In all the Bible, only three women are described as loving: Rebecca, who loved her son Jacob; Ruth the Moabite, who loved her mother-in-law; and Michal, daughter of Saul, who loved her husband David. Michal is not just the first biblical woman who is said to love a man; she is the only one, which serves to emphasize the power and tragedy of her love. Alas, this love was not just unique in the Bible; it was also unrequited—predictably, given her husband’s personality.
David, it will be recalled, was good-looking, smart, a military hero and musician, and God was with him. But he had another quality, not explicitly pointed out in the text but apparent from the story—he was a much-loved person. More precisely, he was the most beloved person in the Bible. Perhaps this was the true tragedy of Michal, who loved a man who was loved by so many, a man who didn’t need to lift a finger to win the heart of others, which is why his emotional life became so distorted and corrupt.
from Beginnings: Reflections on the Bible’s Intriguing Firsts, by Meir Shalev
This doesn’t mean that Rebecca, Ruth, and Michal were the only women in the Hebrew Bible who loved, of course.
And I don’t know why Shalev doesn’t count the sheperdhess in Song of Songs as a “biblical woman who is said to love a man.”
But still.
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