2 Samuel 9 And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And there was of the house of Saul a servant, whose name was Zeba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Zeba? And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Makir, the son of Amiel in Lodabar. Then King David sent and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Amiel, from Lodabar. And when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he bowed himself and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's son all that pertaineth to Saul and to all his house. Thou, therefore, and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits that thy master's son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's son, shall eat bread always at my table. Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. Then said Ziba unto the king, according to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah, and all that dwell in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. And so Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at the king's table and was lame on both his feet. So this chapter begins with David making an inquiry about any that are left of the house of Saul. The house of Saul had been quite devastated, devastated in ultimately in fulfillment of the judgment of God upon the house. But David is here now making inquiry that if there was any left of the house of Saul, that he would show him kindness for, he says, Jonathan's sake. Now, Jonathan was a great friend of David's and he was loyal to David. And do you remember what Jonathan asked David to promise him back when Jonathan was living and Jonathan had expressed his loyalty to David and said they made a covenant together, and Jonathan made David make him a promise. Does anyone remember what that was? Yeah, and in particular, that he wouldn't put them to death. And what would happen in this place in the world in this time was that when you had a dynasty and there was any kind of threat to their reign or their power, the common practice was to try to destroy, kill, or wipe out anyone that would be a threat to the power and the reign of your kingdom. And so it's the case here that when Mephibosheth is brought before David, the first thing that David says to him is, fear not. Fear not. It was natural for him to be afraid because he doesn't know what David is going to do to him. In fact, notice how this is starting out. This is very interesting. So did David know Mephibosheth? How do you know that David didn't know Mephibosheth? He had to ask. He had to ask, yeah. Is there anyone alive? But also, Mephibosheth, do you remember, when did Mephibosheth get the injury that resulted in him being lame in both his feet? Yeah, he was five years old. He was five years old, and he had some kind of fall that happened when the news had come to his nursemaid, his caretaker, that Saul and Jonathan had been put to death, or died in battle, that is, and they had been overthrown by their enemies. And as she's in haste to flee away, some kind of fall happens and he's injured and he's lame for the rest of his life in both of his feet. And then now when David goes to seek out if anyone's alive, he has to ask. He doesn't know. Not only that, but he doesn't know where he is. He doesn't know where Mephibosheth or any other remaining offspring of Saul's house lives. But this is very interesting because David wanted to show kindness, particularly for Jonathan's sake, but he doesn't know if anyone's living. Why do you think that he doesn't even know about Mephibosheth's existence? He would be hiding, yeah. I think that's exactly what's happening here, is Mephibosheth is hiding out because his life is in perpetual danger because of the situation. I mean, he is the only remaining legitimate heir to the throne from Saul's household, so he would have naturally been seen as a direct threat to David's reign. And if David was like the kings of this earth, and like many kings that functioned, his life was in constant danger. And so, we notice that Mephibosheth doesn't even know David. So David's kindness for Mephibosheth is on account of someone else, it's on account of Jonathan, but David seeks him out, and he asks, and we almost, I think the narrative almost presents this as David's kind of prying the information out of Zeba here. He inquires, he says, is there any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Even that inquiry might not have been taken at face value. I want to show him kindness. Is there anyone left? And they find out that there's a servant who is of the house of Saul. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him? I think if there was one phrase that we could use as a heading for this whole chapter, it would be this, the kindness of God. That's the kind of kindness that David is expressing here. It's not a natural, not merely a natural human kindness. It's the kindness of God. It's a kindness that defies the ways of this world. It would have been kindness in and of itself simply for him to spare Mephibosheth's life and to remove him from the danger and the threat of death. That would have been a kindness. But David's kindness goes beyond that. He doesn't just want to show the kindness of David, but he wants to show the kindness of God. and demonstrate the kindness of God, which we see as, I believe, an example of how David's heart was after the Lord, that he desired to