The Kindness of God to the Shameful
Download MP3I invite you to open your Bibles to 2nd Samuel 9. 2nd Samuel chapter 9, as we continue looking at the Gospel through the life of David. And we're gonna look at the entire chapter, 2nd Samuel, chapter 9. And David said, is there anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Zebah, and they called him to David.
Joel Brooks:And the king said to him, are you Zebah? And he said, I am your servant. And the king said, is there not still someone of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him? Ziba said to the king, there is still a son of Jonathan. He is crippled in his feet.
Joel Brooks:The king said to him, where is he? And Zebah said to the king, he is in the house of Mecur, the son of Ammiel at Lo Debar. Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Meker, the son of Ammiel, at Loedibar. And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, Mephibosheth.
Joel Brooks:And he answered, behold, I am your servant. And David said to him, do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. And I will restore to you all the land of Saul, your father, and you shall eat at my table always. And he paid homage and said, what is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I? Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, all that belonged to Saul and to all his house, I have given to your master's grandson.
Joel Brooks:And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce that your master's grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, shall always eat at my table. Now Zebah had 15 sons and 20 servants. Then Zebah 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 like one of the king's sons.
Joel Brooks:And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah. And all who lived in Ziba's house became Mephibosheth's servants. So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king's table. Now he was lame in both his feet. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Our father, there is so much here in this text, but there is so much that we will be blind to and deaf to unless you open up our eyes and our ears. And there's so much that we will not receive unless you open up our hearts. And so I ask that through your spirit you would do so. May we hear clearly from you, Lord. May my words fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Joel Brooks:But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. We've been in 2nd Samuel for the last few weeks now and the author of 2nd Samuel has been kind of building steam as he's been going along. He's been telling the stories about David's spectacular rise to power, how he has seized the throne, how he has taken reign.
Joel Brooks:And so these first few chapters have all been about David consolidating power, defeating the Jebusites, capturing Jerusalem, making it the capital city, bringing in the Ark of God, dancing before it, building a palace for himself. And then last week we looked at the covenant that God made with David, establishing a dynasty that will last forever. And so and so it's kind of been building and building and building and then you get to this. This kind of obscure chapter about David showing kindness to this kind of unknown person. This is, this isn't some kind of diversion.
Joel Brooks:This is actually what the author is saying. We've been building to this. What what you're seeing right here is it's the pinnacle of David's reign. Right here, we've been leading up to this. I mean, last week we looked at is the most, what is the most important chapter in the Old Testament, God establishing his covenant with David.
Joel Brooks:And you can't understand the life of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, the life of Jesus, the death, the resurrection, the ascension of Jesus apart from understanding 2nd Samuel chapter 7, God's covenant with David. But here you hit the pinnacle of David's reign. This is when David is at his best as king. This is when the kingdom is at best as representing what God's kingdom should look like is right here, and it's all going to go downhill after this. But here, David is at his height.
Joel Brooks:This chapter begins by asking a question in verse 1. Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake? Is there anyone? David here, he's he's not discriminating at all. Is there anybody or black, white, poor, rich, educated, uneducated?
Joel Brooks:Is there is there anyone, any child of Saul or Jonathan's that I can show kindness to? Now, you might expect a king to ask the first part of this question, is there anybody left in the house of Saul? You would expect a question like this from a king who would just seize power because what they would do is they would assemble all the sons of the previous king and they would execute them. Any potential rival to the throne, they would publicly execute. And so you you can imagine a king saying this, are there any living descendants of the former king?
Joel Brooks:If so, bring them to me. But what he says next is unexpected when he says so that I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake. David doesn't want to kill, he wants to bless. And he wants to do so because of Jonathan. If you can remember back to 1st Samuel chapter 20, David and Jonathan, they make a covenant with one another.
Joel Brooks:Now, they were always making covenants, They kept making a bunch of covenants. But this one was a pretty big covenant because God had given Jonathan an insight that David would have a kingdom that lasted forever and he says when that happens, remember me and my descendants, don't ever cut us off. And David covenanted with him about this. This covenant was made a long time ago, it was made at least 30 years earlier. I turn 40 this coming week.
