David said, “Is there yet any who is left of Saul’s house, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” There was of Saul’s house a servant whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” He said, “I am your servant.”
The king said, “Is there not yet any of Saul’s house, that I may show the kindness of God to him?” Ziba said to the king, “Jonathan still has a son, who is lame in his feet.”
The king said to him, “Where is he?” Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar.”
Then king David sent, and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar. Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, and fell on his face, and showed respect. David said, “Mephibosheth.” He answered, “Behold, your servant!”
David said to him, “Don’t be afraid; for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your father. You will eat bread at my table continually.”
He bowed down, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look at such a dead dog as I am?” Then the king called to 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 son. Till the land for him, you, your sons, and your servants. Bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have bread to eat; but Mephibosheth your master’s son will always eat bread at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so your servant will do.” So Mephibosheth ate at the king’s table, like one of the king’s sons. Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. All that lived in Ziba’s house were servants to Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem; for he ate continually at the king’s table. He was lame in both his feet.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Because of mine oath and promise made to Jonathan,…
Because of mine oath and promise made to Jonathan, 1 Sam. 10:15.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–13 2Sa 9:1 And David said, Is there yet any…
2Sa 9:1 And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?
Ver. 1. And David said.] Tandem aliquando, long and last good Jonathan’s posterity is thought on and inquired after. Perraro grati reperiuntur. It was much that David, so thankful a man to God as his psalms testify, should be so forgetful of his most faithful friend, and of the covenant of God betwixt them. This is by some accounted to be one of the chief errors of his life.
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That I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake.] We must also see where Jesus our fast friend hath any receivers; that since our goodness extendeth not to him, we may show him kindness in his poor people, who are his seed, and do prolong his days on earth. {Isa 53:10 Psa 16:3} And herein be nimble, since
“ Gratia, ab officio, quod mora tardat, abest. ”
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 David’s wars being ended, he set himself to the…
David’s wars being ended, he set himself to the administration of justice to all his people, 2Sa 8:15; and, amongst others, he minds his just debt and obligation to Jonathan and his family.
Of the house of Saul; he saith not of the house of Jonathan, for he knew not of any son which he had left, and therefore thought his kindness and obligation was to pass to the next of his kindred. As for Mephibosheth, he was very young and obscure, and possibly concealed by his friends, lest David should cut him off from jealousy of state, as hath been usual among princes in like cases, and therefore was unknown to David, as well he might be, especially when David’s head and hands were full of war with divers and potent enemies, as they had hitherto been.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 9 Here is, I. David's enquiry after the remains of…
Here is, I. David's enquiry after the remains of the ruined house of Saul, Sa2 9:1. This was a great while after his accession to the throne, for it should seem that Mephibosheth, who was but five years old when Saul died, had now a son born, Sa2 9:12. David had too long forgotten his obligations to Jonathan, but now, at length, they are brought to his mind. It is good sometimes to bethink ourselves whether there be any promises or engagements that we have neglected to make good; better do it late than never. The compendium which Paul gives us of the life of David is this (Act 13:36), that he served his generation according to the will of God, that is, he was a man that made it his business to do good; witness this instance, where we may observe,
1. That he sought an opportunity to do good. He might perhaps have satisfied his conscience with the performance of his promise to Jonathan if he had been only ready, upon request or application made to him by any of his seed, to help and succour them. But he does more, he enquires of those about him first (Sa2 9:1), and, when he met with a person that was likely to inform him, asked him particularly, Is there any yet left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness? Sa2 9:3. "Is there any, not only to whom I may do justice (Num 5:8), but to whom I may show kindness?" Note, Good men should seek opportunities of doing good. The liberal deviseth liberal things, Isa 32:8. For, the most proper objects of our kindness and charity are such as will not be frequently met with without enquiry. The most necessitous are the least clamorous.
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2. Those he enquired after were the remains of the house of Saul, to whom he would show kindness for Jonathan's sake: Is there any left of the house of Saul? Saul had a very numerous family (Ch1 8:33), enough to replenish a country, and was yet so emptied that none of it appeared; but it was a matter of enquiry, Is there any left? See how the providence of God can empty full families; see how the sin of man will do it. Saul's was a bloody house, no marvel it was thus reduced, Sa2 21:1. But, though God visited the iniquity of the father upon the children, David would not. "Is there any left that I can show kindness to, not for Saul's own sake, but for Jonathan's?" (1.) Saul was David's sworn enemy, and yet he would show kindness to his house with all his heart and was forward to do it. He does not say, "Is there any left of the house of Saul, that I may find some way to take them off, and prevent their giving disturbance to me or my successor?" It was against Abimelech's mind that any one was left of the house of Gideon (Jdg 9:5), and against Athaliah's mind that any one was left of the seed royal, Ch2 22:10, Ch2 22:11. Those were usurped governments. David's needed no such vile supports. He was desirous to show kindness to the house of Saul, not only because he trusted in God and feared not what they could do unto him, but because he was of a charitable disposition and forgave what they had done to him. Note, We must evince the sincerity of our forgiving those that have been any way unjust or injurious to us by being ready, as we have opportunity, to show kindness both to them and theirs. We must not only not avenge ourselves upon them, but we must love them, and do them good (Mat 5:44), and not be backward to do any office of love and good-will to those that have done us many an injury. Pe1 3:9, - but, contrari-wise, blessing. This is the way to overcome evil, and to find mercy for ourselves and ours, when we or they need it. (2.) Jonathan was David's sworn friend, and therefore he would show kindness to his house. This teaches us, [1.] To be mindful of our covenant. The kindness we have promised we must conscientiously perform, though it should not be claimed. God is faithful to us; let us not be unfaithful to one another. [2.] To be mindful of our friendships, our old friendships. Note, Kindness to our friends, even to them and theirs, is one of the laws of our holy religion. He that has friends must show himself friendly, Pro 18:24. If Providence has raised us, and our friends and their families are brought low, yet we must not forget former acquaintance, but rather look upon that as giving us so much the fairer opportunity of being kind to them: then our friends have most need of us and we are in the best capacity to help them. Though there be not a solemn league of friendship tying us to this constancy of love, yet there is a sacred law of friendship no less obliging, that to him that is in misery pity should be shown by his friend, Job 6:14. A brother is born for adversity. Friendship obliges us to take cognizance of the families and surviving relations of those we have loved, who, when they left us, left behind them their bodies, their names, and their posterity, to be kind to.
3. The kindness he promised to show them he calls the kindness of God; not only great kindness, but, (1.) Kindness in pursuance of the covenant that was between him and Jonathan, to which God was a witness. See Sa1 20:42. (2.) Kindness after God's example; for we must be merciful as he is. He spares those whom he has advantage against, and so must we. Jonathan's request to David was (Sa1 20:14, Sa1 20:15), "Show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not, and the same to my seed." The kindness of God is some greater instance of kindness than one can ordinarily expect from men. (3.) It is kindness done after a godly sort, and with an eye to God, and his honour and favour.
II. Information given him concerning Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. Ziba was an old retainer to Saul's family, and knew the state of it. He was sent for and examined, and informed the king that Jonathan's son was living, but lame (how he came to be so we read before, Sa2 4:4), and that he lived in obscurity, probably among his mother's relations in Lo-debar in Gilead, on the other side Jordan, where he was forgotten, as a dead man out of mind, but bore this obscurity the more easily because he could remember little of the honour he fell from.
III. The bringing of him to court. The king sent (Ziba, it is likely) to bring him up to Jerusalem with all convenient speed, Sa2 9:5. Thus he eased Machir of his trouble, and perhaps recompensed him for what he had laid out on Mephibosheth's account. This Machir appears to have been a very generous free-hearted man, and to have entertained Mephibosheth, not out of any disaffection to David or his government, but in compassion to the reduced son of a prince, for afterwards we find him kind to David himself when he fled from Absalom. He is named (Sa2 17:27) among those that furnished the king with what he wanted at Mahanaim, though David, when he sent for Mephibosheth from him, little thought that the time would come when he himself would gladly be beholden to him: and perhaps Machir was then the more ready to help David in recompence for his kindness to Mephibosheth. Therefore we should be forward to give, because we know not but we ourselves may some time be in want, Ecc 11:2. And he that watereth shall be watered also himself, Pro 11:25. Now,
1. Mephibosheth presented himself to David with all the respect that was due to his character. Lame as he was, he fell on his face, and did homage, Sa2 9:6. David had thus made his honours to Mephibosheth's father, Jonathan, when he was next to the throne (Sa1 20:41, he bowed himself to him three times), and now Mephibosheth, in like manner, addresses him, when affairs are so completely reversed. Those who, when they are in inferior relations, show respect, shall, when they come to be advanced, have respect shown to them.
2. David received him with all the kindness that could be. (1.) He spoke to him as one surprised, but pleased to see him. "Mephibosheth! Why, is there such a man living?" He remembered his name, for it is probable that he was born about the time of the intimacy between him and Jonathan. (2.) He bade him not be afraid: Fear not, Sa2 9:7. It is probable that the sight of David put him into some confusion, to free him from which he assures him that he sent for him, not out of any jealousy he had of him, nor with any bad design upon him, but to show him kindness. Great men should not take a pleasure in the timorous approaches of their inferiors (for the great God does not), but should encourage them. (3.) He gives him, by grant from the crown, all the land of Saul his father, that is, his paternal estate, which was forfeited by Ishbosheth's rebellion and added to his own revenue. This was a real favour, and more than giving him a kind word. True friendship will be generous. (4.) Though he had thus given him a good estate, sufficient to maintain him, yet for Jonathan's sake (whom perhaps he saw some resemblance of in Mephibosheth's face), he will take him to be a constant guest at his own table, where he will not only be comfortably fed, but have company and attendance suitable to his birth and quality. Though Mephibosheth was lame and unsightly, and does not appear to have had any great fitness for business, yet, for his good father's sake, David took him to be one of his family.
3. Mephibosheth accepts this kindness with great humility and self-abasement. He was not one of those that take every favour as a debt, and think every thing too little that their friends do for them; but, on the contrary, speaks as one amazed at the grants David made him (Sa2 9:8): What is thy servant, that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am? How does he vilify himself! Though the son of a prince, and the grandson of a king, yet his family being under guilt and wrath, and himself poor and lame, he calls himself a dead dog before David. Note, It is good to have the heart humble under humbling providences. If, when divine Providence brings our condition down, divine grace brings our spirits down with it, we shall be easy. And those who thus humble themselves shall be exalted. How does he magnify David's kindness! It would have been easy to lessen it if he had been so disposed. Had David restored him his father's estate? It was but giving him his own. Did he take him to his table? This was policy, that he might have an eye upon him. But Mephibosheth considered all that David said and did as very kind, and himself as less than the least of all his favours. See Sa1 18:18.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–13 And David said,.... To some of his courtiers:
And David said,.... To some of his courtiers:
is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul? which question was put by him, not in order to destroy them, lest they should disturb his government, as was usual with other princes, and especially such who got their crowns by usurpation; but to prevent any suspicion of that kind in the persons he inquired of, he adds:
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that I may show him kindness, for Jonathan's sake? not for Saul's sake, who had been his implacable enemy, though he had sworn to him that he would not cut off his seed; but for Jonathan's sake, his dear friend, whose memory was precious to him. Some of the Jewish writers have thought, because this follows upon the account given of the officers of David, both in his camp and court, that this question was occasioned by a thought that came into his mind, while he was appointing officers, that if there were any of Saul's family, and especially any descendant of Jonathan, that was fit for any post or office, he would put him into one; but this seems to be a long time after David had settled men in his chief offices; for Mephibosheth, after an inquiry found out, was but five years of age when his father was slain, and so but twelve when David was made king over all Israel, and yet now he was married, and had a young son, Sa2 9:12; so that it was a long time after David was established in the kingdom that he thought of this; which is to be imputed to his being engaged so much in war, and having such a multiplicity of business on his hands.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 8 David sends for Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth, ver. 1-6. Restores…
David sends for Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth, ver. 1-6. Restores to him all the land that was Saul's, and appoints him to eat at his own table, ver. 7-13.
Of Saul - He saith not of the house of Jonathan, for he knew not of any son he had left, and therefore thought his kindness and obligation was to pass to the next of his kindred. As for Mephibosheth, he was very young and obscure, and possibly concealed by his friends, lest David should cut him off, as hath been usual among princes.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13 David inquires after the family of Jonathan, and is…
CHAPTER IX
David inquires after the family of Jonathan, and is informed
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of Mephibosheth his son, 1-4.
He sends for him and gives him all the land of Saul, 5-8;
and appoints Ziba the servant of Saul, and his family, to till
the ground for Mephibosheth, 9-13.
NOTES ON CHAP. IX
Verse 1. Is there yet any that is left] David recollecting the covenant made with his friend Jonathan, now inquires after his family. It is supposed that political considerations prevented him from doing this sooner. Reasons of state often destroy all the charities of life.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 10 2Sa 9:1. And David said, Is there any left…
2Sa 9:1. And David said, Is there any left of the house of Saul — Having ended the wars in which he had been engaged, and settled his kingdom and court, and enjoyed a short interval of peace and tranquillity, like a gleam of sunshine in the intermittings of a storm, he now begins to consider what private obligations he was under, especially to the house of Saul, and above all to Jonathan. His prosperity had, hitherto, in no degree overset him; on the contrary, the blessings God had bestowed upon him appear to have been followed by an increase of gratitude and love to his divine benefactor, and zeal for his glory. These pious dispositions had lately given birth to a resolution of building a most magnificent temple to God’s honour. And he had already made a noble provision for the work. Religion was his first care, and friendship now became his second. He recollected the strong and solemn ties thereof between him and Jonathan, confirmed by the most sacred oaths and engagements; and his present retirement from the hurry and din of war left him at leisure to reflect upon, and take proper measures to fulfil them. That I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake — He does not say, Is there any left of the house of Jonathan? for he seems to have had no idea that he had left any son or descendant; but thought his kindness and obligation were to pass to the next of his kindred. As for Mephibosheth, he was very young and obscure, and probably concealed by his friends, lest David should cut him off, according to what had been the usual practice of princes in like cases.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 David reaped the fruit of his kindness to Mephibosheth,…
David reaped the fruit of his kindness to Mephibosheth, for, when he fled from Absalom, Machir, the son of Ammiel, was one of those who were most liberal in providing him and his army with necessaries (marginal reference). According to 1Ch 3:5, Ammiel (called inversely Eliam, 2Sa 11:3) was the father of Bath-sheba. If this be the same Ammiel, Machir would be Bath-sheba’s brother. However, the name is not a very uncommon one (Num 13:12; 1Ch 26:5, etc.).
