Michal, David's wife, never bore children. Unlike the other barren wives in the Bible, Satan was not trying to prevent the birth of the Messiah, nor was God trying to point out the special nature of the woman's son. Michal sinned. She left God and grew bitter and paid the consequences.
She is one of the few women in the Bible whose story we follow over several years. After the book of Genesis, most women are seen in snapshots. But we get a very clear, sad picture of how Michal ended up a bitter, lonely old woman.
She didn't start out that way. She started out as the starry-eyed young princess in love with the handsome young hero of the battle with Goliath. And he was in love with her, too, enough that when Saul demanded 100 Philistine foreskins for a dowry (and how would get them except by killing their owners?) he and his men procured 200! And when Saul was planning to kill David, she sacrificed her relationship with her father by deceiving him and helping David to escape by night.
Now, saul was not a loving father and was not a particularly honorable man. The usual deal in these events is that you win the battle, you get the princess. David hadn't claimed the prize because he was humble and didn't think he deserved to be the king's son-in-law. Saul had to do some behind-the-scenes intriguing to talk him into going for the dowry of foreskins, which he hoped would be the end of David. but, by this time, he had already given away his oldest daughter, who should have been the prize, to someone else. That was his first cheat. Next, he wanted David to go for the foreskins in the hopes that he would be killed, not so he could fulfill his promise of reward David for defeating Goliath. That was his second cheat. He promised Jonathan, his most trusted son and confidante that he wouldn't harm David. And then, he threw a spear at Jonathan for being on David's side: third cheat. When David headed for the hills to hide from Saul, first he killed the priests who had innocently fed and armed David: fourth cheat. Then he ran around the countryside trying to kill David, repeatedly repenting and then turning around to chase him down again: fifth cheat. finally, he gave Michal away to a new husband, Palti of Galiim.
How secure would you be with a father like that? And things got worse.
After her father died, David was made king. Abner was a cousin of Saul's and his captain. After Saul's death, Abner made overtures to David to a) unite the kingdom and b) protect himself from a death sentence for having chased David around the countryside for Saul all those years. I don't know if David made this request out of the memory of the love he and Michal had had, from machismo (what's mine, is mine!) or as a request of Abner as a sign of good faith, but all he asked Abner was that he bring David Michal. But this was between fifteen and twenty years after he had left, and Michal had a new husband. Actually, he wasn't such a new husband because they had been married over fifteen years. And as Michal was taken away by Abner, Paltiel followed her, weeping. Not fighting for her, weeping.
Michal had been disappointed in her dreams. She had once shared David's vision and was willing to give up her security with her father for him. But, she was abandoned by him and treated as political chattel by her father, Abner, and David. Let's say she wept as much for Paltiel as he did for her. The Bible doesn't say that she did. Either way, she got tossed around by circumstances that she could not control.
The last scene we see her in is during the return of the Ark of the Covenant to Israel after it had been stolen by the Philistines. There was a procession -- no, more of a moveable feast -- through the streets of Jerusalem. David was "whirling and leaping" and he was dancing with all the people and they wee shouting for joy and trumpets were calling.
And Michal saw him from her window and despised him. David had put aside his kingly robes and mingled with the hoi poloi. She had forgotten why he was anointed king in her father's place: to be a king and a man after God's own heart. She didn't understand the qualities that made men flock to him in the wilderness and do crazy dangerous things to please him in battle: humility before God and his fellow man.
She could have valued those things. But, her frustration over her circumstances, her wounded pride and, most of all, her lack of connection with God, fostered bitterness in her heart. Apparently, she never overcame it because (II Sam. 6:33) "Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death."
Can your sin be what is keeping you from receiving good things in this life? Maybe. But, John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Do you feel your rights have been violated? Do you feel you have been cheated? Are you jealous of the good things those around you receive? Are things just not fair? Is there any specific thing you can point to in your life that has frustrated you and caused you to become bitter? God promises that confession is followed by restoration. If it really is person sin, you will be able to humbled before God and accept from Him whatever He wants to give you, because
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." (James 1:17)
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