David's Wives:
David had eight wives and also some concubines. His eight wives were: Michal, Ahinoam, Abigail, Ma'acah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, and Bath Sheeba, also known as Bath Shu'a. God never rebuked David for taking so many wives. In fact the Bible says that David followed God with all his heart EXCEPT in the matter of Bath Sheeba, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. Why is that? It would seem strange to us that God did not rebuke David for taking more than one wife. After all, the kings were specifically forbidden to multiply wives, horses, or gold.
You shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, "You shall not return that way again." Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. Deuteronomy 17:15-17 Bold lettering mine.
Was David disobedient to this command? Well.... not really. His heart was right. Let me make it clear: He did the wrong thing but his motives were right. I think he was doing his best to serve God. Some of his "marriages" were political alliances that were beyond the will of God. Nevertheless God saw David's heart. This is not to excuse David. Not at all. He suffered greatly for those marriages. The sons of those marriages, Amnon, Absolam, and Adonijah caused David a great deal of suffering. God allowed that. But God Himself did not remove David from being king, or rebuke David for those marriages. If we can see David's heart in all of those marriages, I think we can understand him, and we can understand why he suffered for them, and why God did not personally rebuke him. We shall take them in order.
Michal:
Michal is well known. She was the daughter of King Saul. The Bible tells us that she loved David. Her love for David pleased Saul very much. He knew that she would be a snare to David, so he arranged a marriage as quickly as possible. (1 Samuel 18:20-21) At first Michal loved David, and saved his life on at least one occasion. But later on she despised him for dancing in an undignified manner before the ark. As a result she lost favor with David, and had no children, therefore she is not listed as one of David's wives in 1 Chronicles 3:1-9. This was probably God's design. He did not want any child from the line of Saul to inherit the throne. I think David had agreed to the marriage in the first place in order to try to appease Saul. That was a mistake.
Ahinoam:
Whenever the Bible mentions Ahinoam she is always referred to as the Jezreelitess. There is a reason. Jezreel is the name of the valley that lies between the mountains of Samaria, and the hills of Galilee. In Roman times a road known as the "Way of the Sea" passed through the valley from Beth Shan by the Jordan river to Meggido at the Southern end of Mt. Carmel. From there the road went on to the coastal plain and continued southward. That road was the main trade route from Mesopotamia, through Syria, to Egypt. That route probably existed long before Roman times. Control of the valley of Jezreel meant control of that road, and all the trade that traveled over it.
David had very good political reasons to marry Ahinoam the Jezreelitess. The valley of Jezreel had been given to the tribe of Manasseh. ( 1 Chronicles 7:29) Remember that Manasseh was one of the sons of Joseph. His brother Ephraim also became the father of a very large tribe in Israel. Together these two tribes controlled at least half of the land allotted to the Northern ten tribes. They probably represented at least half of the population of Northern Israel as well. In addition, the tribe of Manasseh was very warlike. David would be happy to have them as allies, not enemies. That strategy seems to have worked. The captains of the armies of Manasseh defected to David while David was in Ziklag. For at that time they came to David day by day to help him, until it was a great army, like the army of God. (1 Chronicles 12:22)
Ahinoam had only one son, Amnon, who was killed by Absalom for the rape of his sister, Tamar. Consider this: None of David's first seven "wives" had any more than one son. It looks like these "marriages" were politically and economically motivated. These "alliances" were sealed with the birth of a son. The tribes would not rebel against David if they thought one of their kin might become king - eventually. Bath Sheeba was the only woman who bore more than one son for David. She bore him four sons. The youngest of whom was Solomon.
note: There was a city named Jezreel that had been given to the tribe of Isachaar. And there was another city of Jezreel in Judah. But the Bible would not name Ahinoam as "the Jezreelitess" unless she came from the valley of Jezreel. Neither one of the cities of Jezreel would have been that important.