Lo-debar - Evidently on the east of Jordan River, and in the neighborhood of Ish-bosheth’s capital, Mahanaim 2Sa 17:27, but not identified by any modern traveler. Thought by some, not improbably, to be the same as Debir Jos 13:26.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13 Saul. David was solicitous only about the descendants of…
Saul. David was solicitous only about the descendants of Jonathan, who was the eldest son. The rest he afterwards gave up to be crucified, while he ordered the patrimony of Saul to be given to Miphiboseth, who was now about twenty years old. (Salien, the year before Christ 1058.) --- It is rather wonderful that David had not thought of his old friend sooner. But we are not obliged to suppose that he had reigned fifteen years, without being mindful of his repeated promises to Jonathan, 1 Kings xx. 42. (Haydock) --- This event took place towards the beginning of his reign. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv10, 12 Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants--The mention of…
Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants--The mention of his sons and the slaves in his house was to show that Mephibosheth would be honored with an equipage "as one of the king's sons."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 DAVID’S KINDNESS TO MEPHIBOSHETH, 2Sa_9:1-13.
DAVID’S KINDNESS TO MEPHIBOSHETH, 2Sa_9:1-13.
1. Is there yet any… of the house of Saul — Being but five years old at his father’s death, (2Sa_4:4,) Mephibosheth must have been born during the period of David’s wanderings, so that it is nothing strange that David had no knowledge of him; and the incessant cares of his reign had thus far prevented the king’s making special inquiry into this matter. Now, in a time of peace, his thoughts go back to the brotherly covenant made between himself and Jonathan, (1Sa_18:3; 1Sa_20:15-16; 1Sa_20:42,) and he yearns for opportunity to requite some of the kindness of that noble prince.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 1. that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s…
1. that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake] In fulfilment of his oath to Jonathan. See 1Sa_20:14-17; 1Sa_20:42.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–13 Is there yet any that is left of the…
Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul? As Mephibosheth was five years old at his father"s death, (2Sa_4:4) but now had a son (ver. 12), a sufficient time must have elapsed for him to grow up and marry; so that probably the events of this chapter occurred seventeen or eighteen years after the battle of Gilboa. As David was king at Hebron for seven years and a half, he had been king now of all Israel for about nine years. But during this long period he had been engaged in a weary struggle, which had left him little repose, and during which it might have been dangerous to draw the house of Saul out of obscurity. But he was at last firmly established on the throne, and had peace all around; and the time was come to act upon the promise made to Jonathan, (1Sa_20:14, 1Sa_20:15) and which we may be sure David had never forgotten.
Vers. 1-13. The facts are:
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1. David, remembering his love for Jonathan, inquires whether there wereany survivors of the house of Saul; and being informed of the proximity of Ziba, an old servant, he sends for him.
2. He is told that a son of Jonathan, lame of foot, is a sojourner in thehouse of Machir.
3. Being sent for, Mephibosheth, on appearing before the king, falls on hisface and pays reverence, but is spoken to kindly.
4. Being assured by David that there was no need for fear, that kindnessfor his father"s sake was in store, and that all his grandfather"s property should be restored, he expresses by deed and word his sense of unworthiness.
5. David informs Ziba of his decision as to the property, and orders him toact as steward for the benefit of Mephibosheth, who was to be henceforth a guest at the royal table.
6. The arrangements are carried out, and so is explained the fact ofMephibosheth"s residence in Jerusalem.
The power of hallowed associations.
Scripture, in common with all history, usually gives us the outward facts of life, leaving to be inferred the private mental and moral processes which must have lain in their rear. There is an abruptness in the transition of the historian from an account of David"s victories and general administration to this record of an act of personal kindness. But if the laws of the human mind were the same then as now, we may be sure there was no such disconnection in the inner course of David"s experience. During the few years of public activity in seeking the consolidation of his power, covered by the preceding chapters, there had often risen up in his mind memories of former days of trial, and of names of friends and foes now no longer among the living; and if thought breeds emotion, he would, on these occasions, experience feelings corresponding to the subject-matter of his thoughts. Among these thoughts, with their corresponding feeling, were doubtless those relating to his beloved Jonathan; and what the historian here places before us in the narrative concerning Mephibosheth is simply the ultimate welling up, from the depths of the memory, of the old associations clustering around the name of Jonathan in such strength as to issue in the deeds here recorded.
I HALLOWED ASSOCIATIONS ARE A GREAT POWER IN LIFE. Human life is not determined in its condition or conduct at any particular hour by what is purely new in thought, in feeling, or in circumstance. The past furnishes the seed on which the present acts as new environment, and the nature of that past is a more potent element in determining the conduct than is the new environment. The chief clue to David"s later character is to be sought in his earlier experiences. The mightiest inner forces that thus influence life are those which centre in strong and sacred associations. The memory of Jonathan"s love worked unconsciously as a spell throughout David"s career. Every man is subject to this law of life. As a rule, the early mental associations of our life give tone and colour to all that comes after. The power lying in the memory of a mother"s love over even the vagaries of later years is proverbial. The mention of a name may suffice to flood the eyes with tears and break down the stoutest heart. David never knew how much of restraint, of tenderness, of noble aspiration, and of fidelity to truth and honour he owed to the associations carried in his memory with the name of his friend Jonathan. So to us the "Name that is above every name" is the centre of associations as powerful as they are blessed; and the more we can enrich our nature with kindred associations, the richer and more Christlike will our lives become.
II THERE ARE OCCASIONS WHEN HALLOWED ASSOCIATIONS CAN EXERT THEIR PROPER INFLUENCE. During the first few years of his reign David seems to have been utterly absorbed with the work of restoring the civil and religious order of his kingdom, and of securing it against the pressure of surrounding foes. A consideration of the actual state of things consequent on the misgovernment of Saul, and of the enormous labours involved in an absolute monarchy when its obligations are faithfully carried out, will account for the apparent neglect of Jonathan"s house till the present date. It is only reasonable to suppose that David had sometimes thought of this matter, and the manner in which it is introduced in ver. 1 suggests that now was the time to give effect to his own previously cherished desires. It might have been politically unwise, and to Saul"s descendants personally injurious by placing them in the way of temptation to conspiracies, had he sought to reinstate any of them during the rebellion of Ishbosheth and immediately on his decease. The safe and full establishment of his authority was evidently the occasion for the old and piously cherished associations with the no, me of Jonathan to put forth their strength. We all have within us a reserve power in the hallowed associations we cherish. They are never without an unconscious influence; but there may come seasons when we may do well to open the doors and let them come forth in full force to sway our conduct. Thus at Easter and Christmas do Christians give free scope to blessed memories. Thus our family birthdays, and days sacred to the memory of those now more blessed than ourselves, are times when our nature becomes enriched with holy feelings, and our vows become more influential. Sometimes, apart from our will and special seasons, by the spontaneous force of mental laws, sacred memories pour forth into our barren experience streams of blessing; and if by pressure of secular business the channels of thought and emotion are clogged, it is well now and then to pause, and, by an effort in quiet solitude, to open some sacred spring within our nature, so that it shall send forth its blessed streams to quicken and beautify our spiritual life.
III A TRUE HEART WILL SEINE OCCASION FOR REVIVING THE POWER OF HALLOWED ASSOCIATIONS. The occasion arose in the course of David"s public life, and because his heart was still true to God and man, he seized it. The cares of official life and the attractions of exalted position had not yet done him spiritual damage. The David that swore love and fidelity to his friend (1Sa_20:13-17, 1Sa_20:42) was still alive. The man was not lost in the king. There are sad instances of the reverse. Old friends, former vows, are forgotten in the satiety of wealth or power, or, if not entirely forgotten, no occasion is sought to let the love of former days assert itself. Much of our power over our future lies in the use we are disposed to make of the fountains of holy thought and feeling which have been formed within by the experiences of former days. The pressure of business may cause them to lie unnoticed for months and years; but now and then opportunities will occur which an uncorrupted heart will gladly use for bringing them into the current of daily life. There may be an abuse of "days and seasons;" but a well regulated life will not, on that account, be hindered from taking pains to sweeten and subdue the present, and prepare for a better future, by a distinct and deliberate revival of the most sacred and tender experiences of the past.
IV THIS DELIBERATE USE OF HALLOWED ASSOCIATIONS SECURES A CONTINUITY OF GOODNESS. There was a native force in David"s generous sentiments toward Jonathan in early days which would tend to their continuous assertion. The main elements of a man"s moral life will abide in spite of counteracting evils. Yet as limbs maintain their muscular power by exertion, so the special qualities of David"s character, as seen in his early friendship for Jonathan, would form a continuous feature of his life only in so far as he availed himself of passing opportunities for reviving the sentiments associated with the name of his departed friend. To this habit of allowing the feelings peculiar to such associations to act again and again, as occasion permitted, upon his life, in combination, of course, with other forms and methods of spiritual culture, we may ascribe the freshness and force of the kindly, generous sentiments which were a distinctive feature of his character to the very end. The characters of some men are disjointed. The main qualities of one part of their life are not conspicuous later on. The good has been overlaid, crushed down, by an enormous pressure of thought and sentiment of an adverse kind, and no care has been taken to give new force to latent memories. Their later good qualities are not of the same order as their earlier. This is not true growth. The true continuity of goodness is that seen in David"s case, and is promoted by the same careful use of the power that lies in the best associations of our earlier life.
GENERAL LESSONS.
1. Let us see to the storing of the mind in early years with facts andexperiences that will be as fountains of blessing to freshen life amidst the carking cares of a busy life.
2. We should be careful to east out low thoughts, lest they occupy, in themental and moral area, ground on which holy and generous feelings may take root and flourish.
3. It is desirable to make seasons when the best memories of the past areallowed to exercise their full power over us. This seems to be one reason, at least, for the institution of the Lord"s Supper.
4. It is by cultivating the memories of departed friends, and cherishing thesentiments associated with their name, that the communion of the saints on earth and in heaven is promoted.
5. It is by the deliberate cultivation of sacred memories that we shall beable to conserve the more gentle virtues of life, and so give tone and purity to the otherwise hard and unsympathetic life of the world.
6. It behoves us to consider well what sacred vows of our earlier years are yet waiting to be redeemed.
7. In the remembrance of former friendships we may do well to inquirewhether there are any in trouble and need on whom the spirit of the old friendship may exercise itself.
A spiritual parallel.
Great mischief may arise from the endeavour to trace spiritual analogies in the ordinary historical narratives of Scripture, in consequence of the licence of an overactive imagination. It is not a safe canon of interpretation to say that sacred history is throughout an allegory. That an apostle saw an allegory in one or two cases is not proof of a general rule. (Gal_4:24) But, under limitations, we are warranted in tracing parallels between the temporal and spiritual, the earthly and the heavenly: the one may exhibit features which serve to illustrate the other. Much of our Saviour"s teaching partook of this character. In this lies the essence of parable. In this light we may regard the story of David"s conduct toward Mephibosheth: it serves to illustrate the bearing and action of the true King of Zion toward the weak and lowly, Naaman"s cleansing and Mephibesheth"s elevation are historic facts shedding light on spiritual realities. Note
I A PLEDGE TO BE KEPT. The events here recorded have their root in the free pledge given by David many years before that he would care for the seed of Jonathan. (1Sa_20:15) He had undertaken to bless when need should arise. In a deeper sense the whole merciful transactions recorded in New Testament history are the outcome of a "covenant ordered in all things." Christ"s interposition on behalf of the fallen was not a casual act called forth by a passing incident in human history. Before the mountains were set fast his "delights were with the sons of men." The purpose and, speaking in human phrase, the. plan of redemption were in the original order; and hence Christ"s coming was, as it were, to redeem his own pledge, to keep his own vow, to fulfil the covenant. "Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me." Virtually he was "slain before the foundation of the world;" for all that happened was consequent on "the eternal purpose", (Eph_3:11) though not in violation of human freedom. (Act_2:23)
II A DEFERRED FULFILMENT. We have seen that some years elapsed, not only after the vow, before any ostensible steps were taken to fulfil it, but also after David came to the kingdom. In this there is no cause for reflection on his sincerity. Providence has many things to bring about in a monarch"s wise policy, and he may have to wait till events are ripe for certain lines of action. Here, on a small scale, we have an illustration of the apparently deferred fulfilment of the merciful undertaking of our Saviour. Generations passed ere the set time had come when he could, consistently with the working out of other issues, subordinate or coordinate, come to "perform the mercy promised" in the past. (Lu 2) Now that we have the complete history of David, we can see the propriety of his not taking measures for the elevation of the seed of Jonathan while his work of consolidation was incomplete; and so now that we have the full record of the Old and New Testaments, we can see the wisdom of the manifestation of the covenanted grace being deferred till the "fulness of time". (Gal_4:4) Many threads were being woven by the hand of Providence to meet in the revelation of Christ.
III A SEARCH FOR THE FALLEN. David inquired after the seed of Jonathan and Saul. The sons of the distinguished were in obscurity and, in a social and political point of view, lost. As compared with the position once held by their father and grandfather, they were indeed degraded and outcast. Their splendid inheritance had vanished. They had to be sought out. How truly their relative social condition represents our spiritual condition is obvious. We have fallen far below the original state of our great ancestor. The effect of sin on man, in so far as it touches his relative social position in the enduring spiritual world, is to lower him, to render him inferior to the holy beings who constitute the members of the eternal kingdom of God. "Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity". (Hos_14:1) The mission of Christ, in one aspect of it, is said to be a search for that which is lest an effort to find and rescue from degradation and shame those who are living below their proper position in the spiritual life. (Luk_15:3-10, 32 19:10) This is true of the race; and his work considered as "finished" on Calvary is an effort to find out and save mankind. It is also true of us as individuals that Christ does, like the good shepherd (Joh_10:16; cf., Luk_15:4) search for us. He follows us in our wanderings, comes near to our loneliness, and calls us by his Word, his providence, and his Spirit.
IV A YEARNING COMPASSION. "Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him?" (ver. 3). How this reveals the deep longings of the heart! David is not satisfied with the desire to show ordinary attentions to the fallen house; he must show such kindness as God would show. The thought of Jonathan evidently brought up again the old love; and it must, if possible, pour itself forth in some unwonted form. There can be no question that, in the regal and better qualities of his life, David illustrates the more perfect King who comes to reign in righteousness and save the poor and needy. This strong yearning compassion was conspicuous in our Lord in the days of his flesh, when he was seeking a lost race. In this he is unapproachable. It appears in his deeply pathetic tone whenever referring to sin and sorrow, in his patient unwearying toil, in his pleadings with the weary and heavy laden, in his looking with compassion on the people as sheep without a shepherd, in his tears over Jerusalem, and in the sweet and gentle submission with which he drank the cup in Gethsemane, and poured out his life on the cross. Overflowing love! And he is the same now. (Heb_13:8) His life, suffering, and death were the revelation of a permanent character, and therefore of an ever-yearning compassion for the fallen.
