frenzy, in which David had barely escaped being transfixed by the king's great spear, Michal learned that the house was* watched by the myrmidons of Saul, and that it was in- tended on the next morning to attack her husband as he left his door (1 Sam. xix, 11). That the intention was real was evident from the behavior of the king's soldiers, who paraded round and round the town, and " returning" to the house " in the evening," with loud cries, more like the yells of the savage dogs of the East than the utterances of human beings, " belched out" curses and lies against the young warrior who had so lately shamed them all (Psa. lix, 3, 6, 7, 12). Michal seems to have known too well the vacillating and fero-
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cious disposition of her father when in these ilaemoniaeal moods. The attack was ordereci for the morning; but before the morning arrives the king will probably have changed his mind and hastened his stroke. So, like a true soldier's wife, she meets stratagem bj' stratagem. She first provided for David's safety by lowering him out of the window ; to gain time for him to reach the residence of Samuel, she next dressed up the bed as if still Occupied by him ; one of her teraphira, or household gods, was laid in the bed, its head enveloped, like that of a sleeper, in the usual net (so Ewald, Gesc/i. iii, 101, renders "I'^^'S, rather perhaps a quilt or mattress, A.V. "pillow" [q. V.]) of goat's hair for protection from gnats, the rest of the figure covered with the wide beyed or plaid. It happened as she had feared; Saul could not delay his vengeance till David ajjpeared out of doors, but sent his people into the house. The reply of Michal is that her husband is ill and cannot be dis- turbed. At last Saul will be baulked no longer: his messengers force their way into the inmost apartment, and there discover the deception whicli lias been played off upon them with such success. Saul's rage may be imagined: his fury was such that jMiclial was obliged to fabricate a story of David's having attempted to kill her (1 Sam. xix, 1-2-17). B.C. cir. lOGi,