Main Text: 2 Samuel 9:6-7 New International Version (NIV)6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honour. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At your service,” he replied. 7“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”
Mephibosheth – Who was he?
Mephibosheth ( also known as Merib-baal. (1 Chronicles 8:34)) was the son of Jonathan and grandson of Israel’s King Saul. The boy was only 5 years old when his father and grandfather were killed in battle with the Philistines at Mt. Gilboa by the Jezreel Valley. Learning of the death of his son’s in battle, Saul took his own life.
It was customary that when a ruler was defeated that his family would be killed as well so that there would be no lineage of that ruler left to reclaim the throne. However, we find in 2 Samuel 4 that Mephibosheth survives.
“Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became crippled, his name was Mephibosheth” (2 Samuel 4:4).
So, why would such a person find favour for the sake of his father (Jonathan). He was lawfully condemned to die, moved from being a nobody, having nothing (a discarded cripple), into the experience of a sudden and complete restoration, and promoted to eating at the King’s table for the rest of his life?
To have a good understanding of what led to such a life changing event, let’s examine the relationship that Mephibosheth’s father (Jonathan) had with David:
1 Samuel 17:57-58 New International Version (NIV) 57As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head. 58“Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him. David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
1 Samuel 18:1-4 New International Version (NIV) 18 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
Have there been people that we come across in the course of our lives that we had such a strong immediate connection with; I am not talking about an infatuation, nor a mere fleshy attraction, nor an obsession which some refer to as a soul (emotional) bond or tie. We see here (1 Samuel 18: 1-4) that it was a “spirit to spirit” linkage and let us consider the fact that David was God’s elect, anointed of God and the Spirit of God was upon him. It was that “Right Spirit” that Jonathan was drawn to and had immediate connection to/with. The Right Spirit always houses and nurtures True Love.
See Psalms 51:10-12 (A Psalm of David) New International Version (NIV) 10Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.12Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Jonathan became one spirit with David – He loved him as himself. He made a covenant with David – He loved him as himself.
The covenant: He gave his robe (symbolic: kingdom), his tunic (symbolic: truth), his sword (symbolic: promise of defence and combat for till death if so be it), his bow (the promise to speak favourably for), and his belt (eternal fidelity).
More about True Love: “this is love. Not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent his Son as a propitiation…” (1 John 4:10). You are the object of this love. God loves you. Knowing this is imperative. And not just loved in a general kind of way, but deeply loved and unconditionally loved. We tap into this when we understand that God loved us first. He’s the source of our love. God loved us even before Jesus gave Himself for us. God the Father is the source of all love. Before we can give this love, we need to receive it for ourselves. You can’t give what you don’t have.
The NIV translation of 1 Corinthians 13:7 says, “love protects.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 New International Version (NIV) 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
In Philippians 2:4 New International Version (NIV) 4not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In evaluating our relationships with people especially those whom we have a strong inclination towards, let’s ask ourselves this question; what sort of spirit do they have? How did the relationship begin, flesh to flesh, soul to soul or spirit to spirit (and not just any type of spirit) – was/is it a steadfast spirit, was/is it of the Holy Spirit, was/is it a willing spirit, was/is it the Spirit of True love?
So how did the correct, divine spirit-to-spirit-bonding relationship evidence itself afterwards between David and Jonathan? 1 Samuel 20 New International Version (NIV) 20 Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?” 2“Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!” 3But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favour in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this, or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.” 4Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.” 5So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. 6If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’ 7If he says, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. 8As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?” 9“Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?” 10David asked, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” 11“Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So, they went there together. 12Then Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favourably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? 13But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. 14But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, 15and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.” 16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord call David’s enemies to account.” 17And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.18Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. 20I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. 21 Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, because, as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. 22But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. 23And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the Lord is witness between you and me forever.” 24So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast came, the king sat down to eat. 25He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan, and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty. 26Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.” 27But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?” 28Jonathan answered, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favour in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.” 30Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!” 32“Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. 33But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David. 34Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David. 35In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, 36and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” 38Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. 39(The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) 40Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.” 41After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most. 42Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.
Jonathan all through fulfilled the conditions of a Genuine-God-Sanctioned-Relationship. He did not fail in keeping his oath to David till death did them part, and David kept his promise to Jonathan even down to his descendant(s). It was not only Mephibosheth but the whole lineage was preserved.
There is another Who So Loved and has made an Oath (covenant) and has been keeping His promise through all generations. The same way that the promise kept by David brought a man such as Mephibosheth out of nothing and made him something. A condemned man – made righteous, an outcast brought into the King’s house; not to wait at the King’s table but to feast from the King’s table. God so loved, and the reality and reliance of that love was fulfilled and evidenced in death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And for everyone who believes in Him there is no more condemnation (Romans 8:1) but a translation from the darkness into light (Colossians 1:13) and made to become joint heirs (Romans 8:17) with Christ Jesus an eternal access to eat at the table of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Glory!
John 3:16-18 New International Version (NIV) 16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 15:13-16 New International Version (NIV) 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
Romans 8:1-4 New International Version (NIV) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Colossians 1:12-14 New International Version (NIV) 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Every one who is without Christ can be likened unto Mephibosheth before his restoration. He had no hope, he had no inheritance, he was in darkness, dominated by evil. But for the price of love paid by Jonathan his father (the price of love (redemption) paid by Jesus Christ) there was full restoration of all and he again took his place in Divine Destiny.
Romans 10:8-11 New International Version (NIV) 8But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim:9If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
Are you without Christ Jesus; do you desire restoration to your place in Divine Destiny and a right standing with God Almighty?
Then Pray this prayer: “Father I come to you in the name of Jesus. I know that I’m a sinner and cannot save myself. But Jesus died for me, He shed His blood that I might be saved, today I accept Jesus as my personal Lord and saviour, forgive me all my sins, wash me with your blood and make me whole. I forsake the devil, the world and all sinful habits, I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is my Lord. Father I thank you because you have saved me in Jesus name”. Amen!If you have said that prayer, I congratulate you “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”(Ephesians 2:8-9) and I want to encourage to please visit www.lifeoasisinternationalchurch.org to access very important resources critical for your growth and development in your new life in Christ Jesus.
And it is vital that you start attending a Bible Believing Church.
Should you be led to join the Dream Centre Church which has a mandate from God “to help men achieve their God given dreams”; Please Ensure you complete the online First-timers-form: https://form.myjotform.com/92256887576577 with your details and an ordained Pastor would contact you really soon.
Congratulations again and you are welcome to the family of God!
The Message Bearer
Cornelius Bella
corneliusbella 