Mephibosheth Came To Meet The King

Let's be turning to 2 Samuel chapter 19. 2 Samuel 19, now this is where David, so Absalom has died and the rebellion is over and David is being conducted back over the river Jordan. to Jerusalem, and he's now on the other side there, closer to Jerusalem, and they're bringing him back, Judah's bringing him back as their king.

And last week, we were looking at Shimei, and we saw in that the heart of David was a heart of mercy. The Lord had been very gracious to David, and as a result, we see that David is very gracious to others. For example, Saul hated David, wanted to take David's life because he knew that he was the anointed one. Somehow he understood that he was in line to inherit the kingdom and he wanted to put him to death and David could have put him to death a couple of times, but he didn't. Why? Because David's gracious.

The Lord was gracious to David and therefore David had a gracious spirit toward others. The Lord gave him that grace toward others and the Lord was merciful to David. David sinned grievously against the Lord with Bathsheba in the murder of Uriah and it says that the Lord was grieved with David. But the Lord was merciful to David. And so we see now that David is also merciful.

He delighted in mercy because God is his God. He has the spirit of God. He has a new spirit, a new heart, and therefore he ministers those things to others that the Lord ministers to him. It's just, when we're born again, We are born of Christ's seed, we're born of his spirit and grace, and so those fruits are wrought in his people.

And so David showed mercy to Shimei, a man who cursed David as he was going out of Jerusalem and said treasonous things, things worthy of death. And David didn't slay him then going out. And now as he's coming back, Shimei begs mercy and David shows him mercy.

Again, because he has a merciful heart. And it also is wisdom. The scriptures don't say it, but it is wisdom in the sense that if David showed mercy to the chief of sinners against himself, that man who cursed David and said horrible things about David, if he showed mercy to the chief of them, well, then how much more will he show mercy to those whose heart went after Absalom and joined with Absalom? Now they know Well, David is being very gracious. David's being very merciful. And so the Lord, again, the Lord worked that wisdom in David, that grace in David, and those fruits.

And so that's what we see here. And so tonight, now we look at Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth comes to David, and he also seeks the mercy of David. So let's begin in verse 24. That's where our text begins for Mephibosheth, 24 through verse 30. But we're just gonna read 24 here. And Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to meet the king. and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace."

And so, if you remember what we saw about Mephibosheth back in chapter 9, Mephibosheth is a man who is lame on his feet. He's an impotent man. His walk is not right. His lameness of feet is a picture of what we are by nature. How that we are lame when it comes to walking in the way of God. We can't do it by nature. We don't know how and we can't do it. We can't stay in that way. We're lame and he's impotent, meaning he has no power to provide for himself.

Even when the house of Saul was still fighting against David becoming king of Israel, and they had chosen Saul's other son, another son, the last son of Saul, who was also weak and impotent himself, they never even bothered going to Mephibosheth. They didn't even think about Jonathan's son Mephibosheth. because he's that weak and that ineffectual in the minds of men, so he can't do anything for himself.

And he's of the household of Saul. Jonathan's his father, but he's of that household that was giving David trouble. Gave him trouble so that he couldn't just, when Saul died, all of Israel didn't rally behind David. The men who had gained things under Saul's rule wanted to keep it that way. They liked what benefits they had under Saul, and so they wanted to keep Saul's house in power. And so Saul's household was still a trouble to David.

Now he's heard of some really bad things, a bad report about Mephibosheth as one of the household of Saul. And so he's got a lot going against him right now before David. He's got a lot going against him. And David was willing to be merciful. It says back in 2 Samuel 9.3, the king said, is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba, and that's where we first meet Ziba, he said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. And so David showed great kindness to Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake. He was very kind to him.

He had him sit at his table and eat of the things that the king and his family ate. He was as a son of David after that point. And he gave to Mephibosheth all of Saul's lands that were his to inherit. He restored all those lands to him. And he appointed Ziba, an industrious man, a man with 15 sons and 20 servants, who obviously was very good at working the land. And he had him take authority of Mephibosheth's lands.

