David’s Loyalty
2 Samuel 8; 9; 1 Chronicles 18
Last week we saw how God had extended His covenant to Abraham through David but also how God had made a new covenant with David.
Making a covenant with His people characterized God.
In fact this is just one of the ways that Jehovah God distinguishes Himself from the false gods of all religions!
Jehovah God makes sure covenants and then keeps them all!
Psa 105:8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.
This promise made to King David only depends on the “faithfulness of God”!
There was nothing David nor his any of his successors could do that could change this promise that God had made!
What is the “Omniscience” of God?
The characteristic of God, that means He knows all things that will actually take place and all things that can possibly take place, whether past, present, or future!
This why God can keep His covenants when we fail in most of our own covenants.
All these things had reminded King David of some things that he had also promised to others aho had crossed his life path.
Let’s begin:
In chapter 8 we can see how the kingdom of David and the Nation of Israel grew in riches and renown.
In none of these wars was Israel the aggressor as David reclaimed the land God had given to Israel and taken by these nations.
We also get to see how the government of Israel was set up.
*****2Sa 8:15 And David reigned over all Israel; and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people.
Notice David showed no favoritism to any one tribe of Israel, not even to Judah.
Psa 145:9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
God is good even to the lost of this dying world.
The Lord Jesus had these words:
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
But God does requires every government to execute judgment and justice according to the 10 commandments.
Not only does God require every government to to execute judgment but this judgment was to be done equally to all.
We already know this judgment was to be based upon the Word of God.
Not only does God require justice but that justice was to be equal justice for all of mankind!
*****2Sa 8:16 And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder;
King David had one “General of the Army”.
Joab was the son of David’s sister Zeruiah.
It is said in America, not only do we have too many generals but it was said the other day we had over 1000 Admirals. We could put an Admiral on every ship and not have enough ships for each to have one.
This seems to be a good place to save taxpayer’s dollars.
Jehoshaphat was recorder.
A recorder was the chancellor for the king.
In other words he would bring the weighty matters to the king that were important enough to require the kings attention.
A recorder would also draw up papers for the king’s guidance and also prepare drafts of the king’s wishes to the scribes to be recorded, such as treaties, national archives, and records that needed to be kept for the future.
A recorder would also document the day by day actions in the kingdom, in other words record history as it happened.
*****2Sa 8:17 And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests; and Seraiah was the scribe;
Zadok was High Priest and a direct descendant of Eleazer, whose son was Phinehas. God had also made a covenant with Phinehas.
Num 25:11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Num 25:12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: Num 25:13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even “the covenant of an everlasting priesthood”; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.
In Zadok the line of Phinehas resumed the dignity of High Priest and held that position through his seed until the fall of Jerusalem.
It would be through Mary the virgin mother of Jesus, a descendant of Nathan, King David’s son and also a descendant form the line of Phinehas.
Seraiah was the scribe.
In a sense, this position would be similar to what we call a “Secretary of State”.
This man would prepare and issue the decrees of the king.
This person would also have considerable authority under the guidelines set forth by the king who was to use the Word of God for his own guidelines.
When the Word of God is not in it’s place in all governments that government will be corrupt and fail to care for God’s creation but they will still fulfill God’s purpose!
*****2Sa 8:18 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief rulers.
The Cherethites were King David’s personal body guard and they may not have been Jews but they would also perform executions by order of the king only and also the kings couriers.
These Pelethites were probably known better as the the king’s mighty men.
Benaiah was a mighty warrior who David placed over his personal security because he was an honorable man.
2Sa 23:22 These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had the name among three mighty men. 2Sa 23:23 He was more honourable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three. And David set him over his guard.
So while the nation of Israel was at rest, King David began to remember a covenant that he had made with Jonathan a son of King Saul.
This scripture is a special rewarding “type” in the Bible, of the lost being saved for Jesus sake.
And since the Lord had been so gracious to David, King David was in a position to spread that “grace” to others!
When God blesses us, it is His intent that we use His gifts to bless others!
*****2Sa 9:1 And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for “Jonathan’s sake”?
What David already knew:
David knew that King Saul and his three sons had all died in the war with the Philistines.
1Ch 10:2 And the Philistines followed hard after Saul, and after his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.
1Ch 10:6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.
