2 Sam. 8-9: “David Subdues All The Nations Surrounding Israel, Then For Jonathan’s Sake Extends Grace To Mephibosheth”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1. INTRO:

1.1. In our last study, we looked at chapter 7 of 2 Samuel.

1.1.1. We saw in that study that David began to desire to build a house for the Lord since the Lord dwelt in a tent and yet deserved so much more.

1.1.2. The Lord would not allow David to build a house for himself at that time, however the Lord made what is called the “Davidic Covenant” with David. Under this covenant, the Lord would build a house for David, establishing that the Messiah who shall rule over the earth for all eternity should come through David’s lineage.

1.1.3. The Lord also told David that his son ( “descendant”- Solomon ) would build a house for the Lord.

1.1.4. We saw then that knowing that he would not be the one to actually build the temple for the Lord to dwell in, David none-the-less began to work fervently to collect all of the materials that would be necessary for the building of a temple for the Lord.

1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at chapters 8 and 9 of 2 Samuel:

1.2.1. In chapter 8, we will see that David initiates an aggressive campaign to conquer and subdue all of his enemies within the land that the Lord had promised to Israel, His people. David is successful in this campaign and destroys and/or subjugates all of Israel’s enemies within that promised inheritance for Israel originally made to Abraham.

1.2.2. In chapter 9, we will see that for Jonathan’s sake that David makes a search for any living descendant of Saul that he might show kindness to him :

1.2.2.1. David finds Mephibosheth, a son of Jonathan, and he brings him into his palace daily to eat. Plus, he restores to Mephibosheth all of the possessions that had belonged to his Saul, his grandfather.

1.2.2.2. We will see that David’s dealings with Mephibosheth paint an incredible picture for us of the grace of God that He extends and has for each of us as His children.

2. VS 8:1-18 - “¹ Now after this it came about that David defeated the Philistines and subdued them; and David took control of the chief city from the hand of the Philistines. ² He defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute. ³ Then David defeated Hadadezer, the son of Rehob king of Zobah, as he went to restore his rule at the River. ⁴ David captured from him 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers; and David hamstrung the chariot horses, but reserved enough of them for 100 chariots. ⁵ When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, king of Zobah, David killed 22,000 Arameans. ⁶ Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus, and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And the Lord helped David wherever he went. ⁷ David took the shields of gold which were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ From Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a very large amount of bronze. ⁹ Now when Toi king of Hamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ Toi sent Joram his son to King David to greet him and bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him; for Hadadezer had been at war with Toi. And Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold and of bronze. ¹¹ King David also dedicated these to the Lord, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued: ¹² from Aram and Moab and the sons of Ammon and the Philistines and Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah. ¹³ So David made a name for himself when he returned from killing 18,000 Arameans in the Valley of Salt. ¹⁴ He put garrisons in Edom. In all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And the Lord helped David wherever he went. ¹⁵ So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered justice and righteousness for all his people. ¹⁶ Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder. ¹⁷ Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Seraiah was secretary. ¹⁸ Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief ministers.” - David takes the initiative and begins a campaign to remove or subdue all of Israel’s enemies from the land promised to Abraham, and is successful to subduing the entire land

2.1. Here in chapter 8 we see that David for the first time begins to conquer the enemies of Israel without their having made the first offensive. Thus, David is actively taking possession of the inheritance of the Lord to His people.

2.1.1. When we studied through the book of Joshua we saw that after Israel under Joshua annihilated all of the major enemies of Israel in the land of Canaan that it was up to the various tribes to then conquer the enemies that lay within their allotted territory. However, due to their having little zeal and love for the Lord none of the tribes was very successful in this regard. In the same way, we noted that we as Christians do not nearly appropriate all that is our inheritance in Christ.

2.1.2. David subdues all of the enemies in the land however.

2.2. David, in his taking the initiative to conquer Isreal’s enemies serves as a type of Jesus Christ of whom it is written in 1 Cor. 15:25 that, “²⁵ For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.” When Jesus Christ returns at the end of the 7 Year Tribulation of the book of Revelation He will judge and subdue every nation, every single one of His enemies, upon the face of the earth. Then, righteousness will reign and Jesus’ kingdom will be a kingdom of righteousness, just as it says here that David administered justice and righteousness.

2.3. The key to David’s success is found in verse 6, ‘And the Lord helped David wherever he went.’

2.4. In these conquests we see that David conquered Israel’s enemies in every direction, north, south, east, and west.

2.4.1. To the west, the Philistines, Israel’s perennial enemy, was his first priority. David conquered the Philistines heading westward all of the way to the Mediterranean. He even conquered their chief city, which was probably Gath.