V A GRACIOUS BEARING. Mephibosheth trembled in the presence of David, and was overcome by the sense of his own unworthiness (vers. 68). No doubt he was surprised at such wondrous conduct on the part of the king as to send for him. But the king in a tone which no written words can indicate, said, "Mephibosheth!" We all know what volumes of meaning may be conveyed by addressing an individual by his name in a certain tone. And, lest this should not suffice, there came the words, "Fear not!" As a brother and friend, on the same level, he speaks to the heart of the weak and troubled one. Foreshadow is this of him who was "meek and lowly in heart;" who would not "break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax;" who touched the outcast leper and inspired the fallen one with hope. No reproach, no coldness of heart, no imposition of impossible burdens, but the gentleness and grace that banish fear and cause the poor outcast to feel that in him there is a tender, loving Friend!
VI AN ELEVATION TO HONOUR. David would be content with nothing less than that Mephibosheth should be a free and constant guest at his table. He was to be raised from social degradation and obscurity to a position of greatest distinction. No mere pension, no formal expression of personal interest, no delegation to others of attention to be paid to him would suit the largeness of the king"s heart. His idea of the "kindness of God" (ver. 3) far transcended the best human conceptions of generosity, and this unwonted elevation to honour was but the index of it. What a marvellous change in the condition of this poor, feeble outcast! How contrary to all the usages of monarchs, to the offspring of the fallen, was this overflow of "the kindness of God"! Than this there is not in the Bible a more apt illustration of the exceeding grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who condescends to our low estate, seeks us out, bows us down in wondering submission by his matchless gentleness, and then raises us to the honour of being members of his household, of free access to his Person and closest fellowship with himself and those most dear to him. "Neither do I condemn (Joh_8:11; cf. Rom_8:1) He gives "power to become the sons of God" (Joh_1:12, Joh_1:16; 1Jn_3:1, 1Jn_3:2) The "far off" are made "nigh", (Eph_2:13) and are called "friends", (Joh_15:15) blessed with constant fellowship, (1Jn_1:3) and even made heirs of "the glory" given to himself. (Joh_17:22-24) It is in the Antitype alone that we find the full and true expression of "the kindness of God" (ver. 3). "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him". (1Co_2:9)
VII A PERSONAL GUARANTEE. A personal guarantee, involving the king"s honour, and backed by all the resources at his command, was given that Mephibesheth should henceforth be regarded "as one of the king"s sons" (ver. 11), and that ample provision should be made for all his wants (ver. 10). Whatever demands came on him for the sustenance of his dependents, they were met by the arrangement, under royal warrant, with Ziba. Thus all his interests, present and future, personal and relative, social and material, were provided for. The king guaranteed all. Now, this is beautifully illustrative of what Christ does for those whom he raises from degradation to be his friends. He cares for all their interests. He so orders providence that they shall "want no good thing." It is said of them, "All things are yours"; (1Co_3:22) and, to scatter all fear and afford abundant consolation, the King has said, "Because I live, ye shall live also". (Joh_14:19) Mephibosheth rested under the care of a faithful David. All the power and all the high moral qualities of David were pledged to secure to him all his life long the blessings now enjoyed; so all the power and all the ineffable qualities of Christ are pledged to secure to us the possession and enjoyment of glorious heritage as Christians as long as we live, i.e. forever.
GENERAL LESSONS.
1. It becomes us to follow the example of David and of Christ, and seekout those who may be in need of blessing, and who may have a special claim on our sympathy.
2. We should make the Divine character and conduct the model of ourbearing towards those in trouble. "The kindness of God" is the ideal to be converted into the realities of our life.
3. The lowly and despised may take encouragement from all that isrecorded of Christ"s gracious bearing and deeds of kindness.
4. We may trace, in every instance of Christ"s mercy to the fallen, thepermanently elevating tendency of Christianity. It is the one element which alone lastingly raises mankind in material and social good.
5. The resources of Christ for securing the fulfilment of his promises are sovast as to remove all fear. He is more to the universe at large than David was to his kingdom.
6. We see the dignity of bearing that becomes those who are honoured with the royal friendship of Christ.
HOMILIES BY B. DALE. Ver 1. (JERUSALEM.)
For Jonathan"s Sake.
David had sworn to his friend Jonathan that he would "not cut off his kindness from his house forever". (1Sa_20:15) He had been probably unaware of his leaving a son behind him (for Mephibosheth was born while he was in exile, five years before the battle of Gilboa); or, if acquainted with the fact, supposed that he perished in the destruction of the house of Saul. But surmising, perhaps, from something he heard, that a son of his friend survived, he made the inquiry, "Is there yet any that is left," etc.? It was a practice only too common in the East, on a change of dynasty, for the reigning monarch to put to death the surviving members of the family of his predecessor, in order to make his own position more secure. And the conduct of David, in contrast therewith, evinced his gratitude, fidelity, piety, and noble generosity. "Neither the splendour of victories, nor the pleasures of prosperity, nor the lustre of his crown, could make him unmindful of his covenant and oath to his former friend. A suspicious, faithless tyrant would at least have kept the family that imagined they had a right to his kingdom low enough to have prevented the possibility of their ever disputing it with him; or at least have shut up the heir of it in close imprisonment, or got rid of his fears upon his account by totally destroying him; thinking he might reasonably dispense with his oath to his deceased friend through the necessity of self-preservation, and securing to his own family the peaceable succession to his crown" (Chandler). The words "for Jonathan"s sake
I EXPRESS A PRINCIPLE OF HUMAN CONDUCT. It is not unusual for one person to show kindness to another for the sake of someone else, for whom, whether living or dead, he entertains a high regard, on account of his excellent character or eminent services; with whom the object of his kindness is closely connected, and without whom he would not have shown it. How often has a king exercised his prerogative of mercy toward an offender, or bestowed riches and honour on a subject, for the sake of the faithful service of his father! "The fruit of well doing lives longer than himself who is the doer, and thereby he leaves a blessing and good treasure behind him to his posterity" (Guild). "There are thousands of young men and women who are daily receiving kindness for their fathers" and mothers" sakes. And this is, in fact, one of the incidental blessings connected with having parents who, though now dead, were, when living, persons of worthy and estimable life. Their children inherit the advantages which the love of others for their memory can bestow, and many an applicant for some office of trust and emolument would be turned away from the door were it not that his face bears the lineaments of a departed and cherished friend, or his tones call back to memory the voice which will speak no more" (E. Mellor).
II ILLUSTRATE A METHOD OF DIVINE DEALINGS. God deals with men, not merely in their separate individuality, but also in their relationship to one another; spares and blesses them, not only directly and immediately, but also indirectly and mediately, through and on account of each other; and shows kindness to many for the sake of one. This:
1. Occurs in various ways. By means of the hereditary influence of a good man on his descendants, and the moral influence on others of his example, utterances, labours, and sufferings; and (with more special reference to the case under consideration) by granting his intercessory requests, fulfilling the promises made to him on their behalf, and doing them good out of regard to him, or because of something he has done which was necessary to that end.
2. Appears in numerous instances. With respect to individuals, "The Lord hath blessed me for thy sake" (Gen_30:27 Gen_19:29; 1Ki_11:12) families (Gen_39:5; Psa_69:26; Pro_13:22) Churches, cities, and nations (Gen_18:26; Exo_32:14; 1Ki_8:19) "beloved for the fathers" sakes"; (Rom_11:28) "As the new wine is found in the cluster," etc.. (Isa_65:8 Isa_1:9) So Godtestifies his love of righteousness, teaches the worth of a good man in relation to the unworthy, and causes his sovereign mercy to abound toward them.
3. Has its highest application in Christ, "the one Mediator between God and man,
(1) who is very dear to God (Mat_3:17; Eph_1:6)
(2) who is closely allied to men; (Heb_2:16)
(3) who has laboured, interceded, and suffered for us; (1Pe_3:18) and
(4) to whom many promises have been made on behalf of those who are in (Gal_3:20; 2Co_1:20) The nature, grounds, and extent of his mediation cannot be fully explained; but the fact is certain, that it is "for Christ"s sake", (Eph_4:32) "in Christ" (Revised Version), and "for his Name"s sake", (1Jn_2:12) we are forgiven, have access to the Father, and are "blessed with every spiritual blessing". (Eph_1:3) "He comprises in his own Person all and everything that is most desirable" (Gregory Nazianzen).
III SUGGEST A GROUND OF DEVOUT CONFIDENCE. When Mephibosheth appeared before the king, "he doubtless was in fear for his life (vers. 6. 7). Such generosity to a fallen rival as David showed in restoring him to his paternal property, seemed to him scarcely credible" ("Speaker"s Commentary"). But the assurance that it was "for Jonathan"s sake" must have inspired him with confidence. And similarly, "for Jesus" sake" affords a
(1) needful,
(2) effectual, and
(3) abiding ground of hope, and
Provides for those who come to God An all-prevailing plea.
ye shall ask the Father in my Name, he will give it you". (Joh_16:23 Joh 14:13)
IV INDICATE A MOTIVE TO PRACTICAL BENEVOLENCE, after the example of David and from love to our Divine Friend (ch. 1:26); in:
1. Forgiving each other. (Eph_4:32)
2. Kind and comforting speech. "Fear not" (ver. 7).
3. Generous gifts.
4. Self-denial.
5. Suffering (Mat_5:11; Php_1:29)
6. Prayers. (Rom_15:30)
7. Personnel, diligent, and constant service on behalf of "theChurch which is his body," and of all "for whom Christ died". (2Co_4:5 3Jn_1:7)
his Name"s sake;" "For my sake." This is the Christian"s peculiar, highest, and mightiest motive; implying not only supreme affection toward him who "alone is worthy," but also sincere sympathy with his spirit and purposes; and producing most beneficent effects. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 9 Is there yet any that is left of the…
2Sa_9:1-13
Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathans sake.
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A gracious temper
I. An affecting exhibition of the vicissitudes of human life. I do not now refer to those common changes which are taking place in the community, but to those which are calculated powerfully to affect the mind. Neither do I now particularly allude to those by which persons have rapidly risen from their original obscurity, to stations of eminent dignity, emolument, or power, so that mankind have been astonished at their sudden elevation. My reference is to events of a precisely opposite character. See, for example, the patriarch Job, the richest man in his day in the east. Listen to the language of one who was in the golden mediocrity, and bad all her wants liberally supplied, but was afterwards so reduced that she exclaimed--Call me no more Naomi, but call me Marah for I went out full but the Lord has sent me home empty. Look at the family of Saul. And, not to multiply examples from scripture, have we not witnessed similar events, and equally surprising, within the last twenty years of our lives? If we look into the more private circle, how many, through changes and war, through the violence and fraud of others, or through their own imprudence and ambition, have been precipitated from the summit of the mount to the very bottom of the valley! To them we may almost apply the language of Solomon--I have seen princes sitting on dunghills. In a word--we are taught the folly of making earthly things our rest and portion. If you possess them in abundance, they cannot give true or abiding satisfaction:--possess them!--they are so insecure, that you know not that they shall be yours by the dawn of to-morrows morn. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. You may be in a palace and on a throne, and your family overloaded with opulence and secular distinctions, and in a few years the question may be asked, Is there any left of the house of Saul?
II. there is a noble triumph of a generous and gracious temper. For who was Saul? We have said he was a king; and let us not indulge towards him a radical spirit, but do him justice. For some time he acted according to the rules of equity and humanity, and law, by the advice of his wise and pious counsellor Samuel; and for a while his kingdom prospered. But at length he disobeyed the positive commands of God, distinctly given him by the prophet. With respect to David, who never treated him but with respectful courtesy and kindness, he was so jealous of his rising character and fame, that he left no means which he could command untried, to deprive him of his life. Now, mark the disposition and demeanour of David. Religion does not require us to select as our chosen associates, those who have furnished unequivocal evidence that they would injure us if it were in their power: but it does require of us to control our passions; to suppress unholy irritation; to pass by an offence; to bury it in silence; to be willing to show acts of kindness to the injurious.
III. Here is a beautiful specimen of delicate friendship. There was a condescension and an activity in the benevolence which is here described, and which deserve more emphatic notice. David was in his palace, surrounded by the distinctions of royalty. Mephibosheth, the last of Sauls remaining sons, was in the shade of seclusion and poverty. But the prince did not deem it beneath his dignity to ask after the humblest or the poorest subject in his realm, and to solicit information of his condition, and to stretch out his hand to lift the impoverished relict from his obscurity, and liberally supply his wants. Let those in elevated rank, and magisterial office, wear their honours unmoved, and let those in opulence enjoy their abundance, and share in the permitted delights of the sons of men--but let them also be assured that it is no degradation to be touched with the feeling of human infirmities, or to wipe away tears from the eyes of the distressed; nor is there any enjoyment more sweet or luxurious (next to communion with God) than that with which he is inspired, who can say, I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame; and I was a father to the poor. The blessing of him who was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widows heart to sing for joy.
IV. Behold in this text and history, a descriptive representation of the mind of Him of whom David was an ancestor and a type. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was a lineal descendant of David, according to the flesh. In real dignity, the Saviour infinitely surpassed him; and hence David called Him Lord; hence the proclamation I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star, which shines with a brilliancy above the rest (J. Clayton.)
Kindness to Jonathans son
I. The unselfish kindness of David. To send across the Jordan to Lo-debar to find a young man whom he perhaps had never seen, the grandson of Saul, who had so often sought to slay him, and whose house was a rival one in the kingdom--a young man crippled in both feet, with no prospect of being useful to the king--to alienate from the crown the forfeited estates of the house of Saul and restore them to cripple Mephibosheth--affords beautiful evidence of the unselfish kindness of Davids generous heart. Davids wonderful exaltation from the sheepfold to the kingdom had a natural tendency to repress or stifle the kindlier impulses of his heart. How many are there who in times of prosperity utterly forget the friends of former and adverse days! To seek out the lame, the halt, the blind, the poor, the wretched, to minister unto others, not to be ministered unto, is the beauty and the glory of the Christian life.
