Faith | Hope | Love

Warrior. Poet. King

Pt. 4 David and Mephibosheth

1 Samuel 9

David, in the Bible, was a man’s man. He was the kind of guy that all the little Jewish boys pretended to be. He was a poetic, noble warrior. He was strong, yet gentle. Stern, yet gracious.

So far we’ve looked at the stories of how David interacted with Goliath, Saul, and Jonathan. We’re kind of following a timeline here. And now we come to an absolutely beautiful story of David that is sadly not taught a lot. I believe it’s a very clear image of the Gospel, and so we’re going to study this story in light of the Gospel. Allow me to set up the scene for you.

Saul and Jonathan have died in battle. The Israelites were retreating and the Philistines pursued them. Jonathan was caught and killed. Saul continued running, but soon realized he also was going to die. And so, rather than let the Philistines have the honor of killing the Israelite King, he committed suicide. So the story of Saul and Jonathan ended there on a bloody battlefield, but their legacy continued on.

Word came back to the palace in the middle of the night that Saul and Jonathan were dead. As the servants were awakened there was sorrow and dread. In those days, if a ruler was defeated, it was customary to kill off his entire family so there would be no heirs. Saul and Jonathan died, which meant Jonathan’s brothers, Ish-bosheth would become king. Ish-bosheth was a cruel man who would certainly kill off Jonathan’s family.

Soldiers were already starting to get anxious. And not before long, they heard Ish-bosheth coming with his soldiers to take over. That’s when the servants and family fled into the night. One servant, scooped up Jonathan’s five year old son, Mephibosheth, and without any time to gather belongings or clothes she fled the dark palace. She could sense she was being pursued and so she ran all the faster. She was just making it into the all clear when she tripped on a root. She and Mephibosheth tumbled to the ground and the boy fell at an odd angle, breaking his back and paralyzing him. The servant scooped him up and continued running for their lives.

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

So now there is chaos in the royal palace. A growing number of people are following David and are demanding his rightful place to the throne, while Ishbosheth, who has crowned himself the king according to the customs, won’t give it up. Years pass, chapter 4 ends, and we’re kind of left wondering, “Why was Mephibosheth’s story even in there?”

And then the plot thickens… Ish-bosheth is killed by an insider. The assassin brings word back to David, thinking he did a wonderful thing, but David is grieved to have a family member of his best friend killed in his name. So he has the assassin killed, but he is none-the-less, crowned as the new King of Israel. However, years pass on again. David gets lost in his duties as king. Until…

II Samuel 9:1-5 And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” ₂Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” ₃And the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?” Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.” ₄The king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.” ₅Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.

David summons Mephibosheth and the servant from the Land of Lo-Debar. Interestingly, the name Lo-Debar is interpreted as, “Land of nothing.”

I Samuel 9:6-8 And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, “Mephibosheth!” And he answered, “Behold, I am your servant.” ₇And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.” ₈And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”

He had lost his ability to walk, his inheritance, and his family. He was a broken man living in the land of nothing. We can safely say, Mephibosheth is in a dark and desperate place.

I Samuel 9:9-13 Then the king called Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s grandson. ₁₀And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce, that your master’s grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s grandson shall always eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. ₁₁Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons. ₁₂And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all who lived in Ziba’s house became Mephibosheth’s servants. ₁₃So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king’s table. Now he was lame in both his feet.

In a beautiful climax of the story, David vows to take care of Mephibosheth and treat him well. You might have already put the pieces together, but let me lay out the Gospel for you according to this story.

We’ve all been broken by our own fall. We’ve been paralyzed and are incapable of taking care of ourselves. Our fall was sin. And that sin left us broken and alone with nothing to our name but emptiness.

God summoned us just like David summoned Mephibosheth. And when we answer that call He brings us to his table.

This table is a position of royalty. In the palace it was well-known that only the king’s family and guests were to sit at this table. David made it very clear, Mephibosheth was to be considered family. So God takes us from a position of brokenness, forsakenness, and helplessness and sits us, as his children, at a table of grace.

What a beautiful picture of God’s redeeming grace! It doesn’t matter who your family is. It doesn’t matter where you’ve come from. It doesn’t matter how deep your brokenness goes. It doesn’t matter that you come from a land of nothing. God has called us to join Him at His table. And what’s absolutely gorgeous in this picture is that, so long as Mephibosheth sat at the table, he could not see his broken legs. But you know what he did see? The spread in front of him. A feast of grace. And this is the truth for you.

If you’ve put your trust in Jesus Christ, remember this, you were called out of nothing. You were helpless. And God set you at his table. You need to remember this, to humble yourself. Perhaps you are fixated on your sin, and you’ve convinced yourself that your brokenness has disqualified you. Simply scoot back up to the table. Let God’s grace cover your sin.

