Kindness For Your Father's Sake
Under
Israeli law, the ownership of property passed from generation to generation and,
thus, was always retained within the family. However, Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth,
never received his inheritance. He had been taken away and hidden as a young
child to protect him from the attacks on Saul’s family. As a result, his
whereabouts were unknown and, lacking a proper heir, his property reverted to ownership
by the king. One of David’s first acts
as king was to right this wrong. In verse 7, David said, “I will restore to you all
the land of Saul your father.” This was one of the many acts of justice and
equity performed by king David.
But
David took things much further. Instead of just stopping with the restoration
of Mephibosheth’s land, he showed him “great kindness” and invited him to “eat
at my table always.” To be invited to eat a meal with the king was considered
one of the greatest honors and blessings anyone could receive. But to eat at
the king’s table “always” was an honor-of-all-honors. David remembered his
close friend Jonathan and the covenant he had made with him before his death –
to never cut off his lovingkindness to Jonathan’s descendants. So David not
only spared the life of Jonathan’s sole surviving son, but treated him like
royalty by giving him free access to the king’s palace. David, by his actions,
demonstrated both justice and kindness.
I’m
pretty sure Mephibosheth’s initial response to David’s kindness was something
like this: “Wait! What?!? Did I hear that right? I must be dreaming or
something! There’s no way I deserve such kindness. I thought I was going to be
punished and die, but now look what the king has done!” David’s treatment of Mephibosheth is one
of the greatest illustrations of grace in the Old Testament. By law, David owed Saul's family nothing. In fact, it was
customary that the previous king’s descendants be punished by death. But David knew that God wanted him to show kindness to
everyone, even those who didn’t deserve it.
This
is an example to us of what it means to be the recipient of God’s grace and
kindness. Our Creator owed us nothing. In fact, we were sentenced to death for
all of eternity, undeserving of any kindness or blessings from Him whatsoever.
But then He says to us, “I will restore to you the life you have lost and you
shall eat at My table always.” Such undeserved kindness. That’s what grace is
all about. We have been shown kindness by King Jesus for our Heavenly Father’s
sake. Because that’s just who Jesus is! And that’s who our Heavenly Father is! Imagine it - we get to eat at His table for all of eternity!
Our
response should be, “Wait! What?!? Did I hear that right? I must be dreaming
or something! There’s no way I deserve such kindness. I thought I was going to be
punished and die, but now look what the King has done!”