Day 127: Kindness for the House of Saul

2 Samuel 9:1-13 David sought out surviving family or servants of the late Saul to ensure that they were properly cared for. He gave all of Saul's possessions to Jonathan’s disabled son and invited him to dine at his table, and Ziba and his family were given the care of Saul’s estate. David thus showed himself to be a generous, merciful, and caring monarch. (CCC 1807)

Psalm 28 This psalm laments God’s apparent silence with the realization that he is the source of all life and that our existence depends on him. The psalmist asks God to impart his justice on sinners and strength and protection for himself; at the end of the psalm, he asks the same for the people and the anointed one, the king.

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

• Now is a record of David’s kindness to Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, whom he honors with a permanent place at his royal table.

• This story shows David both as a loyal friend who has not forgotten his covenant with Jonathan (1 Sam 20:14-17) and as a king who trusts in God to secure his kingdom, since he honors the line of the previous king, Saul, without fear of uprising or usurpation.

• By placing this story between two descriptions of David’s military accomplishments, the narrative emphasizes the king’s covenant faithfulness over his prowess-and it is on this faithfulness that his kingdom will stand or fall, as the ensuing story shows. (Cue the ominous music...can’t get more ominous than The Rains of Castamere from Game of Thrones 🤓)

(*Walking With God: A Journey Through The Bible by Tim Gray and Jeff Cavins)

• Here we go, Gosh

• 2 Samuel Ch 9 we have Mephibosheth, the grandson of King Saul, the son of Jonathan

• It starts off with David asking a really important question

• In 2 Samuel Ch 7 David asks, “What can I do for God?” and decides he wants to build a Temple for God

• David is told that someone else is going to build that Temple by the Prophet Nathan

• So now, in 2 Samuel Ch 9 David asks, “What kind of kindness can I show to OTHERS right now?”

• David wants to HONOR THE COVENANT that he made with his best friend, Jonathan

• So he asks if there are any sons of Jonathan left and that is where we meet Mephibosheth

• So remember, a couple of weeks ago Mephibosheth with the family of Saul and Jonathan were all running away and his nurse dropped him and he became lame in both feet

• He was hurting and unable to walk well

• AND YET…

• David says to restore this young man, even though he is the GRANDSON of his ENEMY and the SON of his BLOOD BROTHER with whom David made a COVENANT

• If Saul was to have a dynasty that would mean the Mephibosheth would be David’s ENEMY

• David did not treat Mephibosheth like an enemy

• David treated Mephibosheth like a friend, even like HIS OWN SON

• He gave Mephibosheth a place at his ROYAL TABLE

• Mephibosheth would probably think that coming before King David would be the end of him since the NEW KING would kill any descendant of the OLD KING (Meet the new BOSS, same as the old BOSS 😉 🎸)

• David shows his wisdom and compassion 

• David shows the KINDNESS OF THE LORD

• David did not want to DESTROY Mephibosheth

• David wanted to ELEVATE AND HONOR Mephibosheth

• Now, was this David “keeping his friends close and his enemies closer”? (as long as David remembered to leave the gun and take the cannoli 😉 mmmmm...cannoli 😋😋😋)

• Was this David pretending to honor Mephibosheth so that he could keep an eye on him?

• That doesn’t seem to be David’s Modus Operandi

• David’s M.O. was to honor King Saul because he was ANOINTED

• David’s M.O. was to honor Jonathan because he was his BEST FRIEND

• So David is going to honor Mephibosheth in a REAL WAY

• Scripture indicates that David’s TRUE INTENTION was to give HONOR AND KINDNESS

• 2 Samuel 9:1 “Is there anyone still left in the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

• This is the question we get to ask of ourselves right now

• Is there anyone around me right now that I can show kindness to for the Lord’s sake?

• So in 1 Chronicles 12 one of the things we see is David’s Army, these Mighty Men of David

• This is part of David’s anointing and being made king

• Remember how Deuteronomy and Numbers were happening at the same time

• Deuteronomy was looking BACK at the story of the wandering in the desert

• So in a similar way, 1 Chronicles is now giving us a BIRD’S EYE VIEW of the events of what we read a couple of days ago when David was made king and uniting all 12 Tribes of Israel

• Now we read about the men who are part of David’s army at Hebron

• If they had anything in common, it is BRAVERY, VALOR, SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE and WISDOM

• Every one of them is BRAVE

• Every one of them has VALOR

• Their faces were like LIONS

• They ran like GAZELLES 

• Every one of them has CHARACTER

• BUT THEY ARE ALSO WISE

• 1 Chronicles 12:29 “Of the Benjaminites, the kinsmen of Saul, three thousand, of whom the majority had hitherto kept their allegiance to the house of Saul.”

• That makes sense, doesn’t it?

• David would value the fact that these Benjaminites were hitherto faithful to the house of Saul

• That’s because David recognized the legitimacy of the house of Saul

• So it makes so much sense that David would not only notice this, but HONOR this faith as well

• In 1 Chronicles 12:32 “Of Issachar men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, two hundred chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command.”

• These are men of WISDOM had understanding of the TIMES

• So the men of Issachar were faithful to Saul when he was king and now are faithful to David now that he is king

• These are not men who are just trying to save their own skin

• These are people of Issachar who had WISDOM

• The last quality these soldiers had was SINGLE MINDEDNESS OF PURPOSE

• DEDICATION AND PERSEVERANCE

• They were able to focus on what their job was

• Their job was to DEFEND THE KING (reminds me of the Riders of Rohan when they rushed to King Theoden’s aid at The Battle of Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers 🤓)

• Their job was to DEFEND AND FIGHT AGAINST THOSE WHO ARE ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL

• They were VERY GOOD at what they did

• They were good with spear and shield

• Some of them were even described as being ambidextrous with a bow and arrow and even a sling 

• That’s pretty awesome to be ambidextrous when it comes to battle and defend Israel from the nations around them like those pesky precarious Philistines

• So here we are, getting the story of King David going

• Now it is going to unfold for the majority of the rest of 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles

• We will learn the story and later the story of King Solomon in this journey

• What an incredible gift it is to journey with Fr. Mike

• It’s an honor to be a part of this Bible in a Year community

• If we are not praying for each other, then we are just a bunch of people listening to a podcast

• This community is MUCH MORE THAN THAT

• It is a COMMUNITY because we LIFT EACH OTHER UP before God, who loves EVERYONE

• If you are hearing/reading these words right now, that means that God is reminding you of how much HE LOVES YOU

• There are people in this WORLD (at least 117 countries so far 🤯) right now who are praying FOR YOU and YOU ARE NOT ALONE

• PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

• PRAY FOR FR. MIKE

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and thank you so much. Lord God, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this season of our lives. We thank you for guiding us and speaking to us for the last 127 days, and shaping our eyes, our hearts, our minds by your Word and by who you truly are, who you are calling us to be. We ask that you please fill us with the spirit of courage. Fill us with a singleness of purpose. Fill us with the wisdom to be able to know which actions to take and to know which actions to refrain from taking. We make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”