III. Davids kindness to the son was not only unselfish, it was also according to the covenant with his father. Twenty-two years before, David, fearing the wrath of Saul, made a covenant of friendship with Prince Jonathan, and then fled from the court. That covenant was a holy thing; it sacredly bound both David and Jonathan in life, and even after death: Thou shalt not only while I yet live show me the kindness of the Lord, but thou shalt not cut off thy kindness frown my house for ever. All covenants, agreements, bargains, constitutions, except those sinful in themselves, should be most faithfully observed by all the parties who enact or ratify them. One of the characteristics of the man who shall abide in the tabernacle of the Lord and dwell in His holy hill is that he sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. Fidelity to covenant engagements, whether in daily labour, the mechanics shop, the marts of business, the learned professions, whether in pulpit or pew, is one of the very highest virtues of mankind. Be true to your word at the loss of property or even of life itself.
III. Davids kindness was not only unselfish and according to covenant; it was the kindness of God. Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him? Referring to the covenant, we find that Jonathan made David swear that he would show the kindness of the Lord to him and his house. Even the tender mercies of man are cruel. True and unselfish kindness of man to man must have its origin in God--kindness that flows into the human soul from God, and is akin to the kindness of His great and loving heart. Show me not mans kindness, but the kindness of God. We hear much in these days of the enthusiasm of humanity, and the brotherhood of man; but whence comes this enthusiasm, and who first taught this brotherhood of man? The so-called natural religions never inspired in man any love for humanity, and the Christless teachers of the race never proclaimed the brotherhood of man it is simple historic verity to assert that apart from Christ and His religion there has never been any true and lasting humanitarianism on the earth. David had felt in his own soul something of the great and wondrous kindness of God, and this kindness he will show to Jonathans crippled son.
IV. The kindness shown was for the sake of another kindness to the son for the fathers sake. How many since David have shown kindness to the children of the old and tried friends of former days for the parents sake? Years ago you had a dear friend who stood by you in the darkest hour of your sorest trial, and now he is no more; but his children remain, and how deeply concerned are you in their welfare and happiness? how ready are you to aid them in every possible way, to share in their joys and sympathise in their sorrows, and by word and deed to show the kindness of God to the children for the fathers sake? The child of an old friend is far nearer to us all than the child of the stranger. If the unseen spiritual history of souls could be laid bare to mortal gaze, it would be seen that thousands and tens of thousands of the most active and useful Christians of every age of the Church were saved in virtue of covenanted mercy and pious ancestors. Of many it may be said, as of Timothy, The unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice. God has shown His marvellous kindness to many wayward and wicked children for the sake of sainted father or mother--saved, in the infinite mercy of God, by His kindness for anothers sake. Gods covenant of love with the parent abides in all the fulness of Divine blessing for children and childrens children, even unto a thousand generations of such as love Him and keep His covenant and commandments. The kindness of God shown by David to Mephibosheth for the sake of another affords a most striking and beautiful illustration of the method whereby God shows His saving kindness to sinners. We are saved through the infinite mercy and kindness of God bestowed on us abundantly solely for the sake of another, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Kindness to one for anothers sake is the law of Christian service. When we give meat to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, when we clothe the naked and visit the prisoner and minister to the sick, we show the kindness of God unto our brethren for the sake of the Elder Brother, and He recognises the service as rendered unto himself. If in all of our ministries of mercy to the lame of body or mind or soul we realised and acted on the principle of thus showing the kindness of God for the sake of our Saviour, how full of joy and blessedness would all our service be! Let each Christian ask himself daily, Is there yet any one of Adams lost race to whoa I may show the kindness of God for my Saviours sake? (A. W. Pitzer, D. D.)
David and Mephibosheth, a faint image of God and the world
The fragment of history of which this chapter is composed may be looked upon in two lights.
1. As supplying a fine illustration of human friendship. Between David and Jonathan there existed a friendship the most tender and strong.
2. As a faint image of Divine love to the world. We are far from regarding David here as a type of the Eternal. I see more of the Eternal in the true kindness of a holy man--such kindness as David now displays--than I can see in any part of material nature. It is a brighter reflection of the Infinite One than stars or suns. I see the sun in the ray;--the dew-drop mirrors the Atlantic.
I. The Disinterestedness Of The Kindness Is Illustrative Of The Divine.
1. The kindness which David displayed to Mephibosheth was unmerited. Was David under any obligation to show this kindness? Was there any excellence in the son of Jonathan to call it forth? No; David had the affection even before he knew there was such a person. Was God under any obligation to show mercy to the world? or did He see aught of excellence in the world to call it forth? No; if He had left humanity to perish for ever in its sins, no one could have complained. Angels would still have sung on, Just and right are Thy ways, &c. Was there an excellence in man to call it forth? No; God commendeth His love to us in that while we were yet sinners, &c.
2. The kindness which David showed Mephibosheth was unsought. The son of Jonathan did not make any application;--he did not knock at the door of royalty entreating favour. Did the world seek the gift of Christ? No, for two reasons:--
(1) Because it did not feel the need of a Saviour.
(2) If it had it never could have supposed that such a gift was possible. God sent Christ into the world not only without the worlds request, but against the worlds will. He came to His own, but His own, &c.
II. The occasion on which this disinterested kindness was displayed is illustrative of the Divine.
1. The kindness which David showed Mephibosheth was in consideration of some one else. It was for Jonathans sake. Why all this love to the poor lame youth more than to some one else? Hundreds in the empire perhaps required and desired more than he. Because of Jonathan. Why does God show love to this world more than hell? Hell requires mercy. Because of some One else. Christ is not the cause of Gods love, but He is its channel. All blessings, temporal and spiritual, come through Christ. He took not on Him the nature of angels, &c.
2. The kindness which David showed Mephibosheth was on account of some one else who was very near to the heart of the king. You remember Davids wail over Jonathan: I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan, &c. How dear is Christ to the Everlasting Father. Mine Elect, in whom my soul delighteth. My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. I do not understand the mysterious connection subsisting between Jesus and the Everlasting Father. My intellect bows reverently before the mystery. But the Bible tells me that it is that of an only-begotten Son.
III. The results which this disinterested kindness realised are illustrative of the divine.
1. It found out Mephibosheth. Then King David sent and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. Christ came to seek and to save; like the man who had lost one of his sheep, the woman her silver, the father his son, the apostles were sent out in search of gods objects of love. Gods love searches men out. Providence, conscience, and the Gospel are His Messengers. (Mat_22:2-10.)
2. it restored him to his patrimonial inheritance, I will restore thee all the land, &c.(2Sa_9:7). Thou shalt walk the fields and meadows which thy father often trod. Gods love restores us to our lost possessions. Salvation is paradise regained. All things are yours, &c.
3. Exalted to distinguished honours. And thou shalt eat bread at my table continually (2Sa_9:7). If any man hear My voice, I will come in unto him, &c.
4. The command of suitable attendants. Thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him, &c. What agents God employs for the objects of His love I All things work together for good. Are they not all ministering spirits? &c. (Homilist.)
Davids treatment of Mephibosheth
The chapter opens with a question which we should have thought at one period of our study to have been utterly impossible. There is a most subduing melancholy in the inquiry. The kings own sweet music is lost in that atmosphere. The question sounds hollow, dismal, like a poor voice struggling in a cave of wind. Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul? Can such a house die? Are there influences at work which can crumble the pyramids? I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away,--a very subtle suggestion of an infinite effect operating continually in human affairs. If questions of this kind were not asked, the heart might sometimes at least secretly wonder whether God be not really partial to the rich and strong and great. He seems to spare the tempest from their roof, and to turn away the wind when it would strike their flocks or their lives. But it is not so. With God there is no respect of persons. That I may show him kindness (2Sa_9:1). Once leave David to himself, and he blossoms into wonderful grace of character. He never began a war. David was no aggressor. The shepherdly heart was Davids: he began at the sheepcotes, and he never left them as to all high moral pastoral solicitude and love. He was often in war, but always challenged, provoked, defied. A man may add a little to his own respectability by pronouncing judgment on the errors and sins of David. But remember that again and again when the hand of pressure is taken from him he wants to be a shepherd, to do acts of kindness, to go out after that which is lost until he find it. David always saw where another chair could be put to the banqueting-table. He observed how much food was taken away from that table that might have been consumed there by necessity, could that necessity have been discovered and urged by hospitable welcomes to partake of the feast. But can Saul or Jonathan have left any man to whom kindness can be shown? Their sons will be wealthy. The inheritance of such men must be a boundless estate. Quite a sad thing is it to be in such circumstances that nobody can do us a kindness; and sadder still to be supposed to be in such circumstances when in reality we are not. We are effusive in our kindness to people who are lying in the street; but there are many men of really radiant face, and merry life, and joyous, happy, witty speech would be glad of the help of a little childs hand. They are the men who are to be inquired about. Persons are to be glad that the question may be put to them, Where are such men? They will require to be found at twilight, for they shrink from noonday, and their gloom would make midnight a darkness impenetrable. For Jonathans sake. It is an honest word. Not for Sauls sake there are some memories we cannot honour; but for Jonathans sake: there are some memories we can never forget. How the past lives and burns! We can never repay, in the sense of being equal with, any man who ever did us kindness. Kindness is not to be repaid, in the sense of being discharged, struck off the book of memory, and no longer constituting a pious recollection. We cannot pay for our salvation; silver and gold have no place in the region opened by that infinite word: they are terms unknown. Nothing Could be done for Jonathan: he had passed away; but there is always the next best thing to be done. Blessed are they whose quick ingenuity is inspired to find out the next best thing. We cannot do the departed any good, for they have passed beyond the human touch; but we can do deeds to the poor, the ignorant, the out-of-the-way, the suffering, which will be a happy memorial to those we have lost. Take some poor child, open its way in life, and when you have done so set up in your hearts memory a stone bearing the inscription, Sacred to the memory of a loving parent. So write the epitaph of the dead, and the writing shall never be obliterated. Then King David sent . . . (2Sa_9:5). What has David to do with such matters now? He is the king. Why should kings stoop to look after obscure subjects? Does not elevation destroy responsibility? Does not a throne excuse from human solicitude and pity? Does not a great public position exonerate a man from care for those he has left behind? The man struggles up through the king: there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding. David was first a man, then a shepherd, then a king; and in proportion as he was fit to be king he cared nothing for his kingship. Mephibosheth was worthy, too, of his father. He quietly accepted his degradation. He was not one of the men who had a grievance and was continually fomenting the people in order to have that grievance remedied. There was no little philosophy in Mephibosheth. He saw how history had gone; he recognised Providence in events, and he had rest in proportion as he had true piety. There are many men in obscurity who ought not to be there when looked upon from a certain point of view. They could easily establish a grievance, and bring an accusation against public policy or social justice. Mephibosheth waited until he was sent for. Blessed are they who can accept their fortunes, and who can call fate by the name of Providence. The great, the eternal truth underlying all this is, that there comes a time when sonship rises above accident. Mephibosheth had come to that happy time. He was Jonathans son. True, he was lame; true, he was in an obscure position; true, he had counted himself as little better than a dead dog: but there came a time when sonship was the principal fact of his life. So it shall be in the great search which God makes in His universe for the obscure and the lost, the woebegone and the friendless. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Davids kindness to Mephibosheth
I. The first, and, perhaps, one of the most obvious lessons is the mutableness of all human affairs.
1. David is on the throne, and none of Sauls family is left but a lame grandson, who is living in such obscurity, that except to a few faithful and generous adherents, his existence appears to be unknown.
2. And, then, what an illustration of the changefulness of human life we have in the fact that David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathans sake? Another illustration of our changeful life is Jonathan. David wishes to show kindness to Sauls house for Jonathans sake. And then, there is Mephibosheth, the obscure orphan, whom Davids affectionate remembrance of his departed friend has brought to light: who was only five years old at the time of his fathers death, and has been ever since dependant on charity. Do we not witness the same change in mens lives? Monarchs are cast down from their high places, their thrones are overturned, and they are compelled to flee in disguise from their native land. Other men, born in humble circumstances, rise from one position to another till they reach the highest places of power. Some sink from wealth to pauperism; other rise from pauperism to wealth. So rapid is the fall of some, that when you hear of it the words of the poet spring to your lips--
Ships, wealth, general confidence: all were his;
He counted them at break of day;
And when the sun set, where were they?
With the same rapidity others rise. We see the good and true die, as the basehearted die; one event happeneth alike to all--to the righteous and to the wicked. The dearest friendships are dissolved; death puts the most close friends far apart. Children that come into the world amid the most auspicious circumstances are oftentimes early deprived of earthly love and care, misfortunes befall them, and while their life is but young and tender, it is nipped in the bud. In all these respects we witness the same mutation as men have witnessed in all former times. The providence of God is uniform in successive ages. That which hath been is new; and that which is to be hath already been; and God recalleth that which is past.
II. A second lesson this narrative teaches us is, the beauty and excellency of faithful friendship. Is there, said David, yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathans sake? David has been concerned in the establishment of his throne, and the cares and duties of his kingdom. He has had little leisure from State business and war, to attend to matters of a more private nature. But now he remembers the ancient covenant made between him and his friend long dead. Friendship, says Jean Paul, requires action. Well, here is a befitting action. What strength of expression David employs! He desires to show to the house of Saul, for Jonathans sake, the kindness of God. In that tender, solemn hour, when the two friends covenanted in the open field, and swore eternal love and faithfulness, Jonathan said to David, And thou shalt not only while yet I live show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not, but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever. And David sware he would not. The kindness of the Lord! The expression is strong; but it carries with it its own exposition and defence. It was kindness, the covenant of which God was called to witness, and it was kindness cherished in Gods sight and fear, and for His glory. Friendships change. Friends die. But there is one friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Jesus Christ will not neglect nor despise you because you are unfortunate and poor. Your adversities and distresses awaken his tenderest sympathies and compassion, lie knows where you dwell. He sees that there is a need be for your present trials. He liveth for evermore.
III. That this chapter teaches us Gods care for the fatherless, especially the seed of His servants. Mephibosheth was only five years old when his father was slain, His nurse, in her anxiety to escape with him, let him fall, so that he was lame for life. See how God cared for him. Machir, the son of Ammiel, of Lodebar, the same man who in after years joined with Shobi and Barzillai in supplying David and his people with beds and food at Mahanaim, clearly a large-souled, benevolent man, took him into his house and brought him up in his family. Now, as the result of Davids inquiry, the lame, orphan youth is raised to sit at the kings table. In every age God has shown Himself the Father of the fatherless. Especially does God care for the children of those who love Him; He remembers them for their fathers sake. He suffers not all the pains taken to be unrewarded--all the tears shed un-noticed all the prayers offered unheard. A good man leaveth an inheritance to his childrens children.
