Phalti - Glenn Conjurske
Phalti
by Glenn Conjurske
Phalti was the man to whom Saul gave David’s wife when David fled to the wilderness. We know little enough about him, but what we do know is full of weighty instruction. Scripture mentions him but twice:
On the occasion of David’s taking Abigail and Ahinoam as wives, we are told, “But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.” (I Sam. 25:44).
Years later, when David made a league with Abner to secure the throne of all Israel, we read, “And he (David) said, Well; I will make a league with thee: but one thing I require of thee, that is, Thou shalt not see my face, except thou first bring Michal Saul’s daughter, when thou comest to see my face. And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth Saul’s son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines. And Ish-bosheth 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.” (II Sam. 3:13-16).
This is all we know of Phalti, and yet this is a great deal after all, for in these two brief notices we see the pleasures of sin, and the day of reckoning.
The first thing which we observe concerning this man is that he was unrighteous. He had no right whatsoever, on any plea whatsoever, to take another man’s wife. True that David had abandoned her, but he was forced to this by the persecutions of Saul. True also that Saul gave Michal to him, and Saul was both Michal’s father and the king of Israel. But all this alters nothing. No man has the right to receive what no man has the right to give—-and neither father nor king has any right to give one man’s wife to another. But Phalti did not concern himself about that. He was a typical ungodly sinner, who was glad to take what he could get, and never concerned himself with whether he had any right to it.
Michal was no doubt a very pleasing prize. David had evidently thought so, since he was willing to risk his life to obtain her, by taking a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. Nay, like Jacob before him, he paid her price twice over, for where Saul had required a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, David gave two hundred. Neither was he tricked or forced to this, as Jacob had been, but did so freely of his own mind and will. Thus did he show to Saul his own worth, and to Michal and all the world the value which he set upon her.
Michal was a pleasing prize, and Phalti thought of nothing but his singular good fortune in obtaining her. Moreover, he was greatly honored to be the son-in-law of the king, and the more so to receive her as a gift of the king, for whom David had been required to pay a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. Lust and pride therefore conspired together to move Phalti to take possession of this pleasing prize, and he did not trouble himself about the fact that she belonged to another. He was as profane as Esau, and considered neither conscience nor consequences. He feared neither God nor David. He thought only of the gratification of his present desire, and so was led like a senseless ox to the slaughter, by a bit of hay. He no doubt relished the hay—-no doubt enjoyed it to the full while he had it, and congratulated himself immensely upon its possession—-but he nothing regarded the cost, nor the end of the matter.
Phalti no doubt loved Michal supremely, and that with a love which was as enduring as it was powerful, for when she was forcibly taken from him after years of marriage, he followed her weeping. But none of that could trouble him now. He had the possession of her, unrighteous as it was, and this was all that concerned him. Thus he went on year after year, all the while that David was in the wilderness, and all the seven years in which he was king over Judah, loving Michal, and enjoying the sweet possession of her, and nothing regarding the day of reckoning which was certainly coming. It may be that he had taken possession of his prize with some qualms of conscience, but these were easily suppressed in the face of the beauty and charm of Michal. The chidings of conscience doubtless followed him into this stolen marriage, but as year followed year, and neither God nor man came to reckon with him for the stolen goods in his hands, he doubtless became quite easy about the matter, and supposed his possession of her secure enough. He likely even persuaded himself that it was quite righteous. Had not David abandoned her, and quite forgotten her also? She had not had so much as a letter from him in many years, and he had wives and concubines enough without her. Thus do sinners go on in sin till the very day of reckoning, secure and unconcerned, suppressing all the claims of conscience and of righteousness, and justifying all their sins.
And if we look to the root of this course of sin, we shall find just what we always find, namely, unbelief. Phalti had no faith—-no faith in the goodness of God, no faith in the judgement of God, no faith in the purpose of God, and no faith in the man of God.
If he had had faith in the goodness of God, he would have declined to have anything to do with Michal, as certainly as Leah would have declined to have anything to do with Jacob, if she had had that faith. Faith in God would have said, Cannot God give me as good a wife as Saul can? Cannot God give me a woman as pleasing as Michal, who is not the wife of another man? But he could take immediate possession of Michal, while he must wait for the provision of God, and unbelief knows nothing of patience. It knows nothing of waiting upon God, for in reality it expects nothing from him. It therefore looks out for its own interests, and takes possession of whatever comes to hand, though it must trample on the claims of right and of conscience in order to do so.
Thus did Phalti with the wife of David, and if he had no faith in the goodness of God, neither did he have any faith in his severity. He supposed that he could do as he pleased, and never reckon with God for it.