2.4.2. To the east, the Moabites, descendants of Lot through incest, were next conquered in the transjordan area. David lined up the Moabites in three lines and killed two thirds of them. The rest were left to be servants to Israel, paying them tribute. We do not know what the criteria for separating the Moabites into each of the columns was.

2.4.3. To the north, David defeated the king of Zobah, the Aramaens of Damascus, and the king of Hamath.

2.4.3.1. From the king of Zobah, it says that David captured, ‘1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers; and David hamstrung the chariot horses, but reserved enough of them for 100 chariots.’

2.4.3.1.1. According to 1 Chron. 18:4, we can surmise that there is a copyist error and that actually 1,000 chariots were captured and 7,000 horsemen.

2.4.3.1.2. The hamstrings on all but 100 of the horses were cut so that they could not run and be used in battle. David did this to comply with Deut. 17 that said that Israel’s king was never to multiply horses to himself. Its too bad David did not also try to follow the rest of the command in Deut. 17 and not multiply wives to himself, for had he done this he would have saved himself much grief throughout his reign as king.

2.4.4. To the south, David conquered and subdued the Edomites who were Esau’s descendants.

2.5. Note that not all of the peoples were annihilated by David but rather some of the peoples were saved in order to be slaves and pay tribute as such to Israel. Israel will have its troubles with those spared peoples later on its history when they rebel.

2.6. David’s conquest resulted for the first time in Israel subduing their enemies in all of the territory that was promised to Abraham and his descendants in Gen. 15:18, “¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.”

2.7. This subduing of all of the people’s within the promised land given to Abraham was not a complete fulfillment of that promised inheritance for Abraham because Israel did not possess all of this land, at this time they merely had subdued all of their enemies in this area. The completion of this promise will occur when Christ’s Millennial Kingdom will be established after His Second Coming at the end of the 7 year Tribulation of the book of Revelation.

2.8. Just as David conquered all of his enemies round about, so also each of us as Christians must realize that the Lord desires us not to conquer some of the lusts of our flesh, but rather all of them. We have numerous enemies and in this life we must not rest until we have conquered every one of them, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, as we are told to do.

3. VS 9:1-5 - “¹ Then David said, “Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” ² Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” ³ The king said, “Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.” ⁴ So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lo-debar.” ⁵ Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar.” - David inquires if there is anyone left alive from the house of Saul that he might be able to show kindness to, and he is told about Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, and David has Mephibosheth brought to him

3.1. As I mentioned already, Mephibosheth paints an incredible picture for us of God’s grace which He extends towards His children.

3.1.1. David as a type of Christ has the desire that He might show grace and mercy to some who are completely undeserving of it

3.1.2. There is nothing in Mephibosheth that warrants any of the mercy and goodness that David shows to him.

3.2. In seeking to show kindness to any descendant of Saul, the man who constantly hunted David to kill him, David is really at the high point in his life. It is exceptional character that does what Jesus told us to do and love our enemies and pray for them.

3.3. God’s “grace” has been variously defined :

3.3.1. Some have defined it as “undeserved merit.”

3.3.2. Some have defined it as “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.”

3.3.3. Some have defined it as “the opposite of justice, whereas in justice a person gets what they deserve coming to them, with “grace” a person gets that which they do not deserve.”

3.4. We who are believers in Christ have been brought into a relationship with Jesus Christ that is based upon a covenant of grace and mercy, unlike the covenant of obedience to the Law of the Old Testament. We don’t deserve any of the blessings we receive from this covenant. We don’t deserve to have our sins forgiven. We don’t deserve to have Jesus cancel out a certificate of debt against us of transgressions of His law we have committed. We don’t deserve to gain eternal life with the Lord. We do not have to tow a certain line in order to gain our heavenly Father’s approval, for He has chosen to love us unconditionally. We are to merely believe in Jesus’ death and sacrifice on our behalf and surrender in repentence our lives to the Lord and then we receive an inheritance through Christ and His grace that is magnificent beyond comprehension.

3.5. Note here that David initiates in regard to finding Mephibosheth, and in the same way it is always the Lord who initiates and searches for each of us as lost sheep until we are found, for each of us is a lost sheep before the Lord, “⁶ All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him (Isaiah 53:6).”

