From Love to Bitterness

My Bible reading this morning included 2 Samuel chapter 3.  There were three verses that especially caught my attention, verses 14-16: "And David sent messengers to Ishbosheth Saul's son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines.  And Ishbosheth sent, and took her from her husband, even from Phaltiel the son of Laish.   And her husband went with her along weeping behind her to Bahurim. Then said Abner unto him, Go, return. And he returned."

These verses were part of the study that I did on Michal, the daughter of Saul and first wife of David.  I studied her in July 2015.  It was actually this part of her story that caused me to pause.  You can read my entire post here.

Many times all we hear about is when Michal mocked David for dancing when the ark of God was returned.  That is the end of the story.  Those are the words and actions of a bitter woman.  But bitterness wasn't what originally defined Michal.  1 Samuel 18:20 says that Michal loved David, the only place in the Bible where a woman's love for a man is recorded, according to footnotes in The Jewish Study Bible.  However, there is no biblical record of David having loved Michal.

Here is a brief timeline of Michal and David's marriage:

1008 BC - they were married

1007 BC - Michal helped David escape from Saul

1005 BC - Michal is given to Paltiel in Gallim

1000 BC - Saul and Jonathon are killed in battle, David becomes king

998 BC - Michal returned to David

992 BC - The ark is returned

I wrote in my 2015 post:

They were only together one year, now some nine years and six wives later David wants Michal back.  I can't even imagine how she must have felt.  Her father and brothers were all dead.  The young man she loved and married has spent years as a warrior on the run and is now the king with six wives and at least six sons.  I'm sure that's not quite the marriage she had dreamed of.  Some commentaries said he wanted her back because he loved her, but others said it was purely political.

Sadly, Michal seemed to be married to a man who wanted just her. When Ishbosheth took her from her husband, he "went with her along weeping behind her." (2 Samuel 3:16) "Because of his great affection to her, unwilling to part with her, but forced to it at the command of the king." (John Gill) That is such a sad picture to me! And I wonder if it was then that the root of bitterness that had been growing reached full growth. Maybe Michal was proud to be called back to the palace, but it wasn't going to be easy.

I am in no way excusing Michal's bitterness or the actions that followed.  But her story causes me to pause, to ponder.  There are people in my life who have let bitterness separate them from God.  They didn't start out that way, but through the hard times and hurts of life they allowed bitterness to grow. 

Last month I had a minor bike accident.  I landed pretty hard on my right arm and by the time I got home it was swollen.  I ended up with a huge, deep bruise from my elbow all the way to my wrist.  It hurt for weeks.  I had abrasions on my elbow.  I cleaned the wound and treated it with care. Cleaning that wound hurt!  I kept it wrapped because I didn't want to get an infection.   It has taken weeks for it to fully heal, but it has.  Now there is just a tiny area that is slightly red, all other signs of injury are gone.

We need to treat the injuries of life with care.  Take care of the wounds.  Cleaning a wound hurts!  We can't let the infection of bitterness get in.  Forgive.  And forgive again.  Even when no apology comes, forgive.  It is the only way to keep bitterness out.

Clean the wound and recover or let the wound fester.  The choice is ours.