And from what I can gather from reading the scriptures here, the arrangement was that Ziba would work the land. He would put all his gusto and energy into making this land profitable so that he determined what crops they would grow, what cattle they would raise, what vineyards they would plant, and how much they could bring in for that. And then they would divide, he would divide the profits, the proceeds of that with Mephibosheth. because it's Mephibosheth's land. Ziba couldn't do that without the land, but Mephibosheth needed Ziba to work the land. And so they would split the proceeds 50-50 after that.

So there was great incentive for Ziba to work hard and to be profitable in that land for his master, Mephibosheth. And so, Mephibosheth, who's lame on his feet and has no power or means to give himself any of these things, nothing that he could do to restore the blessings that he had under Saul's rule, but they were given to him, rather, by grace. by the grace of David there, David graciously gave him all these things and the blessings from all the fruits of the land were brought in by Ziba.

And so what we see here is that all that he had, everything that was given to him was by the grace of David and then it was according to the work of another. And that's a picture, right there is a picture that we didn't really see when we first looked at Mephibosheth, but it shows us all that we have. Because we see in ourselves, we see in Mephibosheth a picture of ourselves. We have the grace of God, our Father, who freely gives us all things, all blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ. And everything we need, we are profited by the work of another, even the Lord Jesus Christ. So all the grace of God and the work of another, we have just like Mephibosheth had from David and from Ziba there. And so we see, we can identify with ourselves, well, we can identify with Mephibosheth and seeing ourselves. We too, like Mephibosheth, we were born of a house that is enmity against God.

Adam, when Adam fell, he looked at God as his enemy. He ceased to have fellowship with God. He wasn't glad to hear God's voice walking in the garden. After he sinned, he ran and fled. God was, he saw God as an enemy. And so it is with, with, with us and with, with Mephibosheth, who's of the household of Saul. He, David knows he's, he's, warring against me, this house of Saul is warring against me and trying to cause me trouble. And same way, we in the household of Adam see God as an enemy by nature. And so when we come forth being born of Adam's seed in that household, we come forth of corrupt seed, we come forth dead in trespasses and sins.

We're lame on both feet, meaning we cannot walk in perfect righteousness before God. We cannot restore that glory that we had with the Father before the fall. We can't fix that. We can't make that right. We can't undo what's been done, and we don't even have a heart or any understanding of how to make it right or to fix what's been done. And we're unable to provide for ourselves life. The garden is closed, the tree is removed, and we are removed from the tree, and we cannot reach forth our own hand of our own strength, pluck the fruit, and live forever, and eat it and live forever. So we can't do that.

But everything we do have now, The fellowship we have with God, everything we have now, is given to us freely by the sovereign grace of God and according to the work of His darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came and suffered He suffered in our room instead on the cross, meaning He took our place, He bore the judgment, He bore the wrath of God, which was our due, what we earned, what we deserved, He bore it in order to obtain for us the forgiveness of our sins and to give us eternal life with Himself.

All those blessings, all by His work. A great trial of affliction has come into the land, and that was wrought by Absalom's wickedness and rebellion. He wanted to destroy David. He wanted to take David's throne for himself and rule over the people, and this caused David to flee out of Jerusalem. He had to go. He had to get out of Jerusalem, and all those that were close to him had to go, and he went into the wilderness for a time.

And in the midst of this trial, of David's trial, there's a trial that is Mephibosheth's. Mephibosheth also endures a great trial of affliction in the fact that he is betrayed by his servant, Ziba. So when David goes out, Mephibosheth is also brought into trial by his own servant, Ziba.

Now, Ziba, We read in the beginning of chapter 19, the same chapter, we're told that Ziba was there when David came back. Look at verse 17. In chapter 19, verse 17, there were a thousand men of Benjamin with Shimei, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his 15 sons and his 20 servants with him, and they went over Jordan before the king.

And so, Ziba's keeping up appearances. He's looking like he's a faithful servant to David because of what David had done for him. Now, Ziba, as far as we know, he didn't do any personal harm against David. He didn't say anything against David in this, but he was very deceitful toward his own master Mephibosheth in that he slandered Mephibosheth's name to David. And I want to show you that back in chapter 16 verses 1 through 4.

This is when David's going out from Jerusalem, he's fleeing, and verse one says, that David was a little past the top of the hill, when he was a little past, behold, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, met him with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them 200 loaves of bread, and 100 bunches of raisins, and 100 of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for the king's household to ride on, And the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, And the wine that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink.

