I highly doubt any nakedness occurred at all. It's just that he uncovered himself of royalty and his proud wife was disgusted.
I see your conclusion as a strong possibility. But I think it's jumping the gun to rule out the traditional interpretation that David may have shown a degree of nakedness while dancing before the Lord, after all, even the thigh (ranging from knee to knee) was considered nakedness in biblical times. I'm reminded of a verse of Scripture directed to the priests (who wore ephods),
Exodus 20:25-26
25And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
26Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
The concern was that the priests (wearing ephods) might show their nakedness while walking up high stairs to the altar of God. Evidently the linen ephods were not the most conservative of attire and nakedness was a concern. With this in mind we consider that King David was wearing a linen ephod while dancing and leaping with all his might. It's entirely possible that he revealed himself in his exuberance. Of course, the interesting thing is that the people saw no issue because they weren't looking to criticize David, they were worshiping too. If Michal was worshiping, odds are David's nakedness (regardless of one's take) wouldn't have been at issue.
Also, consider the character of David as the narrative depicts him. David is a man who is often against the grain, unconventional, even at odds with God on occasion. He wasn't the dignified religioso we often picture him as being. For example, David married 7 women before marrying Bathsheba. A careful study of David's life will reveal that he was seeking something at that point in his life each time.
Michal - the feminine of, "who is like God" (Michael), root word meaning brook, stream, or waters, i.e. "waters of God". However, she was given to him by Saul to be a thorn in his side. She appears to be very legalistic and religious. Though David may have loved her, they obviously had communication issues because it is emphasized that she mocked David's worship. She truly didn't understand him and he never had the deep relationship he desired with her. Her prudish legalism and mocking of David's worship brought the hand of God on her and she bore no children, religion is barren.
Ahinoam - "my brother is delight", root "beautiful" or "pleasant", often with reference to a woman's breasts and prowess in providing conjugal love. This girl was lovely and a lover's lover. When David fled for his life from the house of Saul he abandoned Michal and it was win Ahinoam that it appears he found solace while he searched for what he was looking for in love. His first son with her David named Amnon "faithful" demonstrating David's opinion regarding this union and what it was producing. David wanted a faithfulness to be the product of this relationship. However, the implication of her sexual prowess and passion indicates that perhaps she wasn't the most spiritual of women. This left a void in this relationship which leads into the drama of Amnon... but that's a different story.
Abigail - "my father is joy", David was going to kill her husband (Nabal) who apparently wronged David by not paying for services rendered. However she greets David, paying honor to his authority (implying that she believed the prophecies concerning David's kingship) and begged him not to kill her husband on the grounds that it could jeopardize his future calling. After her husband died David married her. His son with her is named, "Chileab" meaning "like his father", but the root of the word is "to withhold", "forbid", or "restrain". Obviously elements of his relationship with Abigail were strained. The relationship produced "restraint" or "withholding". Perhaps due to her religious nature she was not intimate enough for David.
Maaca - "pressure (literally she has pressed)", the roots are "to squeeze" or "fondle", to "press", "kneed", or "crush". Apparently this woman was more "touchy feely" and provided the intimacy lacking with Abigail (who truly was perhaps one of David's greatest wives and female friends). However, with Abigail's withholding, in Maaca David found a woman who he could hold and who would hold him.
Haggith - "festive" with roots in "chagag" meaning "to reel", "dance", or "sway". She was a dancer, and a very entertaining dancer at that. She may have been a belly dancer (common in David's culture). While Maaca was the romantic, Haggith was the life of the party. The girl with whom David could dance the night away until both fell into the arms of passion. David no doubt adored her, he named their child "my lord is Jehovah", for he saw their relationship as a gift from God. However, her love of the party may have made her a bit high maintenance and eventually such a relationship becomes tiresome.
Abital - "my father is (the) dew", or "night mist", the connotations are highly erotic in the Hebrew. Where Haggith was high maintenance and took a lot to provoke to intimacy, Abital was ready for David at a moment's notice. However, he named their son, "Shephatiah", ("Jehovah has judged"). Issues here... another long story.
Eglah - "a heifer", indicating that she may have been a large woman. The terminology leads one to believe that she was motherly. Up until this point David's relationships had experienced: religion, pious beauty, spiritual restraint, romantic touch and intimacy, festive passion, spontaneous intimacy. But none of it made him whole. Now he possesses a woman who will mother him and care for him. He's becoming needy. He names his son with her Ithream or "profit of the people". The roots indicate a meaning more in line with "residue of the people" or "excess of the people". Apparently in mothering David she directed his affairs and made him rather busy with Government. Now board, tired, weary, and feeling in need he looks out over his balcony and sees a woman bathing on her rooftop. A woman named... Bathsheba.
