The Dead Dog's Gospel

January 15th, 2025

The Dead Dog's Gospel

2 Samuel 9

1 And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” 3 And the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?” Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.” 4 The king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.” 5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6 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.” 7 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.” 8 And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”

9 Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master's grandson. 10 And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce, that your master's grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth your master's grandson shall always eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David's table, like one of the king's sons. 12 And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all who lived in Ziba's house became Mephibosheth's servants. 13 So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king's table. Now he was lame in both his feet.

Covenant Love

Now secure in his kingship, David still can’t take it easy. Why not? Because of a covenant he made with his friend, Jonathan, twenty years ago (1 Sam 20). He has never acted on it. So much time has passed, so many circumstances have changed; no one in David’s circle would now advise him to reach out to the house of Saul. But that’s the nature of covenant love: it endures. So David asks, “is anyone left in Saul’s house to whom I can show kindness?” That Hebrew word is hesed, or “loyal love.” God’s hesed for David is the heartbeat of these stories: God’s undeserved, unchanging, unbreakable commitment: “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all my days (Psalm 23:6)!” God’s loyal love has now shaped David’s own heart.

Covenant Love is Aggressive

David doesn’t wait for someone to show up—he initiates. He inquires. He acts. And he learns that Jonathan does have one surviving son. But the more Ziba describes him, the less lovable he sounds. First, he’s the grandson of David’s sworn enemy, Saul. “You don’t harbor a rival,” I can hear Joab saying—“you eliminate him!” The young man is also crippled in both legs, having been dropped as a baby in a flight from the Philistines (2 Sam 4:4). He has nothing to offer David but a lot of need. Getting involved with him is bound to get messy! He is also estranged from David. He’s living as a refugee at Lo-debar, far from Jerusalem, among a bunch of Saul-sympathizers. He has no knowledge of David’s covenant with Jonathan; as far as he knows, David stole his father’s throne and ruined his life. If he doesn’t hate David, he at least fears him, assuming that the king would want him dead. His name is “Mephibosheth,” which means something like “shame,” though he also goes by “Merib-Baal,” or “Baal is my advocate (1 Chr 9:40)”—I’m not sure which is worse! There seems absolutely no upside for David to reach out to this son of shame.

Covenant Love is Surprising

When Mephibosheth would never come to David, the king sends for him over that great distance. Mephibosheth does not know what to expect when he is brought before David; he collapses in terror. But David calls him by name, and assures him that he has nothing to fear. The king does not see him as a rebellious son of Saul, but as clothed in the righteousness of Jonathan. And based on that covenant with his beloved friend, David lavishes Mephibosheth with generosity. David ends his exile and restores his ancestral lands. He provides a staff of servants to work that ground, so that he will always be well supplied. With a clean conscience, David could now simply send him on his way. But in his crowning act of grace, David brings his former enemy into his own close fellowship. He welcomes him to his table and declares him a royal son. In an instant, this surprising covenant love changes Mephibosheth’s life forever. The extravagance and unexpectedness of it all overwhelms him: “What is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I (8)?”

Grace for Dead Dogs

We will meet Mephibosheth again—along with Ziba, who is not entirely thrilled about laboring on Saul’s lands again. But that can wait. For now, we ought to take a moment to admire one of the Bible’s supreme portraits of covenant love. Have you ever heard of a covenant love this enduring, this aggressive, this extravagant? What king could be so kind that he would regard a dead dog? What grace so rich could bring hope and a future to a cowering son of shame?

Well, you ought to know. This is your story, after all. “But God shows his own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:6).”

FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT, SEE:

On Serving the King