Adapted from a teaching by Joyce Meyer

II Samuel 9: 1-8 (NIV)

1 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness
for Jonathan’s sake?”
2 Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They called him to appear
before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” “Your servant,” he replied.
3 The king asked, “Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s
kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan: he is crippled in both
feet.”
4 “Where is he?” the king asked. Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel
in Lo Debar.”
5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.
6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down
to pay him honor. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “Your servant,” 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.
8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a
dead dog like me?

Mephibosheth did not feel like he was worthy to sit at the king’s table because he was lame. Sometimes we feel that way because of our humanness.

II. Samuel 9:9-13

9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given your master’s
grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family.
10 You and your sons and your sevants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so
that you master’s grandson may be provided for, And Mephisosheth, grandson of your master,
will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants).
11 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.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica,and all the members of Ziba’s household
were servants of Mephibosheth.
13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table, and he
was crippled in both feet.

To under this go to I Samuel 18:

I. Samuel 18 1-3

1 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David,
and he loved him as himself.
2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house.
3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
Back then when covenants were made they were stronger than they are today. Now we need reams of paper because no one stands behind their word. Back then people stood more behind their word. You shared your word with someone and that was it. Jonathan and David were tight with each other. This covenant even extended
beyond Jonathan’s death to his son, Mephibosheth.

I Sam. 18:4-7

4 Jonathan 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.
5 Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it so successfully that Saul gave him a high rank in the
army. This pleased all the people and Saul’s officer’s as well.
6 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out
from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and
with tamborines and lutes.
7 As they danced they sang:

“Saul has slain his thousands,
David his tens of thousands.”

Now this is where things get a little tricky, and Saul gets jealous. After all Saul was the king, not David! Now the people are recognizing that David did a better job in battle than Saul did.

I Sam. 8:8-27a

8 Saul was very angy, this refrain galled him, “They have credited David with tens of thousands,”
he thought, “but with me only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?
9 And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
10 The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his
house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand.
11 and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall but David eluded him twice.
12 Saul was afraid of David, bacause the Lord was with David but had left Saul.
13 So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and
David led the troops in their campaigns.
14 In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him.
15 When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him.
16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.
17 Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter, Merab. I will give her to you in
marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul said to
himself , “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that !”
18 But David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in
Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?
19 So when the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she was given
in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.
20 But Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it
he was pleased.
21 “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the
hand of the Philistines may be brought against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you
have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”
22 Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, “Look the king is
pleased with you, and his attendants all like you; now become his son-in-law.”
23 They repeated these words to David. But David said, “Do you think it is a small matter to
become the king’s son-in-law? I”m only a poor man and little known.”
24When Saul’s servant told him what David had said, Saul replied, “Say to David, “The king

wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins to take revenge on his
enemies. Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
26 When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-
law. So before the allotted time elapsed,
27 David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins
and presented them to the king so that he might become the king’s son-in-law.

David was certainly an over acheiver. Instead of getting one hundred foreskins he got two hundred. The reason I’m going through this is to give a little background on David and his relationship with Saul and Jonathan.

I. Sam. 19:1-3

1 Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan was very fond
of David
2 and warned him, “My father is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your gaurd to-
morrow morning; go into hiding and stay there.
3 I will go and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you
and will tell you what I find out.”

Think of the love he had for David. Think about he risk he took. If his father found out, he probadly would have killed Jonathan. He knew this was wrong. But he did not want his father to kill David.

I. Sam. 19:4-10a

4 Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “let not the king do
wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited
you greatly.
5 He took his life in is hands when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory
for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man
like David by killing him for no reason?”
6 Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be put
to death.”
7 So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and
and David was with Saul as before.
8 Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with
such force that they fled before him.
9 But an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear
in his hand. While David was playing the harp,
10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into
the wall.

Now that’s a little unnerving, imagine trying to play the harp and here’s comes a spear right at you!
(I wonder if he lost his concentration while trying to play). You might think does this mean he doesn’t
like the song I’m playing?

I. Sam. 19:10b-13

10b That night David made good his escape.

11 Saul sent men to Daivd’s house to watch it, and to kill him in the morning. But Michal,
David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for you life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.
12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.
13 Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some
goat’s hair at the head.

What a minute I thought Holloywood started the routine of placing an object in bed to fool pursuers. Obviously, someone else came up with it first.

