Rebbetzin Chava Kuperman
She weaves rugs for herself and dresses in fine linen and purple...
This refers to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, who became king of Israel and wore royal garments (fine linen is finely woven flax; purple was also worn by royalty).
Her husband is renowned; he sits with the elders at the city gates…
A clear allusion to Michal, David's wife. This refers to the occasion when Michal saved him from death.
Here is what happened. After David's brilliant victory over the giant and the Philistines, King Saul, Michal's father, brought him into his inner circle and made him a military commander. David was extraordinarily successful because the Almighty helped him in everything. As the prophet Samuel says, “David pleased all the people and Saul's servants” (1 Samuel, ch. 18, v. 5). The people began singing of David's exploits and praising him more highly than Saul himself.
Saul grew jealous. He came to hate David.
Here is how the prophet Samuel describes it (1 Samuel, ch. 18, vv. 7-11 and following): “And the women sang, saying: Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands. ...And Saul grew angry …and said: They have given David tens of thousands; all he lacks now is the kingdom!
And it happened that the next day an evil spirit from G-d came upon Saul, and he raved in the house. David was playing the harp as usual, while Saul had a spear in his hand. Saul threw the spear at David and said: I will pin David to the wall! But David dodged him twice. Then Saul decided: let David die at the hands of the Philistines rather than at the king's hand. He promised him his daughter Michal in marriage (but gave her to someone else) and made him commander over thousands. But David began leading the people, and Saul feared him.
Michal fell in love with David. Saul was told about it.
He was pleased and decided that he would give her to David in marriage, that she would become a snare for him, and that the hand of the Philistines would be against David.
We will not recount all the complications and intrigues King Saul wove around David (you can read all of this in the prophet Samuel, in the verses cited above and those that follow). In the end, however, the king achieved nothing by giving Michal to David in marriage. As before, David was loved by the people and the servants and was successful in all his endeavors. Then Saul decided that he would kill David himself.
Michal learned of this and told her husband: “You must flee immediately. Tomorrow will be too late.”
Like Rahab, she lowered David through a window on a “red” cord, because guards were stationed at the entrance to the house. David escaped during the night, and in the morning the guards sent by Saul came for him. “He is ill!” Michal said. “He cannot get out of bed!” She showed them the bed, with skins piled on it. The guards returned to the palace empty-handed, but soon came back. Saul demanded that David be brought to him, alive or dead, even if they had to drag him along with the bed. But the bed was empty.
When Saul called his daughter to account, she said: “I saved you from shedding pure and innocent blood!”
To be continued