Throwing Stones or Setting Tables

When I (Brenna) think of how I first met King David of the Jewish Scriptures, that “man after God’s own heart” [1 Samuel 13:14], the story from my children’s Bible that stands out most is his violent confrontation with the Philistine enemy, Goliath. Grown men refused to go up against this giant, yet David - still young and a shepherd rather than a warrior - faced him and won, using nothing more than a slingshot and five smooth stones. [1 Samuel 17]

But here’s a David story I never heard, that our children are discovering in Kid Min. It’s a story about how an older and wiser David deals with his enemies:

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 summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”

“At your service,” he replied.

3 The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from 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 lame 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!”

“At your service,” 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.”

- 2 Samuel 9

For anyone who could use a recap, David became king only through the downfall of the house of Saul, Israel’s first king AND the father of David’s beloved friend Jonathan. So in those times, one might reasonably expect that David would view any surviving family of Saul as a threat - an enemy, potentially just as dangerous to him as Goliath had been. And we know how David decisively deals with his enemies, don’t we?

But “for the sake of Jonathan,” David goes in the opposite direction. Remembering the love, kindness, even devotion his friend had shown him, here David drops the stones. Instead, he looks for some way to return the blessing he’d received. And he finds Mephibosheth and says be welcome, be restored - there’s room for you here. (By the way, your guess is as good as mine on how to say this name, but here’s my take: Meh-fib-oh-sheth.)

What a beautiful encapsulation of the message of Jesus in this ancient Jewish tale. Jesus who is always inviting us to make more room at our tables, just as he’s made generous room for us.

Who have been the Jonathan’s in your life? For their sake, what kindness might Jesus be nudging you towards these days?