Michaella/Michal/Michael Bates

[Deleted07]

A very interesting story behind Michaella Bates name from the comments section of the Bates blog:

 

 

Quote

When Michaella was born, I was a very young Christian. We wanted to name her a name that would remind her of her Christian heritage. We didn’t want to use a traditional Bible name, because at the time we had so many college friends with children who had Bible names. We researched girl Bible names and found Michal, David’s wife. Unfortunately, I had not studied the Bible enough at that time to know the story of David’s wife, who wasn’t a good role model. After Michaella’s birth, I committed to read through my Bible, and was heart sick to find that the name we had chosen had that background. Wanting to make sure she knew how special and loved she was, we attempted to have her name legally changed. She was under a year old, so they told us if we would just change the spelling, but not the name, we could do it quickly at no cost. It could only be a slight change in order to avoid the hassle and expense of a lawyer and court costs… so we changed it to Michael (only one letter different, and the traditional spelling). As she got older, we realized her name was often confused with the boy name of Michael, since that is more popular. So the nickname of Michaella developed… we tried different spellings at first, but Michaela was pronounced with a long a sound in the middle. We weren’t creative enough to spell it with the variety that some use today like Mykalla or something (plus we wouldn’t have been able to make that drastic of a change without court proceedures.) Anyways, now she usually goes by her real name… Michael… but I’ve written Michaella for so long that it has stuck. The siblings call her Micky as a nickname.Love, Kelly

 

I didn't know much about this character in The Bible, so went to [link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michal]wikipedia[/link].

 

Apparently she was married to someone called David, that her father wanted dead, she was the second daughter and 'booby prize' if you will (he apparently wanted the sister but the father said no and offered her up) and "It is recorded that she chose the welfare of David over the wishes of her father." She helped him escape from the father who wanted him dead. He then apparently went off, drinking, whoring it up with others and remarrying etc. Her father gave her off to marriage to someone else. Then in the end her brother basically gives her back to David while he rules after their father dies. She criticizes the guy for his behaviour and apparently as punishment for everything she did (which I still don't understand what she did wrong?) she dies alone and barren and childless.

 

Kind of reminds me why I rarely read The Bible, these characters are messed up!

 

But anywho, thought this was all very interesting. Anyone have anymore information about Michal the character in the Bible and thoughts about using it as a name and why it would be seen as a bad role-model?

[Funky Chicken]

The take-home message there seems to be that they were too stingy to pay up to give her the name they really wanted her to have...

[jacalley]

So basically, Gil and Kelly hadn't actually read the Bible at that point?

Why am I not surprised? :clap:

[marmalade]

Going by memory, Michal was Saul's daughter. David basically stole the kingdom from Saul. They started as friends (David was sort of a protegee). However, they were polar opposites; Saul was a warrior king, David ruled by brains and stealth. I can't believe Kelly blamed Michal for David's asshatetry. Oh wait, yes I can. :roll:

Toward the end of the Saul cycle, the Bible starts depicting him as mentally unstable. David and Saul become rivals and David assumes power; Saul dies pretty much disgraced. Taking Saul's daughter against her will was a shot at Saul (not sure if Saul was dead by then, but Michal was well aware of the history). Of course, David later schemed to steal Bathsheba from poor Uriah, whom David set up to be killed (no wonder the camper keeps breaking down).

I think all of this is in 1 Samuel. It's actually a pretty interesting story; there are two versions of David v. Goliath (same deal as Genesis 1/2). The newer version, added by the 6th c. BCE redactors, adds heroic details that the Jews needed after the destruction of the Temple and scattering of the Tribes.

(edited for a little more clarity)

[Arete]

Another great Christian way to treat your so called blessings. Half assing their legal names.

[luckystone]

I know girls called Michal.

This story is odd though. All you find out is that they are 1) stupid 2) cheap and 3) crazy, as shown by their initial mistake and their attempt to fix it

[Deleted07]

I found [link=http://www.womeninthebible.net/Michal_wife_of_David.htm]THIS[/link] link and writing about the story to be helpful and enlightening.

But I certainly don't see why Kelly would say she is a bad role model and that her heart sank after reading her story!

If anything this character is simply a pawn of all the men around her! Her father first using her to get to David, then David using her too for his own political gains!

She tries to follow her heart and helps her husband get away, which one would think that is OK because she was married to him, thus under his headship (and ultimately he becomes King David the Prophet, so really good on her for helping him escape?).

When the 'righteous' David comes back after committing adultery and murder and breaking many other commandments he continues to use her again, while he acts like a buffoon.. She tells him off for his antics and is never heard of again dying alone and childless in his harem...

Just bizarre! What the heck!?! Talk about misinterpreting your Bible!!

[Visionoyahweh]

Unfortunately, I had not studied the Bible enough at that time to know the story of David’s wife, who wasn’t a good role model.

In 1796, a fiercely determined band of pioneers leaves Maryland after misinterpreting a passage in the bible. Their destination, New Sodom.

[Patsy]

In 1796, a fiercely determined band of pioneers leaves Maryland after misinterpreting a passage in the bible. Their destination, New Sodom.

You are my idol.

[terranova]

No wonder she always seems like the black sheep. Her sisters have mostly very feminine names and she gets stuck with what is essentially a guys name? Poor kid.

[Jezebel Duggar]

I know girls called Michal.

This story is odd though. All you find out is that they are 1) stupid 2) cheap and 3) crazy, as shown by their initial mistake and their attempt to fix it

Which of those three things didn't you already know? They've proven it over and over.

