Slices
Prepare
Before you read further, list 12 ways in which God has been kind to you.
Bible passage
David and Mephibosheth
9 David asked, ‘Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’
2 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.
3 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.’
4 ‘Where is he?’ the king asked.
Ziba answered, ‘He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.’
5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.
6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honour.
David said, ‘Mephibosheth!’
‘At your service,’ he replied.
7 ‘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.’
8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?’
9 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. 10 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.)
11 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.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.
Explore
Once again, we see in today’s passage David’s genuine honouring of Saul, actively seeking to bless anyone who’s left in Saul’s family line (v 1). Kings must be pretty busy, so for David to make time for this demonstrates what his heart was like. Mephibosheth must have been nervous (vs 6,7), yet David’s intentions were wholly good (vs 9,10). This would come at quite a cost for David. I have three sons and they eat… a lot! Imagine how much food Ziba (Mephibosheth’s servant) and his fifteen sons and twenty servants (v 10) could have powered through!
David wants to show ‘God’s kindness’ (v 3) to Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son. Mephibosheth had no utility for King David – he was a forgotten nobody whose disability meant he couldn’t fight in David’s army or serve in his protection detail. The kindness David showed was one-way, unmerited and lavish – Mephibosheth went from being in a place of desolate isolation to eating at the king’s table (v 13).
In David’s actions we see a foreshadowing of the loving kindness of Jesus – who sought out not just one long lost son, but came to redeem a whole people for God (see Titus 2:14). And who didn’t only invite us to his table, but made a way for us to be adopted as children of God (1 John 3:1), and his banner spread over us is love (see Song of Solomon 2:4).
Respond
Who can you show the kindness of God to today?
Deeper Bible study
‘Amazing grace! How sweet the sound / that saved a wretch like me.’1 Thank you, Jesus, for bringing me out of the pit and setting my feet on your rock.
Personally, having experienced years of painful suffering, sometimes feeling like ‘a dead dog’ is a true expression of reality (v 8). Whether Mephibosheth said that to show homage before David is unclear, but it’s a powerful picture. His father was Jonathan and his grandfather, Saul. Having once lived in a king’s house, he was now before one who could humiliate or kill him. Years before, when Mephibosheth was just five, David had promised unfailing love to Jonathan’s family2 and Mephibosheth is now an adult. No doubt terrified, he is welcomed into the king’s throne room. In a reflection of God’s goodness to him, David restores the lands to Mephibosheth’s family, setting people around him to provide for his needs, even inviting him to dine at the king’s table (vs 7,11).
The parallels cry out to us from this story. That we, who were but broken pieces laid before the King, would be restored as heirs. More than that, to be welcomed into the King’s presence, by name. Not meeting with the expected (and just) death sentence, but finding a welcome of the greatest proportion and honour – and the restoration of all the enemy has taken from us! Ziba calls him the lame son (v 3), the king calls him by name (v 6) and adopts him as family. In the same way, God invites us personally into restoration and relationship. In redemption we find blessings beyond comprehension, even everlasting life and the joy of being his children. Just as the disciples sat sharing with the Lord, we are invited to the King’s feast! Psalm 23 expresses it beautifully: he prepares a table for us before our enemies, we are to be anointed and dwelling in God’s house for ever.3 Or, as David’s son described it, ‘Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.’4
Who are we inviting to the feast, to receive God’s grace and eternal love?
1 John Newton, 1779 2 1 Sam 20:14–17 3 Ps 23:5 4 Song 2:4
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Nehemiah 3,4; Luke 6
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for the Faith Guides who will come on the Launchpad holiday run by Mission Enabler Neil Jackson. Pray for good relationships with the children on the holiday and that the activities will help them to move on in their understanding of Jesus.