Joel Brooks:So 30 years ago, I was 10. I I can remember very little from when I was 10. I have vague memories of a girl named June in my class that I liked and we used to write notes, the kind of notes, you know, with the little checkbox, you know, do you like me? Do you not? No.
Joel Brooks:I used to draw her Smurfs, and that's about the limit of my recollection of 30 years ago. I certainly hope nobody would hold me accountable to anything I said 30 years ago or things I did 30 years ago. It's all still kind of fuzzy in my head. It would have been easy for David to have forgotten this because David was a youth at this time. And this covenant that he made with Jonathan was made in private.
Joel Brooks:They were out alone in a field, nobody saw them make this covenant, it was a secret just between the 2 of them. And so there was no external, no public pressure saying David, I was there, I heard you say this, keep your word. It was a long time ago, it was a private promise, David could have easily forgotten about it or let it slip, but he remembered. And he kept his word. You could easily do a whole sermon on just that fact, David kept his word.
Joel Brooks:I think many of us probably keep our commitments only when it's beneficial to us. We keep our commitments only when we think it's going to advance our cause, but honoring a commitment that's not going to benefit us in the slightest. And actually, this might even come back to bite David, bringing in one of Saul's descendants. There's still a large contingency out there that loves Saul. There's many who would love to see one of his descendants reclaim the throne.
Joel Brooks:And yet David wants to keep him alive. This was a risky thing for David to do, yet he kept his word. And he sends out servants to go. He's like, it's a hard word to keep because he doesn't know of any descendants. And so he sends out his servants and says, report to me back.
Joel Brooks:Find, find someone living from the house of Saul. And this would have been a really hard task to do because I'm sure they were all hiding. The very few that were left alive were hiding. And so they couldn't find any, but they were able to find a former servant of Saul, a man named Ziba, and they thought maybe Ziba could help, and so they bring Ziba before David, and I'm sure Ziba is thinking this is the end of him. David questions Ziba, says this in verse 3, says, is there not still someone of the house of Saul that I may show kindness, the kindness of God to him?
Joel Brooks:David adds here 2 little words, 2 little words to his former statement. Yet these these two little words are going to give you the lens, the lenses that you need to read and to understand the entire rest of this text. He doesn't just say that I may show kindness to, he says that I may show the kindness of God too. This is all about demonstrating the kindness of God to someone who should be an enemy. And that word kindness there, it's that famous word that keeps popping up over and over, it's that word hesed.
Joel Brooks:It's the word that's the covenant loyalty of God, the covenantal kindness and the mercy of God that we've talked so much about. And David who has experienced that now wants to extend that to a potential rival. Now there's a world of difference between showing somebody kindness and showing somebody the kindness of God. Showing kindness versus showing the kindness of God. Southerners are really good at showing kindness.
Joel Brooks:It's just called southern hospitality. That's what we do. You know, you open the door for people. You say, Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am.
Joel Brooks:You treat others with respect. You invite people over for sweet tea on your front porch. It's just it's a general kindness, it's Southern hospitality. But the kindness of God extends way beyond that. You see, most of our kindnesses, if you think through even today, most of your kindnesses were probably kindness by convenience.
Joel Brooks:You're kind to people that you just happen to bump into. You know, you hold the door open to a person who's right behind you. You know, you say please and thank you to people who are right in front of you maybe that you're buying something from. You invite people over even if you don't mean it or don't ever really want them to come over and you just say, you know, because you're with them, yes, we should get together sometime. Come over.
Joel Brooks:You know, we'll we'll we'll have dinner together. Because it's the polite southern kind thing to do. And it's kindness by convenience, you just happen to be at the same place with these people. But that's not the kindness of God. The kindness of God has to seek people out in order to be kind to them Because they're they're nowhere around, you actually have to go and find these people in order to be kind to these people.
Joel Brooks:The kindness of God pursues people to the ends of the earth in order to lavish grace, to lavish love on them. The kindness of God is color blind, has no political affiliation, has no alma mater, it's not just kind to people who went to the same school as them, but is kind to everyone. This is, the kindness of God is what has led a number of you to maybe tutor some of the kids here in Woodlawn. It's led us to take trips to Haiti or to build boys' homes in Peru. The kindness of God has led some of you to adopt.
