“And 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.”
2 Samuel 9:3, ESV
That crippled man was named Mephibosheth. He was injured by the actions of a nurse, she accidentally dropped him as she was trying to escape the palace (2 Sam. 4:4). He was just five years old. It was not of Mephibosheth’s doing, but someone else made a mistake, and it totally and irrevocably changed his life.
As a result, for the rest of his life, he would always use crutches.
It may be of interest, but Mephibosheth’s name means, “shame,” and perhaps this would’ve been an integral part of how people treated him or even how he saw himself. But David was a different sort of king (as kings go), and he elevates Mephibosheth to the feasting table.
King David wants to bring this crippled man to a lavish dinner.
Interesting. I believe that there are a great many people like Mephibosheth. They’ve been injured by someone else’s stumbling. It seems we pass these things on to each other. And the lameness we inflict may not be physical. It may be spiritual or emotional. Sometimes we injure others without knowing what we have really done to them.
Whether we know it or not, we are capable of much evil.
Some of the most evil woundings that are done are usually on a moral or spiritual level. If you break your arm, you will heal. But if I wound your spirit you may not ever recover. These injuries are incredibly devastating. When someone harms us on this level it can completely undo us, for a lifetime. (And perhaps, maybe even forever.)
Somehow we affect others in ways we aren’t even aware of. We need to seek God’s grace; we cannot minimize what we have done. We can’t go on hurting others without injuring ourselves.
Wounded people will inevitably wound others. But healed people can often become healers themselves.
We can read of King David’s truly majestic treatment of Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9. He actively blessed him, and perhaps that is the proactive action we ought to take. We must make an effort to always strengthen the people around us.
As a king, this was a very minor incident. Hardly worth recording in the lofty affairs of state. But as a man, to restore Mephibosheth, was definitely one of David’s greatest decisions.
I would suggest that kindness should always be a key part of someone who is in authority, especially those who are serving others in leadership.
But there’s another concept here– we discover something that is profoundly true about us in Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus. It’s here, in 1:5, that we see that God our Father, acts like David, and receives Mephibosheth–just like God receives us to Himself. We find that we’re adopted, loved, and held, and we get a prime place at the table. Forever and ever.
“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
Ephesians 1:5, NLT
We may use crutches, but we walk by faith. This verse in Ephesians may be the greatest lesson and the most profound experience we can have as believers.
Alaska Bible Teacher 