King Saul, King David & Achinoam
Question
Are the following 3 statements true?
1. Ahinoam married Saul and gave birth to Mikhal, Yonathan, and other children.
2. David married Mikhal (Ahinoam’s daughter). They had no children.
3. David married Ahinoam. She gave him an heir, Amnon.
Is Ahinoam the same person who married Saul and married David?
How old was she at the time of each of her marriages?
If Ahinoam was Yonathan’s mother, and Yonathan and David were about the same age, wouldn’t she have been too old to bear David children?
Answers
1. That seems to be correct although I must confess to not being able to find a definitive source that confirms it.
2. King David married Michal. It is not clear if they had children together or not. The Talmud suggests that she did have children. Either she had children before the incident with King David dancing in front of the Ark but she no more children afterward. Or, she had only one child and she died immediately after giving birth.
3. Yes, that is correct.
It is unclear if Achinoam is the same person that King Saul married. According to most commentaries they were not the same person but there is an opinion that they were and that Natan the Prophet gave Achinoam to King David to marry as sign of King David’s complete control over King Saul’s kingdom.
I cannot find any source that talks about how old Achinoam was but I do not think that there should be an issue as King Saul only reigned for two years.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team