Joel Brooks:I mean, what a picture of adoption flying over to the other side of the world, seeking, trying to find somebody who the world's forgotten and showing kindness to them. That's the kindness of God. That's what David tells Ziba he wants to do here. And Ziba is encouraged by this. And so he doesn't just clam up, he actually says, well, I do know one person, I do know one person.
Joel Brooks:There's one remaining son of Jonathan. And Ziba describes him as being crippled in his feet and living in a place called Lodibar. Notice here that Ziba does not even mention Mephibosheth's name. He says, yes, there's a son of Jonathan. And he describes him by his condition.
Joel Brooks:He's the crippled guy, he's the one with the disability, and he lives out in Lodebar. We know from a few chapters earlier in chapter 4 why Mephibosheth is this way. When Mephibosheth was 5 years old, news reached his home that his father, Jonathan, and King Saul, his grandfather, had just been killed. And when the news reached the home, the nurse picked up Mephibosheth and started to flee the home because they thought certainly they were next. And as they were running from the house, she fell.
Joel Brooks:And when she fell, she shattered both of his legs. And from that point on, he can never walk, he was crippled. And that had to be about 20, 30 years ago. He is now much older. And so he flees to this place called Lobedar.
Joel Brooks:Lobedar. Lobedar means place of desolation. I mean, it's just like the place you really want to go, isn't it? Let's go to Lobidar, the place of the place of desolation. But it was a city way up north.
Joel Brooks:It was a refugee camp. That's the best way you could describe it. It's where people went to go and just disappear. It was off the map. Mephibosheth, he doesn't live in some gated community.
Joel Brooks:You would never bump into him like in, you know, your favorite restaurant or by the pool or anything like that. This is a guy who lives way out on the outskirts that you would never ever just run into. You have to seek him if you're going to find him. And Mephibosheth probably is not even his given name. Because in Hebrew, the name means one who scatters shame.
Joel Brooks:One who scatters shame. I can't imagine any father naming their child that. I have read about some fathers who have named their children Echo, Mac, Cheese, all different sorts of things, but I can't ever imagine a father saying, I'm going to name you one who scatters shame. This was likely given to him because of his condition and because of where he lived. He was shameful and he lived in a God forsaken place.
Joel Brooks:He's a nobody. He doesn't matter to anyone. And when David hears this, David, he can relate to this because David at one point in his life was a nobody. If you remember, when David was anointed as king, when God sent the prophet Samuel to him, And Samuel goes to Jesse, David's father, and says, God sent me here to anoint one of your sons. Will you bring your sons before me?
Joel Brooks:And Jesse brings 7 of his children, 7 of his sons before Samuel as candidates for the kingship, which is great, except he had 8 children, 8 sons, not just 7. But he didn't even think David was worthy of consideration. And so he refused to bring him up until Samuel asked. And I never caught this until this past week, but as Samuel is talking to Jesse, Jesse introduces all of his children by name. But when David comes, he doesn't use David's name.
Joel Brooks:He says, well, yeah, I do have the youngest. And he says he's the smallest one and the word for smallest is runt. He's the runt of the litter and he's just chasing sheep. He describes David by his disability, if you will, his weaknesses, if you will, but he never even calls David by name. David is only named in that chapter when the Spirit of God rushes upon him, it says and the Spirit God rushes upon him, rushes upon David, and that's where we are introduced to David.
Joel Brooks:God knew his name. So David can identify with nobodies, and so he wants to show them the kindness of God just as he has received the kindness of God. I used to have a professor of mine, he he had this saying, he said don't ever put a period where God put a comma. He would say that all the time, don't ever put a period where God put a comma. Don't ever look at somebody and say, they're uneducated, they're a high school dropout, period.
Joel Brooks:This person here, they have a disability, period. This person is an addict, period. This person is an adulterer, period. Said you don't ever put a period where God has put a comma. Because the Bible in Ephesians 2 does not say this, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins and when you once walked, you were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind, period.
Joel Brooks:That's not what the Bible says. It doesn't do a period, but there's the common, the comma there and then you get the but God. But God being rich in his mercy because of the great love for which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. It's not a period, there's a comma and a but God.
