One of the most beautiful stories in the Bible is that of 2 Samuel chapter 9 where King David is anxious to find someone who is left of his friend Jonathan. And he makes inquiries and finds out that there is one son left of the house of Saul, the house of Jonathan, and that is a young man named Mephibosheth.
And so David arranges to bring him back from where he is. And twice the scripture repeats that Mephibosheth or Mephibosheth is in the house of Machir, the son of Amiel in Lo Dibar.
Twice in a row, in consecutive verses. And you know when God does that in the scripture, it’s to get our attention because the names in this story tell a deeper story. And uh you know we can go through life wondering what, why this happened and that happened to us.
But there is a loving father, God, who knows the deepest story that perhaps no one else knows about you. He knows the broken things in your life. He knows why you chose a certain path or perhaps why there is damage in your life. wreckage.
And so the Lord moved upon David’s heart in his Chesed, in his mercy and kindness to go and look for this wounded soul,Mephibosheth, who was lame in both of his feet. You see, when he was young, his nurse was running with him, holding him to escape because all the descendants of Saul were being wiped out. And so they were trying to hide him and she dropped him. And since that early age, he was lame in both of his feet.
But that did not deter David. And so David said to Zeba, the servant of Jonathan, that he had restored everything that belonged to Jonathan to Saul, all that was his to Mephibosheth. And that Zeba and his 15 sons and 20 concubines were to work the land that was now Mephibosheth’s land. But Mephibosheth himself was going to live in the palace and eat daily from the king’s table. Eat bread from the king’s table. What an amazing story of the grace of God. Hallelujah!
So Mephibosheth means “Dispeller of shame”. To dispel is to puff or blow away. And uh “bosheth” is shame, Both the feeling of it and the cause of it. But it can also be an idol. The shame that is caused by an idol and to dispel can also mean to cut to pieces, cleave in pieces. So Jonathan named his son ‘one that would cut to pieces shameful idolatry or idols’.
And it tells a deeper story in my opinion- because his grandfather Saul was a man who had low self-esteem. He became the king. But when he was called for to be crowned king, he hid himself. Even though he was taller than anyone, he hid himself. and he didn’t want to come forward. And he was the son of a mighty warrior named Kish of the tribe of Benjamin.
And I believe that Kish, his father, gave Saul, who was softer than his father, gave him a hard time as he was growing up. and he grew up with this inferiority, low self-esteem and shame hanging around his life. And when you have that as a father, you cannot but project things upon your son, which was Jonathan. And Jonathan, I believe, fought his own battles -emotionally -to keep a boundary around himself from his father’s attacks when shame would get the best of Saul and he would lash out with envy and outbursts of rage and pride – which all were springing forth like dirty water from the root of shame lodged deep down in his soul.
And so I believe that Jonathan named Mephibosheth ‘one who would dispel shame’, ‘who would get rid of shame’. And yet that was his destiny. But his nurse dropped him and both of his feet, his legs became lame. And so he was living in the house of Machir of uh who was a son of Amiel, the great Jordanian leader. But Machir means sold or to sell or salesman. Sold into slavery it can mean… and they were in lo Debar which is a place in Manasseh on the east side of the Jordan which is said to be pastureless.
So there wasn’t any pasture there for the flock to lie down in and rest in. Psalm 23, “he makes me lie down in green pasture”. And so this all speaks of the downfall and the satanic attack upon Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul, who was called to dispel shame but ended up living in shame. He was sold into a pastureless place into slavery, virtual slavery really. Perhaps that was the only way he could earn money was to be put out on the the highway there. Passes by maybe would give him money which Becca would probably collect. I don’t know.
But I that’s probably not far from the truth. Because when he came before David and he said, “Mephibosheth,” and he said, “Here I am, your servant.” And David said, “Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid, for I will surely show you kindness for your father Jonathan’s sake. But I will show you grace. I will show you favor.” abandoned. One could only imagine how Mephibosheth was feeling inside. Certainly, he thought that he was going to be put to death, that at last they had found him, a descendant of Saul, and he would be killed because of his grandfather. But he didn’t count on David, the friend of God, who had the heart after God’s own heart, and sought for him to show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake. Hallelujah.
And this is what our God is doing with all of us, looking for us, because all of us are lame in our feet. But there are those who suffer with shame and bitterness in their life and that will bring lameness to your life. So David brought him into the palace and he lived there and he ate daily bread from the king’s table. Hallelujah. And so that bread, I believe, was the bread of life that began with every mouthful to restore Mephibosheth to the destiny that he was given by the name given to him by his father, “dispeller of shame”, Mephibosheth, that he would blow shame away in his own life because of the loving kindness of David, who is a type of the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary, the son of God. Hallelujah. the son of Mary, the son of God, who shows kindness to dead dogs, those who have no hope and cannot raise themself up or provide for themself or do anything. And this is the story of Mephibosheth. And this is really my story. And I hope and pray that it will become your story that the Lord in his kindness would find you and seat him seat you at his table. God bless you!
A prayer
Dear Lord Jesus – I need you so much! Thank you for coming to me in my broken and weak condition….Thank you for dying for me on the cross so I can be seated at your table and eat and drink LIFE every day. In my weakness and lameness you lift me up Lord Jesus and you are carrying me though it does not seem like it at times. Lord lead me out of all slavery in my life into your freedom. Thank you Lord Jesus my Savior and friend.