Read 2 Samuel 9:1-13
In this short chapter we see David showing kindness to Mephibosheth, who was a grandson of King Saul. You might remember that we met Mephibosheth back in Chapter 4 when there was all the political manoeuvrings after Saul died and before David was accepted as king. In the panic to save Mephibosheth his nurse dropped him and he became crippled in both legs. Why was David so kind to Mephibosheth? After all, Mephibosheth was a symbol of the old regime and could potentially be a rallying point for those who wanted to oppose David.
But the threat from opponents had pretty well subsided now. The important point is that David had a friendship with Mephibosheth’s father, Jonathan – they were firm friends. In fact, they were so close that they sealed their friendship with a covenant, a kind of semi-legal commitment to one another (see 1 Samuel 20).
Covenant is an important concept in the Old Testament and we see God committing himself, binding himself even, to his people by way of a covenant several times (with Noah in Genesis 9, with Abraham in Genesis 15-17, with David in 2 Samuel 7). In these covenants God unconditionally committed himself to his people using the phrase ‘I will be your God and you will be my people’. And throughout the Old Testament we see that God is faithful to the covenant however sinful and disobedient his people have been. God’s people did not keep their side of the deal; they forgot God and turned to idolatry and worshipped false gods. But God’s love is unconditional; he did not forget the covenant. God is a God of grace.
The covenant between David and Jonathan is a human reflection of the divine covenant that God has made with his people. And David wanted to honour his commitment to that covenant relationship by acting in a gracious way towards Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth. In human terms David was under no obligation to care about Mephibosheth and in fact would perhaps be expected to get rid of him as part of the old regime. But David had made this commitment to Jonathan and he was determined to honour it. David acted with grace towards Mephibosheth and in doing so reflected God’s grace towards all of us.
The prophet Jeremiah looked forward to a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). A covenant in which God would recommit himself to his people in a new way and in which God says, ‘I will forgive their wickedness and I will remember their sins no more’. This new covenant would be fulfilled by Jesus coming to die on the cross bearing our sins so that when God the Father judges us he will not see our sins – Jesus has taken them upon himself – therefore, he will remember our sins no more. How do we react to this wonderful state of affairs? Like David, we should reflect God’s grace by acting with grace in our day to day lives, turning our backs on the expectations of this world and remembering what God has done for us.