Abigail:
The Word of God speaks of Abigail as "The Carmelitess." Mt. Carmel guards the Western end of the valley of Jezreel. But Abigail was not from that place. She was from the city of Carmel in Judah. (Joshua 15:55) Abigail had been the wife of Nabal, who was a very rich man. He had three thousand sheep and one thousand goats. David sent some of his young men to Nabal asking for provisions. It was a reasonable request. David's men had protected Nabal and his sheep from all the enemies still inhabiting or raiding that region, including the Amelikites. Surely they could ask for some payment. But when Nabal refused, David swore to kill him. Abigail intervened to save her husband's life, giving David the requested provisions. Soon afterwards Nabal died anyway. Then David took Abigail as wife. (see 1 Samuel 25:2-42) I think that marriage was an economically motivated move. (There was certainly no courtship.) By marrying Abigail, David gained the loyalty of all her servants, as well as supply for his men. The Bible says Abigail was beautiful, and wise, yet the marriage produced only one son, Daniel, AKA Chileab (2 Samuel 3:3). That is why I believe David's marriage to Abigail was merely economically motivated. As in the case of all of David's political marriages, having one son sealed the treaty. The alliance would last as long as that son lived. It is interesting that Daniel, AKA Chileab, never rebelled against David. Abigail was wise.
Ma'acah:
David married Ma'acah in order to seal a peace treaty between himself and Talmai, king of Geshur. The Geshurites were one of the nations God told the people of Israel to wipe out, but they had failed to do so. (Joshua 13:13) When David was living in Gath, he raided the Geshurites. David's practice was to leave no one alive. Talmai probably grew weary of these raids and sued for peace. His daughter sealed the deal. As far as we know neither David nor any other Israelite ever attacked Geshur again.
Archaeologists have found the capital city of Geshur underneath Bethsaida, on the Northern shores of Lake Galilee. Evidently there was a lot of intermarriage between the people of Geshur and the people of Israel. Many of those who lived in Geshur worshipped the gods of Geshur, while many others worshipped the God of Israel.
David's marriage to Ma'acah could be thought of as conquest by marriage. But David paid a dear price for that. Ma'acah's son, Absolam, had ambitions and was at least partly loyal to his mother's people. After Absolam had killed Amnon he fled to Geshur for protection. Eventually Absolam would try to make himself king in David's place. It didn't work. Joab killed Absolam, thus ending the threat. God did not want a Geshurite sitting upon the throne of Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:15)
Haggith:
Adonijah was Haggith's only son. He also rebelled against David by attempting to name himself king instead of Solomon. (see 1 Kings 1:5-53) He lost his life for that treason. Since Haggith had only one son I think she was also some sort of political wife. The fact that Adonijah rebelled also indicates a political alliance.
Abital and Eglah:
Shephatiah was the only son born to Abital. He and his mother are mentioned only once, in 1 Chronicles 3:3 along with Eglah and her son Ithream. Since neither of these women had any other children, I suppose these two "wives" of David were also political, social, or economic arrangements.
Bath Sheeba:
Bath Sheeba was David's favorite wife. The fact that she had four sons, (Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon), indicates that David loved her. She was the last wife he took. He had found his real love at last. It is interesting to note that Solomon was David's youngest son. It was David's wisdom to choose Solomon to be king. David himself had been the youngest son of his father Jesse. Perhaps David knew something about being the youngest son. Perhaps he knew that Solomon had no ambitions to be king, and that is exactly why he chose him. It is also interesting to note that Nathan, Solomon's brother is listed in the ancestry of Joseph in the New Testatment, while Solomon is listed in Mary's lineage. In other words Jesus descended from not one, but two of the grandsons produced by the union of David and Bath Sheeba. This is grace. The only conclusion can be that David repented of his sin and was forgiven.
The Concubines:
Just as Rachel, and Leah, gave their maidservants to Jacob to bear children, it seems likely that some of David's wives gave him their maidservants for the same reason. These concubines gave birth to nine sons who are listed in 1 Chronicles 3:6-8.
All of David's sons had some position in his kingdom. They were "chief ministers" at the king's side (1 Chronicles 18:17). Here we see some of David's wisdom. All of his sons would be tried in positions of authority. One of them would be chosen to succeed to the throne.
