A Foolish Love by Katy Morgan
June 12th, 2023 • by Katy Morgan
It is one of the most moving—and terrifying—moments in the story of David. In 2 Samuel 6, the ark of God is brought to Jerusalem. As this symbol of God’s presence is brought through the city, David strips down to what is apparently very little and dances before it “with all his might” (v. 14). Later, David finds his wife Michal waiting at home. “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today,” she spits sarcastically (v. 20). The narrator tells us she despises him for what he has done (v. 16).
The story is moving because it reveals the depths of David’s unashamed devotion to God. But it’s terrifying because it forces us to realize that we’re a lot less like David than we think. Too often, we’re rather like Michal instead.
Good Sense
Can’t you see where Michal is coming from? It’s easy enough to imagine what’s going through her mind. David’s love is a foolish love. He didn’t need to strip off; he could have shown his devotion without that. Let’s be honest, his behavior was not kingly. It wasn’t politic. It wasn’t wise.
Michal is Saul’s daughter. She has seen her father make a mess of kingship, losing the people’s approval almost as quickly as he lost God’s; she has watched her brother Ish-bosheth try and fail to cling to power. She doesn’t want her husband to go the same way. Of course, Michal has missed the point of what makes a good king in God’s eyes—we know that—but how many of us would have got it if we were in her place? Don’t most of us aim to live sensible, rational, proportionate lives? Looking after money and possessions wisely; doing what we can to avoid suffering; compromising here for the sake of something more important there?
The terrifying thing about Michal is that she is not a villain. She’s not like Saul, who gets things so wrong that he makes multiple murder attempts on the man God has chosen as king. She’s not like Goliath, who openly taunts the Lord. Michal is on David’s team; she even saved his life once (1 Samuel 19:11-17). All the indications are that she’s gutsy, intelligent, and loyal—a heroine. Yet in the end she fails to see what David sees, which is that the Lord is so worth loving that everything else is blown out of the water.
“David owes God everything, so he gives him everything.”
Foolish Simplicity
“It was before the Lord,” David tells her, amazed perhaps at her failure to understand (2 Samuel 6:21). “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord.” David owes God everything, so he gives him everything. It’s simple to him.
This is a foolish kind of love, when you look at it from Michal’s direction. It’s the kind of behavior that’s more than likely to land David in trouble. When Saul stripped off in a similar way years before it was an expression of weakness and defeat, the Lord foiling his plans (1 Samuel 19:19-24)—and who will follow a weak king?
Yet David’s is a foolishness far wiser than any of the world’s wisdom.
The Right Type of Fool
Of course, I’m not advocating that anyone strip off at church next Sunday. I don’t think this story is telling us to ditch our cool rationality altogether and embrace impulsive gestures. But it is a warning to us—a warning not to be so sensible that we forget who our Lord and Savior is. A reminder that it is better to be a fool in the house of the Lord than the queen of a kingdom without him.
“It is better to be a fool in the house of the Lord than the queen of a kingdom without him.”
I have some friends who give so much money away that they barely have anything in their savings account for a rainy day. It’s foolishness—what happens when they get sick, what happens when they want to retire? I have a friend who is so committed to caring for others that she is liable to run out of energy and burn out completely. Again, it’s foolishness; I wouldn’t advise it. Yet at the same time it’s the kind of foolishness I deeply admire. Yes, there is room for being sensible: it’s wise to think ahead and plan for the long term; it’s important to look after yourself; it’s good to think things through. But the danger—for me, anyway—is that we spend so much time thinking things through that we forget the simple truths that are the most important.
Sometimes our foolishness will lead us into hot water. Sometimes we make bad decisions. But we’ll make bad decisions anyway, probably—and so why not make them oriented towards the Lord? Why not make them on our knees: I might be wrong here, Lord, but I’m trying to serve you—will you help me? Why not make them with hearts of devotion and faith, rather than hearts of cynicism and doubt? If we’ll be fools anyway, why not be David’s type of fool?
I said to a friend of mine the other day, “I just don’t know what the best thing to do is.” He answered, “Katy, the best thing to do is to keep following Jesus. The rest is just details.”
I think David knew that, too.
Katy Morgan is the author of The Songs of a Warrior, a biblically faithful retelling of the first two kings of Israel for ages 8-13. She is an editor at The Good Book Company and loves helping children and young people grow in knowledge and love of Jesus. She was previously part of a school chaplaincy team and now volunteers in the youth work at her church, King’s Church Chessington in Surrey. She holds a master's degree in classical Greek literature.
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