9:1
David Finds Mephibosheth
Then David asked, “Is anyone still left from the family of Saul, so that I may extend kindness to him for the sake of Jonathan?”
The strategy of many kings was to make inquires such as this one in the hope of eliminating their enemies.
9:2 Now there was a servant from Saul’s house named Ziba, so he was summoned to David. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?” He replied, “At your service.”
Ziba was a servant of Saul’s house. According to secular thought, as long as Saul’s house was alive, then they were a threat to the dynasty of David.
9:3 The king asked, “Is there not someone left from Saul’s family, that I may extend God’s kindness to him?” Ziba said to the king, “One of Jonathan’s sons is left; both of his feet are crippled.”
Ziba served the house of Saul by betraying the last surviving male to a hostile dynasty.
9:4 The king asked him, “Where is he?” Ziba told the king, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.
Ziba betrayed the house of Saul again by providing David with the exact location of a hostile family.
9:5 So King David had him brought from the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.
When the king’s soldiers requested that Mephibosheth have an audience with King David, Mephibosheth must have expected execution.
9:6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed low with his face toward the ground. David said, “Mephibosheth?” He replied, “Yes, at your service.”
Mephibosheth expected to be executed.
9:7 David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, because I will certainly extend kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. You will be a regular guest at my table.”
King David showed mercy to a crippled son of an enemy monarch. Instead of executing him like most secular kings would have done, King David showed him grace and invited him to eat at the king’s table.
9:8 Then Mephibosheth bowed and said, “Of what importance am I, your servant, that you show regard for a dead dog like me?”
Mephibosheth looked at himself as a “dead dog," meaning that he expected to be executed.
9:9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s attendant, and said to him, “Everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire house I hereby give to your master’s grandson.
Saul owned a lot of property. Instead of being executed, Mephibosheth became a wealthy man.
9:10 You will cultivate the land for him – you and your sons and your servants. You will bring its produce and it will be food for your master’s grandson to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will be a regular guest at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
Instead of being executed, Mephibosheth became a permanent guest at the King’s table.
9:11 Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do everything that my lord the king has instructed his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth was a regular guest at David’s table, just as though he were one of the king’s sons.
Mephibosheth was saved by the grace of David and given the wealth of a king.
9:12 Now Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. All the members of Ziba’s household were Mephibosheth’s servants.
Usually, the secular king would kill the entire household of the former royal family.
9:13 Mephibosheth was living in Jerusalem, for he was a regular guest at the king’s table. But both his feet were crippled.
By David’s grace, Mephibosheth was a crippled man who was protected by the king’s army, given great material wealth, and ate daily at the king’s table. This is very similar to what Christ did for His crippled church.