And the king said, And where is thy master's son? Where is Mephibosheth? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem. For he said, Today shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertain unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king. The only thing that was true was that Mephibosheth was still back at Jerusalem because he was deceived by Ziba.

And then Ziba went on to deceive David by slandering his master Mephibosheth, saying that he was happy. He was in all the confusion. Perhaps the household of Saul would rise up and overthrow both David and Absalom and give him the kingdom. And so, Ziba here has done wickedly against his own master.

And so, this is why Mephibosheth now comes to David, and why he seeks mercy and understanding from David. And so, he's coming back over River Jordan, upon his return, and verse 24 tells us, back in 2 Samuel 19, verse 24, that Mephibosheth came down to meet the king and he hadn't put anything on his feet, he hadn't trimmed his beard, he hadn't washed his clothes from the day that David went out from Jerusalem until the day he came back in peace.

And so Mephibosheth is making sure that it's clear he's been miserable. And he's not even putting on a show. He has been miserable. He's very sincere in this. And the purpose that he's serving here is for you and I. This is recorded in scripture for our comfort and for our learning here, because Mephibosheth is utterly dependent upon David's grace and mercy here.

And believer, you and I are utterly dependent upon the grace and mercy of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Just because God was gracious and merciful to us at the first, doesn't mean that we don't continue to stand in need of His grace and mercy every day. Just like Mephibosheth was shown grace and mercy, But now he needs that same grace and mercy again, unchanged. He needs David to be gracious and merciful to him and not slay him and not destroy him. He is dependent upon David's grace and he has nothing without David. And so it is with you and I. We are dependent upon God's grace.

We are dependent upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Mephibosheth, is picturing here the suffering saint whose Lord has withdrawn, has departed from him. And that's the picture there. He's utterly dependent, we, brethren, are utterly dependent upon the nearness of our God.

And our Lord never leaves us, he never forsakes us, but there are times where his presence, as it were, withdraws from us and we feel our weakness, we feel our infirmity, we feel our need of the Lord Jesus Christ to draw near to us. We go into times of darkness, we go into times of difficulty, we have various trials and afflictions that come upon us.

Things happened, just like things happened in Jerusalem that just upset everything, and not only was poor, lame Mephibosheth unable to go with David, but his own servant deceived him and left him behind, and made him look terrible before the king, and spoke evil of him before the king. And so, he's coming to David now, and he's seeking David's mercy, because he's been betrayed by his servant. And in this type, we see Mephibosheth's weakness, we see Mephibosheth's infirmity, we see his impotence, his inability to do what he needed to do to prevent all this.

And all he can do now, now that David's come back, is present himself. He's presenting himself to David exactly as he is. He's unchanged. He's not better. His feet didn't get stronger in all this time. In fact, they're still lame. And the fact that his feet are bare, you can see it. You can see that his feet are messed up and he can't do for himself. And he casts himself entirely upon David's mercy. He doesn't make any excuses for himself. He's asking for mercy. And he comes in this way because he's mourning. He truly mourned when David was departed.

The same way that a believer mourns by the grace and power of God for our good, for our learning, for our education. In spiritual things, to learn the way of the Lord, there are times when our Lord departs and we mourn till our Lord comes again in those sweet times of refreshing, when the Word opens up to us, when the messages are good and we hear them and the fellowship is good and all things are coming together and working out good. We long for those times when they're not there. when they depart from us.

And he remains in a state broken and contrite until David returns. And so I just want to highlight that because, again, as believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, David is a type of Christ for us. And he departed. And Mephibosheth was left behind for a time, for a season. And that's how it is when the Lord departs from us.

It becomes apparent how weak and lame our feet are. and his beard was not trimmed, his clothes were not washed. In other words, he began to stink, and he became filthy, and he was defiled, and he was not well there. And so it is, if Christ's presence should depart from us, we too would wither, and our infirmities would become evident. Our lameness would become evident. Our filth would show. Our stink would stink. You would see it.

