“And
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.’ And [Mephibosheth] paid homage
and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog
such as I?’ … So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the
king’s table. Now he was lame in both his feet.” (2 Sam. 9:7-8, 13)
The
story of Mephibosheth begins back in 2 Samuel 4:4: “Jonathan, the son of Saul,
had a son who as 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.”
The
name literally meant “dispeller of shame,” and it carried within it the idea of
a breath of air blowing away shame and humiliation, specifically as it related
to idol worship. In 1 Chronicles 8:34, his name is recorded as Merib-baal,
meaning “grapples with or struggles against Baal,” a pagan deity that was
commonly worshipped in that region. Both names suggest that idol worship had
brought shame and humiliation to Israel, and maybe Jonathan had hoped that his
heritage would be to one day put an end to that shame and restore Israel to the
pure worship of God again. Whatever the reason, Mephibosheth’s very name
invoked hope for the future.
That
day in the nursery when he was five, all hope must have seemed lost. One
minute, he is the son of a prince, the grandson of the King, in the line to
assume the throne. The future seemed bright and certain. The next a messenger
from Jezreel is announcing that his father and grandfather have been killed in
battle. His nurse knows the chaos that will come in the wake of this news:
there will be a mad scramble for power. Death and bloodshed in a desperate grab
for power by relatives and kinsmen. And there is David. The sworn enemy of
Saul. Rumor has it that God has chosen him to be king over Israel. Surely, he
will come and put to death any that stand in his way.
In
fear, the nurse snatches little Mephibosheth up, hurriedly packs a few things
she will need in hiding, and runs from the nursery. What happens next is a
blur; all she knows is she is falling. Hard. Mephibosheth is injured. Both feet
are crippled by the accident. He will never walk again. In a culture where the
strength of a man to work his field and tend his flock is everything, Mephibosheth’s
bright future, all the hopes and dreams of his father for him, crumble into
ashes.
Mephibosheth.
Dispeller of Shame. His own name must have become a cruel
joke to him, and it probably felt like gravel in his mouth whenever he spoke
it. How many times he must have heard it on the lips of others and thought, “Dispeller of Shame? Ha! Dispeller of Hope,
is more like it.” So for years, Mephibosheth lives in humiliation,
depending on the pity and charity of others, unable to contribute to the work,
hding out, living in constant fear that his identity as a Saul’s grandson might
be discovered and he be put to death. Maybe
it would be better that way, he might have thought. After all, I am already as good as dead. A dead dog in the street. No
one will even miss me, except those to whom I have become a burden, and they
will probably be relieved.
You
can imagine what he must have felt the day the messengers from King David
showed up at his house, asking for him – by
name! He must have thought, This is
it. I’m dead. The day I have dreaded for so long has finally come. He can
hardly believe his ears when he hears why they have come. David doesn’t want to
kill him; David wants to show him kindness for the sake of his father.
His
head must have been spinning when David called his name: “Mephibosheth!” Dispeller of the Shame of Israel. Bringer of Hope.
Somehow it didn’t sound like a cruel joke anymore when he said it. “Do not
fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan…”
Because of a sacred promise, a covenant between David and Mephibosheth’s
father, the King wants to take all the love and kindness he had for Jonathan
and give it to him! He had nothing to offer David. And David certainly didn’t
owe him anything. By all rights, David should have had him slain as the blood
relative of his bitter enemy and rival to the throne. Ha! The throne! Sure, as long as I can get somebody to carry me up and
sit me on it!
David
continued,”… and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father…” Could
this really be happening? All that was lost is being restored to him, even
though he no longer has any rightful claim to it, much less the power to make
such a claim. And here is David simply handing it to him. And for no other
reason that because it pleased him to do it!
But
David wasn’t finished. “…and you shall eat at my table always.” This last bit
must have been almost too much for Mephibosheth to bear. King David had already
been extravagantly generous in honoring his covenant with his father Jonathan
as if it had been with him directly, in giving back to him all the land that
was lost to their family, in letting him
live! It would have been more than Mephibosheth could have ever dreamed
possible if David had sent him away with all of that and had never seen or
spoken to him again. But instead, David gives him a place with him, a seat of
honor, at his table, beside him, always!
I
don’t want to rush past this and miss this, because this is, I believe, where
the gospel shines most clearly in this story. David wanted Mephibosheth to be with him always. He wanted to get to know him, to dwell with
him, for him to be like one of his own sons. For the first time since that
horrible accident all those years ago, Mephibosheth must have felt wanted!
It
must have undone him completely. Scripture records his response to this
overwhelming of David: “And [Mephibosheth] paid homage” – in the original
Hebrew it literally means to prostrate, to
fall down on your face in submission before someone – “and said, ‘What is your
servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?’ “ All those
years of living in fear and hiding who he really was, of feeling the weight of
shame and humiliation, of having no hope for his future, and of feeling like a
burden to a family to whom he didn’t belong, all that just melted away like waking
up from a bad dream. Almost in echo of the day his future was suddenly snatched
away from him and he was plunged into a nightmare, he found himself suddenly
living in the King’s palace, eating at his table, accepted as a friend and
member of his own family. It’s called grace. Undeserved favor. Unconditional
love and kindness. For no other reason that because it pleases the King to do
so.
This
is one of my favorite stories in scripture because it my story, too – Our story.We are Mephibosheth. Helpless.
Hopeless. “strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world.” (Eph. 4:12) But like Mephibosheth, we are the recipients of
astonishing grace, based on a blood covenant made long ago, before we were
born. Not for our own sake, but for the sake of Jesus Christ and His blood shed
for us, we are welcomed into the family of the King, and given a place at His
table – always!
Paul
describes our part in this story well: “And
you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following
the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once
lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and
the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But
God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by
grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in
the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show
the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For
by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it
is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph.2:1-9)
Our
sin had alienated us. We were enemies of the King, living in rebellion. Our
selfishness had crippled us, made us unable to walk in the way we were meant
to. We had no power to save ourselves. No future to give us hope. We were “dead
dogs” for all intents and purposes. “But God” – two of the sweetest words in
scripture – showed us unfathomable grace for Jesus’ sake. And here is the part
I love most: “so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches
of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.”
In the
coming ages.
Though we may feel like Mephibosheth today, there is a new King in town, and
His Kingdom is coming even now. In that Kingdom we have been given a seat at
the table. “Because of the great love with which He loved us.” Take that to
heart today, friend. Trust in the kindness of Jesus. He wants you to be with
Him so bad, not even death could stop him. Let the truth of that sink in today
and truly be a Dispeller of Shame.
