Portrait of Grace–Mephibosheth

In reading through the Old Testament, it is easy to get hung up and miss the forest for the trees.  There are so many pictures, so many lessons that are easy to miss.  I am making my way through 1st Chronicles and in the list after list, it is easy to miss for example that “God had indeed blessed Peullethai” (25:5) or that Zechariah was a “counselor with insight” (25:14).  There are so many portraits of grace hidden in the midst of strife, sin, and war.  You have to be attuned to these portraits.  Mephibosheth is one of them (my spell checker seems to really dislike that name).  I am going to call him Fib for short because I am getting tired of typing his name.

We are introduced to Fib in 2 Samuel 4 when we learn that he is King Saul’s son Jonathan’s son and he was crippled in both feet in a tragic accident while his nurse was trying to flee the threat of war.  Five chapters later in 2 Samuel 9, now King David learns of Fib when asking about King Saul’s family.  Now Fib would have every reason to expect a death warrant.  It was the norm that the new king would execute any remaining relatives of the predecessor king’s family.  So when Fib was summoned, his mind probably was resigned to his fate of death.  Further, Fib had absolutely nothing to offer the king.  As a servant, he had minimal value to David.  The very name Mephibosheth means “a shameful thing,” and he had lived for a number of years in Lo-debar, which means “the barren land” (lit., “no pasture”).  He prostrated himself before the king totally dependent on the king’s favor. 

The king amazingly not only let’s Fib live, but grants him the favor of eating at the king’s table and restoring to him all of the land of his grandfather Saul.  Fib’s reaction is one of being stunned; “What is your servant that you would regard a dead dog like me”.  It is nothing but grace.  It is grace and grace alone.  David brought this outcast to dine at his table as his own son and graciously granted him a magnificent inheritance to which he was no longer legally entitled.  God adopted us as His children giving us a right standing that we don’t deserve by birthright (Rom 8:15).

You know God doesn’t get much out of me without His favor.  Without the presence of Christ, I am as lame as Fib.  I have nothing, nothing to offer Him.  He elevates me to family solely based on His favor.  My motivation – out of complete love and gratitude for him, I desire to serve Him.  

There is more to this story than what we see here.  There is the sequel for the next post.