2 Samuel 9:1-13
David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth
1 Now David said, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
2 And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”
He said, “At your service!”
3 Then the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?”
And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.”
4 So the king said to him, “Where is he?”
And Ziba said to the king, “Indeed he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar.”
5 Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar.
6 Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?”
And he answered, “Here is your servant!”
7 So David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.”
8 Then he bowed himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?”
9 And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. 10 You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
11 Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.”
“As for Mephibosheth,” said the king, “he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.” 12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet.
David acknowledged that Saul was once the anointed of God put on the throne by Him and who only lost that position due to disobedience and dishonoring to Him. Because of his oath to the king’s son Jonathan (1 Samuel 20:42), he sought to find a survivor of the lineage of Saul to show God’s kindness towards. This word kindness means “covenant faithfulness” as well, demonstrating David was keeping his covenant promise to Jonathan to provide for his descendants always after his death. A servant of Saul named Ziba told david there was a lame son of Jonathan called Mephibosheth still alive, and the king sent for him to live with him and be taken care of, even eating at the king’s table, a high honor indeed because it made him equal to one of the king’s own sons. This son of his best friend may have been unable to walk on his own with two lame feet, but he walked tall in the presence of the king in such undeserved grace. We also are totally undeserving of God’s grace and honor, yet He has adopted us as His own sons and daughters to sit with Him and dine in His divine presence both now at every Lord’s Supper and at the end of time at the table of the marriage supper of the Lamb (Luke 12:35-36, 37, John 14:23, Revelation 3:20, 19:7-8, 9) of God, His own Son who calls us who cannot walk on our own, crippled by sin, to stand and walk with Him in the kingdom to come. What a privilege we can never earn nor deserve! Such goodness of His covenant faithfulness in Jesus Christ our Savior God! May we be honored in our crippled spiritual state to sit with thinking of kings as honored and undeserving children to dine with Him as we remember these things when we partake of the bread and wine in this new covenant faithfulness in which we are honored to be accepted fully in His blood to one day join with Him at that table in heaven as we now live daily in anticipation (Luke 22:19-20, Romans 8:23, 1 Corinthians 1:7, 11:24-25, 26) of that Day. Come quickly, Lord!
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