IV. This chapter illustrates the truth that even in this world vice brings its own punishment and virtue its own reward,
1. See from this chapter, how He punishes sin! Saul was proud and disobedient; and God makes that saying good, Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall; and that other saying, addressed to the guilty monarch personally, For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
2. Now mark how God rewards piety on earth! No man serves Him for nought. Follow the career of David. He begins life in the fear of God. Some of his most devout and beautiful psalms appear to have been composed while he was yet a youth. He took care to cleanse his way by a diligent use of Gods word. He loved the exercise of Divine worship. He endeavoured to acquit himself well in all stations. In his fathers house, among his flocks, at court, as Sauls armour-bearer and companion; in banishment, leading a roving life; on the throne of Israel--everywhere he sought to please God. There is a lesson here conveyed to all. Whatever your position may be, however humble and obscure, discharge its duties in the fear of God. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. May that blessedness be yours and mine! Amen! (W. Walters.)
David and Mephibosheth
It is a proof that the bloody wars in which David had been engaged had not destroyed the tenderness of his heart, that the very chapter which follows the account of his battles opens with a yearning of affection--a longing for an outlet to feelings of kindness. This proceeding of Davids in making inquiry for a fit object of beneficence may afford us a lesson as to the true course of enlightened kindness. Doubtless David had numberless persons applying for a share of his bounty; yet he makes inquiry for a new channel in which it may flow. The most clamorous persons are seldom the most deserving. Enlightened benevolence aims at something higher than the mere relief of passing distress. There are other debts besides money debts it becomes you to look after. In youth, perhaps, you received much kindness from friends and relatives which at the time you could not repay; but now the tables are turned; you are prosperous, they or their families are needy. And these cases are apt to slip out of your mind. It is not always hard-heartedness that makes the prosperous forget the less fortunate; it is often utter thoughtlessness. Thoughtlessness regarding his neighbours is not a poor mans vice. The empty house is remembered, even though it costs a sacrifice to send it a little of his own scanty supplies. Few men are so hardened as not to feel the obligation to show kindness when that obligation is brought before them.
3. Accustomed to think that his wisest course was to conceal from David his very existence, and looking on him with the dread with which the family of former kings regarded the reigning monarch, he must have come into his presence with a strange mixture of feeling. He had a profound sense of the greatness which David had achieved and the honour implied in his countenance and fellowship. But there was no need for his humbling himself so low. There was no need for him calling himself a dog, a dead dog--the most humiliating image it was possible to find. We should have thought him more worthy of his father if, recognising the high position which David had attained by the grace of God, he had gracefully thanked him for the regard shown to his fathers memory, and shown more of the self-respect which was due to Jonathans son. In his subsequent conduct, in the days of Davids calamity, Mephibosheth gave evidence of the same disinterested spirit which had shone so beautifully in Jonathan, but his noble qualities were like a light twinkling among ruins or a jewel glistening in a wreck. Every arrangement was thus made that could conduce to his comfort. His being a cripple did not deprive him of the honour of a place at the royal table, little though he could contribute to the lustre of the palace. The lameness and consequent awkwardness, that would have made many a king ashamed of such an inmate of his palace, only recommended him the more to David. Regard for outward appearances was swallowed up by a higher regard--regard for what was right and true. There is yet another application to be made of this passage in Davids history. We have seen how it exemplifies the duty incumbent on us all to consider whether kindness is not due from us to the friends or the relatives of those who have been helpful to ourselves. This remark is not applicable merely to temporal obligations, but also, and indeed emphatically, to spiritual. We should consider ourselves in debt to those who have conferred spiritual benefits upon us. Should a descendant of Luther or Calvin, of Latimer or Cranmer or Knox, appear among us in need of kindness, what true Protestant would not feel that for what he owed to the fathers it was his duty to show kindness to the children? (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
David and Mephibosheth
There is so much Gospel in this quaint incident that I am embarrassed to know where to begin. Whom do Mephibosheth, and David, and Jonathan make you think of?
I. Mephibosheth, in the first place, stands for the disabled human soul. Lord Byron described sin as a charming recklessness, as a gallantry, as a Don Juan; George Sand describes sin as triumphant in many intricate plots; Gavarini, with his engravers knife, also shows sin as a great jocularity; but the Bible presents it as a Mephibosheth, lame on both feet. Sin, like the nurse in the context, attempted to carry us, and let us fall, and we have been disabled, and in our whole moral nature we are decrepit. Sometimes theologians haggle about a technicality. They use the words total depravity, and some people believe in the doctrine and some reject it. What do you mean by total depravity? Do you mean that every man is as bad as he can be? Then I do not believe it either. But do you mean that sin has let us fall, that it has disfigured, and disabled, and crippled our entire moral nature until we cannot walk straight, and are lame in both feet? Then I shall admit your proposition. I do not care what the sentimentalists or the poets say in regard to sin; in the name of God I declare to you to-day that sin is disorganisation, disintegration, ghastly disfiguration, hobbling deformity.
II. Mephibosheth stands for the disabled human soul humbled and restored. When this invalid of my text got a command to come to King Davids palace be trembled. The fact was that the grandfather of Mephibosheth had treated David most shockingly, and now Mephibosheth says to himself: What does the king want of me? Isnt it enough that I am lame? Is he going to destroy my life? Is he going to wreak on me the vengeance which he holds towards my grandfather Saul? Its too bad. But go to the palace Mephibosheth must, since the king has commanded it. With staff and crutches, and helped by his friends, I see Mephibosheth going up the stairs of the palace. Consider the analogy. When the command is given from the palace of heaven to the human soul to come, the soul begins to tremble. It says: What is God going to do with me now? Is He going to destroy me? Is He going to wreak His vengeance upon me? My friend, we come out with our prayers and sympathies to help you up to the palace. If you want to get to the palace you may get there. Start now. The Holy Spirit will help you. All you have to do is just to throw yourself on your face at the feet of the King, as Mephibosheth did.
III. Mephibosheth stands for the disabled human soul saved for the sake of another. Mephibosheth would never have got into the palace on his own account. Why did David ransack the realm to find that poor man, and then bestow upon him a great fortune, and command a farmer by the name of Ziba to culture the estate and give to this invalid Mephibosheth half the proceeds every year? Why did King David make such a mighty stir about a poor fellow who would never be of any use to the throne of Israel? It was for Jonathans sake. It was what Robert Burns calls for auld lang syne. David could not forget what Jonathan had done for him in other days. Now, it is on that principle that you and I are to get into the Kings palace. The most important part of every prayer is the last three words of it--For Christs sake. They are the most important part of the prayer. When in earnestness you go before God and say, For Christs sake, it rolls in, as it were, upon Gods mind all the memories of Bethlehem, and Gennesaret, and Golgotha. If there is anything in all the universe that will move God to an act of royal benefaction, it is to say, For Christs sake. If a little child should kneel behind Gods throne and should say, For Christs sake, the great Jehovah would turn around on His throne to look at her and listen. No prayer ever gets to heaven but for Christs sake. No soul is ever comforted but for Christs sake. The world will never be redeemed but for Christs sake.
IV. Mephibosheth stands for the disabled human soul lifted to the Kings table. It was more difficult in those times even than it is now for common men to get into a royal dining-room. The subjects might have come around the rail of the palace and might have seen the lights kindled, and might have heard the clash of the knives and the rattle of the golden goblets, but not got in. Stout men with stout feet could not get in once in all their lives to one banquet, yet poor Mephibosheth goes in, lives there, and is every day at the table. Oh, what a getting up in the world for poor Mephibosheth! Well, though you and I may be wofully tamed with sin, for our Divine Jonathans sake, I hope we will all get in to dine with the King. O, my soul, what a magnificent Gospel! It takes a man so low down and raises him so high! What a Gospel! Come, now, who wants to be banqueted and empalaced? I come out now as the messenger of the palace to invite Mephibosheth to come up. I am here to-day to tell you that God has a wealth of kindness to bestow upon you for His Sons sake. The doors of the palace are open to receive you. The cupbearers have already put the chalices on the table, and the great, loving, tender sympathetic heart of God bends over you this moment, saying: Is there any that is yet left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jesus sake? (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
Kindness to Jonathans son
It appears from the story that David had never known of his existence, or had forgotten it in the stress of his anxieties and struggles. The boy was born after he and Jonathan parted from each other in the wood at Ziph, and so completely had he been kept out of the way that the courtiers at Jerusalem could only summon Ziba--a prosperous servant of Souls family--to ask him the question David proposed. There was every reason for keeping him in concealment. Oriental fashions would have prompted a new king to kill all surviving members of a rival household, and David might destroy the possible claimant. David, no doubt, looked forward with tremulous eagerness to the coming of Jonathans son. He already loved him. He looked eagerly upon the cripple prostrate before him, longing for the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a voice that is still. It requires no stretch of imagination to see in Mephibosheth many excellent qualities. This modest, humble, loyal youth had inherited something of his fathers generous spirit. He was perfectly content to be as his father, in a place second to Davids. He was, in a sense, entitled to the throne. He might easily have been made a claimant for it by soured politicians, who would have rallied round his supposed interests to advance their own. History is full of such instances. Mephibosheth chose, and kept in perfect obscurity. Physical deformity has a varied effect upon the sufferer. It embitters some against God and man. Lord Byron seems to have been made miserable by his lameness. Shakespeare represents King Richard
III. as full of rage at his misfortunes, and determined to work mischief.
I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun,
And descant on mine own deformity.
I am determined to prove a villain.
But, on the other hand, grace sometimes compensates for natures lack. Multitudes will approach the study of this chapter, wondering what there is in it worthy their time and of the Bible itself.
But it teaches us a few valuable lessons. Let us note among them how--
I. It corrects our estimate of what we call small deeds. David did a great many notable things that impress us far more than this one; but it is just here that we see far into his true character. The Bible makes this record because of its importance in the portraiture of a great character, and our estimate of it will be a test of our own spirit. Is there not something here worth remembering and copying? What is to come up at the judgment-day as the ground of our acceptance, but trifling deeds of love done spontaneously and soon forgotten, simply because they were the natural outworking of our dispositions? The story is told of a Russian soldier exposed to intense cold while on duty as a sentinel. A poor working man, going home, took off his coat and gave it to him for his protection. That night the sentinel perished. Not long after the working man was brought to his deathbed, and fell into a slumber, in which he dreamed that he saw Jesus wearing his old coat. You have my coat on, he said to him. Yes, was the answer of the Lord. You gave it to me the cold night I was a sentinel in the forest. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
II. This story illustrates the humaneness of the whole Bible. It balances some of the recorded cruelties of the early ages. Now, the world is full of inequalities, selfishness, and strife for place and power and of forgotten friends. Hence it needs, early and late, the lessons of love, the lessons that show us the obligations of friendship, no matter what the relative position of the friends may come to he, and the claims of the children upon the friends of their parents. This, the Bible tells us, was one of the great acts of Davids life. The whole world responds to a touch of humanity, and the Bible is for the whole world. That spirit is cultivated by it which led Webster to remember his early neighbours when he came to greatness and power; which led Governor Andrew to say, I never despised a man because he was ignorant or because he was poor or because he was black. No one illustrates it as Christ Himself does, in Whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead. This narrative proves that--
III. The kindness of man to man is a godlike quality. David gives two reasons for finding Jonathans son: first, his old covenant, which included the children of both parties; and, second, the Divine law of love. He wished to show the kindness of God to Mephibosheth. The phrase, kindness of God may be taken to mean either the kindness God requires of man or shows to man. Robert-son Smith says (Prophets of Israel) that it is not necessary to distinguish between Jehovahs kindness to Israel, which we should call his grace, or Israels duty of kindness to Jehovah, which we should call piety, and the relation between man and man, which embraces the duties of love and mutual consideration. To the Hebrew mind these three are essentially one, and all are comprised in the same covenant. As Portia says:--
We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
IV. Christian love alone will enable us to show one another the kindness of God. David uses this beautiful expression, kindness of God; but his ideas of it were extremely limited as compared with those we find all through the Gospels. He showed kindness towards his old friends son. There is pathos and gentleness and a right royal spirit in his act. We cannot., with Christ on the cross before us, construe our duties and our privileges as men once did before he read the law anew and told us its real meaning. In Christ God Himself has come down. He has sought out the lame, the halt, the blind, the paralytic, the forgotten, the dead in trespasses and sins. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoking flax He will not quench. He devises means by which His banished may not be expelled from Him. This is Gods kindness, leading to sacrifice for the fallen and the perishing. This is the love of God towards men. By the work of the Holy Spirit this love becomes the possession of men. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Mephibosheth
Mephibosheth resembles the sinner and his salvation:--
I. He was an enemy to the king, not the king his enemy.
II. Was sought in his indifference.
III. Received in his deformity.
IV. Received for the sake of another.
V. Received a rich inheritance.
VI. Received into daily fellowship with the king. (Homilist.)
The kindness of God
I. In the first place, we have here a splendid instance of that charity which suffereth long, and is kind. This is certainly not the manner of men, not the rule of the world, as we have to deal with it, and as we note its character and policy from day to day. It was the manner of Christ, who commanded only that which He Himself performed, whose worshipper David then was, and who had received into his heart the disposition of charity, which must be found with every true follower of the forgiving and merciful Saviour.
II. We cannot hide it from our reflections that this purpose or act of David was undertaken at a late period in his history, A long interval had passed since his escape out of trouble, by the death of Saul--fully fifteen years; and eight of these were spent in possession of the throne of Israel, as well as that of Judah. After so long a time, at the very least eight years of perfect freedom from all the emergencies which arose from the pretensions of Sauls family to the government--after so long a time it is that he enters upon the work of charity. Here was no false shame, but diligent and anxious inquiry, proving that necessity alone had caused the previous delay of kindness. If we doubt this, be it remembered that the law of common life is to forget favours, but never injuries; seldom to requite the former, but most usually the latter. Nevertheless the chief butler remembered not Joseph, but forgot him. We may take this passage as a general expression of human deportment. In the present case, time had not effaced the memory of Jonathans friendship, nor did any extraordinary incident cause its sudden revival. Hence we must view it as an act of serious deliberation, and, in this form, it speaks to us with much solemnity. There are many stirring persuasives, and imperative compulsions to Christian piety, which carry us along, perforce, in the way of obedience. But here was no immediate appeal to passion, no interposition of witness, none to applaud, none to condemn--calmly, deliberately, on principle alone, the past is considered, and the duty is determined on.
1. So should we meditate and act as rational Christians. We may possess true piety, but yet a piety which is nourished by continual excitement, by a restless temperament, which seeks insatiably after enterprise and events, to maintain its own fire of enthusiasm.
2. We must be Christians on principle, and when the world is shut out, and every external persuasion to godliness removed, we must find the soul within determined on the service of the Lord.
3. We must be deliberating Christians. We should trace over the years that are past, to mourn for our positive transgressions, to derive from them fresh abhorrence of evil.