If you’ve not whole-heartedly trusted in Jesus to forgive you of your sins, would you answer His call? He’s calling you out of your sin, and to His table. He is offering forgiveness and salvation in exchange for your sin and emptiness. He wants you to become His child and sit with Him at His table.

Warrior. Poet. King

Pt. 2 David and Saul

We’ve started going through the story of David. We’re giving his story a few articles, because there is so much for us gain from it. We’re specifically reading through the stories of his relationships. Last week was the story of David and Goliath. As you read, be sure to remember who is who. David represents God, Goliath represents the overwhelming sin in our lives, and the scared, helpless soldiers represent us.

Do you remember how David’s story begins with him being anointed as the new king-to-be? Keep this in mind as we go through the timeline of what happened next. David had killed Goliath. So Saul brings David to live in his palace. He loves David, and accepts him as part of his family and gives him responsibilities in the military. But something starts happening. David is extremely successful and Saul promotes him to the status of general; both a social and political status of honor. And he starts winning the hearts of the Israelites. The people start cheering for David and Saul notices those cheers are getting louder than his cheers. (I Samuel 18:6-9)

On top of this growing jealousy, Saul had this nagging memory about how David was prophesied and anointed to be the next king, and this started driving him crazy. It escalated to the point where Saul became unwilling to let the throne be passed on to David. He was denying David his rightful place on the throne! And this was the beginning of a dramatic saga of betrayal, assassinations, and corruption. Saul’s jealousy, anger, and self-righteousness flared up so violently that in the very next verses he attempted to kill David. (I Samuel 18:10-11)

This actually happened twice! And David eventually took a hint and went on the run.

There were soldiers in David’s authority that were still loyal to him. So several hundred soldiers flee out of the country with David also. And Saul pursued them! At this point, Saul is on a rampage. He’s killing everyone who stands in his way; entire cities including, priests, women, and children! The dude is nuts!

Eventually, David and his men find themselves living in caves. When Saul heard about it he started scouring the hillsides looking in all of the caves. At one point, nature calls and Saul has to use the restroom. And so, while on a break from hunting for David, he goes into a cave to relieve himself. Lo and behold, it was the very cave that David and his men were hiding in! (Talk about embarrassing.) Saul does his business, completely unaware that dozens of men were hiding behind him. (1 Samuel 24:1-4)

During this awkward moment, a few of David’s soldiers get the idea, “Let’s take this guy out! We’ll never get a chance like this again!” But David says no, and actually chooses to spare Saul’s life. Instead, he gives him grace and mercy. (1 Samuel 24:5-7) Let me give a quick definition of these two words.“Mercy= not getting what you deserve” “Grace= getting what you didn’t deserve”.

Here’s the point: I am Saul. I am self-righteous, arrogant, angry, and insecure. In my self-righteousness, I have attempted to deny Jesus His rightful place on the throne. And if you were to be honest, I think you would say the same thing. But Jesus, our David, spared our lives and has returned grace to our violence.

In the movie Hacksaw Ridge, Desmond Doss is a conscientious objector, meaning he was against the war. Nevertheless, he feels compelled to join the army as a medic. His reason as he said was, “With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it don't seem like such a bad thing to me to want to put a little bit of it back together.” He joined with the promise that he wouldn’t have to touch a gun or be combat trained. The problem was, his commanding officers and fellow soldiers didn’t like that. If he wouldn’t fight there, then he wouldn’t fight on the battle field, and wouldn’t be able to save them. So they took every opportunity to force him to fight. At one point they even jumped him while he was asleep and beat him. Still, he continued his training in every other area. The entire climax of the movie tells the story of how Desmond went to battle with his battalion, and acted heroically in spite of being called Doss the Coward. By the end of the night, he had saved 75 wounded soldiers, without firing a single shot.

Desmond Doss illustrates Jesus giving grace to those who have been unkind, cruel, and even violent to Him. And it’s the same thing we are commanded to do in Matthew 5:43-44

What are we to do then? Because of the Gospel of God’s grace on us, who have been cruel and unkind to God, we are to extend that grace to others. Not so we can be like David, but so we can be like Christ. Did you know the Bible says in Romans 2:4 that it is God’s goodness that leads to repentance? It’s not God’s wrath that causes people to turn to Him. It’s not His justice, wisdom, or sovereignty. It’s His goodness.

That’s what happened with David and Saul. After Saul left the cave, David followed him out and said, “Saul, look here. I had your life in my hands. I could have killed you, but I spared you. Just to prove it, here is a piece of your robe that I cut off. I will not kill you.”

