Kindness to a Dead Dog

Over the past ten years, I have had the opportunity to minister to a children’s home in Guatemala. Most of the young ladies arrive to this safe home because they have been rescued out of situations that bring any compassionate person to tears. Though safe in their temporary home, the trauma they have experienced leads many of them to struggle with anxiety, anger, despair, shame, identity, and the concept that God could love them. To my surprise and delight, I was asked to teach the story of Mephibosheth. Though recorded over 3,000 years, certainly it was written down for our instruction and encouragement so that we might have hope and be able to give biblical hope to those who seem to be hopeless (Romans 15:4).

To better understand the wonderful story in 2 Samuel 9, let’s first consider the backdrop. The book of 2 Samuel is action packed! David is finally anointed as the king over both Israel and Judah. He then conquers Jerusalem and makes it the capital of the united kingdom, to which he brings the ark of God. David set his mind to establish a house for the ark of the covenant, but the Lord denies him this, only to instead establish a covenant with David’s house that will last forever. God’s covenant to King David is recorded in 2 Samuel 7:16: “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” Following God’s covenant with David, in 2 Samuel 8 David defeats his remaining enemies that surround his kingdom. God has established David as a powerful, victorious king.

At this point in the story, we see something contrary to human nature. Rather than the self-protection and self-exaltation we might expect from a reigning king, in response to God’s covenant love manifested to David, David reciprocates covenant love to a... “dead dog” (2 Samuel 9:8). When King David was at his best, we get a glimpse into the heart of King Jesus! Repeatedly in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the “Son of David.” In part, this description of Jesus reminds us that in Jesus, God has shown Himself faithful to His covenant to David. While God’s covenant love, or kindness, is put on full display through the “Son of David,” Jesus, covenant love is manifested in the Old Testament as well. Specifically, we see covenant love manifested in the gift of kindness (2 Samuel 9:1, 3, 7) from a powerful, victorious, exalted king toward one who was by birth an enemy and who had nothing to offer King David.

The Old Testament word used for “kindness” in 2 Samuel 9 refers to God’s covenant, steadfast love for His people. When David says repeatedly that he wants to show “kindness," he is saying: “I am committing to do good to you all the days of your life.” King David’s kindness comes across initially as surprising for at least the following three reasons:

First, Mephibosheth was an enemy of David by his very birth. He was the grandson of King Saul (2 Samuel 9:6), and the custom of ruling kings would have been for King David to eliminate any heir to the throne from Saul’s lineage. Hence, when King Saul and his son Jonathan were killed in battle, 2 Samuel 4:4 records, “Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled.” In other words, all of David’s enemies from Saul’s household are now dead.... except Mephibosheth. Therefore, the implication is that he fled for his very life.

From the context, it appears that Mephibosheth saw himself as an worthless enemy of King David. When Mephibosheth is brought before King David from Lo-debar (meaning “place of poverty”), 2 Samuel 9:6-8 records the following:

And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, “Mephibosheth!” 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?”

Mephibosheth threw himself on the floor face down when brought before David, as he likely thought he was coming into David’s presence to be killed. Referring to himself as “a dead dog,” Mephibosheth was apparently very afraid. Thus, David’s first words to him were: “Do not fear.”

A second reason it’s surprising that the powerful King David showed kindness to Mephibosheth was that he had limited ability to serve the king because he was “lame” in both feet. Going back to 2 Samuel 4:4, the Bible says that as he fled, “he fell and became lame.” In 2 Samuel 9:3 and 9:13, the story twice draws attention again to Mephibosheth being lame or crippled in both feet. How could such a lame enemy be of service to King David? He would have been considered unworthy for such an elite role. In fact, Mephibosheth’s very name means “shame.” He is the last son of an embarrassing king who rejected God.

So why would David show such kindness to an enemy who is lame, unworthy, and whose very name means “shame”? What is David’s motive to show him unthinkable kindness? As we consider the context, we must remember that David has made a covenant he intends to keep. Back in 1 Samuel 20:14-15, Jonathan said to David, “Show me the steadfast love of the LORD, that I may not die; and do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever, when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” In 2 Samuel 9, we see that David is determined to fulfill his covenant with Jonathan by showing kindness to Jonathan’s offspring for Jonathan’s sake. Certainly God had shown great kindness in fulfilling His covenant to establish David as the king over Israel, so David wants to show God’s kindness in fulfilling the covenant he made some ten years earlier with Jonathan, as well as with Saul (1 Samuel 24:21-22).

Having Mephibosheth brought into his presence, King David showed him kindness not only in sparing his life, but 2 Samuel 9 records that David gives him all the land that had belonged to King Saul as well as plenty of servants to take care of him and all of his new inheritance. Adding to such amazing kindness, the text records three times that Mephibosheth is given a place of high honor at the king’s table. David’s kindness takes Mephibosheth from poverty to riches and from shame to honor. Yet is gets better! Second Samuel 9:11 says, “So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons.” No longer is his identity a shamed cripple; now he is seen as a son of the king.

This incredible story of King David’s kindness to Mephibosheth parallels our story in light of King Jesus. As Mephibosheth did not deserve King David’s kindness, neither do we deserve the kindness of King Jesus (Romans 5:12; 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21)! Do you struggle with struggle with anxiety, anger, despair, shame, identity, and the concept that God could love you? Why not take some time to meditate upon David’s kindness to Mephibosheth, and let that story point you to the exceedingly greater kindness manifested toward us through King Jesus (Romans 5:8-9)!