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2 Samuel 9

David & Mephibosheth

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As we come to 2 Samuel 9 we want to REMEMBER that the Holy Spirit uses the very REAL and very HISTORICAL events of Old Testament history to ILLUSTRATE New Testament truth. In 2 Samuel 9 we come to one of the most MEANINGFUL and MOVING accounts of the entire Old Testament — one that paints for us a RADICAL PICTURE of the grace and kindness of God given to us in Jesus Christ.

Years earlier — David had made a covenant with his friend Jonathan.

1 Samuel 18:1-4 (ESV) As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. 3Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. 4And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.

Jonathan was the son of Saul — crown prince of Israel — heir apparent to the throne. But God had rejected Saul as king over Israel and had chosen David. Jonathan realized that the anointing of God was upon David. Rather than become jealous of David, Jonathan affirmed the call of God on David’s life. He supported David — even when it exposed him to the violent anger and jealousy of his father, Saul. His only request was that David would treat his family with kindness after the Lord gave the throne to him:

1 Samuel 20:15-17 (ESV) and do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever, when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” 16And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD take vengeance on David’s enemies.” 17And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

Later they renewed that covenant of love:

1 Samuel 23:17-18 (ESV) And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. 18Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

As we come to 2 Samuel 9 David is secure on the throne of Israel. It was during this time that David remembered the covenant that he had made to his best friend, Jonathan.

2 Samuel 9:1-3a (ESV) And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2Now 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.” 3And the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?…”

This phrase is key to understanding David’s motivation in this chapter. In 1 Samuel 7 David asked — “What can I do for God?” —he proposed to build a temple for the Lord. Now David asks another question — a question that those who have come to know the love of God should ask — “What can I do for others?” David wanted to show someone else the same kindness God showed to him.

But it is also an AMAZING declaration of the nature of God — which will be powerfully pictured in this chapter.

2 Samuel 9:3-13 (ESV)…Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.” 4The king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.” 5Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, “Mephibosheth!” And he answered, “Behold, I am your servant.” 7And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.” 8And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”9Then the king called Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s grandson. 10And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce, that your master’s grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s grandson shall always eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons. 12And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all who lived in Ziba’s house became Mephibosheth’s servants. 13So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king’s table. Now he was lame in both his feet.

Mephibosheth is a striking illustration of lost man

Verse 3 — “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.”

KJV — He was LAME

We are told HOW he came to be LAME in his feet.

Back in 2 Samuel 4 — after the death of Abner.

2 Samuel 4:4 (ESV) Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.

She was AFRAID of the King and she took Mephibosheth to flee from the king.

Mephibosheth fell — perhaps injuring his spinal column.

KEY OBSERVATION:
He could not walk because of a fall. WE ARE MEPHIBOSHETH. We can NOT walk because of a fall. The fall of our original parents in the Garden of Eden. I DO NOT mean to pop anyone’s bubble this evening, but we need to see ourselves in the light of Scripture. Mankind is LAME.

There is no such thing as TABLA RASA. From the Latin meaning — smoothed or erased tablet.It is a supposition that all of us come into the world like a BLANK PAGE (Tabla Rasa) and we are then shaped for better or worse by our environment. The Bible declares that we are all born sinners. That might come as a shock to you. But it is the truth. You and I can NOT walk in righteousness because of the fall.

Romans 5:12 (ESV) Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned .

There is no such thing as someone being born good and perfect only to be brought down by environment. Any parent in their right mind KNOWS that their children are NOT innately good. From the moment they are born you hold them and care for them and provide for them.
You never once give them a reason to do anything bad towards you or their siblings. Despite such tender and loving upbringing, their beginning vocabulary is peculiar – “NO” — “MINE”.

There is NOT a mother that I have ever met that has taught their children to lie or steal. But every mom here has listened to some amazing stories. Every parent KNOWS that they have to INGRAIN the concepts of honesty and generosity into their kids. Those things are noticeably absent from these supposedly blank slates.

We ARE Mephibosheth — LAME!
NOTICE WHERE this man, LAME from a FALL was.

2 Samuel 9:4 (ESV) The king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.”

• afraid of God’s anointed king — hiding in a place called LODEBAR
• LODEBAR = “not a pasture”
• Some read it as the place of nothingness. That is life for mankind outside of Christ.

LAME because of a fall

AFRAID of Jesus

HIDING from Jesus

Residing in the place of NOTHINGNESS.