And here is Saul’s response to David’s grace. I Samuel 24:16-22 As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. 17 He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. 18 And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. 19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. 20 And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. 21 Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house.” 22 And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

David’s goodness brought Saul to repentance. When we’ve been treated with evil, we are to return grace, because we are like Saul, and God has given us grace. And just as God’s goodness has shown us His beauty, mercy, and grace, we too can share that with those who’ve hurt betrayed us. Who knows, it just might bring about their repentance as it brought about yours.

From beginning to end, Wilson stresses, “the power of our obedience and the source of our holiness is not in our efforts but the finished work of Jesus Christ.” (151). He does this from a very honest, real, and personal perspective that makes the book a refreshing joy to read. This will be a book I continually go back to and recommend others to read and work through together. For imperfect, messed up people like me, I know this book will bring hope and encouragement because it points to the only one who can provide it, God Himself!

You can find this book on Amazon, and most other national book sellers as well as going to Jared’s website at jaredcwilson.com

When I tell you that it is a joy to see you, I mean that quite literally. Many of you have been asking about my eye. For those of you didn't know, a few months back I had a little sports injury. I had it for a while and didn't really even know until had started to get darker in my right eye on the periphery. I came in one morning and James, our youth pastor came in, and his face in my right eye was crunched down like a funhouse mirror and I thought something's off. I went into the doctor and they said that I had a completely torn and detached retina. They had to go in and, not trying to gross you out, but take all the fluid out of my eye, pump it full of gas to hold it in the round while it healed. So for the past number of weeks, actually two months, I've had this gas bubble in my eye that's been getting smaller and smaller. It was down to just a little bitty bubble and on Friday disappeared completely. Thank God it's healing up really, really well. I'm very, very grateful that I'm able to read again. It's not perfect but it's almost there.

      Jonah 2:4 “Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight;

yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’”

We are given a rare glimpse into the life of someone that is going through the process of spiritual transformation. Jonah knew that saving grace and living grace was entirely of the Lord. He experienced this grace and learned very quickly what it really means; Grace is an undeserved gift from an unobligated giver. Basically, something that nobody deserves or could ever earn. Well then, if grace is a gift, what’s the gift that Jesus gave us? Simply this, His life.

So let’s explain verse four. He looks at the temple because he knows that the answer to his problem is in there. To us 21st Century Americans, that doesn’t mean much. But there is something bewildering about it that we’ve got to understand. What he remembers about the Temple is that sin is taken seriously, there must be a punishment, so blood is shed as a consequence of sin. But it’s not the sinner’s blood.

This is perhaps the most life-changing truth taught in the astonishing true story of Jonah. See, God cannot overlook or dismiss sin. He never has and He never will. But He does not deal with it according to the justice system we have in mind, where he punishes sinners until they’ve paid in full. He chooses to forgive the sinner by punishing his innocent Son.

But wait, there is an amazing parallel here that we won’t see at first, so we’ve got to dig in a little more to understand this. Like we said earlier, Jonah is a picture of us, but he is also a picture of Jesus. See, God sent Jonah to preach repentance to Nineveh, just like Jesus was sent by God to bring repentance to the world. Nineveh was deserving of the wrath of God, just like the world. But neither the world nor Nineveh have received the punishment they deserve. God sent his wrath on Jonah through the storm, just like He sent His wrath on Jesus on the cross. And Jonah spent three days in the belly of the whale, just like Jesus spent three days in the grave.

When they both came back, they brought revival through repentance to Nineveh and the world. Jonah suffered for Nineveh’s salvation and Jesus suffered for ours. So when Jonah looked toward the temple, he was thinking about the sacrifices that had been made for him, and the ultimate sacrifice that would be made for us. He was looking to Jesus. The one who gave His life. The one who deserves our obedient love.

Jonah shows us that Jesus dying on the cross in our place is the greatest gift we would ever receive. And once Jonah became emotionally available to God’s grace, he understood the process of receiving that grace through faith.

So grace is a gift offered by Jesus that we can only receive with faith. What then is faith? Faith is a dependence, a trust, in anything at all. I have faith that a grandé white mocha latte with a pump of peppermint will quench my desire for deliciousness. I also have faith that Jesus dying on the cross is enough to pay for my sins and provide forgiveness and redemption for me.

Jonah’s looking toward the Temple helps us to understand the process by which God works in our hearts to bring about spiritual change. Grace is God offering the gift of eternal life. Faith is us receiving that gift by putting our trust in Jesus and His death and resurrection.

That’s the process. That’s how we first experience repentance, and how we always will thereafter. We call this The Gospel.