I. Sam. 14-23

14 When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, “He is ill.”
15 Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so that I
may kill him.”
16 But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats’ hair.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he
escaped?” Michal told him, “He said to me, “Let me get away. Why should I kill you?”
18 When David had fled and make his escape he went to Samuel at Ramah and made his
escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told himall that Saul had done to him. Then he
and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed here.
19 Word came to Saul: “David is in Naioth at Ramah,
20 so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group pf prophets prophesying, with
Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul’smen and they
also prophesied.
21 Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they also prophesied too. Saul sent men
a third time, and they also prophesied.
22 Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Secu. And he asked,
“Where are Samuel and David?”
23 So Saul sent to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of the God came upon him, and he walked
along prophesying until he came to Naioth.
24 He stripped off his robes and also prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay that way all day
and night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

I Sam. 20:1-5

1 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 take my life?”
2 “Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything,
great or small, without confiding in me. Why would he hide this from me? It’s not so!”
3 But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor 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.”
4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.”
5 So David said, “Look tomorrow is the New Moon festival, and I am supposed to dine with
with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow.

As this progresses David and Jonathan develop a plan to warn David so he knows what to do. If Jonathan’s servant shoots the arrows one way he is to do one thing, and if he shoots them another way he is to do something else.

I Sam. 20:12-13a

12 Then Jonathan said to David, “by the Lord, the God of Israel, I will surely sound out my father
by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorable disposed toward you, will I not send you
word and let you know?
13 But if my father is inclined to harm you, may the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,
if I do not let you know and send you away safely.

I. Sam. 20: 24-42

24 So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon festival came, the king sat down to eat.
25 He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan, and Abner sat next to Saul,
but David’s place was empty.
26 Saul said nothing that day for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to
make him ceremoniually unclean---surely he is unclean.
27 But 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?”
28 Jonathan ansered, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem.
29 He 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 favor in your eyes, let meget away to see my brothers.
That is why he has not come to the king’s table.
30 Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him. “You son of a perverse and rebellious
woman! (Remember this is the mother of his son he’s referring to!!) 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.
31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established.
Now send and bring him to me, for he must die!”
32 “Why should he be put to death? What has he done? Jonathan asked his father.
33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger on that second day of the month he did not eat,
because he was grieved at his Father’s shameful treatment of David.
35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy
with him,
36 and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shoot an arrow beyond
him.
37 When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him,
“Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”
38 Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to
his master.
39 (The boy knew nothing of all this; only Jonathan and David knew).
40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.”
41 After 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 together--but David
wept the most.
42 Jonathan 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 town.

What a heart they had for each other. They established a covenant between their two families that lasted.
The following section explain what happened to Mephibosheth.

II. Sam. 4:4

4 (Jonathan the son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news
news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried
him up to leave, he fell and became crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.)

As far as he know he had no inheiritance. His father was dead and he was just living out his life. David was looking for someone to bless to fulfill his covenant with Jonathan.

We can learn much from the Old Testament. When we see how they treated each other. Then we can go the New Testament and see how God treats us. Sometimes we may feel like a dog, because we may feel like we don’t deserve God’s goodness. But it’s not true. Think of how many times God has blessed us. Perhaps, you didn’t have enough money in your checking account, and yet God covered by having someone send you a check for just the right amount.

I always think of our hearts as little forests, there so much in there that you can’t explain or share with other people. Yet God knows our hearts. He is able to reach in there and heal us in places where others can’t reach.

Hebrews 8:1

1 The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right
of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord,
not by man.

Our high priest is the Lord Jesus Christ---not people!!! People are often flaky and will let you down. I work with several women and it’s often a special challenge. There is always disagreement about something. I’m sure many of experience this as well.

Hebrews 8:3-13

3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one
also to have something to offer.
4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed
by the law.
5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was
warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to
the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is
superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for
another.
8 But God found fault with the people and said:

“ The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds and write them in their hearts. I will be their God, and they will
be my people.
11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord, because
they will know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more”

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and aging
will soon disappear.

Heb. 9:11-15

11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater
and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the Most Holy Place
once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially
unclean sanctify them so much that they are outwardly clean.
14 How much more, then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
unblemshed to God, cleanse our consciences fronm acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the
living God!
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the
promised eternal inheirtance--not that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins com-
mitted under the first covenant.

In the O.T. Mephibosheth felt unworthy to receive the blessings of the covenant David and Jonothan had establsihed. David looked and sought after Mephibosheth to bless him. In the New Testament God made a covenant with us through Jesus Christ Because of this we are reaping the benefits. God searched for all of us. Sometimes we may feel like a dog, but we are not. We must get our heads in line with what God says in the Word.
 

Titus 3:4-7

4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,
5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
 

Romans 8:17a

17 Now if are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ...

We are heirs of God because of what God did for us through Jesus Christ. Mephibosheth was an heir because of what his father did. He was one of the heirs, not a joint heir. A joint heir means everyone gets the same thing.
Typically, with a will there are many heirs but they don’t receive the same things. One may get a car, the other a pair of finger clippers. We are joint heirs with Jesus Christ, which means whatever Jesus Christ has we have automatically. We have it simply because of God’s goodness. The only time the wod joint heirs, or co-heirs, is used is in Romans 8.

Let us go forth as joint or co-heirs with Jesus Christ, knowing that we are worthy because of what He did for us.