Well, here it is another week, another episode
of the Semi -Seminary. And this week, I've got
a little -known story for you from the Hebrew
Bible, from the second book of Samuel. It's a
story of a character by the name of Mephibosheth.
It's a story that is a beautiful story of restoration
and redemption. I hope that you can see yourself
in this story as well. Hey, I'll see you on the
other side. Now, this episode is the story of
a biblical character in the Old Testament named
Mephibosheth. Now, you might be thinking, Mephibo
who? Am I making stuff up? No, I'm not making
stuff up. This is a wonderful, wonderful story.
that we find in the Old Testament. Now, you may
not go to church very regularly, or you may go
to church sometimes, and you might feel a little
bit insecure. You feel like maybe you don't know
Bible stories as well as the person that might
be sitting next to you, but understand that today,
we're pretty much all on the same playing field,
because Mephibosheth's story is an unlikely one.
It's one that's not taught a whole lot, but it
is a beautiful, beautiful story. The story starts
for us in the second book of Samuel in chapter
4, verse 4. And Hebrew scripture says this, Saul's
son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth, who
was crippled as a child. He was five years old
when the report came from Jezreel. Saul and Jonathan
had been killed in battle. Now, let's just pause
for a second because it's very important to understand
the power of the story. It's important that we
get the context of these characters who are in
the story. So we're going to kind of rewind a
little bit right off the bat, and we're going
to take a deeper look at this. King Saul, right?
At this time, he was the king of Israel. He's
the current king, King Saul. His son is Jonathan.
It's important to know that. Then we've got our
character of the story today, Mephibosheth, who
is Jonathan's son or Saul's grandson. And then
we're going to have David. And David is going
to eventually succeed Saul as king and become
the king after Saul. And also note that this
is David as in David and Goliath, the guy who
kills the giant that we all know. It's that David.
So these are our characters. So imagine that
you're five years old and you're out playing
in the courtyard having a fun day. doing whatever
it is that royal children do, whatever it might
be, hanging out, having a good time. And then
the palace doors burst open and people are thrown
into pandemonium. They're screaming and hollering
and yelling. And all you know is, you know, you're
thinking, well, what's going on? And they tell
you that your dad and your granddad have been
killed in battle. That's a bad start to a day
for a five -year -old kid, for anybody, much
less if you're five years old. But this story
gets worse. You see, these people are all in
a panic because David was now on his way to the
palace to assume power. Now, that would have
been a problem in this monarchy because, at any
time, in a monarchy, Family lines change. Anytime
the monarchy family changes, what happens to
the old family? Well, they get eradicated. They
get killed off. Why? Because you don't want a
potential heir to the throne to be alive. So
everybody in the palace is freaking out, knowing
that they're going to get killed, including Mephibosheth.
Now, why would that be? Because his dad had been
killed, and his grandfather, And that would have
put him next in line. Therefore, he would have
been, Mephibosheth, would have been the number
one guy to go, right? So Mephibosheth's there.
He's five years old. My grandfather, my dad are
both dead. And then, well, David's coming. Now
understand the context for this five -year -old
boy. David was iconic. And chronologically speaking,
when this would have occurred in Scripture, David
had already killed Goliath. In fact, David had
already had many escapades as one of Saul's top
generals and had gone out and slain many Philistine.
In fact, there's a scripture in the Old Testament
where people sang a song and said, Saul, he's
killed his thousands, but David, his tens of
thousands. David was an icon. Also, David and
Mephibosheth's father, Jonathan, were really
good friends. Therefore, it's almost as if David
could have been like maybe a hero. to Mephibosheth.
In modern day times, he may have even had a poster
of David on his wall in his bedroom. And David,
because of his relationship with Jonathan, he
could have been a very close family friend to
Mephibosheth, like an honorary uncle or something.
So Mephibosheth, at five years old, is understanding
my dad is dead, killed in battle. My grandfather's
dead and now David, well, everything's going
to be okay because now David's coming. And the
people in the pandemonium are saying, no, no,
he wants to kill you. What do you mean? I don't
understand. That's a lot for a five -year -old
boy to take in, for anybody. And all of a sudden
they're in a panic. Well, in that panic, the
nurse picks him up and begins to run, and they
continue in verse 4 of our story. She drops him,
and he breaks both of his legs and becomes crippled.
Five years old. They pick him back up. They don't
have time to set a splint. They don't have time
to do anything. They just run with him to a place
called Lodabar. Now, we'll talk about this place,
Lodabar, here in just a little bit. But his dad
passes. His grandfather passes. David, whom he
thought he could trust, is now going to try to
kill him. And now both of his legs are broken.