But because we are children of the Most High God, therefore we have His Spirit. And therefore, we are made sad, and we are broken, and we do mourn when the Lord brings us into seasons of darkness, and seasons of difficulty, and trying times when we feel that his presence is not near us as it was before. We do go through those times here. And like Mephibosheth here, we desire his presence. And it's our Lord's grace that works that in his people.

Our Lord, in the Sermon of the Beatitudes, the Sermon of the Mount, in Matthew five, verse three through six says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When we are made poor in spirit, we desire this promise. We desire our Lord to fulfill this word of promise unto us.

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. We desire that comfort that only God can give us, that this world can't manufacture and can't give to us. We desire His comfort. Blessed are the meek. strips us of our own desire and seeking our own desires and seeking to fulfill our own lusts, we are made meek. We are made like Moses, who humbled himself and submitted himself to the will of the Lord.

And he says, they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. The only way you and I are gonna hunger and thirst for righteousness is to be made to see that we don't produce a righteousness of ourselves. We need it. We need him to feed it to us.

We need him to clothe us in the righteousness of Christ, to wash us in the blood of Christ, to bring times of refreshing to us from the Lord Jesus Christ, from his presence and his spirit. And so the return of David to Mephibosheth, it speaks of that time of reconciliation and that time of comfort when the Lord returns and draws near to us and gives us a measure of his mercy and grace and faith in the heart and restores that hope and puts that warm glow of his love in us so that we desire him. And it pictures those seasons as well as that most glorious season when our Lord Jesus Christ returns the second time just as He promised. It'll be even more greatly understood in that day and in that hour.

Now, in verse 25, 2 Samuel 19.25, it came to pass when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king.

So David's back in Jerusalem now, because he couldn't go all the way out to the river to meet him. He didn't have the means to do that. So he comes crawling in there at Jerusalem. And the king said unto him, wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? Can you imagine how that must have stung Mephibosheth? That must have broke his heart. Just to hear David ask that question, because again, it required Mephibosheth to confess, to cover all that ground again.

Lord, I'm lame of feet. Lord, I couldn't do it. I couldn't. I can't even get the saddle on the ass myself. I need my servant to do it. And I couldn't do it. I couldn't get him to do that. He wouldn't cooperate with me at all. And he's confessing his utter dependence and helplessness because of his lameness there.

Look at verse 26 here. And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For thy servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon and go to the king, because thy servant is lame. And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king. But my lord the king is as an angel of God.

Do therefore what is good in thine eyes. And so, in keeping here with Mephibosheth as a type of the believer, and Ziba his servant here, we see a picture of Ziba, well, Ziba picturing the flesh. Zeiba pictures this old fleshly nature that wars against our new nature, born from above, born of our Lord's seed, that born-again nature in the believer by the Spirit of God. which we call regeneration. That's what Mephibosheth, that new man there who loves David, who longed for David, was deceived by his servant, because that servant, Ziba, pictures the flesh, the weakness.

He wanted to saddle the ass, and he told the flesh to do it, and he didn't do it. He wouldn't cooperate. He didn't go along with it at all. And it's a picture of the old nature of this flesh that wars against the new man. Our Lord himself said, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Mephibosheth was willing, but Ziba, the seed, he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't put that saddle on there and help his master up on the ass to go after his Lord. He would not do it.

Paul said it this way in Romans 7, 14-17, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not, for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. And then, I do that which I would not, If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."

And that's what Ziba has done. to Mephibosheth and what he's presented to David. The worst possible look that could be presented to David as David is going out of Jerusalem, Ziba makes Mephibosheth look awful, like a treasonous man, ungrateful for all the grace and the kindness that was shown to him by David.

And isn't that what our sin does? Makes us look so utterly ungrateful and unthankful that we should do the things that we do or think the thoughts that we think or say the things that we say in spite of the grace of God. It looks terrible. I mean, how ungrateful could we be? But that's what it looks like here. Now, for as awful as this flesh makes us to appear, The grace of our Lord, His Spirit and power shines forth to His redeemed children. It shines forth more gloriously so that we confess, we're made to confess the goodness and the grace of our God.

We don't go around boasting, well, I merited it. Well, I earned it. Well, I got myself this blessing. I made sure I filled up my lantern with oil. If your lantern's full of oil, you have only God to thank for it and to rejoice in and praise his name and be thankful to him and because it's all of his grace.