CRUCIAL OBSERVATION:
In our text — we see David seeking Mephibosheth. This is an AWESOME illustration of God the Father seeking the lost.

In (Luke 19) we find Jesus in the city of Jericho. There was a very little man who lived there named Zacheus (picture Danny DeVito). He was very curious about Jesus. But there were always so many people around Jesus. He was so short that he could not see over the crowd. He would NEVER dare to enter in amongst a crowd of Jews because he was the most hated man in town…

He was a tax-collector — Never a popular guy/job. Who do you work for. Oh, I work for the IRS! Buh-bye.

WORSE than that — He was a Jewish man working for the pagan Roman government taking taxes from Jews that would prop up the pagan armies that occupied the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

WORSE than that — Anything he could extort from the Jews above and beyond the taxes expected by Rome was his to keep!

SO to avoid the crowd and at the same time be able to see Jesus — he climbed a sycamore tree. To his amazement — Jesus went right to that tree and said — “Hey Zaccheus — come down from there because I want to go to your house for dinner.”

I love that — Jesus so loved to eat with people that he invited Himself to dinner. Jesus hasn’t changed a bit! The same holds true today —

Revelation 3:20 (ESV) “Behold, I stand at the door, at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

He desires the intimate fellowship of sitting around the table like family. When Jesus went to the house of Zaccheus, the Pharisees said — “Look at Jesus, keeping company with sinners.” Jesus responded to their remark:

Luke 19:10 (NASB) “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

“Don’t you understand? That is why I am here!”

On another occasion (Luke 15) Jesus gave a parable (using a familiar earthly thing to communicate a heavenly truth) about a man who had 100 sheep but lost 1 of them. He said — “Shall not that shepherd leave the 99 that are safe and go out and search until he finds that 1 lost sheep? And when he finds him carries him on his shoulders and when he finds his friends he says — ‘Rejoice with me because my sheep that was lost is found’.”

He said — “So too, your heavenly Father rejoices when one that was lost is found.”

THIS IS WHAT makes Christianity different from religion. In religion, you have man seeking God. In Christianity you have God seeking lost man. Here we have in the life of David and Mephibosheth a PICTURE of the truth so clearly and frequently declared in the New Testament. God is seeking lost man.

NOTICE —

2 Samuel 9:6-7 (ESV) And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, “Mephibosheth!” And he answered, “Behold, I am your servant.” 7And David said to him, “Do not fear,…

Mephibosheth was FRIGHTENED — And with good cause! It was the practice in that time for a new king to seek out any survivors of the previous dynasty for the purpose of WIPING OUT anyone who might have a claim to the throne. All potential rivals were put to death. History records that in some of the neighboring cultures the new rulers would seek out the surviving rivals and have them skinned alive! They would take the skins of those people and make couches or chairs out of them. When people sat on those couches they would realize that the NEW king was not the kind of man to trifle with. In that political culture — I am sure that when Mephibosheth was sent for that he must have thought that it was all over.

NOTICE THE WORDS OF DAVID:

2 Samuel 9:7 (ESV) And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan,…

Mephibosheth had GREATLY misunderstood David!
Again — He is a great picture of fallen man!

We are quick to think think of God as being finished with us – Wanting to be RID of us. NO doubt — many so-called ministers share the blame for perpetuating that concept God. Many people walk out of church feeling like one little boy — who after church on Sunday turned to his mom and said — “Well, it looks like God is mad at us again.” We imagine that God is seeking us to BLAST us rather than seeking us to BLESS us. Jesus addressed this straight on.

John 3:17 (ESV) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Man was ALREADY condemned! If God was FINISHED with us; Bent on wiping us out – He would have NEVER sent His only begotten Son to SAVE us from our already condemned state! Jesus came to SAVE from that eternal condemnation. THAT is exactly the picture set before us in 2 Samuel 9. David did NOT send for Mephibosheth to BLAST him — He sent for Mephibosheth to BLESS him.

LIKE MEPHIBOSHETH — That misunderstanding of God causes men and women to HIDE FROM God rather than TURN TO God. Like Adam in the Garden – HIDING from God – Covering his nakedness with fig leaves

BY THE WAY — Ever felt a fig leaf? They are incredibly itchy!! People think that if God gets a hold of them that all hell is going to break loose. THAT is a lie from the pit of hell! In reality — when God gets a hold of you, all HEAVEN breaks loose!

NOTICE THE MERCY AND KINDNESS OF David towards Mephibosheth.

