David had been installed and anointed king of Israel, and insisted on showing kindness to someone in Saul’s family. Saul had rebelled against God and eventually was killed in battle along with some of his sons, which included David’s closest friend, Jonathan. David made a covenant with Jonathan to take care of his family once David became king (1 Sam. 20:14).
Jonathan had a son by the name of Mephibosheth who was five years old and being taken care of by a nurse while his father and grandfather were out to battle. When word reached the nurse that Jonathan had been killed in battle she left in haste and accidentally dropped Mephibosheth leaving him crippled in both of his feet (2 Samuel 4:4).
David uses the word “kindness” three times in this episode (2 Sam. 8:1, 3, 7). The word “kindness” translated in English doesn’t carry the same weight and significance as the original Hebrew word. The Hebrew word for “kindness” (hesed) means, grace, mercy, loyalty, goodness, faithfulness, and love. Grace is a demonstration of love that is undeserved, unearned, and un-repayable. Grace isn’t picky, and despite Mephibosheth’s disability, David loved him anyway. This is what God did for you and me. Jesus gave what we did not deserve when we were sinfully crippled by our sin.
Mephibosheth mirrors the condition of every poor, lost, fallen child of Adam’s ruined race – cut off by birth, nature, and practice from the presence of God and the table of the King. In David’s care of Mephibosheth, we begin to see God’s care for us. He was crippled by a fall. Likewise, men and women are crippled with sin due to the fall of Adam in the Garden. Christ looked for someone to extend grace to, and found us in our broken condition.
Mephibosheth had the privilege of sitting at the king’s table for the rest of his life. The apostle Paul said, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-7).