What David did not know:
David did not know that a son of Jonathan had survived and escaped the hands of the Philistines even though during that escape his caretaker, while running carrying him, fell causing the child to be lame the remaining days of his life.
2Sa 4:4 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.
Why was David so concerned?
God had just made a great covenant with David and his seed and God said He would keep this covenant.
King David remembered a covenant he had made with Jonathan the son of King Saul and wanted to make sure he also kept that covenant.
1Sa 20:14 And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the LORD, that I die not: 1Sa 20:15 But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth. 1Sa 20:16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the LORD even require it at the hand of David’s enemies.
How can we expect God to keep His covenants, when we do not keep the ones that we make with each other?
The pure fact is that The Lord God of Creation will keep His covenants regardless of our own actions!
Psa 105:8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.
So, David knew he needed to make sure his covenant with Jonathan.
*****2Sa 9:2 And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. 2Sa 9:3 And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. 2Sa 9:4 And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar.
In verse one, David said he wanted to show “his kindness” but now we see David wanting to show the “same kindness that God had shown to him”.
It is not stated here but Ziba, though he honored King David, he did not care much for Mephibosheth, but Ziba did have knowledge of this grandson of King Saul and son of Jonathan.
Lodebar means “a place of nothing”, a place where grass would not even grow and there was no place to pasture animals.
Compare this place to Psalms 23:
Psa 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. Psa 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Amos describes Lodebar in this manner:
Amo 6:13 Ye which rejoice “in a thing of nought” which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?
The family of Machir were loyal to King Saul and had taken in Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, when he had no other place to live.
Saul’s own servants had ignored this grandson!
Machir would now become loyal to King David after seeing the king’s kindness to Mephibosheth.
Mephibosheth had lived for a considerable time in obscurity and we should now get the picture, or a “type” of a lost soul being found by the King of Kings.
And King David said:
*****2Sa 9:4 And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar. 2Sa 9:5 Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar.
1) The first picture we should have is the picture of that lost soul in no man’s land, poor, and with no means to improve his own conditions. His name was Mephibosheth.
Because of his condition Mephibosheth hated the God of Israel as his name means in the Hebrew, he had “a reproach for God”.
Mephibosheth did not feel the need for a Savior because he could not realize such a thing was possible!
Mephibosheth did not possess the means to have much of a future!
Most people living in this world do not even know they need a Savior because they do not realize that they are lost!
They feel that if there is some god, then why are they in such a precarious situation, as did Mephibosheth.
2) The next picture we should see is that King David sent for Mephibosheth, not for his own kindness, but for “Jonathan’s sake”.
God’s children are called and saved, not because we deserve anything from God but only for the sake of God’s Son, Jesus.
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God “for Christ’s sake” hath forgiven you.
Jesus Christ is not the cause of God’s love but “Jesus Christ is the channel in which God expresses His love for us all”!
We are not asked to understand the love of God, we are only asked to accept that love as being the same as the love for an “only-begotten-son”.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: “it is the gift of God”:
3) The next picture we see is that King David sent someone to fetch Mephibosheth.
This a picture of the Holy Ghost but it is a fact of the purpose of Jesus.
Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost.
Luk 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
1Pe 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
Today God uses the Holy Spirit to do all the calling. It is the Holy Spirit that brings conviction upon hearing the Word of God!
*****2Sa 9:6 Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant!
Throughout the Bible we can see how God truly cares for the fatherless orphan. There is no better example in the Bible than Mephibosheth who had lost not only his father and grandfather but also all his uncles in war.
The greater the wars, the more that are left behind like Mephibosheth!
Mephibosheth had no earthly family!
But, God especially cares for the children of those who love Him!
We already know that there are only two kind of people in this world.
1) Those that reject God.
1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
2) Those that accept God.
1Jn 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
Mephibosheth is an example of that lost soul who had accepted the world in a humanistic way, but now realizes the truth of God.
Mephibosheth cannot understand why the king would look upon such a man as he and he fell on his face and reverenced King David.
Mephibosheth could have never gotten into the palace of the king on his own account!
But, Mephibosheth was allowed to come before King David because it was for “Jonathan’s sake”!
To each saved soul, we are only allowed into the throne room of a Holy God but only for Jesus sake!
If we are to move God, it can only be by the sake of Jesus Christ!
