Did Michal have children?

Question

II Samuel 6:23 "Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death."
vs.

II Samuel 21:8 "But the king took the two sons of Rizpah . . . and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul."

And how many stalls did Solomon have?

I Kings 4:26 "And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen."

VS

II Chronicles 9:25 "And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen."

Answer 1

Did Michal have children? Note that in the english translations there are two words used. 'child' and 'sons,' the former is both neuter and singular. While the latter is masculine and plural. Think about this one, it is easy to work out! Child is a reference to one particular child, hmm? Could this be an heir to her fathers throne, as she was the crown princess? That is to say that until her death she did not birth a particular child who would be king, as David usurped the throne of Saul and his child and heir was Solomon the son of another women.
As so 'sons' and pos. daughters she may well have had five sons but without one of them be 'the' child.

II Samuel 6:23 "Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death."
vs.

II Samuel 21:8 "But the king took the two sons of Rizpah . . . and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul."



And how many stalls did Solomon have? The Hebrew language does not have numbers and I am always interested therefore in how translaters come to these wonderful figures. 4 and 40 due to the common 4 are similar and any error in the 3000 + year old text may bring about this discrepency. 40,000 stall each housing 10 horses brings us to the region of about 400,000 horses; this is 200,000 chariots with a two man crew amounting to cerca 400,000 trained men plus support soldiers and auxillia which brings us to around 1,000,000 men. These would all be in armour? These would all need food and accomodation? Dynastic Egypt at her New Kingdom zenith could not maintain such a force, the lesson is that we go with the smaller figure of 4,000 stalls which is more than believable for an iron age empire the size of Israel. Sometimes scribes make errors you know, a lesson we learn if you ever get someone else to type up your sermon for morning service...

I Kings 4:26 "And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen."

II Chronicles 9:25 "And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen."

Answer 2

Michal (daughter to Saul, David's wife) had no children.

2 Samuel 6:23
"Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death."

Any "sons" that were acredited to Michal were the children of her maid servant(s), David's concubines.
It was socially acceptible at the time to claim your maid's children as your own, particularly when they were raised in the household.

Answer 3

Which bible did you read that in? Mine says Michal and Merab, who were both daughters of Saul.

Also, mine reads four thousand on both accounts.

It is likely a copyist error. No one ever claimed that the men who transcribed the bible over and over were perfect. Remember they did not have anything to proof them other than themselves. All in all, I think they did an amazing job of keeping it so accurate with so few errors.