[Jesus said] “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25‬:‭40‬

This chapter shows a glimpse of how David ruled his people in Israel – by administering justice and righteousness (2 Samuel 8:15). How a society treats the least and weak is a good reflection of the degree of justice and righteousness of that society. In this chapter, David personally reached out to show kindness to Mephibosheth, a grandson of the fallen previous king, when he did not need to.

At the same time, I would like to highlight Machir, a relatively unknown person in the bible, who showed kindness to Mephibosheth before David searched for him. Let’s not overlook what Machir did.

Chapter Summary

David wanted to show kindness to anyone left of the Saul’s household for the sake of Jonathan. Ziba, a former servant of Saul, was summoned, and David found out that son of Jonathan, who was crippled in both feet, was in the household of Machir in Lo-debar, located in the southeast of the Sea of Galilee. 

Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came and prostrated before David. David showed kindness to Mephibosheth and reassured that he would be given back the land that used to belong to Saul and be regularly eating at David’s table. David told Ziba to cultivate the land on behalf of Mephibosheth.

David’s Open Meekness

In the previous chapter, David, being empowered by God the LORD, flexed his muscle to defeat  surrounding nations at all four fronts – south, east, west, and north – to make a name for himself and to receive tributes from them. 

On the other hand, this chapter shows David’s kindness extended to one of the weakest and most vulnerable families and persons: a household of the grandson of a fallen king, who was crippled in both feet. Any descendants or relatives of a fallen king were natural targets for elimination from a new king. Plus, he was handicapped. Therefore, politically and physically, he was one of the most vulnerable person in the entire Israel. It is not strange to see that he lived in the very northern city in Israel, Lo-debar, far away from the land of Judah, where the new king David resided.

That person was Mephibosheth, the grandson of late king Saul. David reached out to Mephibosheth to show kindness to have him dine with David regularly and restore his grandfather’s land when he did not need to. God reached out to us to show grace when He did not need to. David kept his word when he made a covenant with Jonathan to treat his descendants with kindness (1 Samuel 20:14-15). God made a covenant with us unilaterally to demonstrate His grace. Here, we see David showing God’s loving-kindness to the most vulnerable person and family in Israel. 

Jesus told His disciples that whatever they did for the least was equal to what they did to Him (Matthew 25:40). That was what David did. What David did must have been an example of how his governing officials should rule and take care of his people  – by administering justice and righteousness. 

David was not alone. We see another relatively unknown person who showed loving-kindness. 

Machir’s Covert Kindness

Although his name was stated only once in this chapter and not much explanation is given other than he was the son of Ammiel, I want to focus on Machir and his character, especially in contrast to that of Ziba. 

Although Ziba was the official servant of Saul, it was Machir who gave practical help to Mephibosheth by showing hospitality and providing shelter for him for many years. Was there a real need or obligation or any benefit associated with taking care of Mephibosheth for Machir’s perspective? Not much. Mephibosheth was a grandson of Saul, a fallen king, who could pose much more liability than benefit for Machir. 

Taking care of Mephibosheth, a grandson of a fallen king, must have posed a great liability with little benefit for Machir, especially in the era of the new king. It was possible that Machir simply regarded Mephibosheth as a broken person in need. Mephibosheth lost both his father and grandfather at the battle of Gilboa (1 Samuel 31). With both of them dead, his royal status plummeted to the level lower than that of an ordinary citizen. Besides, he was crippled. Despite all these factors, Machir undertook a great risk to take Mephibosheth under his protection. Machir had nothing to gain from taking care of Mephibosheth, but he did it in accordance with God’s loving-kindness. In addition, when David and his men were feeling from Absalom with a weary state, Machir was also one of the people who brought food to them in Mahanaim (2 Samuel 17:27-29).

Ziba the Shrewd Wealth Builder

On the other hand, Ziba as a servant of Saul was supposed to be the official caregiver of Mephibosheth. Ziba was “helpful” by informing the location of Mephibosheth to David. However, instead of taking care of Mephibosheth, he seemed to have found a way to enrich himself by having multiple wives, along with many sons and servants (2 Samuel 9:10). It is not exactly possible to know how he enriched himself when the Saul kingdom fell, but we can make an educated guess that he was a shrewd man, who knew how to take advantage of changing political landscape to obtain additional wealth. 

We see more evidence later of his shrewd nature in building his wealth. In 2 Samuel 16, when David was fleeing from his son Absalom, Ziba acted swiftly before Machir and others to aid David with food, but lied to David that Mephibosheth was delighted when David was running away from Absalom. When David heard this, he gave everything that belonged to Mephibosheth to Ziba. Then, Zina prostrated himself before David (2 Samuel 16:1-4) – note that Ziba did not prostrate before David in the first encounter, but only when he was promised for additional wealth. This episode showed that Ziba was a shrewd man, who knew how to grow his wealth by trickery in a turbulent political situation.  It was possible that Ziba could have accumulated his wealth in a similar manner after the fall of King Saul. 

Conclusion

David showed loving-kindness to one of the most vulnerable households in Israel openly: the grandson of Saul. By treating the weak with dignity, he showed a glimpse of what it meant by administering justice and righteousness to the people of Israel. Machir was a hidden hero – who showed compassion to take care of Mephibosheth, which carried a great risk. However, we have people like Ziba, who was a shrewd person in building his wealth by taking advantage of political turmoils. The chapter shows a microcosm of this world – we may have people with genuine hearts to help the weak, but people who are very shrewd in building their wealth. 

Which one would you be?