Joel Brooks:And so that comma there defines our whole life. So we should always say, hey, there's the person who's the high school dropout, comma, but God. There's the person with the social disorder, but God. The person who's the addict, but God. The person who's adulterer, comma, but God.
Joel Brooks:God is not finished with these people. So don't ever put a period where God has put a comma. It's by grace we are saved. You know, this is something that God had to remind David of last week. And as David was beginning to think he was something now and he could give back to God, God said, uh-uh, do you remember who you were?
Joel Brooks:Do you remember your deficiencies? Do Do you remember that you were just a nobody chasing sheep until I got a hold of you? Once David understood that kindness and that grace, he was able to show it to others. Let's go back to chapter 9. Look at verses 56.
Joel Brooks:Then David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lodibar. And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, Mephibosheth. Notice Mephibosheth is brought before David, and David says one word, his name, Mephibosheth. He just declares his name.
Joel Brooks:It reminds me of our savior who says that he knows his sheep and he calls them by name. David is demonstrating even in just calling him his name, he's demonstrating the kindness of God to him. And when Mephibosheth hears this, he falls on his face. This this has to be an awkward, painful thing to do for somebody who is crippled in both feet, but he does that before David Because he's got to be terrified and David says, no, no, no, get up, there's no reason to fear, I'm here to bless you, not to hurt you. And then look carefully at these words in verse 7.
Joel Brooks:David said to him, do not fear for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father, Jonathan. And I will restore to you all the land of Saul, your father, and you shall eat at my table always. David promises Mephibosheth 3 things. 3 things. 1st, he promises him kindness for the sake of Jonathan.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't say I'm going to show you the kindness of God because I really like you, because I think you're an amazing guy. Because of it's not because of anything Mephibosheth has done, but it's for the sake of somebody else that He's showing this kindness to. He's showing kindness because He made a covenant before Mephibosheth was even born, this covenant had been made. Before he was even born, David had chosen to love him and to show grace to him before he ever took a breath. This is the kind of love that Paul talks about in Galatians 1 when he when he says he praises the God who set him apart before he was even born and called him by grace.
Joel Brooks:David then promises Mephibosheth an inheritance. He restores to him all the land that was lost from his grandfather Saul. All of it. This is a huge inheritance. I mean, if David just wanted to show kindness, kindness would have been, hey, you don't have to be a refugee anymore.
Joel Brooks:Hey. I'm gonna buy you a house. I'm gonna give you a servant. That's kindness. This is the kindness of God.
Joel Brooks:It's extravagant. It's it's lavish. This is sacrificial on David's part. This is a lot of land. So much land that he's got to get, Zebah and all of his 15 sons and all of his 20 servants, 35 people just to go there and help manage this land.
Joel Brooks:It's sacrificial on David's part. Then we come to the final kindness of David and that's that Mephibosheth will eat at the table of David always. This is a big deal. I think the the author, he's kind of scared this might be missed on us, so he has to repeat it 4 times in just a few short verses. You know, first, he says it in verse 7, when he says, and you shall eat at my table always.
Joel Brooks:Then look at verses 9 and 10. And the king called Zebah, Saul's servant, and said to him, all that belong to Saul and to all his house I've given to your master's grandson. And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce that your master's grandson may have bread to eat, but Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, shall always eat at my table. Look at the end of verse 11. So Mephibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons.
Joel Brooks:And then finally look at verse 13. So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem for he ate always at the king's table. So the author wants to pound this point home. This is a really big deal that Mephibosheth would have this honor because the king's table is reserved for family. The king's sons, they're the ones who ate at the king's table.
Joel Brooks:And so this is almost language of adoption here, that Mephibosheth is now being considered David as any one of David's sons. This is a great picture of our relationship with Jesus Christ. You know, Hebrews 4 says, we now have access and we can boldly go into his presence, boldly go to his throne of grace. We're treated like sons. As a matter of fact, these themes here of God lavishing His grace on us and committing to do so before we were even born, the whole idea of an inheritance that we've been given, adoption into a family, all of those things we see in Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:And we find them described in Ephesians 1. Listen to this, I want to read Ephesians 1 because I hope every time you read it from now on you get this picture of Mephibosheth. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved.
