Chip Shots

  Mephibosheth thought he was a dead man. But instead of a sentence of death, he received a new lease on life.  He was the grandson of King Saul, who, along with his father Jonathan, had died in battle fifteen years earlier. At the time, Mephibosheth was only five years old. Hearing the news, his nurse hurriedly gathered him up in order to flee to a safe place. After all, everyone knew what would happen next: the new king would kill all of Saul’s family in order to solidify his leadership. Unfortunately, in her rush to save the child, she was careless. She dropped him, and Mephibosheth was maimed for life (2 Samuel 4). Now he was not merely a refugee; he was a cripple. When we meet him a few chapters later, he is hiding in the land of Lo-debar, which means, fittingly, “a desolate place.” He is Saul’s only living relative, an orphan condemned to living a broken life in a barren place. That’s were we find him in 2 Samuel 9. David is well-established as the king of Israel. The wa...