demonstrate in his kingdom the kindness of Lord, the attributes of the Lord that they served. And so, as we saw in the previous chapter, about when David reigned and when David had victory and he exercised things in his kingdom, it says that he executed judgment and justice unto all his people. That's a significant and powerful statement to make. I mean, we might just read through that statement and think, OK, he executed judgment and justice. He's a king. That's great. But the fact that this is pointed out and the language that's used, this is an incredibly significant statement about a king. that the way that he reigned in his kingdom was that his kingdom was one where he, as the primary instrument of administering justice and righteousness in his kingdom, he executed judgment and justice unto all his people. He was a just, fair, righteous king. He didn't show favoritism to one group of people over another. He didn't accept bribes that would steer him away from doing that which was right. He was executing judgment and justice unto all his people. This was the way that David reigned. And he reigned that way because his loyalty was ultimately to the Lord. And so he calls this servant and he wants to show the kindness of God. And Ziba said unto him, Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. I suspect. Why does he have to throw this in there? He's lame on his feet. I suspect part of it is if David is viewing this man as a threat to his throne, he's attempting to defer away from that. He's lame on his feet. He's not a threat. That may be what's being conveyed here. Nonetheless, this passage on several occasions emphasizes that Mephibosheth is lame on his feet. He's crippled. He was crippled by a fall that took place through no fault of his own when he was young, and now he is living in hiding in fear of his life. So notice a few things about Mephibosheth's state. He's in hiding, he's crippled, but he's also apparently somewhat impoverished. He is not even dwelling in his own house. He's living and hiding in someone else's house. And he's living in this land of Lodabar, which was off, I understand, on the other side of the Jordan River. So it's kind of on the fringes of the promised land, what they inherited. And not only that, but the name here, Lo Debar, this literally in Hebrew means lo is no, debar, thing, no thing, nothing, the land of nothing. Debir is a Hebrew word for pasture, so this is sometimes translated as no pasture. And whether that land literally was a barren wasteland or not, there's, I think, something signified here in significance that Mephibosheth is impoverished, he's crippled, he's in hiding, and he's living in the land of nothing. And in that state, David seeks him out and finds him. Then King David sent and fetched him out of the house of Mechir the son of Amiel from Lodabar. Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David, he fell on his face and did reverence, And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant. So he's fetched, he's brought before David, and we can imagine at this point Mephibosheth has no idea what's going to happen to him at this point. He has no idea what his fate is. And yet he's called before the king and David sees him and he calls him by name, Mephibosheth. And the name Mephibosheth means something like dispeller of shame. Sometimes translated as destroyer of shame. which as he was the son of Jonathan, and Jonathan was a faithful follower of God, we could see that his name might have been given to have significance. Mephibosheth is before David and he says, behold thy servant. He's perhaps speaking in a way that he's attempting to express to David that I'm here to serve you. I am at your service. I'm not a threat. I'm not a danger to you. I'm not your rival. He's putting himself in a position of subservience to David. But he still, in natural terms, had reason to fear. But David immediately next words out of his mouth. And David said unto him, fear not, fear not. We see those words a lot in the scriptures. Even Jesus many times saying to his disciples, fear not. I think after Jesus' resurrection appeared to his disciples, he said, fear not, fear not. And the angels, when they appeared to people, often said, fear not. There's a tendency to fear, and David assures him not to fear. And he assures him by saying, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. This is why I say that the kindness that David shows to Mephibosheth is going beyond a natural kindness. It would have been perhaps we might say sufficient for David to fulfill his promise to Jonathan and not put his Jonathan's son to death even though in natural terms he could have been considered a rival to his kingdom. But he doesn't just do that. He preserves his life, of course, but that's not even what David is calling him there to do. He's not calling him there just to say, I'm not going to kill you, Mephibosheth. You can come out of hiding. You can be all right. He's saying, I'm going to restore all the land from Saul's inheritance that said, been forfeited as it is now apparently in the hand of David to be able to give it to whoever he will. He's going to restore it. And, but not only that, the last thing David says in that verse is the most incredible at all. He says, thou shall eat bread at my table continually. I'm not just going to be merciful to you, Mephibosheth. He says, I'm not just going to even give