Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

2 Samuel 9 (NASB95)

¹ Then David said, “Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” ² Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” ³ The king said, “Is there not yet anyone 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 crippled in both feet.” ⁴ So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lo-debar.” ⁵ Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. ⁶ Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant!” ⁷ David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul; and you shall eat at my table regularly.” ⁸ Again he prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?” ⁹ Then the king called Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s grandson. ¹⁰ “You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce so that your master’s grandson may have food; nevertheless Mephibosheth your master’s grandson shall eat at my table regularly.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant so your servant will do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table as one of the king’s sons. ¹² Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who lived in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth. ¹³ So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate at the king’s table regularly. Now he was lame in both feet.

David demonstrated mercy toward Mephibosheth in this chapter.  In ancient times when a new dynasty took over an old one, the new king purposely exterminated the entire family of the old king.  This prevented the previous dynasty from regaining the throne.  Israel was technically ruled by a king. This seems to be indicated by the humility that Mephibosheth demonstrated by referring to himself as a servant and a “dead dog”.  No doubt that he figured his days were numbered since David was on the throne.  On that same note, the extermination of rivals was clear through Saul’s treatment of David.  Saul made every effort to kill David even though he knew God had ordained David to become king.

Kingship in Israel was different than it was in the rest of the known world.  Israel was under a monarchy and a theocracy simultaneously, let me explain my view on this. Israel demanded a king in 1 Samuel, God granted a king.  Saul was anointed by God and replaced by David who followed God; they were still under a theocracy.  God still effectively ruled over Israel.  When Saul was running the kingdom, God removed his blessing when Saul sinned against God.  David was anointed to take Saul’s place while he was still king.  Even though they had a king; God still ruled over the land.  I think it will also be safe to say that God ruled over the kings until the end of the kings at the Babylonian captivity.  Therefore, Israel was under both a theocracy and a monarchy at the same time.  This set them apart from the surrounding nations.

A second observation is that Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan.  David and Jonathan were the best of friends.  It was most likely thrilling for him to honor both his friendship to his former friend and to honor Saul’s dynasty at the same time.  I would wager that Mephibosheth felt like family to him. God sent a message to the Jews and the surrounding nations through this action that Israel was different.  I think that Ziba made out the best in the situation.  As a direct result of the blessing that David extended to Mephibosheth, Ziba and his family were guaranteed excellent employment which only required producing enough food to feed their master. 

Word Biblical Commentary pointed out that David had a lot to gain from the relationship with Mephibosheth.  He gained political prestige with the former followers of Saul.  He was not threatened politically by a man who was lame in both feet.  “The chapter must be seen in its historical setting where little or no mercy was shown to dethroned royal houses, and therefore David’s attitude to Mephibosheth was clearly an act of kindness and conciliation since the latter had no bargaining power. At least formally, Mephibosheth was made like one of the king’s sons (v 11), and instead of being a homeless refugee he became a fairly wealthy man (see v 10b) as long as he remained loyal to David.”^[1]

Exodus 22:22–24 (NASB95)

²² “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. ²³ “If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; ²⁴ and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

Deuteronomy 10:17–18 (NASB95)

¹⁷ “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. ¹⁸ “He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.

Deuteronomy 24:17–18 (NASB95)

¹⁷ “You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment in pledge. ¹⁸ “But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

The law demanded that widows and orphans were to be taken care of.  Mephibosheth was a disabled orphan who was unable to take care of himself.  David demonstrated through his actions that he was following God’s law by complying with it.  David did not act like the kings of the land. Verses 3 and 13 both state that Mephibosheth was lame in both feet.  The repetition of this statement was on purpose.  In consideration of the political benefits that David may have gleaned from his relationship with Mephibosheth, If feel certain that he was driven by God to demonstrate an act of mercy.

I am going to close here, all comments are welcomed.

Father, as we consider that You are always in control, show each of us how to follow You in our daily walks.

In Him,

Joe Turner.