[Deleted07]

surprised they didn't just called her 'Jane Citizen' :roll:

[Renting with Raggles]

Which of those three things didn't you already know? They've proven it over and over.

To be fair, that is some powerful stupid. I could see the teenage Duggar newlyweds, with minimal education or experience with evangelical Christianity making a mistake like that in the early 90 s; however, Gil and Kathy went to Bible college! WTF were they doing all those years? We know they don't offer real courses - they spent all that time reading the Bible and fundy interpretations of the Bible and they still made that "error"?

[evenstar210]

My SIL is named Michal. It's a fairly popular name in Israel. But why would they name their little GIRL Michael? That's a BOY's name. Someone might mistake her for a boy! Oh, wait. Just stick a huge-assed flower headband on her head and everything will be fine. Besides, it's not like her teacher is going to mispronounce her name, and she won't get teased on the playground at school....sigh.

[TudorRose]

According to 2 Samuel 6, Michal was a rude and disrespectful wife to David:

20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!â€

and was barren

23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

that's the part of her story that makes her not a good role model for a young lady.

[slickcat79]

What the actual fuck? You want to give your kid a biblical name, but not one of those NORMAL biblical names, so you pick one at random. Then, during all the months of pregnancy, you don't even bother to read the story that you're basing your child's name on? THEN, you decide that you couldn't bear to have your child named after someone (possibly a fictional character) who might be a BAD ROLE MODEL :shock:

AND THEN you're too cheap to have the name legally changed, so you try to half-ass it into a popular boys' name. There is not enough facepalm in the world for this.

OTOH, it does explain why they pronounce the name Michael-a instead of Mi-kayla, and why her name isn't spelled consistently on the blog.

[Pretzel]

To be fair, that is some powerful stupid. I could see the teenage Duggar newlyweds, with minimal education or experience with evangelical Christianity making a mistake like that in the early 90 s; however, Gil and Kathy went to Bible college! WTF were they doing all those years? We know they don't offer real courses - they spent all that time reading the Bible and fundy interpretations of the Bible and they still made that "error"?

Kathy? How dare you misspell her name? :naughty: Oh wait, that's what they did to their daughter, anyway. ;) At least, the whole shebang sounds like the Bateses, so Kelly probably told the truth FWIW. What irks me is their perpetual reuse of the phonetic "el-ly": Kelly, Callie, Ellie, Alyssa, Carlin, Addallee... :roll: I don't know whether that's actually worse than having all your names start with the same letter... :?:

[DomWackTroll]

Tim Bayly named his daughter Michal, which I always found... interesting. :roll:

[tabitha2]

I just always assumed they named her for Gils middle name of Michael.

[Deleted07]

it totally just screams all sorts of idiocy to me! Did they even give her or any of their kids middle names???

[TinyDancer87]

According to 2 Samuel 6, Michal was a rude and disrespectful wife to David:

20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!â€

and was barren

23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

that's the part of her story that makes her not a good role model for a young lady.

Is this why she's a bad role model? Because she caught her husband being a man-whore and said something about it?! Sounds like my kind of woman.

[wendy-sparkles]

Kathy? How dare you misspell her name? :naughty: Oh wait, that's what they did to their daughter, anyway. ;) At least, the whole shebang sounds like the Bateses, so Kelly probably told the truth FWIW. What irks me is their perpetual reuse of the phonetic "el-ly": Kelly, Callie, Ellie, Alyssa, Carlin, Addallee... :roll: I don't know whether that's actually worse than having all your names start with the same letter... :?:

The three youngest girls having rhyming names has always bugged me so much

[slickcat79]

Kathy? How dare you misspell her name? :naughty: Oh wait, that's what they did to their daughter, anyway. ;) At least, the whole shebang sounds like the Bateses, so Kelly probably told the truth FWIW. What irks me is their perpetual reuse of the phonetic "el-ly": Kelly, Callie, Ellie, Alyssa, Carlin, Addallee... :roll: I don't know whether that's actually worse than having all your names start with the same letter... :?:

The Jeubs actually did that with all their children; all of their names end with the "ah" sound: Alicia, Cynthia, Lydia, Noah, etc. I think Chris Jeub beats himself up EVERY DAY that he couldn't have been a few years quicker on the draw with baby-making. He's only got 16 kids (including his 2 stepdaughters), and the oldest of his bio kids is only 19. A few years faster and it could have been his family on 14 Children and Pregnant Again, gaining the attention of the whole country, netting a show on TLC, and successfully pimping out the kids for big $$.

[Renting with Raggles]

Kathy? How dare you misspell her name? :naughty: Oh wait, that's what they did to their daughter, anyway. ;) At least, the whole shebang sounds like the Bateses, so Kelly probably told the truth FWIW. What irks me is their perpetual reuse of the phonetic "el-ly": Kelly, Callie, Ellie, Alyssa, Carlin, Addallee... :roll: I don't know whether that's actually worse than having all your names start with the same letter... :?:

I should not drink in the middle of the afternoon. Still, I would get the name of my child right if I was preggers. :naughty:

[Mela99]

Well, I feel like a total derp. I thought her name was Michaella like Makayla. Not... Michael-La.

I really should watch more episodes.

Or not..

Hm...

Also, how is this not defrauding and a total and utter offense to God that she HAS A BOY'S NAME??? How will she ever get a headship??? THIS IS SO NOT FEMININE.