3.6. Mephibosheth is dwelling in “Lodebar” which means, “a place of no pasture.” Each of us who have come to Christ were found by Him dwelling in a place which does not satisfy, a place which cannot provide what we as God’s sheep require to be healthy and prosper, “a place of no pasture.”

3.7. The name Mephibosheth means, “a shameful thing.” He symbolizes then the sinner separated from God because of his sin. In the Old Testament law ( see the book of Leviticus for instance ) we see written instructions concern leprosy and lepers, and “leprosy” is a symbol in the scripture of sin. Lepers in the Old Testament were commanded to walk around declaring to all, “Unclean, unclean.” In the same way, we as people descended from Adam, the first sinner and our federal head, have “sinner” as our proper designation.

3.8. In calling himself, ‘a dead dog,’ Mephibosheth was relating himself to that which was “detestable and worthless” in the sight of the Lord ( such was a dead dog to the Jew ). This is what each of us are in the sight of God, and yet incredibly He pours out His grace in our lives.

3.9. Mephibosheth is “crippled,” and this is a symbol of the consequences of sin in a person’s life. Further, Mephibosheth is crippled “from a fall,” and in the same way we as sinners suffer the consequences of the sinful nature that we have received from Adam because of his fall. We are “crippled” in our sin because of Adam.

3.10. Being “crippled,” Mephibosheth is not able to come to David on his own, rather we see that David must search him out and then provide that he be brought to him. In the same way, each of us as sinners are in that place described by Paul in Rom. 3:10-12 in such a way that there is no way that any would find the Lord or come to salvation if the Lord did not search us out and draw us to Himself, ““There is none righteous, not even one; ¹¹ There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; ¹² All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.””

3.10.1. In Luke 5:18-20, there is found the story of some men who brought a man who was “crippled” on a bed to Jesus so that the man could be healed by Jesus, and because the man was “crippled” and unable to come to Jesus on his own, these men dropped the man down to Jesus upon a stretcher through the roof, and then Jesus told the man he was healed because of “their faith,” and I believe that it was the faith of the men Jesus was speaking of, “¹⁸ And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. ¹⁹ But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ Seeing their faith, He said, “ Friend , your sins are forgiven you.”” You see, each of us as Christians need to realize that sin paralyzes people and keeps them from being able to come to Jesus and be saved, therefore we have to “go to them” and “bring them to Jesus,” just as these men did with this crippled man!

3.11. Mephibosheth was hiding out from King David. In the eastern world during this period of time it was virtually automatic that upon coming to power that a king would search out the house of the previous king and kill all of his descendants so that there can be no uprising to take the throne.

3.11.1. In the same way, sin causes a person to hide from the Lord. You can see this all the way back to Genesis 3 and the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were found wearing fig leaves and hiding from the Lord after eating of the forbidden fruit.

3.11.2. Mephibosheth was hiding out from King David because being an heir of the former dynasty he was at enmity with David, and likewise we read in scripture that each of us as people were once at enmity ( having hostilities ) with the Lord. We read about this for instance in :

3.11.2.1. Eph. 2:14-17:, “¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, ¹⁵ by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. ¹⁷ And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;”

3.11.2.2. Romans 5:8, “⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

4. VS 9:6-13 - “⁶ Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant!” ⁷ David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul; and you shall eat at my table regularly.” ⁸ Again he prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?” ⁹ Then the king called Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s grandson. ¹⁰ “You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce so that your master’s grandson may have food; nevertheless Mephibosheth your master’s grandson shall eat at my table regularly.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant so your servant will do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table as one of the king’s sons. ¹² Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who lived in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth. ¹³ So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate at the king’s table regularly. Now he was lame in both feet.” - David tells Mephibosheth that he will eat at the king’s table from now on and also that all that belonged to his grandfather, Saul, shall be restored to him

4.1. Mephibosheth was sure that in being brought to King David that he would be killed, and thus when he sees David he falls on his face and prostrates himself begging for mercy, as he says, ‘Here is your servant.’

4.2. David’s words to Mephibosheth, ‘Do not fear,’ are the identical kind words that in the scriptures the Lord is constantly seen speaking to His servants when He appears to them. The Lord’s desire is always to bless and to do good to His servants, even in those times when He is disciplining them.

4.3. The grace and mercy that is being extended to Mephibosheth is not due to any good in himself or that he has done, rather it is because of someone else, his father Jonathan. In the same way, the Lord does good in our life not because of anything good in us or that we have done, but because of His Son, Jesus Christ.

