{"id":5925,"date":"2017-05-26T10:45:51","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T14:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/?p=5925"},"modified":"2017-05-26T14:37:31","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T18:37:31","slug":"who-is-mephibosheth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/who-is-mephibosheth.html","title":{"rendered":"Who is Mephibosheth?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"“So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king\u2019s table. And he was lame in both his feet” (2 Samuel 9:13 NKJV).<\/em><\/p>\n

“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10 NKJV).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Who is Mephibosheth?<\/p>\n

Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan, the son of King Saul, who was five years old when the news came about their deaths in battle. His nurse was fleeing with him to hide when “he fell and became disabled” (2 Samuel 4:4). Then, perhaps 16 years later, King David called for the disabled\u00a0Mephibosheth\u00a0.<\/p>\n

\n

Surely he was terrified as he limped into the king’s throne room and fell prostrate on his face before the king. Middle Eastern custom would have suggested that David would slay all remaining descendants of Saul in order to secure his own throne. Yet, while the crippled Mephibosheth lay face down, trembling with anxiety, he heard King David say, “Fear not. For I will surely show you kindness for your father’s sake, and you shall eat bread at my table continually” (2 Samuel 9:7).<\/p>\n

Who is Mephibosheth? First, we must answer the question, “Who is David?”\u00a0For David was a type of Christ, and his behavior towards Mephibosheth foreshadowed the kindness of Christ towards us. Mephibosheth had fallen and was crippled all his days. He was from the House of Saul, who had made David his enemy, trying to kill him. It was a scandalous thing that King David would seek to find Mephibosheth in order to\u00a0invite this crippled, former enemy to eat at the same table as one of his own sons. Yet, this is exactly what David did.<\/p>\n

Who is Mephibosheth?<\/p>\n

We are. If David represents Christ, then Mephibosheth represents us. We are fallen and crippled by sin. We have made ourselves\u00a0enemies of God. Yet Jesus Christ, the Son of David, has sought us out. He has invited us to eat continually at the King’s table as one of the Father’s own sons.\u00a0Yet,\u00a0we must respond to His\u00a0invitation. Admitting our weakness, that we are crippled by sin, we must\u00a0fall on our faces in repentance and receive the kindness of Christ. For Christ\u00a0took on our weakness, that we might receive His strength.<\/p>\n

Therefore, because of Christ, we have become\u00a0more than\u00a0Mephibosheth, for we are glad to exchange our weakness for Christ’s\u00a0strength. We answer the King’s invitation\u00a0in weakness, but will one day take a seat at His table according to His strength.<\/p>\n

Yet, in the meantime, while we await our new bodies, unmarred by the crippling effects of sin, we “take pleasure” in being like Mephibosheth, so that in our weakness, the strength\u00a0of Christ may be revealed in us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king\u2019s table. And he was lame in both his feet” (2 Samuel 9:13 NKJV). “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10 NKJV).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061,1,2062],"tags":[2465,2466,2464,2096,2463,2462],"location":[],"class_list":["post-5925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion","category-uncategorized","category-weblogs","tag-christs-power","tag-gods-power","tag-infirmity","tag-power","tag-strength","tag-weakness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/garycombsorg.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/05\/kings_table.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5925"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5939,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5925\/revisions\/5939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5925"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=5925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}