It's all from the work of another doing for us. I know that the type doesn't hold perfectly well in that sense, but Christ is more glorious. He's more glorious. He's wonderful to us, and he's provided everything that we need, and so we confess his goodness. We confess his righteousness. We even are brought to confess with him against ourselves.

As Mephibosheth says here, my lord the king is as an angel of God, do therefore what is good in thine eyes. That brethren we may cast ourselves, you may not want to cast yourself to the mercy of someone in the world, but to your God you can cast yourself wholly upon him. Lord, do what's good in your eyes, because I know that what you're going to do is far better than anything I can imagine, think, or see. Because you're good, and I'm not, and you're perfect. And so Mephibosheth makes confession once again that all that he has is because of the grace of David. Look at verse 28. for all of my father's house, right?

You do what's good in your eyes because all of my father's house were but dead men. We were already dead. We were undone. I mean, I was at the bottom of the bottom of the bottom. David, that's what he's saying. We were as dead men before my Lord the King. You had the power and the authority to take our lives. You didn't have to give me nothing. And yet you gave me far exceeding anything that I deserve. Yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right, therefore, have I yet to cry any more unto the king?" He's not even petitioning for himself anymore at this point. He just wants David to do what is right in his eyes. He knows that he doesn't deserve anything more.

And again, we see a picture here of that outline of grace for us, recorded by Paul in Ephesians 2, where he says, but you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, you were already dead. We were, in times past, walking according to the course of this world. We were in that household of the wicked one. doing his deeds, doing his bidding, going about, doing what he said, as if we were in the household of Saul, warring against David, among whom we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but God. But God, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus at his table, Feasting upon him, a feast of fat things, of good things, of wines on the lees, with his sons and his daughters from the east and the west and the north and the south, and he's brought us there to sit at that marriage feast with our Lord. so that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God." And that's what we see here in Mephibosheth coming to David. And so because of David's grace toward Mephibosheth, this Mephibosheth is just content to have David return once again so that he doesn't have that need, longing for his presence. He now has his presence and he loves David and that's made evident. Just as when the Lord returns in those times of refreshing to you, you love him and you're thankful. You're thankful, Lord, just do whatever is good because I know that you're good far beyond what I deserve. I can't earn any better or do any better I just give what to you is good. And the king said unto him, verse 29, why speakest thou any more of thy matters?

I have said thou and Ziba divide the land. And so again, what he's saying is I'm restoring back what it was. Ziba is going to work the land. And he's going to give you 50% of the proceeds. You're just going to divide it. Whatever he works, you're going to have all that back. You're going to be sitting at my table again eating my food. And so it's just what he's doing.

And again, David wants to be gracious. He's in a very good mood. But also, he knows he doesn't want to put anyone to death for what's happened because again, it might spook the people in the land and they might, you know, might provoke a civil war. He's being very wise here, but it's also, we know it's David's heart.

He's a very gracious and generous man because God has been very gracious and generous to him and he knows it. But here's the response that is worked in the heart of Mephibosheth, that pictures the heart of the believer, the child of God, verse 30. And Mephibosheth said unto the king, yea, let him take all, for as much as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house. And so it pictures here how that When the Lord is gracious to us, when he's gracious to his child, we know that they that are of the world are wiser than us, and this is all their inheritance. This is all they have. And Mephibosheth is saying, just let him take it. This is all this man has. I don't need that.

I'm happy in your presence. I know that my inheritance in you is much greater. And that's what the Lord works in our hearts. That's what he works in us, is Lord, when it all comes down to it, you know. And you're good, and I trust you. You're better than I could hope for or want, even if everything is stripped away from me like Job. Lord, you are able to give so much more than that.

I mean, the flesh doesn't want that. I'm not asking for for that kind of stripping, but we know that these things of this earth are passing away, that these things have a time that are here for now, but then they're gone tomorrow. They're all gonna burn up. And so if the wicked fight and strive in war for these things, let them have it if we may but have Jesus and have him as our inheritance for all eternity. And that's the picture there that we see with Mephibosheth coming to David and the precious, sweet, wonderful, free grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, unto us.

Mephibosheth Came To Meet The King

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Mephibosheth Came To Meet The King

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