2 samuel 9 and 10

Read 2 Samuel 9 and 10 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

2 Sam 9:1-13 {p} David’s kindness to Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son
2 Sam 10:1-16 {s} David’s kindness to Ammon rejected / war with Ammon + Syria
2 Sam 10:17-19 {p} Syria and all its kings defeated before David

The strong themes:

2 Sam 8:1-9:13 {s+s+p} David subdued his enemies + showed kindness to Saul’s house
2 Sam 10:1-19 {s+p} David’s kindness to Ammon rejected / war with Ammon + Syria, defeated before David

(The strong themes are revealing a multiple chapter chiastic structure, for those who want to work it out).

2 Sam 9 forms a chiastic structure:

1a) 2 Sam 9:1-5, David searched for the house of Saul to show them kindness;

1) 2 Sam 9:1-3a, David intended to show kindness to the house of Saul;
2) 2 Sam 9:3b-5, Jonathan had a son named Mephisbosheth who was lame in his feet;

1b) 2 Sam 9:6, Mephisbosheth: Here am I, Mephisbosheth;

central axis) 2 Sam 9:7, David: Do not fear/ I will show you kindness for your father Jonathan’s sake;

2b) 2 Sam 9:8, Mephisbosheth: Who am I, that you should show me this kindness;

2a) 2 Sam 9:9-13 {p} David commanded the kindness shown to the house of Saul;

1) 2 Sam 9:9-11, David commanded Ziba concerning Saul’s land + Mephisbosheth;
2) 2 Sam 9:12-13 {p} Mephisbosheth had a young son named Micha; now he was lame in both his feet.

What I found interesting about this passage, is that David did not know Mephisbosheth personally. If he passed the son of his covenant brother on the street, he would not recognize him (he was on the run from Saul when the boy had been born to Jonathan). But he searched for him, to show him “the kindness of God,” not for his own sake, but for his father’s sake.

Mephisbosheth asks the key question: “Who am I, that you should show me this kindness?” The answer is, it is not about you, Mephisbosheth, but it is about your father!

Isn’t this what God has done for us? He delivered the children of Israel from Egypt, and brought them into the Promised Land, not for their own sake, but for the sake of their fathers’ (see Deu 9). And God is still showing His kindness to Israel, and to us who have been grafted in to Israel, today, millennia later, for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and not for our own sakes.

You know, the enemy often tries to make us feel unworthy because we have shortcomings. It might well be said of us, that we are lame in both our spiritual feet. But the next time he comes around, accusing the brethren, we can have assurance that God has commanded His kindness toward us, not because of who we are, but because of who our father is — Abraham, the father of all who believe, and God our Father, who has made us His own children! ♥