you wealth. I am going to receive you into my household and treat you as part of my own family. And as we'll see, he's going to treat him as his own son. He's going to allow him to eat food at his table like the king's sons. And he bowed himself and said, what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? Mephibosheth did not have a very high esteem of himself and his own life. For someone who was the grandson of a king, the grandson of the first king of Israel, Mephibosheth's life had not been one of glory and honor and greatness. Think about what his life had been like when he was five years old. You know, just really a few years old enough to start having memories that he would carry with him the rest of his life. When he's five years old, He's there when the news comes of the death of his father and his grandfather, the defeat of their armies, the overthrow of the kingdom at the hands of their enemies. And then well in the haste and the excitement and the fear and everything that's going on as they're fleeing for their very lives. He is experiencing this incredible fall and injury that renders him unable to even have the use of his legs for the rest of his life. And so he's crippled. He's fleeing. And then the years that would follow, he would live in poverty and obscurity and in hiding with the understanding that at any moment, he could be discovered and his life would be taken from him. This was the experience of Mephibosheth's life. The son of a prince, the grandson of a king, and yet, ultimately because of the wickedness of his grandfather, the wickedness of in his own family line, he was set to dwell in a state of exile, and obscurity and poverty and was himself crippled his whole life, unable even to walk. And so when David expresses this kindness that he will show him, he said, what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? Now, a dead dog, you don't get much lower than that. And first of all, the idea that the way that they viewed dogs in their society is not like we view dogs today. We like dogs. We see them as wonderful pets and companions. But they didn't really even have that kind of concept, as I understand it, of dogs But it's not only a dog, it's a dead dog. These dogs were often wild animals that would roam the streets and feed on the carcasses of whatever animals. And so, I mean, he is pretty low. He had a very low esteem of himself. And here he is face to face. with the king of Israel at the peak of his power and his kingdom and his prosperity. I mean, here is the champion of the nation of Israel. The man that in his youth defeated the giant Goliath in the field of battle, and who the Lord had given victory over his enemies on all sides, who had spoiled the Edomites and the Ammonites and the Moabites and the Syrians. And now he is face to face with them and he's saying, I'm going to show you kindness. I'm going to give you lands and I'm going to feed you at my own table. This must have been incomprehensible for Mephibosheth. How could that even register? How could you imagine in one moment your whole life being transformed? Meanwhile, he didn't seek out David. David sought him out. David brought him to his house and expresses this kindness to him. Then the king called to Ziba. Saul's servant. So this is striking here, I think, because we have David's words, but then David's words in response even to Mephibosheth's seeming unbelief and expression of not deserving these things, David's words are followed by action. David's words are followed by putting into place the accomplishment of what he's promised to do. He calls Ziba, this is Saul's servant. And we see about Ziba here, we're told a little bit about Ziba in the next verse. He had 15 sons and 20 servants. Ziba himself was a servant of Saul, but he was, he seems to have a pretty, for a servant, a pretty powerful household. He has many of his own servants, and he has a large household. And the king calls him and he puts him in charge of working on behalf of Mephibosheth, taking care of his lands, taking care of his household, growing food to be able to provide for Mephibosheth and his household. And this is all laid out here. Saul's servant said unto him, I have given unto thy master's son all that pertain to Saul and to all his house. Thou therefore and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's son, shall eat bread always at my table." Now Zeba had 15 sons. and 20 servants. Then said Ziba unto the king, according to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. So there it is. Multiple times in here, it emphasizes. But Mephibosheth is going to eat at the king's table. Mephibosheth is going to eat at David's table as one of the king's sons. He's going to be received in, sitting at the table, sitting there, eating food, next to David, across from David, surrounded by the princes of Israel. And he's going to be part of that family and that household and be fed from the king's table all the days of his life. And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah. The name Micah means, who is like God. who is like God. And all that dwelt in the house of Zeba were servants unto Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at the king's table and was lame on both his feet. So here we have what David has done. He said, I'm going to show you the kindness of God. And we see an example and a demonstration from David to Mephibosheth of