2 Samuel 3:15

2Sa 3:15 And Ishbosheth sent, and took her from [her] husband, [even] from Phaltiel the son of Laish.

Ver. 15. And Ishbosheth sent, and took her from her husband.] By his regal authority he rescindeth that unlawful matrimony of Phaltiel with Michal. This was better than that of Leicester in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, {a} who by his greatness bore out the marriage of Julio, an Italian physician, with another man’s wife; or that of some bishops in King James’s days, and by his appointment, in the business of Essex and Somerset; {b} or that of Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, who took another wife before his former wife was dead, not without the advice of Luther and other Dutch divines, who shamefully misled him. {c}

{a} Camden’s Elisab.

{b} Speed.

{c} Zanch’s Misc.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Sa 3:15-16. Ish-bosheth sent and took her from Phaltiel — This was an honourable action of Ish-bosheth to restore David his lawful wife. Her husband went with her along weeping — “Mr. Bayle,” says Delaney, “considers it as great cruelty in David to ravish her from a husband who loved her so well; that is, he thinks it a great cruelty to disturb Phaltiel in an adultery that was agreeable to him, and to redeem Michal from one, in all appearance, detestable to her, to restore her to her only husband, the husband of her affection and her choice, for whom she had so much tenderness as to save his life at the hazard of her own. Phaltiel was in distress, but it was such a distress as they all endure who are grieved to restore what they have no right to possess; and Mr. Bayle, from the same principles upon which he quarrels with David on this head, is obliged to be highly offended with every honest man who desires to have those goods restored to him of which he once was robbed, under all the circumstances of cruelty and iniquity. And therefore, in truth, Phaltiel is no proper object of pity; and yet his distress upon this occasion is one of the finest pictures of silent grief that any history hath left us. Conscious he had no right to complain, or molest Michal with his lamentations, he follows her at a distance, with a distress silent and self-confined: going (saith the text) and weeping behind her — However such fine paintings of nature pass unregarded in the sacred writings, I am satisfied that in Homer we should survey this with delight.” Abarbinel, and the Jewish rabbis in general, are of opinion that Phaltiel was a strictly religious man, and had had no nuptial commerce with Michal.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:15 Ishbosheth took: Although Abner made the deal with David (3:12-13), it was Ishbosheth who gave Michal to David. This transaction illustrates Ishbosheth’s weakness as a king and his fear of Abner (3:11).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15. Phaltiel] Called Phalti in 1Sa_25:44, where his marriage with Michal is recorded.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Ishbosheth sent and took her from her husband,.... Her second husband, to whom Saul had given her, Sa1 25:44,

even from Phaltiel the son of Laish; he is called Phalti in Sa1 25:44.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For, being forsaken by Abner, he durst not deny David, into whose power he saw he must unavoidedly come; and besides he supposed that she might be an effectual instrument to make his peace with David.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Phaltiel the son of Laish. In 1Sa_25:44 he is called Phalti. This word, in Hebrew lexicons, is usually regarded as a contraction for Phaltiyah, "Jehovah is deliverance," while Phaltiel means "El is deliverance." The substitution of El for Yah is one of those changes which arose out of the superstitious reverence for the sacred name which to this day causes the word LORD to be read in our Bibles where in the Hebrew are the four consonants Y, H, V, H, which, by attaching to them the vowels belonging to the Hebrew word edonay (or, adonay, lord) we make into "Jehovah" (Yehovah).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

From [her] man. Yonasan translated "from the company of her husband."

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.