The Bible is full of women who contributed differently to the progress of God’s bigger plan. Some women were given detailed information and for others, there are just a few verses written about them. However we cannot jump over them because their stories extend to a bigger story that contributed to God’s story. Some of these women were even unnamed like Sampson’s mother, the wife of Noah, Potiphar’s wife among others. We identify such women from either their husbands or their children. For instance, the wife of Noah played a major role in the story of the flood. We don’t hear God talking to her but her children sustained the earth from extermination. In today’s post we will consider Ahinoam and the other wives of David. Being wives of a polygamous husband, the stories of these women are overshadowed by the stories of the other wives who were highlighted in scripture.
David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. (1 Samuel 25:43)
This is how scripture introduces Ahinoam: “David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives” (1 Samuel 25:43). Ahinoam is mentioned in the story of David and Abigail. When David fled from Saul, his wife Michal was taken and given to another man. Ahinoam was David’s first wife during his wandering years, after Michal. Ahinoam was from Jezreel. The city of Jezreel witnessed significant events in Biblical history, including the story of Naboth’s vineyard. We’re not told how David met Ahinoam. By the first mention of Ahinoam, she was already married to David. Her husband was a wanderer, a man fleeing from Saul, the king of Israel. Ahinoam experienced at first hand the predicament of living in exile. Together with Abigail and the other women and children in David’s camp, raiders carried them off when David and his men were away. “When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.” (1 Samuel 30:3-5). Thankfully, all the captives were rescued.
Ahinoam was the mother of David’s firstborn: “His firstborn was Amnon the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel” (2 Samuel 3:2b). The second son of David was Daniel the son of Abigail, the widow of Nabal (1 Chronicles 3:1). When Saul died, David left the stronghold and went to Judah. David lived in Hebron as a king over them for seven years. During those times, he married more wives. In addition to Ahinoam and Abigail, David married Maakah, Haggith, Abital and Eglah. When the kingship was restored to David, he went up to Jerusalem with his wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel, Maakah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah (1 Chronicles 31-4). Amnon, Ahinoam’s firstborn raped Tamar the daughter of Maakah. Absalom, the son of Maakah killed Amnon. Adonijah the son of Haggith was later killed by Solomon, the son of Bethsheba. While in Jerusalem, David took other wives including Bethsheba the wife of Uriah. All these women lived in the Palace as wives of David.
I am not sure how polygamous homes operate, but David must have been a busy man to marry all these women. The different children from the different wives contributed to the bigger story of David. Michal, David’s first wife remained barren until her death. I personally don’t recommend polygamy and God’s original plan for marriage as instituted in the Garden of Eden was one man and one wife. Many women are drawn to polygamous homes by force. Others are drawn by money and yet others are drawn by the pressures of life.
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