2 Samuel 9:1-13
Before
we begin reading in chapter 9, let’s jump back to chapter 4 to remind ourselves
who Mephibosheth is. He is mentioned there in a parenthetical comment that
appears to have nothing to do with the rest of the narrative in that chapter,
which is about the murder of Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul who was made king in
opposition to David. Mephibosheth would have been the nephew of Ish-Bosheth.
(Jonathan son of Saul had a son who
was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and
Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she
hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth.)
– 2 Samuel 4:4
Saul
and Jonathan had died at Jezreel in a battle with the Philistines. This nurse
caring for the five-year-old son of Jonathan probably thought that the entire
family was now at risk after the Philistine victory, and so she wanted to find
a safe place quickly to protect him. In her panic, however, she dropped the
child, and he was injured. Perhaps it was a spinal cord injury that made him a
paraplegic. That would have been described as “lame in both feet,” and he would
have been unable to get around on his own. He is known as Mephibosheth, which
can be translated as “from the mouth of shame.” In that society, his disability
would certainly have been seen as a shameful thing.
In
many cultures, even today, disability is seen as a curse from God. The disabled
person is thought to be paying the price for their or someone else’s sin. In
John 9, Jesus’s disciples assumed this when they came across a man blind from
birth. They asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his
parents, that he was born blind?”
“Neither
this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so
that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Jesus
shoots down their understanding of disability and heals the blind man. God is
able to work for good in what would otherwise be seen as a divine curse. Jesus
healed people with all kinds of disabilities, including lame people like
Mephibosheth, inviting them to enter his kingdom on an equal basis with
everyone else. He was able to make them acceptable because he is the Great High
Priest, the only truly holy one, who offered himself as a perfect sacrifice for
sin. Hebrews 7 describes Jesus like this:
Such a high priest truly meets our
need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted
above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer
sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the
sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he
offered himself. – Hebrews 7:26-27
The
priests of the Old Testament were a foreshadowing of this Great High Priest –
holy, blameless, and pure – who by his own authority would bring about the
priesthood of all believers. All of us therefore are able to approach the
holiness of God and intercede for others because of Jesus going before. That’s
what a priest does.
The
priesthood of the Old Testament was established to represent the people before
God – and to represent God to the people. Therefore the priests had to be
physically perfect, as part of the image of perfection that the tabernacle
presented. In Leviticus 21 it says
The Lord said to Moses, “Say
to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a
defect may come near to offer the food of his God. No man who has any
defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or
deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or
who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering
or running sores or damaged testicles. No descendant of Aaron the priest
who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to
the Lord. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of
his God. He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the
holy food; yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain
or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the Lord,
who makes them holy.’” – Leviticus 21:16-23
It
might sound like God was unfairly discriminating against disabled people, but
he did allow them to eat the holy food, so he was not rejecting them. He was
simply using the perfection of the tabernacle to give the people a picture of
how holy he is. Still, these types of rules, if they are misinterpreted, can
contribute to the discrimination aimed at disabled people. Being disabled has
certainly been seen as a shameful thing in many of the world’s cultures.
With
that background, let’s turn to our passage for today, 2 Samuel 9:
David asked, “Is there anyone still left
of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
Now there was a servant of Saul’s
household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king
said to him, “Are you Ziba?”
“At your service,” he replied.
The king asked, “Is there no one still
alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”
Ziba answered the king, “There is still
a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”
“Where is he?” the king asked.
Ziba answered, “He is at the house of
Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.” – 2 Samuel 9:1-4
David
wanted to honor the memory of Jonathan, his loyal friend. So he enquires about
his relatives and finds out about Mephibosheth, living in the town of Lo Debar.
Debar means “word” or “thing,” and “lo” negates it, so Lo Debar was a “nothing”
kind of place, just the address for a lowly person who couldn’t walk. That
didn’t matter to David. He reaches out to honor Mephibosheth.
So King David had him brought from Lo
Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.
When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the
son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
“At your service,” he replied.
“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him,
“for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father
Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your
grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”
Mephibosheth bowed down and said,
“What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?” – 2 Samuel
9:5-8
Amazingly,
David brings this apparently godforsaken man from Nothingville to live in his
palace. Mephibosheth bows down to show honor to David and debases himself in
comparison. That would be expected. Mephibosheth was indeed in a lowly
position, little better than a dead dog. But David invites him to join him at
his table and eat with him – not just once, but from then on. That was an
incredibly high honor. It means that he will be able to be in David’s presence
every day, and enjoy the good food that David would have available. Plus David
says that he will restore to him the estates of his grandfather Saul, which
would give him a secure means of livelihood.
Mephibosheth
is amazed by this treatment. Why should David be so kind to him? He had
probably been treated like a nuisance his whole life, unable to care for
himself, apparently cursed by God. He was used to rejection, not honor. And
here was the king, not only noticing him but raising him up practically to the
same level, like one of the king’s own sons.
Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s
steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that
belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and your servants are
to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s
grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master,
will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
Then Ziba said to the king, “Your
servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So
Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.
Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika,
and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth. And
Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he
was lame in both feet. – 2 Samuel 9:9-13
David
commissioned Ziba to manage Saul’s property on behalf of Mephibosheth and his
family, since it says he has a son and presumably a wife. As Saul’s steward,
Ziba would have been responsible for managing the affairs of the royal household,
so he would have been used to this type of role. He was clearly a prosperous
man himself, with a large family and twenty servants of his own. He seems to be
very compliant with David’s command that he look after Mephibosheth’s
interests. However, we will see later that his loyalty is suspect. In chapter
16, during Absalom’s rebellion, when David was fleeing from Jerusalem with his
household, he comes across Ziba, who greets him with provisions. Ziba says that
Mephibosheth has stayed in the city in the hope of being restored to the
throne, making Mephibosheth appear to be a traitor to David. David is
understandably angered by this, and he takes back the property that he has
given to Mephibosheth and gives it to Ziba instead.
However,
after Absalom is killed, and David begins heading back to Jerusalem to take up
his rule again, Mephibosheth comes out of the city to meet him and claims to
have remained loyal the whole time. This is from chapter 19:
Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, also
went down to meet the king. He had not taken care of his feet or trimmed his
mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he
returned safely. When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king
asked him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?”
He said, “My lord the king, since I your
servant am lame, I said, ‘I will have my donkey saddled and will ride on
it, so I can go with the king.’ But Ziba my servant betrayed me. And
he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. My lord the king is like an
angel of God; so do whatever you wish. All my grandfather’s
descendants deserved nothing but death from my lord the king, but you gave
your servant a place among those who eat at your table. So what right do I
have to make any more appeals to the king?”
The king said to him, “Why say more? I
order you and Ziba to divide the land.”
Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him
take everything, now that my lord the king has returned home safely.” – 2 Samuel
19:24-30
Mephibosheth
appears not to have any political aspirations of his own, but he has only
waited anxiously for David’s return, practically in mourning, as indicated by
the way he refused to take care of himself. He is still so grateful for all
that he has received, as he likens his benefactor to “an angel of God.” Had
Ziba actually prevented him from going with David? It’s not clear why Ziba
would have wanted to frame Mephibosheth in a bad light. Perhaps Ziba resented
taking care of him or maybe was jealous that David had given Mephibosheth all
of Saul’s property. If that were the case, then Ziba got what he wanted, as
Mephibosheth was more than happy to give him all the land in return for being restored
to the king’s presence and protection.
Do you
feel sad for Mephibosheth? The injustice against him apparently did not end when
the king initially showed him favor. Indeed David himself may have had some
suspicions about him as a potential rival. Perhaps that was even a factor in
David’s initial invitation that he join him at his table – so that he could
keep an eye on him. You may have heard of the saying attributed to Sun Tzu, a 6th
century BC Chinese general: “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.”
It’s important to know what the threats against oneself might be. But that may
be reading too much into the story. David did have a deep love for Jonathan and
wanted to honor his memory. It was a true kindness for David to invite
Mephibosheth to his palace and table.
In a
similar way, we have experienced the kindness of God in inviting us to his
table. Jesus told this story in Luke 14 when he was eating in the house of a
Pharisee:
Then Jesus said to his host, “When
you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or
sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you
back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the
poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although
they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the
righteous.”
When one of those at the table with him
heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the
feast in the kingdom of God.”
Jesus replied: “A certain man was
preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the
banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for
everything is now ready.’
“But they all alike began to make
excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it.
Please excuse me.’
“Another
said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out.
Please excuse me.’
“Still another said, ‘I just got
married, so I can’t come.’
“The servant came back and reported this
to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his
servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in
the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
“‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you
ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go
out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house
will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of
my banquet.’” – Luke 4:12-24
Jesus
is making two points here. First, he is encouraging the type of kindness that
David exhibited. He says to invite the lame and the poor to dinner, not your
friends who may be able to pay you back. Human nature tends to focus on
reciprocity in relationships. If someone gives us something or does us a favor we
feel we should repay them somehow. That’s not a bad thing, but we should not
come to expect it if we are the giver. How many times do we invite people for
meals who have no way of doing anything for us in return? David had no
expectation of Mephibosheth being able to repay his kindness. God will bless us
for this kind of generosity.
