In the first half of Chapter 9 we found David wanting to show kindness to any surviving relative of his late friend Jonathan. He learned that Jonathan has a son named Mephibosheth who is living in the frontier region of Lo Debar in the household of a man named Makir. This is where Mephibosheth has been ever since the day he received a debilitating injury at the age of five when his nurse fled King Saul's capital city with him on the day King Saul and his three oldest sons died in battle with the Philistines.
We don't know Makir's connection to Mephibosheth but from my background study it looks like it's generally assumed that Makir is a close relative of Mephibosheth's mother. Makir might be one of her brothers, for example, but we are never told what their connection is. During the time Mephibosheth has lived in Makir's household, he has become a grown man and has married and has had a son of his own, as we'll see later on.
David has Mephibosheth brought to the palace at Jerusalem. "When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, 'Mephibosheth!' 'At your service,' he replied." (2 Samuel 9:6) I can't help hearing David exclaiming, 'Mephibosheth!' in a delighted tone of voice. He's happy to know his departed friend Jonathan has a son to carry on his family line. He's happy to be able to do something for Mephibosheth to honor the memory of Jonathan.
"'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.'" (2 Samuel 9:7) David tells Mephibosheth not to be afraid because Mephibosheth is afraid. He is the grandson of the former king of Israel and he is the son of Jonathan who was once considered Saul's successor. In other nations of the ancient world, a new king would often massacre all the male heirs of the former king. This prevented any rivals to the throne from rising up against the new king. Mephibosheth fears David considers him a rival and that he has had him brought to Jerusalem to execute him.
David quickly puts those fears to rest. He doesn't want Mephibosheth dead; he wants to make Mephibosheth's life better! He wants to treat this young man as if he is a prince of the royal household. David cannot heal Mephibosheth's physical injury so that he can stand on his own two feet but David can heal his wounded spirit so that, figuratively speaking, he stands on his own two feet. Mephibosheth will no longer live on someone else's estate but will have an estate of his own. He will have his own house, his own crops, and his own livestock. He will eat at the king's table as if he is one of the king's own sons. This will give him something he's never had before: a feeling of being a "somebody" rather than a "nobody". We can clearly see he considers himself a "nobody" as we look at his reply to David. "Mephibosheth bowed down and said, 'What is your servant, that you would notice a dead dog like me?'" (2 Samuel 9:8)
A dog that is alive can perform valuable services for its master. It can provide companionship. It can provide protection. It can perform tasks such as herding sheep. But a dog that is deceased can do none of those things, so when Mephibosheth refers to himself as a "dead dog" he is saying, "Why would you be so generous toward me when I can do nothing for you in return? I can't even come into your presence or bow before you without using canes or having a servant help me get up and down. I'm of no use to you. Why do you want to be so good to me when I can't repay your kindness?"
I am sure Mephibosheth can be of value to David; just because he can't walk doesn't mean he can't be David's friend or that he can't hold some type of administrative office in David's government. But David isn't being kind to him because he expects Mephibosheth to do anything for him. He's being kind to him because he wants to be. He's being kind to him out of respect for the late Jonathan who was David's best friend, who took David's side against Saul, who wanted to see David crowned king someday even though Jonathan was the heir-apparent to the throne, and who saved David's life from Saul's murderous plots. David is being good to Mephibosheth because it pleases him to be good to him, not because he needs Mephibosheth to do anything for him.
In this same way, it pleases the Lord to be good to us. The Lord doesn't need us; He created the universe and everything in it without our help and He holds everything together without our help. He existed all the way back into eternity past before He ever made us, so He doesn't need our companionship either. But He wants a relationship with us. He wants to do us good. He wants to redeem us from lives crippled by sin. He wants to bring us into His royal household as His children, just as we find David bringing Mephibosheth into the royal household and treating him as if he is his own son. The Lord wants to restore our wounded spirits so we no longer feel like "nobodies" or like "dead dogs", just as David wants to restore Mephibosheth's wounded spirit and give him his dignity back.
David sets about doing exactly what he told Mephibosheth he would do. "Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul's steward, and said to him, 'I have given your master's grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master's grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.'" (2 Samuel 9:9-10a)
Ziba has a large family, large enough to be able to accomplish what David is asking of them. "(Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.) Then Ziba said to the king, 'Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.' So Mephibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons." (2 Samuel 9:10b-11) Mephibosheth is now a man of standing in Israel. Since the age of five he has been pitied. He has been looked upon as someone incapable of accomplishing much of anything. He has probably been treated as if he is mentally handicapped as well as being physically handicapped, for until modern times (and sometimes even in modern times) those who have physical disabilities are ignored or dismissed as if they don't have the same intelligence and the same feelings as everyone else. David took Mephibosheth out of a backwoods town and gave him what would have been his rightfully inherited landholdings if the kingship had not changed families. David changed Mephibosheth's view of himself as a "nobody" and made him feel like a "somebody". He will eat at the king's table just as if he is one of the king's biological sons. It won't matter that he has two lame feet under the table; he will be treated like everyone else.
"Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba's household were servants of Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king's table; he was lame in both feet." (2 Samuel 9:12-13) This too is a picture of the way the Lord deals with His children. He saves us from the life we had before but we will always need His help to victoriously live our new lives. Mephibosheth has been saved from his old life but he is still lame in both feet. If David had not given him Saul's land and had not commanded Ziba and his family and servants to work the land, Mephibosheth would have had no way of making a living from the land. But because David is his helper, he will have a comfortable living from the land he now owns. When the Lord saves us, our hearts and souls are changed but we are still mortal human beings living in a fallen world. We will still need His help every day to live in a way that honors Him and to live in a way that reflects our new status as children of the King. Just as Mephibosheth could not have eaten every day of his life at the king's table if David had not extended love and mercy to him, we would not have a place at the King's table if the Lord had not extended love and mercy to us.
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