III. We may now take into account the reference made in the text to the early friendship which existed between Jonathan and David. Some fifteen or sixteen years had elapsed since the interruption of that friendship occurred, by the unhappy death of Jonathan. Yet Davids heart yearns after his departed friend, his love is as ardent as ever.
1. True friendship--Christian friendship, must suffer nothing from time, or absence, or separation. It must outlast all, and if it experience any change--change only to improvement in strength and purity.
2. Next, it must bear upon and include all relations. It is but a mockery of friendship, if we pretend to love a man in one consideration alone, and will net serve him in all his wants and circumstances. If he need our labour for his temporal good, he must have it as well as our spiritual kindness.
IV. In the text we have the quality and degree of the favours which were intended.
1. Primarily, the phrase signifies that here was no spontaneous movement of generosity, but the fulfilling of a bond--the observance of an obligation mutually imposed between David and his friend, prior to his final flight from the house of Saul.
2. The kindness here mentioned requires some farther notice with regard to its extent, as it is called the kindness of God. His kindness extends from generation to generation, even to a thousand generations of them who love Him and keep His commandments. After looking thus closely on holy friendship as enduring and extensive, we must not omit its quality, the regulation of its acts, prescribed by the expletive--the kindness of God. Its acts are like the acts of Divine benevolence, ever for the true good of the object. This you understand by the contrast which the false friendships of the world present. Men make leagues and covenants of amity offensive and defensive, for mutual advantage, the furtherance of gain, the increase of pleasure, the successful prosecution of guilty purposes. There is a friendship here, no doubt, and sometimes a durable one, but it is like the wisdom of this world, earthly, sensual, devilish. Finally, we may take the phrase as the Hebrew form of the superlative degree, signifying the utmost kindness, and here our research upon the subject must end. This sacred friendship sanctions such a kindness, such an extreme or superlative one, when occasion requires it. (C. M. Fleury, A. M.)
Mephibosheth
1. We have no reason to think that Mephibosheth had any special ability to advise in affairs of state, or that David needed any adviser. He had done nothing to attract the kings notice, and in fact his very existence seems to have been unknown to him till special enquiry was made for any representatives of the fallen house that had survived the fatal day. He certainly was no ornament at the kings table. But he was there
(1) Because of the covenant David had made with Jonathan. Jonathan, knowing well that David would reign, had secured his oath in favour of his seed. That oath David held sacred, and now upon the poor cripple he lavished the love that used to be given to Jonathan.
(2) Because of the abounding grace of David. The letter of the covenant might by many have been thought sufficiently kept in merely sparing the lives of Jonathans descendants, but as David had made the covenant in love he now fulfils it with love. Going far beyond the letter he restores to Mephibosheth the estates which had belonged to the house of Saul; thus securing to him a princely revenue. Then he set him among princes by appointing him a position at the royal table. So should it be done to the man whom the king delighted to honour! In this honoured cripple we may see ourselves, lost and ruined by the fall, helpless, unworthy, living quietly without God, fearing Him rather than desiring Him, till divine mercy sought us out and found us. Not for our sake but for Christs sake, for the Covenants sake, sealed with the blood of atonement, mercy has been extended to us: and this in no grudging spirit.
2. What return Mephibosheth made for his privileges. What silver and gold he had he derived from the kings bounty. He was incapable of military or state service. He could only love the king, and this he did. When David fled from Jerusalem he left at least one true heart behind him, and when lie returned a pitiful spectacle met his eyes, Mephibosheth had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor changed his clothes, since the king fled; the days of the Kings absence had been to him days of mourning. If tie could not show his love in one way he could in another. What return are we making to our King? We may often vainly wish that we were able to do something really great for Him. But from Mephibosheth let us learn--
To do what we can, being what we are,
To shine like a glow-worm, if we cannot like a star.
Let us love our King with our whole heart, and that love will be ingenious in finding its own modes of expression. It is not want of opportunity or ability, but too often want of real love that occasions so great a lack of the ready service that should be rendered to our King. (C. O. Eldridge, B. A.)
Early friendship remembered
Agrippa I. (Act_12:1) had been in earlier years on terms of friendship with Caligula, the grandson of Tiberius, and having offended the emperor, thereupon was thrown into prison and a chain put upon him. When Caligula became emperor, he not only released and promoted Agrippa, but gave him a golden chain equal in weight to the one he had worn in prison. Lord. Grey and the Rev. Sydney Smith had long been friends; but the latter was very poor, and his noble friend was unable to secure for him a better living. As soon, however, as Lord Grey became Prime Minister, he is said to have exclaimed, Now, I can do something for Sydney Smith! And he did.
Kindness shown for the love of another
In the late Crimean War, I have heard that a New York merchant helped every youth that might come to him bearing the uniform of his son. This he had, however, to stop, but on one occasion a young man walked into his office, at first to receive a blunt refusal, but the youth produced a note and handed it to the merchant, which ran something like the following: The bearer of this note has come home to die. He has been fighting in the front with me. Do all you can for him. Call in a nurse, and let him have my room. Engage the family physician. For Charlies sake. Needless to say that the fathers heart was opened at once. What he had done brought: but the plea of the boy. So it is, through the plea of Gods son, we have been spared, and mercy and forgiveness are offered. (Newton Jones.)
Grateful memories expressed in deeds
An interesting story is told of Dr. Livingstone and of the respect which his courage in going about unarmed inspired among the Arabs. On one occasion, a traveller Says, I was for two days the guest of an Arab chief near the south end of Tanganyika, who had formerly been a famous slave-trader. I had a good deal of conversation with him regarding Livingstone, whom he had known intimately. III taking leave of him I thanked him for his hospitality, when he replied, For the sake of the Doctor.
For Christs sake
Sir Henry Burdett, perhaps the greatest living authority upon hospitals and their working, has recently said concerning nurses: Those trained in religious institutions are the best from the patients point of view. The religious idea embodies devotion to duty, abnegation of self, concentration upon the case in hand, and a determination to do everything possible for the patients welfare. To such a nurse the patient is always a human being, not merely a case--which makes all the difference. They are women, and not mere money-making machines. Is not this the secret of all true helpfulness to others? For Christs sake is the only motive that will outlast all temptation to weariness, to abandoning our service in disappointment or despair. The service of man is, in its highest and best, only possible as it is also the service of God. (H. O. Mackey.)
For anothers sake
In a historic sketch of Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, occurs this paragraph: King Robert was now alone, and he left the cottage very sorrowful for the death of his foster-brother, and took himself in the direction toward where he had directed his men to assemble after their dispersion. It was now near night, and, the place of meeting being a farmhouse, he went boldly into it, where he found the mistress, an old true-hearted Scotch-woman, sitting alone. Upon seeing a stranger enter, she asked him who and what he was. The king answered that he was a traveller, who was journeying through the country. All travellers, answered the good woman, are welcome here for the sake of one. And who is that one, said the king, for whose sake you make all travellers welcome? It is our lawful King Robert the Bruce, answered the mistress, who is the rightful lord of this country; and, although he is now pursued and hunted after with hounds and horns, I hope to live to see him king over all Scotland. For the sake of one, and that One Jesus, as a motto in our Church life. How it would smooth the way for doing effective work for God and souls, if for His sake we would be charitable, long-suffering, kind, not criticising, but helpful.
Physical imperfections
In Count Tolstois Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth, he tells us that he felt deep pain when at the early age of six years, he heard his mother confess that he was only a plain homely boy. I fancied, he says, that there was no happiness on earth for a person with such a wide nose, such thick lips, and such small grey eyes as I had: I besought God to work a miracle, to turn me into a beauty, and all I had in the present, or might have in the future, I would give in exchange for a handsome face. Yet there is something far more beautiful than these in that rugged face: the deep impress of great moral and spiritual power.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1
CHAPTER X I I.
DAVID AND MEPHIBOSHETH.
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2Sa_9:1-13.
THE busy life which King David was now leading did not prevent memory from occasionally running back to his early days and bringing before him the friends of his youth. Among these remembrances of the past, his friendship and his covenant with Jonathan were sure to hold a conspicuous place. On one of these occasions the thought occurred to him that possibly some descendant of Jonathan might still be living. He had been so completely severed from his friend during the last years of his life, and the un-fortunate attempt on the part of Ishbosheth had made personal intercourse so much more difficult, that he seems not to have been aware of the exact state of Jonathan's family. It is evident that the survival of any descendant of his friend was not publicly known, and probably the friends of the youth who was discovered had thought it best to keep his existence quiet, being of those who would give David no credit for higher principles than were current between rival dynasties. Even Michal, Jonathan's sister, does not seem to have known that a son of his survived. It became necessary, therefore, to make a public inquiry of his officers and attendants. "Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" It was not essential that he should be a child of Jonathan's; any descendant of Saul's would have been taken for Jonathan's sake.
It is a proof that the bloody wars in which he had been engaged had not destroyed the tenderness of his heart, that the very chapter which follows the account of his battles opens with a yearning of affection - a longing for an outlet to feelings of kindness. It is instructive, too, to find the proof of love to his neighbour succeeding the remarkable evidence of supreme regard to the honour of God recently given in the proposal to build a temple. This period of David's life was its golden era, and it is difficult to understand how the man that was so remarkable at this time for his regard for God and his interest in his neighbour should soon afterwards have been betrayed into a course of conduct that showed him most grievously forgetful of both.
This proceeding of David's in making inquiry for a fit object of beneficence may afford us a lesson as to the true course of enlightened kindness. Doubtless David had numberless persons applying for a share of his bounty; yet he makes inquiry for a new channel in which it may flow. The most clamorous persons are seldom the most deserving, and if a bountiful man simply recognizes, however generously, even the best of the cases that press themselves on his notice, he will not be satisfied with the result; he will feel that his bounty has rather been frittered away on miscellaneous undertakings, than that it has achieved any solid and satisfying result. It is easy for a rich man to fling a pittance to some wretched-looking creature that whines out a tale of horror in his ear; but this may be done only to relieve his own feelings, and harm instead of good may be the result. Enlightened benevolence aims at something higher than the mere relief of passing distress. Benevolent men ought not to lie at the mercy either of the poor who ask their charity, or of the philanthropic Christians who appeal for support to their schemes. Pains must be taken to find out the deserving, to find out those who have the strongest claim. Even the open-handed, whose purse is always at hand, and who are ready for every good work, may be neglecting some case or class of cases which have far stronger claims on them than those which are so assiduously pressed on their notice. And hence we may see that it is right and fitting, especially in those to whom Providence has given much, to cast over in their minds, from time to time, the state of their obligations, and think whether among old friends, or poor relations, or faithful but needy servants of God, there may not be some who have a claim on their bounty. There are other debts besides money debts it becomes you to look after. In youth, perhaps, you received much kindness from friends and relatives which at the time you could not repay; but now the tables are turned; you are prosperous, they or their families are needy. And these cases are apt to slip out of mind. It is not always hard-heartedness that makes the prosperous forget the less fortunate; it is often utter thoughtlessness. It is the neglect of that rule which has such a powerful though silent effect when it is carried out - Put yourself in their place. Imagine how you would feel, strained and worried to sleeplessness through narrow means, and seeing old friends rolling in wealth, who might, with little or no inconvenience, lighten the burden that is crushing you so painfully. It is a strange thing that this counsel should be more needed by the rich than by the poor. Thoughtlessness regarding his neighbours is not a poor man's vice. The empty house is remembered, even though it costs a sacrifice to send it a little of his own scanty supplies. Few men are so hardened as not to feel the obligation to show kindness when that obligation is brought before them. What we urge is, that no one should lie at the mercy of others for bringing his obligations before him. Let him think for himself; and especially let him cast his eye round his own horizon, and consider whether there be not some representatives of old friends or old relations to whom kindness ought to be shown.
To return to the narrative. The history of Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son, had been a sad one. When Israel was defeated by the Philistines on Mount Gilboa, and Saul and Jonathan were slain, he was but an infant;and his nurse, terror-stricken at the news of the disaster, in her haste to escape had let him fall, and caused an injury which made him lame for life. What the manner of his upbringing was, we are not told. When David found him, he was living with Machir, the son of Ammiel, of Lo-debar, on the other side of the Jordan, in the same region where his uncle Ishbosheth had tried to set up his kingdom. Mephibosheth became known to David through Ziba, a servant of Saul's, a man of more substance than principle, as his conduct showed at a later period of his life. Ziba, we are told, had fifteen sons and twenty servants. He seems to have contrived to make himself comfortable notwithstanding the wreck of his master's fortunes, more comfortable than Mephibosheth, who was living in another man's house.
There seems to have been a surmise among David's people that this Ziba could tell something of Jonathan's family; but evidently he was not very ready to do so; for it was only to David himself that when sent for he gave the information, and that after David had emphatically stated his motive - not to do harm, but to show kindness for Jonathan's sake. The existence of Mephibosheth being thus made known, he is sent for and brought into David's presence. And we cannot but be sorry for him when we mark his abject bearing in the presence of the king. When he was come unto David, "he fell on his face and did reverence." And when David explained his intentions, "he bowed himself and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look on such a dead dog as I am?" Naturally of a timid nature, and weakened in nerve by the accident of his infancy, he must have grown up under great disadvantages. His lameness excluded him from sharing in any youthful game or manly exercise, and therefore threw him into the company of the women who, like him, tarried at home. What he had heard of David had not come through a friendly channel, had come through the partisans of Saul, and was not likely to be very favourable. He was too young to remember the generous conduct of David in reference to his father and grandfather; and those who were about him probably did not care to say much about it.
Accustomed to think that his wisest course was to conceal from David his very existence, and looking on him with the dread with which the family of former kings regarded the reigning monarch, he must have come into his presence with a strange mixture of feeling. He had a profound sense of the greatness which David had achieved and the honour implied in his countenance and fellowship. But there was no need for his humbling himself so low. There was no need for his calling himself a dog, a dead dog, - the most humiliating image it was possible to find. We should have thought him more worthy of his father if, recognizing the high position which David had attained by the grace of God, he had gracefully thanked him for the regard shown to his father's memory, and shown more of the self-respect which was due to Jonathan's son. In his subsequent conduct, in the days of David's calamity, Mephibosheth gave evidence of the same disinterested spirit which had shone so beautifully in Jonathan, but his noble qualities were like a light twinkling among ruins or a jewel glistening in a wreck.
This shattered condition both of mind and body, however, commended him all the more to the friendly regard of David. Had he shown himself a high-minded, ambitious youth, David might have been embarrassed how to act towards him. Finding him modest and respectful, he had no difficulty in the case. The kindness which he showed him was twofold. In the first place, he restored to him all the land that had belonged to his grandfather; and in the second place, he made him an inmate of his own house, with a place at his table, the same as if he had been one of his own sons. And that he might not be embarrassed with having the land to care for, he committed the charge of it to Ziba, who was to bring to Mephibosheth the produce or its value.
