By: Tekoa Manning
Saul’s grandson, the son of Jonathan, named Mephibosheth was crippled as a child. When he was five years old, a report came that Saul and Jonathan had been killed in battle and when the boy’s nurse heard the news, she picked him up and fled. But as she hurried away, the nurse dropped Mephibosheth, and he became crippled (2 Samuel 4). Oh, the tragedy if it all!
We don’t hear much more about this boy until 2 Samuel 9, when David decides to bless anyone left of the house of Saul, the greatest enemy he ever had. David approaches Mephibosheth now a young man and Mephibosheth says, “What is your servant that you take an interest in a dead dog like me?” How ironic that the name “Mephibosheth” means destroyer of shame, yet his crippled up legs had brought him just that, shame.
Have you ever felt crippled? Ever felt worthless, like a dead dog? Okay, maybe not that bad, perhaps you’ve felt like another Biblical person, a lady named Ruth.
In the story of Ruth, when the wealthy landowner, Boaz, noticed Ruth picking up the leftover crops and grains, Ruth 2: 8-10 says, “Boaz went over and said to Ruth, ‘Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don’t go to any other fields. Stay right behind the young women working in my field. See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them…. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well.’ Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. ‘What have I done to deserve such kindness?’ she asked. ‘I am only a foreigner.’”
Have you ever felt like a stranger by people you know and have known all your life?
I can relate to these two people, Ruth, and Mephibosheth. Maybe you aren’t crippled in your legs or feel like a foreigner, but you feel crippled in some other way? Maybe its drug addiction that has crippled you, cancer, abuse, depression, or a nasty divorce or break up… whatever your illness is, I know one place you can go where all the hurt and pain disappears. “THE KINGS TABLE.”
Back in 2 Samuel, when Mephibosheth walked into a room he was noticed, not for his beauty or even his heritage as the grandson of an enemy king and the son of a mighty warrior, but that is not what people noticed; they noticed his hobbling bent up legs.
When David searched for Jonathan’s son, and brought him to the palace and placed him at his table, the Kings table covered his twisted legs that wouldn’t work right. The king’s table hid all his infirmities, he was under the shade of that table and he was fed delicacies. In one day Mephibosheth went from thinking he was a dead dog, to eating at the king’s table… What an awesome thing David did, showing kindness to the seed of his enemy!
I hope that if you feel like a dead dog right now, that you can see this crippled man hobbling, needing help up into a chair at the king’s table. Some of us need help climbing up to that table dripping with myrrh. Some of us need a David to come and say, “Mephibosheth, you shall eat bread always at my table,” 2 Samuel 9:10. We must remember that our Father is a King and that we have worth. We are worthy of love and our Father cherishes us.
Jumping to the other story, perhaps you relate more to Ruth. She felt crippled too, but in a different sense. She was a foreigner, a poor woman picking up the leftover scraps of barley; like my mother used to say, my barley was my waitress tips.
Things end well for Mephibosheth and Ruth, though they had afflictions, they were eventually able to climb up to the table and drink the wine Abba daddy had poured out for them. They hid by His banner, under the shade of His right hand, and favor was brought to them in their later years.
I pray that whoever is reading this, your latter years shall be greater than your former and that you eat at the King’s Table all the days of your life. I pray that you know that Yahweh has a plan for your life, plans not to harm you, but to give you a hope and a future. I pray that you realize you are not a dog, but a child of the highest King, the risen MESSIAH, and the Great I Am!
Do you know how important you are to The Lord Adonai?
Climb up to the King’s Table and sit a while, sup with him and taste and see that the Lord is good! “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings, you will find refuge. His truth is your shield and armor,” Psalm 91:4.
Photo Cred: Anton Bruehl, Vogue, November 1941
Tekoa Manning is the author of two fiction works, Polishing Jade & Walter the Homeless Man. After a neurological illness left her disabled and eventually homeless, Tekoa began to channel her creativity into writing and devouring the Word of Yahweh. She is the wife of a retired police chief and the mother of three sons. Tekoa and her husband reside in a small town in KY. The pen name Tekoa means Trumpet, the instrument that unites people at a sudden impulse.
You can find out more about Tekoa and her writing endeavors at tekoamanning.com
