Compassion and Promises
The king asked, "Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God's kindness?" Ziba answered the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in both feet." "Where is he?" the king asked. Ziba answered, "He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar." So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel. When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, "Mephibosheth!" "Your servant," he replied. "Don't be afraid," David said to him, "for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table." - 2 Samuel 9 (spec. vv. 3-7)
During David’s time in history, it was a common practice for a king to wipe out the entire family of a conquered enemy. So David would have been well within his right as king to have killed all of Saul’s descendants. Few would have looked down on him for doing so. But David, because he was committed to administering justice, because he was compassionate, because he was loyal to God’s previously anointed king, because he wanted to put an end to the strife between Judah and Israel and unite the two, but most of all because he wanted to honor the promise he made to Jonathan... David not only allowed Mephibosheth to live, he gave him back all the land that had belonged to Saul and his family and allowed the young cripple to eat at David’s table the rest of his life.
Considering the circumstances, could you or I have been this compassionate? After all that Saul had done to him, David actually asked if there wasn’t someone left in Saul’s family to whom he could show kindness. Then he went above and beyond what most people would do for a friend, much less an enemy!
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How do you treat your enemies – with contempt or with compassion? If you make a promise to someone and then that person turns against you, do you still honor the promise? Think about it.
From Dogwood Ministries, Inc.
J-R-and-Bonnie@dogwoodministries.org
Visit us at www.dogwoodministries.org
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