Every arrangement was thus made that could conduce to his comfort His being a cripple did not deprive him of the honour of a place at the royal table, little though he could contribute to the lustre of the palace. For David bestowed his favours not on the principle of trying to reflect lustre on himself or his house, but on the principle of doing good to those who had a claim on his consideration. The lameness and consequent awkwardness, that would have made many a king ashamed of such an inmate of his palace only recommended him the more to David. Regard for outward appearances was swallowed up by a higher regard - regard for what was right and true.
It might be thought by some that such an incident as this was hardly worthy of a place in the sacred record; but the truth is, that David seldom showed more of the true spirit of God than he did on this occasion. The feeling that led him to seek out any stray member of the house in order to show kindness to him was the counterpart of that feeling that has led God from the very beginning to seek the children of men, and that led Jesus to seek and to save that which was lost. For that is truly the attitude in which God has ever placed Himself towards our fallen race. The sight to be seen in this world has not been that of men seeking after God, but that of God seeking after men. All day long He has been stretching forth His hands, and inviting the children of men to taste and see that He is gracious. If we ask for the principle that unifies all parts of the Bible, it is this gracious attitude of God towards those who have forfeited His favour. The Bible presents to us the sight of God's Spirit striving with men, persevering in the thankless work long after He has been resisted, and ceasing only when all hope of success through further pleading is gone.
There were times when this process was prosecuted with more than common ardour; and at last there came a time when the Divine pleadings reached a climax, and God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake to the fathers by the prophets, spake to them at last by His own Son. And what was the life of Jesus Christ but a constant appeal to men, in God's name, to accept the kindness which God was eager to show them? Was not His invitation to all that laboured and were heavy laden, ''Come unto Me, and I will give you rest"? Did He not represent the Father as a householder, making a marriage feast for his son, sending forth his servants to bid the guests to the wedding, and when the natural guests refused, bidding them go to the highways and the hedges, and fetch the lame and the Wind and any outcast they could find, because he longed to see guests of some kind enjoying the good things he had provided? The great crime of the ancient Jews was rejecting Him who had come in the name of the Lord to bless them. Their crowning condemnation was, not that they had failed to keep the Ten Commandments, though that was true; not that they had spent their lives in pleasing themselves instead of pleasing God, though that also was true; but that they had rejected God's unspeakable gift, and requited the Eternal Son, when He came from heaven to bless them, with the cursed death of the cross. But even after they had committed that act of unprecedented wickedness, God's face would not be wholly turned away from them. The very attitude in which Jesus died, with His hands outstretched on the tree, would still represent the attitude of the Divine heart towards the very murderers of His Son. "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men toward Me." "Unto you first, God, having raised up His Son Jesus, hath sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." "Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out."
Here, my friends, is the most glorious feature of the Christian religion. Happy those of you who have apprehended this attitude of your most gracious Father, who have believed in His love, and who have accepted His grace! For not only has God received you back into His family, and given you a name and a place in His temple better than that of sons and daughters, but He has restored to you your lost inheritance. "If children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ." Nay, more. He has not only restored to you your lost inheritance, but He has conferred on you an inheritance more glorious than that of which sin deprived you. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day."
But if the grace of God in thus stretching out His hands to sinful men and offering them all the blessings of salvation is very wonderful, it makes the case of those all the more terrible, all the more hopeless, who treat His invitations with indifference, and turn their backs on an inheritance the glory of which they do not see. How men should be so infatuated as to do this it were hard to understand, if we had not ample evidence of it in the godless tendencies of our natural hearts. Still more mysterious is it to understand how God should fail to carry His point in the case of those to whom He stretches out His hands. But of all considerations there is none more fitted to astonish and alarm the careless than that they are capable of refusing all the appeals of Divine love, and rejecting all the bounty of Divine grace. If this be persevered in, what a rude awakening you will have in the world to come, when in all the bitterness of remorse you will think on the glories that were once within your reach, but with which you trifled when you had the chance! How foolish would Mephibosheth have been if he had disbelieved in David's kindness and rejected his offer! But David was sincere, and Mephibosheth believed in his sincerity. May we not, must we not, believe that God is sincere? If a purpose of kindness could arise in a human heart, how much more in the Divine heart, how much more in the heart of Him the very essence of whose nature is conveyed to us in the words of the beloved disciple - "God is love"!
There is yet another application to be made of this passage in David's history. We have seen how it exemplifies the duty incumbent on us all to consider whether kindness is not due from us to the friends or the relatives of those who have been helpful to ourselves. This remark is not applicable merely to temporal obligations, but also, and indeed emphatically, to spiritual. We should consider ourselves in debt to those who have conferred spiritual benefits upon us. Should a descendant of Luther or Calvin, of Latimer or Cranmer or Knox, appear among us in need of kindness, what true Protestant would not feel that for what he owed to the fathers it was his duty to show kindness to the children? But farther back even than this was a race of men to whom the Christian world lies under still deeper obligations. It was the race of David himself, to which had belonged "Moses and Aaron among His priests, Samuel with them that called on His name," and, in after-times, Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel; Peter, and James, and John, and Paul; and, outshining them all, like the sun of heaven, Jesus of Nazareth, the Saviour of men. With what models of lofty piety has that race furnished every succeeding generation! From the study of their holy lives, their soaring faith, their burning zeal, what blessing has been derived in the past, and what an impulse will yet go forth to the very end of time! No wonder though the Apostle had great sorrow and continual heaviness in his heart when he thought of the faithless state of the people, "to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God"! Yet none are more in need of your friendly remembrance at this day than the descendants of these men. It becomes you to ask, "Is there yet any that is left of their house to whom we may show kindness for Jesus' sake?" For God has not finally cast them off, and Jesus has not ceased to care for those who were His brethren according to the flesh. If there were no other motive to induce us to seek the good of the Jews, this consideration should surely prevail. All did the world requite its obligation during the long ages when all manner of contumely and injustice was heaped upon the Hebrew race, as if Jesus had never prayed, "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." Their treatment by the Gentiles has been so harsh that, even when better feelings prevail, they are slow, like Mephibosheth, - to believe that we mean them well. They may have done much to repel our kindness, and they may appear to be hopelessly encrusted with unbelief in Him whom we present as the Saviour. But charity never faileth; and in reference to them as to other objects of philanthropic effort, the exhortation holds good, "Let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not."
Such kindness to those who are in need is not only a duty of religion, but tends greatly to commend it. Neglect of those who have claims on us, while objects more directly religious are eagerly prosecuted, is not pleasing to God, whether the neglect take place in our lives or in the destination of our substance at death. "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good mc: sure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 2Sa_9:1. “And David said.” This could not have occurred…
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
2Sa_9:1. “And David said.” This could not have occurred until David had reigned many years, seeing that Mephibosheth was only five years old when his father died, and was now a father himself. (See 2Sa_9:12 and 2Sa_4:4.)
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2Sa_9:3. “The kindness of God.” This expression is understood by some as “love and kindness shown in God, and for God’s sake,” (Keil); by others as “a kindness such as God Himself shows,” (Erdmann); while Patrick takes the expression as a superlative form to denote simply very great kindness. Wordsworth paraphrases it “love for the Lord’s sake, and in the Lord’s sight, and according to the Lord’s example.”
2Sa_9:4. “Lodebar.” From 2Sa_17:27 we learn that this was beyond Jordan, near Mahanaim; it is generally thought to be identical with Lidbir or Debir, mentioned in Jos_13:26. From the same source we learn that Machir was a man of position and wealth.
2Sa_9:7. “Fear not.” Mephibosheth’s alarm may have arisen merely from “the simplicity and bashfulness of a youth who had lived in a nomad country, and who was awed by the splendour of a court,” (Jamieson), or from the fear that David was about to follow the custom of oriental rulers, and slay all the representatives of the royal family which he had displaced. “All the Land,” etc. “It is evident from these words that the landed property belonging to Saul had either fallen to David as crown lands, or had been taken possession of by distant relations after the death of Saul.” (Keil.)
2Sa_9:8. “A dead dog.” “Mephibosheth’s early misfortunes threw a shade over his whole life, and his personal deformity—as is often the case when it has been the result of accident—seems to have exercised a depressing and depreciatory influence on his character (see also 2Sa_19:26; 2Sa_19:28).” (Smith’s Bib. Dict.)
2Sa_9:10. “Although a daily guest at the royal table, Mephibosheth had to make provision as a royal prince for the maintenance of his own family and servants.” (Keil.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE CHAPTER
DAVID AND MEPHIBOSHETH
I. The merit of a dead parent is often a channel of blessing to the living child. Other things being equal, it is doubtless a blessing to descend from parents of gentle blood—from those who belong to the nobility of this world. Any member of such a family, if he be at all worthy of the name he bears, finds that name a fortune in itself in respect to the earthly and temporal advantages it confers upon him. But such a man does not monopolize all the honour and respect shown to children on account of their parentage. Men who cannot boast of a long pedigree, but who can rejoice in the greater honour of descending from the morally great, have often found the goodness of their departed father or mother bearing fruit for them, their sons and daughters, long after their parents have left the world. It is a principle which has received a Divine sanction, for God who declares that He visits the sins of the fathers upon the children (Exo_20:5), has, both by word and deed, repeatedly blessed the children for the father’s sake. (Gen_26:4-5; Gen_28:13, etc.). In the case of Mephibosheth, the principle had not until now fully asserted itself. The son of one whose nature was as noble as his birth was princely, and whose heroic submission to the Divine will and devoted friendship have been very rarely equalled and never surpassed, Mephibosheth seems hitherto to have come sadly short of what was due to him as the sole surviving heir of Jonathan. Those who protected his helpless infancy and sheltered him in his crippled manhood may have been in part actuated by regard for his father, but none owed him so much as David, who now at last discharges the debt and makes his friend’s child feel that, after all, God had not forgotten to care for the son of a faithful servant.
II. True friendship rejoices to find a child to receive the gratitude which it would have rendered to the dead father. If Jonathan had lived until this day of David’s exaltation, he would have been satisfied to be David’s friend—to be next unto him (1Sa_23:17) in the kingdom of Israel, and David would have known how to estimate such unselfish loyalty and must have regarded such a friend with profound and admiring gratitude. We may be sure that nothing would have been wanting on David’s side which could give expression to the feelings which must have filled his soul. But the calamity which had deprived Mephibosheth of his father had removed David’s beloved friend, and all that he could now do was to put the son in the father’s place. This he did so far as it was possible. He could not rejoice in the presence of Jonathan at his table, but Mephibosheth should take his place and keep his father’s memory green in the king’s heart. None who is truly grateful to a friend for favours in the past will make that friend’s death an excuse for neglecting to acknowledge and to repay the debt of gratitude. A true man will feel it his duty and his delight to place any who belong to his benefactor in that benefactor’s place, and to do that relatively which he can no longer do personally.
III. Elevation to power should be embraced as a God-given opportunity for repaying past favours. When David first received kindly notice from Jonathan he was but an unknown youth who could only give grateful love in return for the prince’s favour. And as the years rolled on and he became more known only to be more in need of a true friend, Jonathan’s brotherly faithfulness was often his only source of human counsel and cheer. But now times had changed, and David was on the throne of Israel, while Jonathan’s child was an exile and apparently dependent upon the bounty of others, and so an opportunity was given to the king to testify his grateful remembrance of past kindnesses. It would be well if all men who rise from obscurity to fame and power were to make their elevation a like opportunity of remembering those who befriended them in their days of adversity, and of testifying their gratitude to them. If they neglect to do this, they omit to perform a most sacred duty, and show themselves wanting in one of the main elements of a noble disposition.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
This fragment of history may be looked upon in two lights. I. As supplying a fine illustration of human friendship.… Jonathan was still fresh in the heart of David. Death cannot really deprive us of our friends after all. Memory holds them, enshrines them, presses them to the heart, makes them more real to us after death than before.… Friendship gives a common interest: what our friend loves, we love; His children in a sense are ours.… II. As a faint image of Divine love to the world.… We are warranted I presume, to use facts in human history, as Jesus used the waving cornfields, etc.… to illustrate spiritual and Divine facts. Besides, the good in man is a Divine emanation, and the best means of giving an idea of God. I see more of the Eternal in a true kindness of a holy man—such kindness as David now displays—than in any part of material nature … I feel justified therefore, in looking upon David’s conduct towards Mephibosheth as serving to illustrate God’s conduct towards our ruined world.…
1. The kindness was unsought. The son of Jonathan did not make any application.… Did the world seek the gift of God?…
2. The kindness was in consideration of someone else. It was “for Jonathan’s sake.” … Christ is not the cause of God’s love, but He is the channel.…
3. The results of the kindness are illustrative of the Divine. It found out Mephiboslieth.… Christ came to seek and to save.… The apostles were sent out in search of God’s objects of love.… God’s love searches out men. Providence, conscience, and the Gospel, are His messengers.… It restored to him his patrimonial inheritance.… God’s love restores us to our lost possessions. Salvation is “paradise regained” etc. It exalted to distinguished honours. “And thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.” “If any man hear my voice, I will come in unto him,” etc.—Dr. David Thomas.
2Sa_9:1. Good men should seek opportunities of doing good. The liberal deviseth liberal things (Isa_32:8.) For the most proper objects of our kindness and charity are such as will not be frequently met with without inquiry. The most necessitous are the least clamorous. David had too long forgotten his obligations to Jonathan, but now, at length, they are brought to his mind. It is good sometimes to bethink ourselves whether there be any promises or engagements that we have neglected to make good; better do it late than never.—Henry.
We must also see where Jesus our fast friend hath any receivers; that since our goodness extendeth not to Him, we may show Him kindness in His people, who are His seed and prolong His days upon earth. (Isa_53:10; Psa_16:3.—Trapp.
2Sa_9:8. Humiliation is a right use of God’s affliction. What if he was born great? If the sin of his grandfather hath lost his estate, and the hand of his nurse hath deformed and disabled his person, he now forgets what he was, and calls himself worse than he is, “a dog.” Yet, “a living dog is better than a dead lion.” There is dignity and comfort in life; Mephibosheth is therefore a dead dog unto David. It is not for us to nourish the same spirits in our adverse estate, that we found in our highest prosperity. What use have we made of God’s hand, if we be not the lower with our fall? God intends we should carry our cross, not make a fire of it to warm us: it is no bearing up our sails in a tempest. Good David cannot disesteem Mephibosheth ever the more for disparaging himself; he loves and honours this humility in the son of Jonathan. There is no more certain way to glory and advancement, than a lowly dejection of ourselves.—Bp. Hall.
