2 Samuel 9

2 Samuel 9:1-13

God uses David to show His own heart.  The Old Testament is filled with portraits capturing sudden snapshots of Christ.  God sometimes used Old Testament figures like Isaac, Moses, and David, to say, “My Son is like this.” 

Ok, so what’s going on in David’s life?  He is the reigning king, and is living in His palace just as God promised He would.  He is done with all of that crazy running from Saul for his life and living in caves stuff, and his life is settled down and comfortable.  He is going through a time when he is intimate with God. 

Jonathan was Saul’s son, and was David’s best friend.  Jonathan has died, and David is lonely without him.  He asks if there is anyone left in Saul’s family who he can show kindness to, in order to show God’s kindness.  He is told about Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, who is alive, but is crippled in both feet.   It’s as if the servant was telling David that he was crippled in both feet because he thought that would disqualify him from anything the king sought. 

à Read 2 Sam 9:1-13

David wants to show kindness to Mephibosheth by restoring Saul’s land and allowing him to eat at his table.

It’s not Mephibosheth who seeks David, but David who seeks Mephibosheth.  David was the king.  He had everything.  But he wanted someone to show God’s kindness.  In the same way, God is always the initiator, always looking for someone who will receive His loving kindness!

            àLuke 19:10  “The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost…”

            àJohn 15:16  “You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit”

            à1 John 4:19  “We love because He first loved us…”

David shows the way that God is completely accepting of us as we are:

            David did not hesitate when he was told of Mephibosheth’s handicap.  In the Old Testament, people considered physical handicap shameful, but David summoned him exactly as he was.  How reflective of God’s heart! Many wait until they can get their act together before they approach God.  If only they could understand, God calls them just the way they are- then empowers them to get their act together.

                        à  Matt 9:12 Jesus came to minister to the broken and the hurting

 Mephibosheth comes to David’s palace, feeling unworthy.  He calls himself a “dead dog” (v. 8).  The crippled man enters David’s splendid palace, and bowed down to pay David honor when he saw him.  With crippled legs, he bowed before the king, and bowed before him.  Can you imagine the difficulty for a handicapped man to get down on his knees, press his forehead to the floor(as was the custom), then rise up? 

Surely everyone who has ever accepted Christ as Savior has felt unworthy and humiliated, like Mophibosheth, before our King.  He have surely crept before Him, crippled from the fall of sin, overcome by our unworthiness against the backdrop of His Majesty’s brilliance. 

As Mophibosheth comes to David, he exclaims, “Mephibosheth!”  He knew him by name, just as Christ knows us (John 10:3).  Then, David is paralleled to Christ by his next words: “Don’t be afraid.”    How often has Christ said those words:

            à to the Twelve as He sent them out “Don’t be afraid!” (Matt 10:31)

            à to a bunch of scaredy-cats in a storm “Don’t be afraid!” (Matt 14:27)

            à To the three overcome by His glory “Don’t be afraid!” (Matt 17:7)

            àto the father of a dying child “Don’t be afraid!” (Mark 5:36)

The next parallel of David and Christ is in his delight for restoration.  David couldn’t wait to restore Mophibosheth, all the land that belonged to his grandfather (v. 7) The king could hardly wait to see Mephibosheth’s shame removed and his life restored! 

            à  The name Mophibosheth actually means “shame destroyer”

            -this is such a portrait of Christ, who destroys our shame!  

A final parallel between David and God is His desire to make Mephibosheth a son.  Mephibosheth came stooped as a servant before the king.  The king came to make him a son.  He was family- invited to sit at the king’s table to partake of his fellowship as one of his own.  We are like Mephibosheth! 

            à 1 John 3:1  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

           

We won’t learn to walk with God on healthy feet if we don’t experience sitting at His table as a cripple.  Our emotional and spiritual healing has come from approaching God in our handicapped state and believing we are His children and are worthy of His love! 

Psalm 40:2 “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a Rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” 

Isn’t Old Testament awesome?!   Sending all my love!