what the kindness of God looks like. He shows him mercy that is not deserved on Mephibosheth's part. He calls him, he shows him mercy that is not deserved. He provides for him. He receives him. And not only that, but he provides him help. He gives him the help that is necessary. He employs Ziba and all of Ziba's household to serve him and to meet his needs so that he is provided for. This man who is lame in both his feet is served by David and by the kindness of God in these things. Well, lastly, as we finish up looking at this passage, let's take this and apply this to the message of the gospel to our lives. Because this is, I think, I hope it's evident to all of us as we read this story that what is demonstrated here by David to the son of Jonathan, David who was a prototype of the Lord Jesus Christ, David who was a prefiguring of the Messiah of Israel, which we've seen in many different ways throughout his kingdom, that this account of what happened with David and Mephibosheth is demonstrating to us important spiritual truths about the gospel and the kindness of God that is shown to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's shown in such an evident way. First of all, consider your state by nature. Consider your condition by nature. You are in a state where you, because of the fall, because of a fall that happened to our parents through Adam and Eve, because of that fall, we are born in a state where we are crippled spiritually. We are unable to do anything for our own spiritual good by nature. And we are, in the face of what this world brings us, we are unable to rise to the occasion to do any spiritual good. And so that's our condition. Not only that, but we are, in terms of the true riches that matter, righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit, we are in our natural state. We are utterly impoverished, and we're living in a land, the land of nothing. And not only that, but in that condition, in our natural state, we in and of ourselves do not seek out God. We do not seek Him out and seek out the mercy of God, but He comes and seeks us out. This chapter begins with David inquiring and seeking out. Is there anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness? He seeks him out. And I'm reminded of the words of the son of David, of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he said, I came to seek and find that which is lost. He came to seek the lost. Like we sang the 99 hymn, and that comes from a parable that Jesus told about the good shepherd leaving the fold of the sheep to go and to find that lost sheep, the one that was wandering lost, and to go out and seek him out and bring him back into the fold. So in our destitute condition, where we're in ourselves, in our own spiritual state, no better than dead dogs, yet in the mercy and the kindness of God, God seeks us out. and shows mercy and kindness to us. But that mercy and kindness is not merely a kindness that is shown to us that spares us from judgment and destruction. That is part of it. But we're not just spared from destruction. We are given and provided the help of God. We're provided the help of God as He sends His Spirit into His people as a helper, as a comforter, as an advocate for us to help us in our walk. And not only that, but we're invited and we're called to come and to feast at the King's table. were invited into his household to partake of the blessings of the family of God, and to be treated not as an exile, not as a dead dog, but to be treated as a son of the king. And all of this is done for us, not for our own sake, not because of our own righteousness, David didn't even extend this kindness to Mephibosheth for any good that Mephibosheth had done to him. As we saw at the very beginning, as far as we can understand, David didn't even know Mephibosheth. But he extends the kindness to him for the sake of another, for the sake of Jonathan. The kindness of God, of course, is beyond this, but there is an aspect to it that is like this, that the mercy and grace that God shows us, we are shown for the sake of Jesus Christ and what He's done for us. As we're exhorted, for example, to forgive one another, we're exhorted to forgive one another as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. And so we see that David in what he did for Mephibosheth demonstrated the kindness of God to Mephibosheth, but also through that demonstrated and proclaimed the nature of the kindness of God for his people. And we see one area here where we might say the analogy breaks down because God did know you. God's kindness, the kindness of God towards you is for the sake of Jesus Christ, because you had no righteousness of your own to deserve it. But the love and the knowledge of God that He has for His people is said to be from before the foundation of the world. That before He formed you in the womb, He knew you, and He knit together your parts, and He made you, and He created you, And He purposed to show mercy and kindness to you. And every one of His chosen children of God, He intended and purposed that mercy before the foundation of the world. And then in the fullness of time, in many ways, just like what Mephibosheth experienced, God had mercy and kindness grace, compassion, and generosity on the undeserving. We're all like Mephibosheth. And the king has sought us out, he's found us, and he showed us kindness and mercy that we did not deserve.