2 Samuel 9

2 Samuel 9:1

DAVID BEFRIENDS MEPHIBOSHETHThis chapter records one of the most beautiful stories in the Scriptures. It is a story that reveals what a great man David really was. We usually think of David in connection with the sin he committed, and that is probably a natural thing to do. Suppose I had a large white screen before me. On that screen is one little black spotsome ink got on the screen. As I look at it, what is the most impressive thing about it?

There is a vast area of white, but that one little black spot stands out. Or suppose you ride down the highway, as I have done in west Texas, and you see a couple of thousand sheep in a field. All of the sheep are white but one. Which sheep do you really see? So it is in the life of David. We always concentrate on his big sin, and it was big.

The trouble is that we give sparse attention to the noble life and exploits of David. Someone has said, “There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it behooves most of us not to talk about the rest of us.” Maybe we ought to reevaluate our viewpoint of David. There are so many bright spots in the long life of David, from that young shepherd boy who slew a giant, to an old man wise in experience who could write, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” In this chapter we shall see the gracious side of David’s character. Chapter 9 records the story of Mephibosheth. He is the son of Jonathan and the grandson of Saul. It is important at this point to recall some of the background of Saul. He had been the pitiless foe and bitter enemy of David. At the death of Saul, David began to marshal his forces. According to oriental custom of that day, a new king would naturally put to death all contenders to the throne of a former dynasty.

Any claimant would be removed by execution. That would protect the new king from any threat. According to the code of that day, David would have been justified in putting to death any of the offspring of Saul. When Saul and Jonathan had been killed in the same battle, a little son of Jonathan’s was hidden lest David find him and kill him. The name of this boy was Mephibosheth. David could more firmly establish his throne by slaying this boy and thus remove the last vestige of danger. Ziba, a servant of Saul, betrayed the hiding place of Mephibosheth, and David could have easily killed him.

2 Samuel 9:5

When Mephibosheth is brought before David, he falls on his face before him, expecting to be executed. Instead, David speaks kindly to him, calling him by his name.

2 Samuel 9:7

David quickly puts him at ease and explains the reason he has sent for him. He restores his inheritance to him and gives him a permanent place at the king’s tablehonoring him as one of his own sons!

2 Samuel 9:8

Notice the reaction of Mephibosheth to all of this. Had there been another king on the throne, he would have been slain. It would have been an entirely different story. Realizing this, Mephibosheth counts himself as “a dead dog.” But David does not call him that. He says, “You are no dead dog. You are Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. I intend to show kindness to you.”

2 Samuel 9:9

That is quite a household! So this property and land of Saul’s was turned over to Mephibosheth. It rightfully belonged to him, and David sees to it that he gets it.

2 Samuel 9:11

What David did for Mephibosheth was wonderful, but there are some other impressive lessons with great spiritual truths which I don’t want you to miss.

1. A child of God recognizes that he is also a cripple in God’s sight. We are told in Rom_3:15-16: “Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways.” That is the report from God’s clinic on the human race. Our feet lead us astray. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa_53:6). Then the writer of the Book of Proverbs says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Pro_16:25). Our feet get us into trouble. The way that the soul and the feet are so closely connected in Scripture is quite interesting. I do not mean to make a bad pun; I am not talking about the sole of the foot. Remembering that David for the rest of his life had a crippled boy who ate at his table, listen to the words of Psa_56:13, “For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from failing, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?” Then in Psa_73:2 David says, “But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.” David knew what it was to have lame feet! In Psa_116:8 he says, “For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.” My friend, all of us are actually cripples before God. Modern philosophy and humanism present another picture of man. I once heard a liberal say that Christ came to reveal the splendors of the human soul! God says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer_17:9). Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, and it is a mess of bad things. You cannot expect any good from human nature. Paul could say, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Rom_7:18). Paul had no confidence in the flesh. The Law is condemnation. Joh_14:6 says, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” When we come that way, He will receive us.
2. David extended kindness to Mephibosheth for the sake of Jonathan. This is another facet of this amazing incident. You see, David did not know the boy. He did what he did for the sake of Jonathan whom he loved. When David looked upon this boy, he did not see a cripple; he saw Jonathan. He had made a covenant with Jonathan. The kindness, mercy, and grace extended to a helpless person were for the sake of another. We have seen how much Jonathan meant to David. When the news of his death reached him, he said: “How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women” (2Sa_1:25-26). Now God has saved you and me because of Anotherthe Lord Jesus Christ. When we accept Jesus Christ as Savior, Eph_1:6 tells us that we are “accepted in the beloved.” When God sees you and me in Christ, He accepts us and saves us.
3. David said nothing about the lame feet of Mephibosheth. There is no record that David ever mentioned it or made an allusion to it. He never said to him, “It is too bad that you are crippled.” He treated him like a prince. He sat at the king’s table, and his feet were covered with a linen cloth. My friend, God forgets our sin because it is blotted out by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the only way God can forgive our sins. The writer of Hebrews put it this way: “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb_10:17).
4. Mephibosheth said nothing about his lame feet. What do you think David and Mephibosheth talked about when they sat at the table? They talked about another person. Do you know who it was? It was Jonathan. David loved Jonathan. Mephibosheth loved Jonathanhe was his father. Jonathan was the subject of conversation. What should you and I talk about? Some Christians take a keen delight in talking about the old days when they lived in sin. It is too bad that when we get together we don’t talk about Another. The Lord Jesus Christ should be the main subject of our conversation.
5. Others said nothing about Mephibosheth’s lame feet. There was a large company that ate at the king’s table. One day they saw David bringing this crippled boy to the table. The gossips did not say, “Did you hear how it happened?” Instead they listened to the king. They heard David praise Mephibosheth. They had no time to indulge in cheap talk. Their hearts went out in love to this boy. You see, love “beareth all things, endureth all things.” Love “never fails” (1Co_13:7-8). As far as I can tell, David was never able to make this boy walk. If you see that you cannot walk well-pleasing to God, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said to the man with palsy, whose friends had let him down through the roof, “…Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee…. Arise, and walk” (Mat_9:2-5). The apostle Paul urged: “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Eph_4:1-2). If you are failing in your walk, turn to Christ for help. Christ is sending out an invitation today into the highways and byways and out into the streets of your town. He is saying, “Come to my table of salvation just as you are, crippled, and I will feed you.” He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat_11:28). He also says, “…If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (Joh_7:37). What a wonderful picture of God’s love is presented in this chapter!