And they pick him up and they whisk him away.
And his whole world at five had been flipped
upside down. Have you ever had a Mephibosheth
moment in your life? Where maybe you're just
sitting there and everything seems to be fine
and you're just hanging out in the palace, everything's
good, and then all of a sudden the doctor gives
you a report that you didn't expect. One day
you felt healthy, the next day you feel like
everything had been turned on its end. Maybe
it's that someone you thought you could trust
violated that trust. relationship you thought
would go the distance, but it's crumbled down
around you in such a short time. And it's just
flipped your whole world upside down. And in
that emotion, you can begin to understand where
Mephibosheth is. And for him, years go by and
nothing happens. He doesn't get healed. He doesn't
get helped. He's just broken. This is the story
of Mephibosheth. But one day, the Bible says,
in 2 Samuel 9, the first verse of that chapter,
one day, the Bible says, King David, is there
anybody, King David says, left in the household
of Saul to whom I can show kindness to? for Jonathan's
sake. Now, based on what we know of the killing
off of a monarchy, that would be a weird statement
to make, right? It's kind of interesting unless
we understand the context. You see, as we talked
about, Jonathan and David were actually very,
very good friends. At one point in scripture,
what had happened was David had been anointed
by this Old Testament prophet by the name of
Samuel, and Jonathan was aware of this. The anointing
was that David was to be the rightful king of
Israel, and Jonathan, Saul's son, Jonathan believed
that. Therefore, he talked to David and he said,
listen, when you do become king, Would you show
kindness to me and my family? Because remember,
again, it wouldn't be a good thing for Jonathan
if the royal line of Saul changed. He said, Would
you show kindness to me and my family? And David
said, As surely as the Lord lives, I will show
kindness to you and to your family. Now, he had
made this promise, this covenant with Jonathan.
that he would do this. And the Bible records
in 2 Samuel 9 that one day, and we don't know
why, perhaps it was the same time of year where
David had lost his friend Jonathan. Maybe it
was that they were out doing something that he
and Jonathan used to love to do together. For
whatever the reason, it brings to mind for David
this promise, this covenant, his love for his
dear friend whom he lost. And he says, is there
anybody left whom I can show kindness to for
Jonathan's sake? So they summoned this guy, Ziba,
who was one of Saul's servants. And they asked
him this question. And Ziba replies to King David
and says, well, yes. There is one of Jonathan's
sons still alive, but he's crippled in both of
his feet. He kind of pushes Mephibosheth aside
as if David, yeah, there is, but you don't want
that guy. And why would Ziba do this? Because
you see in this day and age, in this culture,
at this time, To have broken both of your legs,
right? There's no ADA compliance. There's no
handicap ramps. There's no wheelchairs. There's
nothing for him. So this society would, in many
ways, just push him aside and consider him rather
to be a burden. He's just kind of worthless.
Now, in our world today, in our culture, we understand
that to be absolutely absurd and actually quite
ridiculous because we know now, today, that any
physical limitation placed upon someone has no
bearing on God's ability to work through them.
In fact, many times, He works through you in
a greater way, in a greater sense. So we understand
that now to be absurd, but in the context of
this story, it's important to note how quickly
Ziba just brushes him aside. Like, yeah, there
is, but you don't want to mess with him. But
that's not the response that David gives. He
says, well, where is he? I want this kid. Ziba
replies, well, he's out in Lodbar. at the house
of Mechir. And David says, well, go get him.
Now, debar normally means word or thing in Hebrew.
The prefix lo is a negator. Thus, the term lo
debar would mean no word or no thing. This is
a town's name that's not complimentary. The name
may or may not have been an apt description of
this town. We don't know. If it was an apt description,
it may have been perhaps lacking good pasture,
or it just may have been insignificant, a nothing
town. In English, we might say it's the middle
of nowhere. In fact, in 1 Chronicles 8, it's
important to note that in the genealogy of King
Saul, Mephibosheth wasn't even this young man's
name. His given name was Meribah, which means
an opponent of Baal. Now, Baal was a Hebrew scripture
false god. So it's as if his father, Jonathan,
had named his son Mirabal, saying, you are of
royal lineage. You are an opponent of false gods.
You are stately and you are royal. You are my
son, Mirabal. But his name got changed to Mephibosheth,
which means the son of shame or shameful thing.