No Prayer, no request, and and no answer can ever come from the Living God if not for Christ Jesus sake!
This world can only be redeemed for Christ Jesus sake!
And then listen as God will know your name!
Isa 43:1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: “for I have redeemed thee”, “I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine”.
And David said.
*****2Sa 9:7 And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.
That phrase “Fear not” is used 62 times in the KJV Bible.
How does God respond to request made in Jesus name sake?
Isa 41:13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, “Fear not”; I will help thee.
And God never changes.
Rev 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, “Fear not”; I am the first and the last:
Mephibosheth truly had much reason to fear!
In the customs of that day it was customary for the victorious king to slay all the family of the previous king.
But here we see how David acted in “Grace”!
Now David had “not stolen” Saul’s land just because he was the new King.
We should remember David was married to Michal the daughter of Saul and was the legal owner of all the things of King Saul. David had every right to this land and these possessions of Saul and he could give them to anyone he wished to.
Num 27:8 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.
This ownership took place at the death of Ishbosheth the last son of King Saul.
Now we see the kindness again for Jonathan’s sake!
We can see how Mephibosheth is adopted by King David!
It would have been easy to just restore the things to him that his grandfather Saul had owned and sent him on his way but that is not the way of God.
This is the way of God.
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
To be adopted by Our Father in Heaven even has a much greater meaning!
Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
King David showed Mephibosheth that he was serious about fulfilling the promise, the covenant, he made with Jonathan, the true earthly father of Mephibosheth.
BUT, God shows every believer that He is serious about fulfilling His promise to His Son Jesus.
Joh 6:39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. Joh 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
This is a very humbling experience.
*****2Sa 9:8 And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?
What is the “Grace of God”?
Grace may be defined as the unmerited and undeserving favor of God to those who are under condemnation.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Mephibosheth realized that he had done nothing to be receiving such a gift and he reached that point that every sinner must reach.
Do I accept this gift or do I reject it?
What would you do?
No, What Will You Do!
When Mephibosheth was sitting at the Kings table, even his lame legs were out of sight before the King.
He had the appearance of a man made whole!
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be “born again”, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
And the king made all the arrangements.
*****2Sa 9:9 Then the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master’s son all that pertained to Saul and to all his house. 2Sa 9:10 Thou therefore, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall till the land for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master’s son may have food to eat: but Mephibosheth thy master’s son shall eat bread alway at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
Mephibosheth was now a land owner of a great estate that would require many to care for it. We can see that Ziba who had been over the servants of King Saul now had a great opportunity to restore that land to it’s glory and his own family be provided with home, food, and welfare.
Mephibosheth himself had a son named Micha and it would he who would need to be provided for, but Mephibosheth would eat from the King’s Table.
*****2Sa 9:11 Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king’s sons. 2Sa 9:12 And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Micha. And all that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. 2Sa 9:13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king’s table; and was lame on both his feet.
Ziba agreed to do as King David commanded but Ziba was never sincere and never intended to be a servant to Mephibosheth. Ziba would never honor Mephibosheth and later accused him of treason.
2Sa 16:3 And the king said, And where is thy master’s son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem: for he said, To day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.
Based upon this lie, King David gave all the property of Mephibosheth to Ziba.
2Sa 16:4 Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.
Ziba may have deceived both Mephibosheth and King David.
2Sa 19:26 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. 2Sa 19:27 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.
King David being unsure of either one divided the land of Saul between the two, but Mephibosheth said let him have it all.
It would be far better to remain at the table of the King.
An adopted son or daughter cannot ever be left out of the inheritance!
2Sa 19:30 And Mephibosheth said unto the king, Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace “unto his own house”.
The Apostle Paul gave Timothy these words:
2Ti 2:20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 2Ti 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
We must make a choice when we choose the Lord Jesus over this world!
We must also make choices after we are saved!
If we purge ourselves of the things that do not honor Our Savior, then and only then can we be made into something useful for the Lord!
Mephibosheth remained in Jerusalem at the king’s table but was still lame and of little use to the king, but the king did not reject him but only because of the covenant he had made with Jonathan!
It is only for “Jesus sake” only that we can stand before Our Holy God!
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Once we believe this truth with all our heart, we can never be rejected!
Questions?
Let’s Pray!
LESSONS IN GOD'S WORD 