Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim, was the second husband of Michal

Michal

Michal was a daughter of Saul, king of Israel, who loved and became the wife of David, who later became king of Judah, and later still of the united Kingdom of Israel....

, Saul

Saul

-People:Saul is a given/first name in English, the Anglicized form of the Hebrew name Shaul from the Hebrew Bible:* Saul , including people with this given namein the Bible:* Saul , a king of Edom...

's daughter..

Michal was originally David

David

David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

's wife, but Saul gave her to Palti after she helped David escape from Saul. Later after David was anointed, but before he succeeded Saul as king of Judah, David demanded of Ish-bosheth

Ish-bosheth

According to the Hebrew Bible, Ish-bosheth also called Eshbaal , Ashbaal or Ishbaal, was one of the four sons of King Saul, born c. 1047 BC...

 Saul's son (and Michal's brother) her return to David as his wife. This Ish-bosheth did. David demanded that Abner

Abner

In the Book of Samuel, Abner , is first cousin to Saul and commander-in-chief of his army...

, a military leader, bring Michal to David in return for a meeting between them.

The account says that Palti "followed her weeping as far as Bahurim

Bahurim

Bahurim was a village east of Jerusalem, on the road to the Jordan valley, close to Mount of Olives.It is the place where Palti son of Laish turned back as he cried after his wife, Michal, when she was brought back to her first husband, King David....

. But Abner

Abner

In the Book of Samuel, Abner , is first cousin to Saul and commander-in-chief of his army...

 said to him 'Go Back!'. And he turned back.". According to the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

, Palti never consummated his marriage with Michal, but kept a sword between them while in bed to separate them. The Talmud explains his weeping as sorrow over the loss of a good deed, and not as weeping for the loss of Michal herself:

Is it not written (II Samuel 3.16), He went weeping? —This was for losing the good deed [of self-restraint]. Hence [he followed her] to [the town called] Bahurim (literally, youths), implying that they both had remained like unmarried youths and not tasted the pleasure of marital relations.

British rabbi Jonathan Magonet

Jonathan Magonet

Rabbi Jonathan Magonet is a British Jewish theologian, Vice-President of the World Union of Progressive Judaism, and a biblical scholar. He is highly active in Christian-Jewish dialogue, and in dialogue between Jews and Muslims...

has described the episode as 'one of those remarkable subversive moments' when we are forced to confront the dark side of a heroic character (David), to ask what really matters, and what price might be too high to pay for something. Palti loses his wife, 'but for one brief moment he helps turn our perception of the world inside out'.