So you could imagine, five years old, you've
lost your father, you've lost your grandfather,
your legs have become broken. Those whom you
thought you could trust, you can't. You're taken
away from a palace and you're left out in some
place called Lo -Debar, the middle of nowhere.
And your name has been changed from an opponent
of Baal, false gods, to Mephibosheth. you son
of shame. So Mephibosheth had lived many, many
years in Lodabar. We don't know how many, Bible's
not very clear on this, but we do know that by
this point in the story, when he interacts with
David again, he's grown. He's not a little kid
anymore. And he's out there and Ziba comes to
his door and knocks and says, it's Ziba and I'm
here from the palace. And King David now wants
to see you. Now, for Mephibosheth, is this a
good day? Would he perhaps think, sweet, man,
I've been waiting for this moment. No. It is
the incarnation of all of the fear and the worry
and the terror that has haunted him for years.
And it is all convening at his door in this moment.
Because he had to grow up hating David. Because
it's David's fault that I'm out here in this
desolate place. It's David's fault that I'm a
fugitive. It's David's fault that my legs are
broken. It's David's fault. And now, now David
wants me dead. And I knew this day was coming.
They've been telling me that this day has been
coming for years and years. And now, today, the
day has come. But this is where this story takes
an unlikely turn. We see David's response to
be quite different. than what Mephibosheth had
thought. Let me pick up here in verse 7 of the
9th chapter of 2 Samuel, where the Bible says,
don't be afraid, David says, because Mephibosheth
at this point had been brought before him. He
says, don't be afraid. I intend to show you kindness.
Because of my promise to your father, Jonathan,
I will give you all of the property that once
belonged to your grandfather, Saul, and you,
you will eat here with me at the king's table.
Mephibosheth bowed respectably and exclaimed,
Who is your servant that you should show such
kindness to a dead dog like me? What a horrible
thing to say about yourself, right? I'm a dead
dog. Then we almost see why. Right here in the
next verse, it says, all of these years of hiding
had made Mephibosheth think of himself as worthless.
Have you ever found yourself at a place where
you kind of felt like you'd become worthless
or maybe you weren't worth of anything? Maybe
you felt inadequate for the task, whatever that
task might be that's been put in front of you.
You see, for Mephibosheth in this moment, as
he's receiving this blessing from King David,
everything that he had believed and everything
that he had known and everything that he had
internalized about David had been wrong. He had
been confused, trying to figure out what is going
on. He had to be bowing, waiting, knowing, coming
to the palace, waiting for that sword to come
across his neck. But it didn't happen. Everything
that he had thought, everything he assumed was
about to happen, everything he knew David stood
for, everything he knew David wanted to do to
him was wrong. And in the same way, many of us
find ourselves Pushing ourselves spiritually
out to a place like Lodabar, a desolate place
spiritually where we begin to believe and we
internalize the things that we think about God.
We think God's mad at me because I haven't been
doing what I probably should be doing for Him.
Or, you know what, He's mad at me and I know
He's upset and God is just waiting to drop that
hammer on my head. I know it's coming. Or maybe
it's that you've carried guilt for years for
something, for something, friend, that wasn't
even your fault. But for some reason you carry
that guilt and you think that God is upset with
you or angry with you in some way. And I'm here
today to tell you that is just wrong. You see,
in the same way, David had an unlikely in a different.
outcome for Mephibosheth. God's desire for you
is to bless you and to bring you a hope and to
bring you a future. It's a twist in the story
all of a sudden for our friend Mephibosheth.
Now it's important to know at this point David
says to Ziba, Ziba come here I'm going to give
Mephibosheth your master's grandson all of his
land. I'm going to I'm going to give him all
of King Saul's former property. So think about
this. He gives Mephibosheth all of King Saul's
land. This isn't like some garden plot over in
the corner. He gives him everything that had
belonged to his grandfather. This would have
been a vast amount of property. And then David
says to Zibit, and you and your household, all
35 of you and your servants, you're going to
serve now Mephibosheth. And then I love this.
In verse 11 of our chapter, the Bible says, And
Mephibosheth ate regularly at the king's table
like one of the king's own sons. How about that?
This kid from five. Having all of that stuff
happen to him, all of these terrible things,
all of these years, all of a sudden it gets flipped
on its end and like the beautiful story of restoration,
David brings him to a place of honor and power.
And we love the ending of this story. We love
it when we see somebody who really didn't deserve
whatever and they've gotten a dealt a hard deal
and all of a sudden they end up being restored
and they're vindicated. And we just want to stand
up and shout and high five people. Why is that?