Neither did he have any faith in the purpose of God. David was anointed by God to be king of Israel, and all Israel apparently knew this. Saul knew it, and therefore hated David. Jonathan knew it, and said therefore to David, “Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.” Abner, the captain of Saul’s host, certainly knew it, for when Saul’s son Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father’s concubine?” Abner replied with, “So do God to Abner, and more also, except, as the Lord hath sworn to David, even so I do to him, to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba.” Abigail knew the purpose of God concerning David, and believed in it too. This was common knowledge, and Phalti must certainly have known it also, but he had no faith in it. If he had but believed in the purpose of God, he would never have touched the wife of David. He would rather have said, “Though this man is now a fugitive in the wilderness, God has purposed that he shall be king of Israel, and what then will I do, with his wife in my bed?” But Phalti had no faith in the purpose of God.
That purpose did not appear while David was a fugitive in the wilderness, though it was visible to faith, and there was a great plenty in David to mark him as a man of God, for those who had eyes to see it, long before he came to the throne of Israel. This was visible to Jonathan and to Abigail—-but not to Nabal or to Phalti. They had no faith in the purpose of God, and they nothing regarded the man of God, but treated him with contempt. It must be understood that Saul’s act of giving David’s wife to another man was an expression of supreme contempt for David, and for Phalti to receive her was a thorough acquiescence in that contempt. But he nothing regarded the man of God, and never expected to reckon with him for this wrong. When his time is not yet come, when he appears in weakness and reproach and poverty and suffering, then men will slight and wrong the man of God as they please, and never suspect that they will one day reckon with him for it—-or with his God, for God is jealous for the honor of his servants. He will not allow Miriam to slight Moses, nor the children to mock Elisha.
No doubt neither Nabal nor Phalti would have dared to treat David on the throne of Israel as they treated the same David in the wilderness, but it is easy to slight the man of God before the purpose of God is manifest in him. It was easy for the brethren of Joseph to despise and wrong him when God had given him nothing but a dream, and they little supposed that they would one day bow themselves before him. It was easy for the men of Succoth to despise Gideon before he had won the victory, and to answer him contemptuously when he asked for bread, but they must yet reckon with his power, when he returns to tear their flesh with the thorns of the wilderness. But Phalti had no more faith in David than the men of Succoth had in Gideon. He takes his wife, therefore, and never expects to reckon with David for it. This was foolish, altogether so, even if there had been no purpose of God concerning David. David had slain Goliath, and his ten thousands besides. He could have slain Saul also, and only fled from him because he would not slay the Lord’s anointed. And did Phalti expect thus to wrong such a man with impunity? This was infatuation. It was blindness, and little wonder, for unbelief and pride and self-will can never see anything rightly. They no more reckon on the power of the man of God than they do on the purpose of God concerning him.
While David was in the wilderness, Phalti could no doubt breathe easy. When Saul died, we may suppose he felt some fear, for as the proverbs say, “He that lives ill, fear follows him,” and “The faulty stands on his guard.” Phalti was faulty—-guilty, that is—-and he must therefore stand on his guard, keeping one eye always on the movements and the welfare of David. Thus does an evil conscience sour the sweets of sin even while we have them. But when he saw David settled on the throne of Judah, and the son of Saul on the throne of Israel, and when this state of things continued year after year, he doubtless felt safe enough. David had apparently forgotten about Michal.
But God had forgotten nothing, and God has resources enough at his command for every purpose under the sun. He knows how to reward the righteous, and he knows how to reward sinners also. In this case he does both by the same circumstance, and that apparently quite unrelated either to David or to Phalti. Abner, the captain of the host of Israel, goes in to Saul’s concubine. Ish-bosheth, whom Abner had set on the throne of Israel, confronts him with this. Abner responds with the same haughty indignation which the guilty usually display when their sins are discovered. “Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, Am I a dog’s head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me to day with a fault concerning this woman?” But he does not stop with indignant words. He shall have his revenge also. “So do God to Abner, and more also, except, as the Lord hath sworn to David, even so I do to him, to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba.” Ish-bosheth “could not answer Abner a word again, because he feared him.” Thus was David’s possession of the throne of Israel established, and Phalti’s possession of David’s wife undermined, with one stroke.
Abner immediately sends his messengers to David, saying, “Make thy league with me, and, behold, my hand shall be with thee, to bring about all Israel unto thee.” But who could have anticipated the response of David? “Well; I will make a league with thee: but one thing I require of thee, that is, Thou shalt not see my face, except thou first bring Michal Saul’s daughter, when thou comest to see my face.” Who could have dreamed that after all these years of separation from Michal, after all the wives and sons and daughters which David had acquired during those years of separation, that his first thought would now be of Michal? But David was wise, and by this demand he tried the sincerity of Abner.