2Sa_9:13. Here also we see that the “sure mercies of David” overflowed on the faithful and humble-minded in the family of Saul. Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, was admitted to partake in the royal prerogatives of David’s son, and to sit continually at David’s table; and so it will be with the Jews; when they are Mephibosheths in faith and humility, they will be Mephibosheths in honour, they will be admitted to share in the glory of the True David in the Church militant here and triumphant hereafter.—Wordsworth.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v1 2 Samuel
2 Samuel
DAVID AND JONATHAN’S SON
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2Sa 9:1 - 2Sa 9:13.
This charming idyl of faithful love to a dead friend and generous kindness comes in amid stories of battle like a green oasis in a wilderness of wild rocks and sand. The natural sweetness and chivalry of David’s disposition, which fascinated all who had to do with him, comes beautifully out in it, and it may well stand as an object lesson of the great Christian duty of practical mercifulness.
I. So regarded, the narrative brings out first the motives of true kindliness. Saul and three of his four sons had fallen on the fatal field of Gilboa; the fourth, the weak Ishbosheth, had been murdered after his abortive attempt at setting up a rival kingdom had come to nothing. There were only left Saul’s daughters and some sons by a concubine. So low had the proud house sunk, while David was consolidating his kingdom, and gaining victory wherever he went.
But neither his own prosperity, nor the absence of any trace of Saul’s legitimate male descendants, made him forget his ancient oath to Jonathan. Years had not weakened his love, his sufferings at Saul’s hands had not embittered it. His elevation had not lifted him too high to see the old days of lowliness, and the dear memory of the self-forgetting friend whose love had once been an honour to the shepherd lad. Jonathan’s name had been written on his heart when it was impressionable, and the lettering was as if ‘graven on the rock for ever.’ A heart so faithful to its old love needed no prompting either from men or circumstances. Hence the inquiry after ‘any that is left of the house of Saul’ was occasioned by nothing external, but came welling up from the depth of the king’s own soul.
That is the highest type of kindliness which is spontaneous and self-motived. It is well to be easily moved to beneficence either by the sight of need or by the appeals of others, but it is best to kindle our own fire, and be our own impulse to gracious thoughts and acts. We may humbly say that human mercy then shows likest God’s, when, in such imitation as is possible, it springs in us, as His does in Him, from the depths of our own being. He loves and is kind because He is God. He is His own motive and law. So, in our measure, should we aim at becoming.
But David’s remarkable language in his questions to Ziba goes still deeper in unfolding his motives. For he speaks of showing ‘the kindness of God’ to any remaining of Saul’s house. Now that expression is no mere synonym for kindness exceeding great, but it unfolds what was at once David’s deepest motive and his bright ideal. No doubt, it may include a reminiscence of the sacred obligation of the oath to Jonathan, but it hallows David’s purposed ‘mercy’ as the echo of God’s to him, and so anticipates the Christian teaching, ‘Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful.’ We must receive mercy from Him before our hearts are softened, so as to give it to others, just as the wire must be charged from the electric source before it can communicate the tingle and the light.
The best basis for the beneficent service of man is experience of the mercy of God. Philanthropy has no roots unless it is planted in religion. That is a lesson which this age needs. And the other side of the thought is as true and needful; namely, that our ‘religion’ is not ‘pure and undefiled’ unless it manifests itself in the service of man. How serene and lofty, then, the ideal! How impossible ever to be too forgiving or too beneficent! ‘As your heavenly Father is,’-that is our pattern. We have not shown our brother all the kindness which we owe him unless we have shown him ‘the kindness of God.’
II. The progress of the story brings out next the characteristics of David’s kindliness, and these may be patterns for us. Ziba does not seem to be very communicative, and appears a rather unwilling witness, who needs to have the truth extracted bit by bit. He evidently had nothing to do with Mephibosheth, and was quite content that he should be left obscurely stowed away across Jordan in the house of the rich Machir {2Sa 17:27 - 2Sa 17:29}. Lo-debar was near Mahanaim, on the eastern side of the river, where Ishbosheth’s short-lived kingdom had been planted, and probably the population there still clung to Saul’s solitary representative. There he lived so privately that none of David’s people knew whether he was alive or dead. Perhaps the savage practice of Eastern monarchs, who are wont to get rid of rivals by killing them, led the cripple son of Jonathan to ‘lie low,’ and Ziba’s reticence may have been loyalty to him. It is noteworthy that Ziba is not said to have been sent to bring him, though that would have been natural.
At any rate, Mephibosheth came, apparently dreading whether his summons to court was not his death-warrant. But he is quickly reassured. David again recalls the dear memory of Jonathan, which was, no doubt, stirred to deeper tenderness by the sight of his helpless son; but he swiftly passes to practical arrangements, full of common-sense and grasp of the case. The restoration of Saul’s landed estate implies that it was in David’s power. It had probably been ‘forfeited to the crown,’ as we in England say, or perhaps had been ‘squatted on’ by people who had no right to it. David, at any rate, will see that it reverts to its owner.
But what is a lame man to do with it? and will it be wise to let a representative of the former dynasty loose in the territory of Benjamin, where Saul’s memory was still cherished? Apparently, David’s disposition of affairs was prompted partly by consideration for Mephibosheth, partly by affection for Jonathan, and partly by policy. So Ziba, who had not been present, is sent for, and installed as overseer of the estate, to work it for his new master’s benefit, while the owner is to remain at Jerusalem in David’s establishment. It was prudent to keep Mephibosheth at hand. The best way to weaken a pretender’s claims was to make a pensioner of him, and the best way to hinder his doing mischief was to keep him in sight.
But we need not suppose that this was David’s only motive. He gratified his heart by retaining the poor young man beside himself, and, no doubt, sought to win his confidence and love. The recipient of his kindness receives it in characteristic Eastern fashion, with exaggerated words of self-depreciation, which sound almost too humble to be quite sincere. A little gratitude is better than whining professions of un worthiness.
And how did Ziba like his task? The singular remark that he had ‘fifteen sons and twenty servants’ perhaps suggests that he was a person of some importance; and the subsequent one that ‘all in his house were servants to Mephibosheth’ may imply that neither they nor he quite liked their being handed over thus cavalierly.
But, however that may be, we may note that common-sense and practical sagacity should guide our mercifulness. Kindly impulses are good, but they need cool heads to direct them, or they do more harm than good. It is useless to set lame men to work an estate, even if they get a gift of it. And it is wise not to put untried ones in positions where they may plot against their benefactor. Mercifulness does not mean rash trust in its objects. They will often have to be watched very closely to keep them from going wrong. How many most charitable impulses have been so unwisely worked out that they have injured their objects and disappointed their subjects! We may note, too, in David’s kindliness, that it was prompt to make sacrifice, if, as is probable, he had become owner of the estate. The pattern of all mercy, who is God, has not loved us with a love which cost Him nothing. Sacrifice is the life-blood of service.
III. The subsequent history of Mephibosheth and Ziba is somewhat enigmatical. Usually the former is supposed to have been slandered by the latter, and to have been truly attached to David. But it is at least questionable whether Ziba was such a villain, and Mephibosheth such an injured innocent, as is supposed. This, at least, is plain, that Ziba demonstrated attachment to David at the time when self-love would have kept him silent. It took some courage to come with gifts to a discrowned king {2Sa 16:1 - 2Sa 16:4}; and his allegation about his master has at least this support, that the latter did not come with the rest of David’s court to share his fortunes, and that the dream that he might fish to advantage in troubled waters is extremely likely to have occurred to him. Nor does it appear clear that, if Ziba’s motive was to get hold of the estate, his adherence to David would have seemed, at that moment, the best way of effecting it.
If we look at the sequel {2Sa 19:24 - 2Sa 19:30} Mephibosheth’s excuse for not joining David seems almost as lame as himself. He says that Ziba ‘deceived him,’ and did not bring him the ass for riding on, and therefore he could not come. Was there only one ass available in Jerusalem? and, when all David’s entourage were streaming out to Olivet after him, could not he easily have got there too if he had wished? His demonstration of mourning looks very like a blind, and his language to David has a disagreeable ring of untruthfulness, in its extreme professions of humility and loyalty. ‘Me thinks the cripple doth protest too much. David evidently did not feel sure about him, and stopped his voluble utterances somewhat brusquely: ‘Why speakest thou any more of thy matters?’ That is as much as to say, ‘Hold your tongue.’ And the final disposition of the property, while it gives Mephibosheth the benefit of the doubt, yet looks as if there was a considerable doubt in the king’s mind.
We may take up the same somewhat doubting position. If he requited David’s kindness thus unworthily, is it not the too common experience that one way of making enemies is to load with benefits? But no cynical wisdom of that sort should interfere with our showing mercy; and if we are to take ‘the kindness of God’ for our pattern, we must let our sunshine and rain fall, as His do, on ‘the unthankful and the evil.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 David and Mephibosheth
David and Mephibosheth
2 Samuel 9-20 have apparently been taken from a single document, written not long after the events recorded, and with special and unique knowledge of the circumstances of David's court and its life.
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1-6. As soon as his wars were over, David remembered his promise to his friend Jonathan, and sends for his son Mephibosheth (or Meribbaal).
7-13. David entertains Mephibosheth at his table, and bestows on him all the property that formerly belonged to Saul.
12. Mephibosheth had a young son] When Saul died, Mephibosheth was only five years old (2Sa_4:4), so that this brings us nearly to the middle of David's reign.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v1 A lovely picture of salvation by grace.
kindness
A lovely picture of salvation by grace.
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(1) What grace is -- kindness to a helpless one for another’s sake, 2Sa 1:1-3; 1Jn 2:12.
(2) Grace gives the highest place, 2Sa 1:11. Eph 1:1-6.
(3) Grace keeps the saved one, 2Sa 1:13; Joh 10:28; Joh 10:29.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 6. David and Mephibosheth
6. David and Mephibosheth
CHAPTER 9
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1. Mephibosheth brought to David (2Sa 9:1-6)
2. Grace and mercy shown to him (2Sa 9:7-13)
The story of Mephibosheth is the first thing mentioned after the government of David had been fully established. Typically it reveals the gospel in a beautiful way, and dispensationally the kindness of God which will be manifested in the coming kingdom. Mephibosheth is a type of the sinner and the condition which he is in. He was helpless, being lame of both feet. How he became lame is found in 2Sa 4:4. He fell and became lame, a helpless cripple. It reminds us of the fall of man and the helpless condition into which sin has put man. Therefore he could not come to David. He had to be carried into the king’s presence. The sinner cannot come of himself to the Saviour; He has to seek him out. And David wanted to show him “the kindness of God” for Jonathan’s sake. “Thus the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man hath appeared” (Tit 3:4). God for Christ’s sake shows His great kindness to sinful man. Mephibosheth means “shame out of the mouth”; when he hears from David’s lips what kindness was prepared for him he confessed with his mouth his own shame and nothingness. “What is thy servant that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am?” And what words of grace came from David’s lips! Surely the kindness of God is here fully made known. He is lifted from his low place of shame to take a place at the King’s table “as one of the King’s sons.” It is the kindness of God as made known in the gospel of His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. He takes us out of our shame and makes us one of His sons. “So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem; for he did eat continually at the king’s table; and was lame on both feet.” When the kingdom has come the King will show such grace and kindness to the poor and needy (Isa 11:1-5; Psa 72:1-4).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 9 David Receives Mephibosheth Graciously
David Receives Mephibosheth Graciously
v. 1. And David said, at the time when his victories had given him comparative peace for the time being, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, any descendant of his, any member of his family, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake? The word here used applies to such kindness as the Lord shows, which is an outflow of the kindness and love of God living in the hearts of the believers. His question implies the answer: There certainly must be some relative living, in whose case I may fulfill my promise to Jonathan, 1Sa 20:14-15.
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v. 2. And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba, probably known to some of David’s men and hunted up by them for the purpose of obtaining the information required by the king. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, thy servant is he.
v. 3. And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him? David felt under obligations that, as he had received the mercy of the Lord, so he would pass on its kindness even to the descendants of the man who had pursued him for years. And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet, 2Sa 4:4.
v. 4. And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar. Machir evidently was a well-to-do and influential man, living on the east side of Jordan, near Mahanaim and Rabboth-Ammon, who had offered his house as a place of refuge to the poor cripple.
v. 5. Then King David sent and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar. He lost no time in fulfilling his promise and in showing mercy, for postponing a good work is often equivalent to abandoning it altogether.
v. 6. Now, when Mephibosheth (or, Meribbaal, 1Ch 8:34), the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face and did reverence, acknowledging him as king with tokens of fear. And David said, Mephibosheth! And he answered, Behold thy servant!
v. 7. And David said unto him, fear not, he was to have no apprehension of losing his life, according to the custom of Oriental monarchs of putting all the members of the former dynasty to death; for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan, thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul, thy father, which had either passed into the possession of the crown or into that of remote kinsmen of Saul; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually, receive his sustenance from the king’s bounty. This threefold promise was intended fully to reassure Mephibosheth, whose great misfortunes, the loss of his parents, his lameness, and his poverty, cast a shadow upon his whole life.
v. 8. And he, Mephibosheth, bowed himself, in grateful appreciation of the king’s kindness, and said, with words wherein he confessed himself unworthy of such great goodness, what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? The comparison, as in 1Sa 24:14, is intended to convey the feeling of utter worthlessness, of despicable lowliness. David’s forbearance and love, the eager zeal with which he entered upon the performance of good works, are an example to all believers.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 for Jonathan's sake
for Jonathan's sake
"because of my love for Jonathan"
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Jonathan's sake
Jonathan was Saul's son and David's best friend.
Ziba
This is the name of a man. (See: How to Translate Names)
I am your servant
Ziba calls himself "your servant" to show great respect to David.
translationWords
David
Saul (OT)
family
Jonathan
servant
name
call
king
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13 9:1-13 David showed mercy to Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s crippled son.…
9:1-13 David showed mercy to Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s crippled son. The incident is sandwiched between David’s victories in battle (8:1-18, 10), indicating that David also had concern for individuals and a compassionate heart.
9:1 show kindness: The Hebrew word (khesed) speaks of covenant loyalty and faithfulness. The word frequently describes God’s commitment to his people, but it can also describe the devotion and loyalty between any two persons. David’s use of the word here echoes the language of the covenant of friendship between himself and Jonathan (1 Sam 20:12-17). • for Jonathan’s sake: Mephibosheth was Saul’s only remaining descendant and the only son of Jonathan.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.