Gevurah of Malchut, Discipline in Nobility. Before claiming authority in a particular situation, pause to reflect on the appropriateness of your exercising it under these circumstances.
From the Omer Calendar of Biblical Women (Rabbi Jill Hammer)
http://www.ritualwell.org/ritu…/omer-calendar-biblical-women:
"Michal is the daughter of King Saul, and King Saul promises Michal to his rival David as a wife, thinking that his daughter will help him keep an eye on David. Michal refuses her father's commands. Instead, Michal helps David escape her murderous father, using the clever ruse of putting a stone idol in David's bed, with goat hair on top. David runs off to the wilderness, and Saul forces Michal to marry another man. When Saul dies and David becomes king, David demands Michal as part of the nation's peace settlement. Michal's husband Paltiel follows her, weeping. Michal says nothing, and she does not weep. Once she is in David's house, she remains proud. When David dances and whirls before the Ark as it is brought into Jerusalem, Michal despises him for what she regards as an obscene display. The text records that to her dying day Michal had no children—either because she was barren or because David refused to have sex with her.
There is something untouchable about Michal's pride. The Talmud records that she put on tefillin, and the sages did not stop her from doing so. She chose to perform a ritual normally denied women, and no one dared to tell her she should not. Michal shows courage in defending her husband from her father, and later shows considerable strength in standing up to her husband when she does not like his behavior. Michal represents gevurah shebe'malkhut—the “strength of majesty,” or the “limits on royal power.” We are most like her when we are willing to question the improper behavior of the powerful."
Below - woodcut of Saul, David, and Michal.
From the Omer Calendar of Biblical Women (Rabbi Jill Hammer)
http://www.ritualwell.org/ritu…/omer-calendar-biblical-women:
"Michal is the daughter of King Saul, and King Saul promises Michal to his rival David as a wife, thinking that his daughter will help him keep an eye on David. Michal refuses her father's commands. Instead, Michal helps David escape her murderous father, using the clever ruse of putting a stone idol in David's bed, with goat hair on top. David runs off to the wilderness, and Saul forces Michal to marry another man. When Saul dies and David becomes king, David demands Michal as part of the nation's peace settlement. Michal's husband Paltiel follows her, weeping. Michal says nothing, and she does not weep. Once she is in David's house, she remains proud. When David dances and whirls before the Ark as it is brought into Jerusalem, Michal despises him for what she regards as an obscene display. The text records that to her dying day Michal had no children—either because she was barren or because David refused to have sex with her.
There is something untouchable about Michal's pride. The Talmud records that she put on tefillin, and the sages did not stop her from doing so. She chose to perform a ritual normally denied women, and no one dared to tell her she should not. Michal shows courage in defending her husband from her father, and later shows considerable strength in standing up to her husband when she does not like his behavior. Michal represents gevurah shebe'malkhut—the “strength of majesty,” or the “limits on royal power.” We are most like her when we are willing to question the improper behavior of the powerful."
Below - woodcut of Saul, David, and Michal.
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