I Samuel 19:8-18

And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him .And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand. And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin: but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night. Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain. So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped .And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth. And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster. And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee? So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth. (KJV)

After Saul permitted David to return to his court war with the Philistines broke out again. It was again David and his men that defeated the Philistines and gave the victory to Saul. However, the evil spirit within Saul could not handle the praise that David was receiving and again tried to take his life. One of the reasons I started my study of the psalms twenty years ago was to try to understand how a wonderful relationship of the past could turn into a bitter fight between two parties. From my journey through the psalms I decided to follow David’s path. As Saul tried to kill David, David chose to flee from Saul instead of fighting and defending himself. David from this point on in his life will be running from Saul until Saul’s death.

This running from Saul meant separation from the ones that love David, which included two of Saul’s children ,Michal and Jonathan. We see Michal helping David escape from her father in this chapter, however the next time that Michal appears in the scriptures is when Saul his daughter to Phalti the son of Laish. Later after the death of Saul she was returned to David as part of the league that Abner made the other tribes of Israel (David was just the King of Judah at this time) to make him their King. The only other two references to Michal was her despising of David as he brought the ark to Jerusalem and the turning over the five sons of Adriel to the Gibeonites for the sins of Saul because he slew the Gibeonites. The reference in II Samuel 21:8 probably refers to Michal helping raising the children of her sister Merah since marry to Adriel the Meholathite (I Samuel 18:19). These two references shows how much David’s and Michal’s relationship in the later part of their life was strained

However, Jonathan’s love for David continue until Jonathan’s death. The last meeting between them before Jonathan’s death was at Horesh in the desert of Ziph while Saul was hunting David to take his life. Jonathan comfort David and told him that he would be king over Israel. Jonathan and David renew their covenant before the Lord to protect each other and their family. Jonathan went home after and David remained at Horesh.

The future relationships from love ones because of a bitter separation can cause complications over time. Michal relationship took a new and different path after David was force to leave Saul’s presence; however because of Jonathan’s love for David he continue to have fellowship with him. There is one relationship that should never be abandon and that is our daily relationship with the Lord. We need to be careful and not allow bitter disputes with other effect our relationship with the Lord. David and Jonathan gives us two examples of how to deal with a bitter relationship. David had to either run from Saul or fight. He chose to run. Jonathan had to either support his father Saul or protect David. He chose to protect David, which probably created a very rough relationship between him and his father. The bitterness of Saul’s hatred for David help develop both David and Jonathan spiritual life by seeking the right path to address this bitterness.