Secondly,
Jesus wants to confront the assumptions of the man claiming to know who God
will honor at the great Messianic banquet to come. Jesus had said in the
previous chapter (Luke 13) that people would come from east and west and north
and south to take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God, promising
that the last would be first and the first last. Still the Pharisees assumed
that they would be in the places of honor because of their strict observance of
the law. So Jesus tells this parable to illustrate that not all those invited
would be at the banquet, but that some unexpected people would be there, like
the lame man Mephibosheth, eating at the king’s table.
This
ultimate feast of God is mentioned in several places from Isaiah to Revelation,
where it is referred to lastly as the wedding supper of the Lamb. Jesus will
marry his bride, the church. In inviting Mephibosheth to his table, David
foreshadowed what this wedding feast is like: honoring those without honor,
displaying the graciousness of the host. We can thank God that in salvation he
has invited us to this feast, we who are broken and unworthy in ourselves. He
wants to lift us up, to honor us, and to celebrate with us for eternity. And he
wants us to extend that invitation to others who need to hear that message of
grace and forgiveness. Part of that is through showing hospitality to them.
Kindness
is listed among the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These
are the qualities that will make such a difference in our world today. Would
kindness help cure racism? What does it mean for me to be kind to someone who
is very different from me, someone who is looked down on or discriminated
against? It can mean to honor them in the way David did in our story, to listen
to them, to invite them into my space.
Angela
Davis, a black activist, has said, “In a racist society, it is not enough to be
non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” I don’t agree with everything she has
written, but this statement certainly rings true. It is not enough to say that
I am not racist therefore the current situation is not my problem. Changing
systemic racism requires action, not just passive disapproval from those in a
privileged position. Many of us are still trying to understand what that means.
We may not even recognize that we are privileged, if we have not been subjected
to the type of discrimination that virtually every black American has
disproportionately experienced, in one way or another. Why is passive
disapproval of racism not enough? Maybe a rough parallel could be drawn with
the way many Christians over the centuries have viewed evangelism. They
consider religion to be a private matter that they don’t talk about. They might
be trusting Jesus for their own salvation, but they feel no obligation to tell
anyone else about it.
William
Carey, considered the father of modern Protestant missions in the late 1700s,
faced not just lack of support for his mission endeavor but outright opposition
from fellow ministers in the church. In one meeting where he presented his
vision for outreach in India, he was abruptly interrupted by an older Baptist minister
who said, "Young man, sit down! You are an enthusiast. When God pleases to
convert the heathen, he'll do it without consulting you or me." Carey was
considered quite radical in his assertion that the Great Commission applies to
all Christians of all times. How could believers ignore it, he wondered. He
wrote, "Multitudes sit at ease and give themselves no concern about the
far greater part of their fellow sinners, who to this day, are lost in
ignorance and idolatry."
Because
of people like William Carey who were willing to act on their faith and their
understanding of God’s word, evangelical Christians today understand that we
each have a responsibility to proclaim the gospel to unbelievers and to live it
out in practical ways our daily lives. Being a passive Christian, even if our
own faith is real, is not enough. God wants us to act on our beliefs and even
to confront others who are far from God. We should apply this same principle to
racism and a host of other social issues, too. Micah 6:8 (ESV) is an important
verse in this regard:
He
has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? – Micah 6:8
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? – Micah 6:8
The
Bible is full of commands about what it means to do justice: defending the
cause of the fatherless and widow, caring for aliens and the poor, delivering
the oppressed. God’s heart is clearly for those who are disadvantaged in
society. And he commands his people to actually do something about injustice,
not just believe correctly. That’s why it’s not enough to just say that you are
not a racist. What does it mean to actually pursue justice for our black neighbors
who continue to suffer discrimination in our society? Jesus was the one teacher
who put the golden rule in active, positive form: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Other religions
came up with the inverse: do not do what you don’t want others to do. That is
much more passive, a “live and let live” kind of approach. Jesus wants us to
take action on behalf of others. How would we want others to respond if we were
being discriminated against?
Micah
also reminds us to love kindness. Kindness is what will bring warring factions
together. Pursuing justice as a singular goal can sometimes create new
barriers. It can easily appear heavy-handed and confrontative. Kindness can
break those barriers down and bring people together again. We know that God’s
own perfect justice is always balanced by his perfect love. Offering kindness
allows us to touch other people’s hearts and see them change from the inside.
And underpinning it all is humility before God, which keeps pride and
selfishness at bay. It ensures that God gets the glory for what we do and not
us.
David
offered kindness to Mephibosheth in a way that flew in the face of the societal
norms of his day. I realize that David was not necessarily out to change a
system that discriminated against disabled people, but his actions toward
Mephibosheth spoke volumes. Honoring him as he did raised this self-described
“dead dog” of a man to nearly the highest place in the land. Others would have
noticed that. David lived about 300 years before Micah, but he might well have
been basing his life on this verse that we have looked at: doing justice,
loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. He was far from perfect, but he
kept returning to this foundation as a man after God’s own heart.
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