A Seat at the King's Table

A man limps slowly into the throne room and drops to the floor before the king. He has spent his whole life expecting this day. The day the king would find him.

Years earlier, Saul had been king of Israel, and his son Jonathan had been David's closest friend. The two young men made a promise to each other before God. Whatever happened, David would show kindness to Jonathan's family, for ever. Then Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle on Mount Gilboa. When the news reached Saul's household, a nurse snatched up Jonathan's five-year-old son and ran. In her hurry, she dropped him. Both his feet were injured, and he never walked properly again. His name was Mephibosheth.

Now David is king. The wars have quietened down. And one day he asks a question nobody expects. “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?” In those days, a new king usually wanted the old king's family gone. So the question hangs in the air. Then someone remembers Ziba, a man who used to be a servant in Saul's house. Ziba is brought in. “There is still a son of Jonathan,” he says. “He is lame in both feet.” “Where is he?” asks David. “In the house of Machir, at Lo-debar.” Lo-debar is across the Jordan, out of the way. A good place to keep your head down.

David sends for him. Picture the long journey to Jerusalem, every step painful, every mile bringing him closer to a king who might want him dead. Mephibosheth arrives and falls on his face. “Mephibosheth,” says David. “Here is your servant,” he answers, his voice barely steady.

“Don't be afraid. I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will give you back all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul. And you will always eat at my table.”

Mephibosheth can hardly take it in. He bows again. “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?” That is how low he feels. Not a prince. Not a threat. Just a nobody from nowhere. But David does not change his mind. He calls Ziba back and puts him, his fifteen sons and his twenty servants to work farming Saul's land for Mephibosheth. And from that day on, Mephibosheth lives in Jerusalem. Morning and evening, when the king's household sits down to eat, there is a place for him. He eats at David's table, the Bible says, like one of the king's sons. And under the table, nobody can see his feet.

Eating at the king's table was a real honour in the ancient world, and a lasting one. Later in the Bible, David asks Solomon to let the sons of his loyal friend Barzillai eat at the royal table. And at the very end of the books of Kings, the captured King Jehoiachin of Judah is given a daily allowance at the table of the king of Babylon. Archaeologists working in Babylon found clay ration tablets that list oil given to Jehoiachin, king of Judah, and to his sons.

The story of Mephibosheth is in Second Samuel, chapter 9. David kept a promise to a friend who was gone, and he kept it to someone who could give him nothing back. So here is something to think about. Who could you make room for at your table this week?