“A Bitter Wife” – FBC Morning Light (6/28/2023)

Well, a good Wednesday morning to you. I hope your week's going well thus far, and just by way of reminder that this week will be the last week we do the Morning Light devotionals for a few weeks. We're going to have a little hiatus here.

I've been doing these devotionals every day, every weekday, since late March, I think it was, in 2020. So just after the COVID lockdowns were ordered and all that stuff, I started doing these devotionals and have done them every weekday for the last three years.

So I'm going to take a little bit of a break. I could schedule, I suppose, a bunch of reruns, but I'm just going to take a break and then come back in August and come back at it. So just to be aware of that.

David, Michael, and the Ark of the Covenant

Well, today in our Bible reading plan, we're reading in 1 Chronicles 15 and 16, Romans chapter 11, and Psalm 119, verses 73 through 80. And I want to zero in on the end of chapter 15. There's this incident where, well, yesterday we saw how David had tried to bring the Ark of the Covenant in, failed.

Well, he learned from his mistake. He went back to the Word, found out, put the Ark on a cart, or don't put the Ark on a cart, have the priest carry it, and that's what they did. And so they're bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the city of Jerusalem, and it is a celebratory occasion, and there's great festivity.

And we read at the end of chapter 15 that all Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord with shouting, with the sound of the horn, with trumpets, and with cymbals, making music, with stringed instruments and harp.

Can you imagine this? And back in verse 27, it says, David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who bore the Ark. David also wore a linen ephod. And then in verse 29, this is the verse I want to kind of zero in on, it says, it happened as the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, that Michael, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David whirling and playing music, and she despised him in her heart.

The parallel passage to this in 2 Samuel tells us that Michael was then, she had no children after that event. And you know, most interpreters look at this passage and are really, really hard on Michael for her attitude toward David, because she despised him, and they take the fact that she didn't have any children after that as an act of God's judgment against her.

I will concede that that is possible, and I will concede also that her bitterness of heart is not something that can be justified in the long run. But, what I want us to think about today is how it can be understandable.

Michael's History with David and Saul

Here's where I'm going with this. Remember the history here, Michael and David actually loved each other. Michael had her heart set on David back before David was the king, and he was serving in the king's palace, and David had his heart on her.

And it turned out that they ended up getting married. Well, Saul's attitude toward David finally came out, and Saul's wanting to kill David and get rid of him, and Michael knows this, she understands this, and Michael helps David escape Saul's hand.

She literally saves his life. She put the dummy in the bed so that Saul could escape and give time for him to get away, so that Saul's henchmen don't get David and kill him. So she saved David's life.

Well, when David left, he never did anything to get Michael back. She was left there and never sent any message to her to clandestinely come to him. In the meantime, he takes on some other wives while he's departed from Jerusalem and he's on the run from Saul.

Eventually, Saul dies, and how long is David on the run from Saul? A couple of years, at least. So eventually Saul is killed in battle, and David is crowned the king of Judah, at least, and he reigns in Hebron.

And we read in our passage here, I think it was in 2 Samuel, we read that David reigned in Hebron for seven and a half years. And it was during this time that there was the conflict between the descendants of Saul, Ish-bosheth, and Abner as Ish-bosheth's leader of his army and all this kind of stuff, and the men of David.

So there's this transition period of seven years, and finally, eventually, Abner and Ish-bosheth have a falling out, and Abner tells Ish-bosheth, I'm going to go throw my loyalty behind David. So he goes to David, and he says to David, I'm going to bring all of Israel under your authority.

I'm going to make sure that they all come to you. And David says, okay, I will believe you if you go bring my wife, Michael, and bring her to me. All right, now keep in mind, this is probably about nine years later.

So they've been apart for nine years. And in the meantime, because David has essentially abandoned her, Saul had given her, Michael, to another man. And another man took Michael as his wife. And we read about this in 2 Samuel 3, and verse 13, David says to Abner, he says, I make a covenant with you, but one thing I require of you, you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michael, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face.

So Abner goes ahead and does this, and he goes and finds Michael, and he does this through Ish-bosheth. David sends a message to Ish-bosheth, and Ish-bosheth goes and says to Michael's husband, and he sent and took her from her husband.

We read in verse 15, 2 Samuel 3, Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband, from Paltiel, the son of Laish. And look at what's fascinating is the kind of relationship and love and affection that Paltiel had for Michael, because verse 16 says, then her husband went along with her to Bahurim, weeping behind her.

So Abner said to him, go return, and he returned. Now, here's what I want you to think about. How did all this affect Michael? How do you think all this affected Michael? You had a husband in David whom she originally, initially loved, and she protected, and she saved his life, and he essentially abandoned her, and never did anything to try to get her to be with him.

And so in the meantime, she's given to another man who clearly has a great deal of love and affection for him, give me a second here, has a great deal of love and affection for her, and David takes her away from him.

How would this have affected Michael? Well, I think it probably destroyed any desire that she had for David whatsoever. And so when she sees, looks out her window, and she sees David all happy and giddy, and he's got all his wives and all this kind of stuff, and everybody's making merry because David has succeeded in doing this thing that is, it's an important thing, it's a good thing, and all the rest of it, I get that.

But she cannot enter into that joy, because of what has happened, because of what David has done to her. So was she wrong? Well, I would say this, I think we need to be a little more sympathetic, and a little more understanding with the position that Michael was forced to be in under these circumstances, and cut her a little slack, and not be so deprecatory toward this woman, who was really used and abused in some pretty terrible ways.

Pastoral Sympathy and Long-Suffering

Well, let's think about that today. So Father, we do thank you for this passage of Scripture, and maybe some understanding into Michael's heart and mind and thinking. And may it give us pause to stop and consider what might be going on in somebody's heart who is so grieved and so upset over some kind of a situation in their home.

Lord, help us to be patient, and long-suffering, and thoughtful, and considerate, and not jump to hasty conclusions, we pray, in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. All right, well listen, you have a good rest of your Wednesday, and may the Lord bless you, and a good day.