4.4. Grace is so clearly seen in that not only is King David not going to kill Mephibosheth, he actually informs him that he is going to eat at the king’s table regularly. Each of us as Christians are unworthy sinners who have been given the grace of God such that we are brought ourselves to eat at the king’s table.

4.5. Mephibosheth was treated as ‘one of the king’s sons,’ or just as if he was one of the very sons of the king. Likewise, John 1:12 tells us that each of us who have come to Christ have been made sons of God, “¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” However, just as Mephibosheth was not a son by birth, so we who have come to Christ have come to be sons of God by adoption. We too have been adopted by a king.

4.6. Mephibosheth has restored to him all the possessions that his grandfather Saul had owned. In the same way, when a person comes to Christ he has all that he lost in Adam, and because of Adam’s fall, restored to him. In fact, Paul wrote in Rom. 5:1 that we who have come to Christ have been “justified” which means that the Lord has made it to be such that when we come to salvation it is just as if we had never sinned in the first place, “¹ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

4.7. In abundant grace, David even provided for Mephibosheth that Ziba and his 15 sons and 20 servants should continually cultivate the fields of Saul for Mephibosheth.

4.8. The response of grace:

4.8.1. Mephibosheth is stunned that David has not killed him on the spot, much less that he had determined to do so much undeserved good to him. Thus, he asks David, ‘“What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?”’

4.8.2. We see in the scripture that Mephibosheth develops a great love and loyalty to David because of the goodness that David shows to him.

4.8.2.1. Later in this book we will see that David’s son Absalom rises up against David and attempts to take the throne away from his father. David is forced to flee the palace for his life. As David was fleeing, Ziba met David and when asked by David about Mephibosheth, Ziba lied and said, “Behold, he abieth at Jerusalem: for he said, Today shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.”

4.8.2.2. However, after Absalom had been killed and his coup had failed, a group came to honor King David, and Mephibosheth came with them and we read in 2 Sam. 19:24 the following about Mephibosheth, “²⁴ Then Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither cared for his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace.”

4.8.2.3. King David decided to test whether or not Mephibosheth was deceiving him or not when Mephibosheth said that Ziba had concocted the story about him wanting to take the throne, and we read in 2 Sam. 19:25-30 how that David devises a test very similar to what Solomon later would use when deciding whose child belonged to a mother by telling the women to have the child cut in two, “²⁵ It was when he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?” ²⁶ So he answered, “O my lord, the king, my servant deceived me; for your servant said, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself that I may ride on it and go with the king,’ because your servant is lame. ²⁷ “Moreover, he has slandered your servant to my lord the king; but my lord the king is like the angel of God, therefore do what is good in your sight. ²⁸ “For all my father’s household was nothing but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right do I have yet that I should complain anymore to the king?” ²⁹ So the king said to him, “Why do you still speak of your affairs? I have decided, ‘You and Ziba shall divide the land.’ ” ³⁰ Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him even take it all, since my lord the king has come safely to his own house.”” Mephibosheth didn’t care if he lost all that he owned, all he cared about was that he got his king back!

4.8.2.4. Grace received from the Lord does not produce in people the attitude that they ought to sin all the more since where sin abounds grace abounds all the more, rather grace received changes the hearts of people and produces in them a great loyalty and desire to serve the Lord.

4.8.2.5. The grace of God motivates the believer at the deepest level, causing us to love the Lord and desire to serve Him with all of our life, just as Paul wrote his own experience of the grace of God in 1 Cor. 15:10, “¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”

4.9. CONCLUSIONS:

4.9.1. When we think of the incredible story of Mephibosheth and how that it paints so clearly for us the picture of God’s grace in our life, we ought to respond to the Lord similarly to Mephibosheth and ask the Lord how it could be that He could so regard us, the dead dog that we are?

4.9.2. As you consider Mephibosheth whose name means, “a shameful thing,” and symbolizes the fact that he is a sinner just as you and I are sinners ( “dead dogs” as Mephibosheth calls himself ) realize that though the Lord pours out His grace in your life that it is not because you are worthy of His grace, rather His grace comes to you in spite of your complete unworthiness of receiving any part of it.

4.9.3. Maybe you have trusted the grace of the Lord to give you eternal salvation, and thus you have been saved. However, since coming to salvation have you in your mind placed yourself upon a works relationship with the Lord? Do you consider that the Lord only loves you and does good for you when you deserve it? When you are towing the line? If this is the case, trust the Lord today not only for your eternal salvation but also for your day to day living. He loves you and the scripture tells you in Rom. 8:31, “³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” God is for you, let that sink in today!

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