Joel Brooks:In him we have redemption through his blood, forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which He has lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. I mean, what a picture we have here of Mephibosheth. It's Ephesians 1 being played out for us, in which the grace of God lavished on us before we were even born, giving us untold riches, giving us a glorious inheritance, adopting us as children.
Joel Brooks:We who should be considered enemies. We who like Adam were fallen, crippled in our condition. God brings us to the table. Look at verse 13 again. So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king's table.
Joel Brooks:Now he was lame in both his feet. Interesting way to end this whole story about Mephibosheth. We already know he was lame. We already know he was crippled. Yet the very last thing that the author wants to put there is that he's always eating at the king's table and he was lame in both of his feet.
Joel Brooks:As if he just kinda wants that to just set in and just kind of echo around in our heads. God wants to hammer in this final point that by God's grace, those who have fallen, those who are crippled, those who are nobodies will be treated like sons and will eat at the king's table. And he just wants to leave us with that that one final thought echoing in our hearts, in our head. Mephibosheth ate at the king's table every night. And so every night, the the the king would gather gather all of his children around.
Joel Brooks:We know later that the king had 19 sons and one daughter. And so every night you would have, you know, the oldest and the regal son Amnon, him coming in and taking his seat there. You would take Absalom, he Absalom would come in and, Absalom was described as having really long flowing hair, and he's actually described as being the most beautiful man in all the land. Says from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him, and so you have you have him walking to the table. You have Adonijah walking to the table.
Joel Brooks:You have glorious Solomon walking to the table. All of them the king's sons sitting there. And then last of all, you know, you would have to listen to the kind of the shuffling of feet coming along, but here comes Mephibosheth. Same status, same privileges as all of those others. And he comes in his crutches and he comes and he gets to sit at the king's table.
Joel Brooks:He who is a former enemy, he who is a former nobody, but grace has reached out to him. The kindness of God found him, brought him in and said, feast in my presence. You sit as an equal among all my children. I mean, what a picture of the gospel. And that's what I mean when I say here you see David at his best.
Joel Brooks:The kingdom of God operating as it should operate here, when lavish grace is being given to people like him. We're going to go to the king's table now as we celebrate the Lord's supper and we partake in communion. Every person here is a nobody. Every person here can identify with Mephibosheth, and that we're all descendants of Adam. We are all fallen.
Joel Brooks:We're not just crippled, we were dead in our sins. But there is no period, there is a comma, but God. But God. And God has saved us through his grace, and God has drawn us to him, and we can feast in his presence. And we remember this as we come here.
Joel Brooks:On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it. He said, this is my body broken for you. Same way he took the cup and he said, this is my blood poured out for the forgiveness of sin. This is the cup of the new covenant. He said as often as you eat this bread and you drink of this cup, you proclaim my death until I come.
Joel Brooks:It's no coincidence that Jesus chose a meal for us to remember Him, that He chose a time of table fellowship for us to come and to remember Him. He wants us to remember the feast that we are to have, and the feast that we one day will have in Him. You know, Jesus, when He was setting up the Lord's Supper in the book of Matthew, He says, I tell you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until I drink it anew with you, with my Father in heaven. And in that Passover meal there were 4 different cups. And the 3rd cup, the cup of redemption is likely the cup that we have right here, the cup that Jesus says, this is my blood, this is the blood of the new covenant.
Joel Brooks:And there was still one more cup that you should have taken in that Passover meal, and that was the cup of joy, the final cup. And Jesus says, I am not going to take that cup, I'm not going to drink of the fruit of the vine again till I take it with you. When we all get to take this meal together, when we get to have this feast together at our table in heaven. And so even as we celebrate this meal, we remember that it's not quite finished. That one day we really will go and sit at the King's table, and we will feast with him.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. God as we celebrate communion, I pray that's exactly what we would do, we would commune with you. Nobody here stands on a pedestal before you. We're all on equal footing. All of us in need of your grace.
Joel Brooks:We thank you that you're a God who lavishes it upon us. We remember the sacrifice that made that possible now. We remember the broken body and blood of Jesus. And we also remember the feast that is to come. Praise you, Jesus, Our present and our future king.
Joel Brooks:Amen.
