II Samuel - Chapter 6
Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom
Michal: Childless Mother
By Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
David gathered 30,000 prominent people from all the Tribes to retrieve the Ark from the house of Avinadav, where it resided since being returned by the Philistines back in I Samuel chapter 7. They put it on a new wagon, which was led by Avinadav's sons, Uzzah and Achyo. David and the rest of the people danced and played instruments in celebration.
Then, tragedy struck. The Ark slipped, so Uzzah reached out and grabbed it. The Navi doesn't call it a sin, he calls it an error, but the result was the same: Uzzah died. David was distraught and had second thoughts about bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. Instead, they left it in the home of a man named Oveid-Edom, where it resided for three months.
David saw that Oveid-Edom's household was blessed because of the Ark's presence, so he decided to try again. This time he had the Ark carried by Levites, and he offered sacrifices every six steps. David danced with unbridled joy. His wife Michal saw him leaping about and thought it was undignified; she criticized him that even the maidservants would look down on him. David replied He danced in front of Hashem and that if he humbled himself in front of G-d, even those same maidservants would praise him for it. As a punishment for speaking so insolently to David, Michal had no children until the day she died.
Now, that last bit requires some thought, as we know that Michal had a son. Two explanations are given: (1) Her son was already born at this time and Michal had no further children for the rest of her life; (2) Michal died in childbirth, with the result that she had no children "until the day of her death."
A short Insight into II Samuel, Chapter 6
Rava, in Tractate Sotah (35a) asks, Why was David punished by having Uzza die through him?” The gemora answers that this happened through David because he called words of the Torah “songs.” As David states in Tehillim (119, 54), “Your statutes were songs to me in my dwellings of fear.” To this statement of David, Hashem responded, “Behold, I will cause you to stumble regarding a thing that even schoolchildren know! As the verse relates (Bamidbar 7,9), “And to the sons of Kehas he did not give [wagons] for the service of the sacred [was upon them, they must carry upon the shoulder].”Yet, David brought the Ark on a wagon!The Mishptzos Zahav views this stumbling as a lesson in midah k'neged midah (measure for measure).
David's mistake was in the fact that he referred to the statutes of Hashem as a “song”. In truth, to be successful in Torah learning a person must invest himself and all of his energy, without interruption, in his study. In contrast, to master a song and to maintain a mastery of a song, much less effort is required.
A similar distinction can be drawn between carrying a load on one's shoulders and carrying one's load on a wagon. Carrying a load on one's shoulder requires constant effort and concentration. Carrying a load on a wagon doe not compare. After placing the load on the wagon, little if any effort is needed to maintain the load.
Hashem was telling King David that the Torah must be studied and guarded by a person constantly, with maximum effort, wherever a person finds himself if he hopes not to stumble in his service of Hashem. In addition, the Torah that one does acquire requires constant attention in order not to lose it. As Chazal teach us that Torah is as easy to lose as a glass vessel is easy to break.
