I threw myself onto my bed and wept. An hour prior, King Dawid had placed his seal on a document.

"Now you are my wife!" he announced proudly.

"But what about the ceremony?" I demanded.

"Too conspicuous." He stroked the bulge of my waist. "We shall have a proper celebration after you bear my son."

"Thank you for your gracious offer to care for me, Your Majesty," I began. "I am pleased that the king delights in his child and has considered my happiness, but I am unworthy to become your wife."

King Dawid slapped my hip in reply, allowing his hand to linger. "Our son deserves the life of a prince, and he shall have it. Rewarding his mother is only fitting."

"I do not wish to wed you!" I retorted, spitting in his face.

I recoiled in horror. The king could have me executed for my insolence, but in my moment of anger, I didn't care. Let him put me to the sword if he wished. I would die bravely, just as my husband had.

"No doubt you are simply upset because of your condition." King Dawid waved his hand dismissively.

My weeping was interrupted by the sound of rapping at my door.

"Who's there?" I asked tearfully.

The door opened, and an older woman entered. Her face was not yet wrinkled, but she bore the brown spots of age.

"So you're Dawid's newest conquest." She tilted her head slightly to the left as she scrutinized me. "I remember when I was young and beautiful like you. Just wait. It will never last."

"I hope not!" I retorted.

The woman nodded sagely. "I hate him too."

Unsure of how to respond, I changed the subject. "To what do I owe the honor of this visit?"

"Just wanted to make sure you're comfortable enough."

I sighed. How could there be any comfort for a woman married to a tyrant?

"How long have you known the king?" I queried.

"Since we were young. I had the displeasure of being his first wife!"

From stories I had heard, I knew that Dawid's first wife was called Michal.

"Did you ever love him?" I wondered aloud.

Michal smiled sadly. "Well, if you've got time, I can tell you about him."

She explained that it had been very easy to fall in love with young Dawid. He played music that soothed the heart of her father, King Shaul. He had become as a brother to Prince Yehonathan. He was handsome and muscular with a briskness to his step and a gleam in his eye.

Michal often plucked flowers for herself and pretended Dawid had given them to her. Sometimes she would order one of her servants to dance with her so she could close her eyes and pretend she danced with Dawid.

On one occasion, she had gotten so lost in her reverie that she told the servant, "Speak words of love to me, my beloved Dawid."

Unsure of himself, the servant did his best to obey. "For you, beauteous princess, I would slay all men of the Philistine army. Allow me to play for you on my harp."

"Kiss me!"

With her eyes still closed, Michal threw her arms around the hapless servant and began kissing him passionately. Unfortunately, King Shaul happened to walk into the room at that moment. When he saw a mere servant with the princess in his arms, he flew into a rage, threatening to execute the poor man. Fortunately, Michal was finally able to return to reality and explain the situation.

The king tugged at his beard. "You favor young Dawid, do you?"

Before any plans could be made, the land was once again ravaged by war, but the Philistines had not attacked without strategy.

There was a man among them called Golyat. King Shaul was taller than most men, and Golyat was even taller than King Shaul. Rather than both sides slaying each other without mercy, the Philistines proposed an easier solution: Let an Israelite champion fight Golyat. The victor would claim his enemies as slaves for his people.

It seemed natural that King Shaul would fight, but he was afraid. Not only would his loss would result in his death, but it would also condemn the Israelites to serve the Philistines. The king waited to see which of his strongest soldiers would volunteer for such an important mission, but days passed without results.

King Shaul finally realized he would have to offer a huge reward to entice any willing man to risk his life. He offered riches, tax exemption, and the hand of his daughter. However, even with such great rewards, no man was found who was brave enough to take such a risk.

Just when all seemed loss, King Shaul heard reports that Dawid had come to bring food to his brothers, and he was asking about Golyat. The king immediately sent for Dawid, but he was surprised by what he heard.

"Let no man's heart fail him from fear. Your servant will fight this Philistine."

King Shaul inwardly groaned. What manner of cruel joke was he hearing? He had waited forty days for a champion, and now a young shepherd, little more than a child, was volunteering for the battle that caused grown men, trained soldiers, to flee in terror.

"You cannot fight him," the king replied. "You are a youth, and he has been trained for battle from his youth. He's been a man of war for far longer than you've been alive."

"I too have fought in battle!" Dawid insisted.

He began telling the king of faithful Mahir and beloved Tuwbal. "I have killed both lion and bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will fall like another beast. Elohim will deliver him into my hand!"

Realizing he had no choice but to relent, King Shaul offered Dawid his armor, but it proved too cumbersome for the young shepherd. Dawid took only his sling, his staff, and five stones that he found in the brook.

Golyat found the situation insulting. Why had Yisrael sent an unarmed boy to fight the finest warrior among the Philistines?

"Am I a dog?" he demanded, his deep voice echoing off the rimrocks surrounding the valley.

There was a double meaning to his words. Dog referred not only to the four-legged beast that barked and wagged its tail, but also to homosexual prostitutes. Golyat clearly believed fighting Dawid was an insult to his manliness. He began cursing the youth by all the gods of the Philistines.

In contrast to Golyat's resounding voice, Dawid's cracked from his young age. "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Yisrael, whom you have defied. This day, Elohim will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you, and I will give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the world may know there is a God in Yisrael. Then all the assembly will know that Elohim does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands."

Dawid was clever. He knew from the way Golyat was glancing around that the warrior was nearsighted. No doubt Golyat saw well enough to defeat any man in close combat, but that wasn't Dawid's fighting style. He had seen the damage his sling could do.

Golyat was so enraged that he rushed forward to kill Dawid as quickly as possible. Dawid ran to meet his enemy, his hands steady as he calmly drew a stone from his pouch and placed it in his sling. A few quick turns of his wrist, and Dawid sent the stone sailing through the air. It came to rest lodged in Golyat's forehead.

Michal hoped that now that Yisrael's enemies were defeated, she would finally be wed to her champion, but it wasn't to be. Little did she realize the day would arrive when she would wish they had never met.