2 Samuel 9:7 “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”
Do you remember someone who did a kind deed toward you? Did you question at the time the motives of the person who was doing the deed? If you did, you are not alone. So little kindness happens in the lives of most people these days, both because others are being kind to us and because we aren’t kind to others.
But there was one place where kindness really didn’t exist in the ancient Near East, and that was the treatment of defeated peoples and their rulers. The rule of thumb that existed was to subjugate the population and kill the possible opposition. Previous rules and their relatives were the first to go. Anyone who might be a potential leader of an opposition to the new king would go. And by ‘go’ I mean were killed.
We see this occasionally to day. We are a kind enough society that we just violently picket outside their homes and burn down their businesses. We label them as misinformation peddlers and quacks. We tell them to follow the science when the scientists are afraid to speak the truth for fear of being labeled and loosing their funding and jobs. At least we don’t stone them to death or run them through with a spear!
But there are rare exceptions to this ancient practice. Our text for today tells us of one such incident. It takes place early on in the reign of David as king. He has established Jerusalem as his capital city and consolidated his support. There is relative peace in the land.
But there is some unfinished business to which he must attend. Saul! Although Saul and Jonathan died in a battle, David had made a compact with Jonathan: he would take care of his family and protect them. It was too late for Jonathan, but not to late for other relatives.
So David does an Ancestry.com search and finds that there is one remaining grandson, Mephibosheth. His name might mean something like “one whose brokenness brought shame” or “dispeller of shame”, although there is not much clarity on the meaning of the first part of his name. The last part “bosheth” means shame. I don’t know about you, but whatever the first part of that name means, I wouldn’t want the shame part to be said every time I was called for dinner!
The shame came from his lame feet which happened when he was rescued following his family’s death. He was dropped and his feet became lame. He would have had to resort to a life of begging if he hadn’t been connected to such an influential family.
But he was part of the previous ruling family, so in normal circumstances, he would have had his head on the chopping block.
But the character of David is seen here. He wants to keep that commitment he made to his best friend Jonathan. So he promised to take care of Mephibosheth’s needs for life. He starts to be treated like one of David’s family.
David uses his influence to stay true to his word. This speaks well of his character. But just like every other human, David has his faults. The next big story is about his affair with Bathsheba and her husband’s murder. If only David could have risen above his baser instincts in all aspects of moral life. I wonder what would have been different if he had!
The Arnold Journey 