I WILL BE EVEN MORE UNDIGNIFIED THAN THIS

2 Samuel 6:14-22

¹⁴ And David danced before the Lord with all his might, clad in a linen ephod [a priest’s upper garment].

¹⁵ So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.¹⁶ As the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter [David’s wife], looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ They brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.¹⁸ When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name [and presence] of the Lord of hosts,¹⁹ And distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both to men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, each to his house.

²⁰ Then David returned to bless his household. And [his wife] Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who stripped himself of his kingly robes and uncovered himself in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the worthless fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!

²¹ David said to Michal, It was before the Lord, Who chose me above your father and all his house to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord. Therefore will I make merry [in pure enjoyment] before the Lord.²² I will be still more lightly esteemed than this, and will humble and lower myself in my own sight [and yours]. But by the maids you mentioned, I will be held in honor.

MY NOTES: Because of David’s example, the people he led also praised God with shouting and on musical instruments. 

David danced with all his might before the Lord’s presence.  How often do we see church services where people are dancing with all their might in the Lord’s presence?  Yet, many will go to a bar and dance before each other!   The ark represents God’s presence which is far more worthy of celebration of people or a band!  Prior to this David had attempted to bring the ark to Jerusalem but Uzziah had tried to control the ark with his hands (the hand of man) and Uzziah died right there.  Many preachers have tried to control God’s presence and the place seems dead when you go to church.  There’s no flow of the Spirit, no obvious touch of God upon God’s people and no life giving Spirit flowing in the place at all, much less enough to make people dance and rejoice with all their might.  David sent the ark to Obededum’s.  Obededum watched over the presence of God in his house and he was blessed. David realized that the ark must be handled God’s way rather than man’s way and ordered the ark brought up to Jerusalem again. This time they carried it God’s way and here David danced before the Lord with all his might.

David was a King in Israel. All eyes were upon him yet he wasn’t embarrassed to dance before the presence of God with all his might clothed only in a linen ephod

First, David blessed the Lord with offerings and then he turned to bless the people.  The desire to be a blessing continued at the return of the presence of God.  The presence of God in a person’s life should inspire a desire to give and bless!  If a person’s heart continues in greed they probably haven’t let go completely to God!

David’s desire to bless continued as he was enjoying God’s presence.  His desire was to bless his family.  Sadly his wife rejected the rejoicing and mocked David.  She accused him of nakedness and being undignified.  This was an exaggeration as he was wearing an ephod. Jealousy often causes exaggeration.  She accused him of acting shamelessly yet the word says he was dancing before the Lord with all his might.  And you can see that at this behavior no one died as they did when man tried to control the presence.  God had accepted David’s praise and undignified dancing yet his wife, Michal mocked.

We should be very careful in mocking the things of God.  It’s wise to consider what the word says rather than what the world will think or say.  Michal was more concerned with dignity than she was at what was happening in the Lord.  She was more concerned with dignity than at realizing that the presence of God was returning to bring great blessing.  You can also see a touch of jealousy in her heart at the fact that time was spent being a blessing and bringing a blessing to the women of Israel even though David did nothing wrong.  Her jealousy was at the fact he was blessing and being blessed in their presence.  She had refused to enter in to the blessing David and the others were enjoying and became critical rather than being blessed herself.

David did not yield or accept his wife’s mockery.  Instead he told her the truth that it was before the Lord that he was dancing and praising and doing what she thought foolish.  He confronted her jealousy over her father’s house and reminded her that it was the Lord that had chosen him and he also did not care what she said about him or how she mocked.  He said, “Therefore I will play before the lord.”  He was saying, “I will be what you call undignified before the lord and even more so.”  “I will play in God’s presence if that’s where the blessing is.”

It must have hurt David to have even one that was closest to him that he loved so much criticize and mock yet he didn’t back down or change because of it.

He desired Michal to be his wife because he had sent for her when he became victorious and took her back away from Saul’s house who had stolen her.  Instead of appreciating him and loving him, she despised and was jealous of him.

Here he says “I will be more vile than this and base in my own eyes.”  He wasn’t going to let pride and concern of what other might think stop him from enjoying the presence of God and being a blessing to God and a blessing to others.  He noted that although she dishonored him, those that entered into God’s presence and the celebration of God’s presence would honor him.