Bathsheba - "daughter of the oath" or "woman of promise". David's adultery through the seduction of Bathsheba, her subsequent pregnancy, the murder of her husband, and God's exposing David's sin is legendary. However, this "other woman" rises to prominence among all the wives of David and even is recorded as aiding in the affairs of the King to the point of seeking the Kingdom's survival her in son Solomon. Perhaps if David would have waited David would have met her later without having to "look for love in all the wrong places". It appears that David's relational happiness was achieved with Bathsheba, no doubt much to the chagrin of his other wives and concubines who are relegated to obscurity after Bathsheba enters the picture.
My point... David was all over the map seeking happiness. David was a sinner who fell into adultery and murder. David violated the Law by eating the shew bread which was only lawful for the priests to eat. The Psalms are up and down indicating to a critical reader that David may have struggled with deep emotional pain and issues. Today they might think of him as easily depressed one moment and on top of the mountains the next. Yet in his lowest of lows David demonstrates the depth of heartfelt cries for help and forgiveness. David was a king, a priest, a sinner, a rebel, a man's man, a radical who broke nearly all the rules... and won. A perfect picture of the Grace of God.
I think in light of Scripture's depiction of David, it's quite possible that David got so excited he exposed himself while dancing in the thin and revealing ephod. Let's not try to cast him in some puritanical mold wherein he acts like a dignified priest in ballet slippers. David is a man and represents manhood in all it's unchained passion and fury. While Michal and others are somehow ashamed of his dancing and being uncovered, I'm not. Because in him I see a heart that is all too human... and yet consumed with a passion for life and God that can't be tamed.
1) to uncover, remove
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to uncover
1a2) to remove, depart
1a3) to go into exile
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) (reflexive)
1b1a) to uncover oneself
1b1b) to discover or show oneself
1b1c) to reveal himself (of God)
1b2) (passive)
1b2a) to be uncovered
1b2b) to be disclosed, be discovered
1b2c) to be revealed
1b3) to be removed
1c) (Piel)
1c1) to uncover (nakedness)
1c1a) nakedness
1c1b) general
1c2) to disclose, discover, lay bare
1c3) to make known, show, reveal
1d) (Pual) to be uncovered
1e) (Hiphil) to carry away into exile, take into exile
1f) (Hophal) to be taken into exile
1g) (Hithpael)
1g1) to be uncovered
1g2) to reveal oneself
The connotation is to be revealed in the sense of uncovered or layed bare, revealed, discovered.
Nowhere is Michal rebuked for lying about David... in fact it is implied that what she said was true, however her mocking attitude brought God's judgment upon her and she was barren from that day forward.
A while back I told someone that David reminded me of President Bill Clinton in the way he liked the ladies. The person that I told that to disagreed and was a little offended about the way I looked at David, the man after God's own heart. I didn't see it as a problem. I believe David really did love the Lord and had an intimate relationship with Him but he just couldn't keep his hands off the ladies. He's certainly not the first preacher or man of God with that problem.
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Sam also known as Jim Ellis
Apostolic in doctrine
Pentecostal in experience
Charismatic in practice
Non-denominational in affiliation
Inter-denominational in fellowship
A while back I told someone that David reminded me of President Bill Clinton in the way he liked the ladies. The person that I told that to disagreed and was a little offended about the way I looked at David, the man after God's own heart. I didn't see it as a problem. I believe David really did love the Lord and had an intimate relationship with Him but he just couldn't keep his hands off the ladies. He's certainly not the first preacher or man of God with that problem.
Yep.
And anyway, so what if he did dance naked in front of the people? Would that have been wrong? A sin? Where's the no-nakedness commandment, anyway?
(Not advocating public nudity. I'm just sayin'. As usual. )
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
My personal opinion is that when he was accused by his wife of "uncovering" himself it was her way of saying that he had taken off his royal robes and dressed and acted like any "common person."
But, maybe in his exuberance David did "expose" himself. I'm sure there were several ladies in the crowd that enjoyed the view and, knowing David's reputation, some didn't see anything they hadn't seen before.
Aquila, I think you read alot into the scripture, things that aren't there. With the meaning of people's name, doesn't mean they are actually like the meaning of their name. But it was the most interesting read so far.
Aquila, I think you read alot into the scripture, things that aren't there. With the meaning of people's name, doesn't mean they are actually like the meaning of their name. But it was the most interesting read so far.
DM, aren't you embarrassed to have that avatar yet?
7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. KJV
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