Phalti, however, knows nothing of what has passed between Abner and Ish-bosheth, nor of what has passed between Abner and David. He suspects nothing. This day is as every other day. He never dreams that this is his day of reckoning, till the messengers knock at his door to take away his wife. He has no power to withstand them, and she is wrenched away from him at once. No time now to settle affairs. No time for parting gifts. No time for last words. No time for final embraces. No time for farewell kisses. The king’s messengers enter his door, and she must go. The parting is as unexpected and as final as sudden death, and he can only follow her weeping.
All this is very hard, and the time was when we were inclined to blame David for dealing such a blow to a devoted husband. But the fact is, the way of transgressors is hard, and this is as God would have it. And it were really quite unthinkable that David should ascend the throne of Israel, and allow this scandal to continue. This was the badge of his weakness and his reproach, and it was high time to remove it. So long as Phalti possessed Michal under the hostile power of the house of Saul, David had nothing to do with the matter, but he could not allow this public scandal and personal reproach to continue under the shadow of his own throne. A ruler must by all means maintain his authority. The king who tramples on the rights of his subjects is a tyrant, but the king who allows his subjects to tread on his own rights is a weakling, and really unfit to be a king at all. And if David meant to reign in righteousness, he could not allow such a scandal to continue unchecked, though it had been another man’s wife which was stolen, and not his own. He owed nothing to Phalti, unless it were vengeance. In spite of his long possession of her, Phalti had never had the shadow of a right to Michal, and David did him no wrong in taking her back to himself. There had been a day, years beforehand, when David was hiding in the wilderness, when he heard that Saul had taken his wife and given her to Phalti. This was a bleak day to the heart of David, not only for the loss of his wife, but also for the public disgrace and contempt which were thus heaped upon him. It was no wrong on David’s part to extricate himself from that disgrace. He did no wrong to Phalti, who had no right to Michal. A man who appropriates to himself what does not belong to him has no right to complain if it is restored to its owner. If he has become deeply attached to it in the mean while, still he has no right to complain. It was Phalti’s crime, not his misfortune, that he took possession of David’s wife, and every endearing tie which he subsequently established with her but added sin to sin. He might have saved himself all the anguish of the parting, if he had but declined the sin.
We observe that in this place Phalti is called Phaltiel, which means “God’s deliverance,” and this we suppose was his actual name, but he or his friends had chosen not to retain the name of God (El) in the name of Phalti. This may indicate something of his character. But he who casts off God casts away deliverance also. God bears long with Phalti, but the day of reckoning comes at last, and then there is no deliverance. He may weep many miles behind his captive wife, but all this avails him nothing.
We are at first surprised that Abner allowed such conduct on the part of Phalti. When Abner chose, so soon as they reached the city of Bahurim, he gave to the weeping man the peremptory command, “Go, return,” and Phalti had no choice but to obey. But why did Abner wait so long to command him? We doubt that this was for the sake of any mercy to Phalti. Abner was determined to bring all the house of Israel over to David. When Phalti had taken David’s wife, and lived with her for years with impunity, this had cast a great public reproach upon David. Abner meant to take that reproach off as publicly as he could, and what could serve him better than this illicit husband following Michal through all the land, weeping before all the people. Thus does Phalti, most unwittingly, publicly restore to David the honor which he had publicly taken away from him. He gains nothing by all his weeping. All the gain goes to David.
Commanded by the powerful Abner to “Go, return,” the weeping man must submit, “And he returned.” But this did not end his sorrows. He returns, but to an empty house. “Home is where the heart is,” men say, but home and heart are now torn asunder. To return to his home, he must depart from his heart. His feet must move in one direction, while his heart moves in the other. The nearer he comes to home, the farther he goes from his heart. The house remains; the home is gone. The smile of Michal greets him no more. His ear will never again drink in the solace of her sweet voice, though he needs it now as never before. The light in her eyes will never more shine for him. Her tender looks are only a memory. When he closes his eyes he sees nothing but Michal, but he opens them, and she is gone. He has only an empty house, an empty bed, empty arms, an empty heart. As he had for many a day enjoyed the illicit possession of her, he has now many a day in which to sorrow for her loss. And sorrow he does, without doubt, for he is a man. His grief is keen and bitter. Yet this is righteous. When sinners taste the sweets of sin, they little dream what bitter potions they are mixing for themselves, but so long as there is a God in heaven the bitter fruits of sin will follow its sweet flowers, as surely as night follows day. The day of sin is pleasant, but the day of reckoning is bitter. So Phalti found it.
Glenn Conjurske