We love seeing things like when somebody who
never got the chance and, but then they had a
great voice and they jump on a stage and they
stand in front of a few judges. They get a couple
of chair turns and the next thing you know, they're
the next pop icon. And we step back and we high
five each other and we think, yeah, did you see
them, man? They were so good. And we love it.
And we cheer them on because we love to see the
underdog. Or like when maybe some tragedy strikes
and we see a family lose a father and all of
a sudden the mom's doing everything she can to
keep things together and the house starts to
fall down around them and it's in disrepair and
they don't have the money and then people swoop
in and they kind of take this broken down house
and they create a castle out of this thing in
one week. And then they stand in the street and
they say, move that bus and people are crying
in the street. Why? Because we love to see these
stories of mercy and redemption. We love it.
Because these types of stories, this story of
Mephibosheth and this little boy who had this
terrible beginning yet ends up with this beautiful
ending, that type of story is etched in the very
DNA of our souls. Because we've got to understand
that we are Mephibosheth. See, the story of Mephibosheth
is a true story from the Old Testament that is
an allegory of what Jesus Christ has done for
you and for me. You might be listening and think,
well, what do you mean I'm Mephibosheth? How?
How are you like Mephibosheth? Well, first of
all, we're all fallen and broken. Now, you might
not be fallen and broken. physically, but every
single one of us are fallen and broken spiritually.
And we read in the letter to the Romans in the
third chapter, the 23rd verse, the Bible says
we've all sinned and fallen short of God's standard
in the same way that Mephibosheth had fallen
and was broken. We too are fallen and broken.
Another thing, the great thing about this story
is that Mephibosheth wasn't just left there.
And we too, like Mephibosheth, are pursued by
the king. Just as Mephibosheth was pursued by
King David, we're pursued by the king. Not a
king that's here on earth that can grant us land
or wealth, material possessions. We're pursued
by the king of kings and the Lord of lords. We're
pursued by Jesus Christ. The gospel according
to John in the third chapter, the verse, the
17th verse, the verse after the one that we all
know if we've watched a football game. The Bible
says, for God did not send his son into the world
to condemn the world. In fact, he had something
rather unlikely. He didn't send him, Jesus, to
condemn the world as we would think, as we think
we might deserve. He sent him so that the world
could be saved through him. Like Mephibosheth,
that's an unlikely twist to the story. And that
is the same is true for all of us. So we're all
fallen and we're broken and we're pursued by
the king. And lastly, the king's table covers
our sin. Remember verse 11 that I mentioned earlier.
The Bible said he ate regularly at the king's
table like one of the king's own sons. When he
sat at the king's table, it's important for us
to know that when he sat there, his crippled
and broken condition in his legs was covered
by the king's table. And when people looked on
at Mephibosheth, they didn't see a broken young
man. They saw someone who was of power. a position,
one who had been granted access to the king.
They saw someone who sat there like one of the
king's own sons. In the same way, the sacrifice
of Jesus on the cross, his blood that was shed
for us, covers our spiritual broken condition.
And we're made whole and complete at the king's
table because of the sacrifice of Jesus. Covering
our sins in the same way that King David's table
covered Mephibosheth's broken condition. You
see, we're made whole. We're made complete. Underneath
the power of Jesus' sacrifice, the forgiveness
of our sins, we too are made one like the king's
own sons. And friend, you may think that you're
broken and useless, but God says that you're
chosen and that you're invited to the table.
In the gospel, according to Luke in the 22nd
chapter, Jesus said these words in verse 29,
I now grant you the right to eat and drink at
my table and in my kingdom. Verse 13 of our story
in 2 Samuel chapter 9. And Mephibosheth, who
was crippled in both feet, lived in Jerusalem
and ate regularly at the king's table. We, knowing
that we are Mephibosheth, right? You could just
insert your name there. And you who were broken
now eat regularly at the king's table. Because
you see, We're all fallen and broken, but we
were pursued by the king. And the king's table,
friend, it covers our sin. And even though we
may think that we're broken and useless, oh no.
God says that we are chosen and invited. That's
something to be thankful for. Well, there you
have it, the story of Mephibosheth. I hope that
that story was enlightening and educational to
you as well as to me. Hey, listen, friend, if
you enjoy what we're doing here at the Semi -Seminarian,
I'd like for you to take just a few moments,
however it is that you listen to your favorite
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for the coming week, you will be blessed and
be a blessing. We'll see you next week.