1 Samuel 25:43, David Steals King Saul’s Wife (part I of II)

//Nestled in between two curious verses about David’s wives is this even more curious verse.

Verse 42 tells how, after Nabal dies, his wife Abigail hastens to marry David. Then verse 43 tells how David also married Ahinoam. Finally, verse 44 tells how Saul had given Michal, David’s wife, to another man. So in these three consecutive verses, David gains two wives and loses one.

But who is this Ahinoam? In all of the Bible, there is only one other woman named Ahinoam. It is the wife of Saul, mother of Jonathan and his two brothers (see 1 Samuel 14:50). Is this the same Ahinoam David married?

Well, we have one clue. Saul is said to have two more sons after Jonathan and his brothers, but they are born not to Ahinoam, but to a concubine named Rizpah. Indeed, after David marries his Ahinoam, Saul’s Ahinoam seems to disappear from the record, replaced by Rizpah. It seems, then, that David did indeed take Saul’s wife.

Could it be? If true, then today’s verses may show how the feud between David and Saul began to escalate. As sordid as this all sounds, the story gets even stranger. Continued tomorrow.