2 Samuel 9:7 (ESV) …“Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.”

1.) David wanted to:

• Restore to Mephibosheth his lost inheritance
• Give back to him EVERYTHING his family had lost

Here we see a picture of how God wants to restore to us all that was lost to us as a result of our father Adam’s failure. God had given to Adam the world. He gave to Adam dominion over the world and told him to enjoy it. But Adam — through his disobedience to God — forfeited the world to Satan – whom Jesus said was a thief who desires to steal, kill and destroy. God desires to restore that which was lost through the fall. THAT is what the Cross of Jesus is all about!

AMAZING —

The Bible BEGINS with:

• God creating the heaven and the earth
• Man kind enjoying fellowship with God in a sinless world
• God saying it was VERY GOD.

The Bible ENDS with

• God creating a NEW heaven and a NEW earth
• The dwelling place of God is with man
• There will enter in NOTHING that defiles

INDIVIDUALLY — The PURPOSE of God in seeking you is to restore to you that which was forfeited by sin — fellowship with God!

2.) Mephibosheth was invited to dine at the king’s table

What a contrast — From the land of no pasture to the king’s table. The king’s table was a place of spectacular abundance. AGAIN — THIS is the GRACE of God for us! We too were residents of Lodebar — the land of no pasture. We were like the prodigal son who walked away from his father’s table and ended up eating pig slop that wasn’t fit for human consumption. BUT — Jesus calls us to HIS table

John 10:9 (ESV) I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 6:35 (ESV) Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

WE dine upon His love and His life. When you are living at and living from the table of the King of kings — going back to the world is unthinkable! Peter likened it to a dog returning to it’s vomit.

CRUCIAL OBSERVATION:
DAVID did all of this for Mephibosheth — FOR JONATHAN’S SAKE! It had NOTHING to do with what Mephibosheth had done. It was strictly for Jonathan’s sake that David did this. It was for the sake of that covenant and for the sake of Jonathan that David invited Mephibosheth to the king’s table.

SO IT IS WITH US
God has sought us out, to restore us, to invite us to His table – NOT because of what we have done; But for the sake of His Word and for the sake of Jesus.

Ephesians 4:32 (KJV) “…even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

CRUCIAL POINT:
The Lord calls you — just as you are — to come to His table and to dine with Him. Satan — the enemy of your soul — loves to tell you that you are NOT worthy to come to the table of Jesus. Jesus says — COME AND DINE AT MY TABLE. The enemy says — Right! You’re so LAME — God would never want the likes of you!” Many buy into that lie.

BUT — That is NOT why Mephibosheth got invited to dine at the King’s table. He got invited because:

• It was in the heart of the King to invite him
• It PLEASED the king to have mercy and extend grace!

WOULD YOU NOTE with me that invitation to David’s table did NOT produce a sense of pride. INSTEAD — It awoke a sense of unworthiness.

2 Samuel 9:8 (ESV) And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”

The ONLY thing he he could do was HUMBLY receive.

HERE’S THE PICTURE —
When Jesus invites you to dine at His table:

1.) There should be a sense of unworthiness.

• Like Jacob who said:

Genesis 32:10 (KJV) “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies…”

• Like Peter:

Luke 5:8 (KJV) But when Simon Peter saw (the great catch of fish) …

He did NOT say — Well — it is MY boat, and I did agree with your instructions, and — I think you knew all along that I would be a great asset to your kingdom! NO — he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

KEY POINT:
This genuine sense of unworthiness is coupled with worship.

WORSHIP is BOWING before God.

2.) There is a sense of acceptance.

“I’m lame Lord — I am shameful — I’ve been HIDING from you in the land of no pasture

But you’ve accepted me just as I am!

Ephesians 1:6 (KJV) …wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”

CLOSING:
This account is especially sweet to me — Mephibosheth was between 22-23 years old when he was invited to the king’s table. I was just over 22 years old when the King of kings invited ME to dine at HIS table. Do YOU know that God has SOUGHT YOU out and has invited YOU to the table of the King of Kings? Like Mephibosheth — We are lame and shameful and hungry. But for the sake of Jesus — we have been are invited to the table of the King.

You can RUN or you can RECEIVE. Where are you today? Lame and in Lodebar — Or Loved and Fed at the King’s table?

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Copyrights:

• The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®
  Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles,
  a division of Good News Publishers
  All rights reserved.
• Scripture quotations marked “NKJV™” are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
• Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
• Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission.” (www.Lockman.org)