And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. Now he had neither washed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came [again] in peace.
Mephibosheth comes down to the Jordan to meet the returning king, and his body and clothes tell the story of every day since David fled Jerusalem. Why does Scripture record the state of one lame man's feet, beard and clothes?
Mephibosheth's servant Ziba had accused him of staying behind to claim Saul's throne. One writer — whose text reads moustache where the ESV reads beard — says his appearance answered the charge before he spoke a word:
Mephibosheth had clearly been able to find help so that he could come down to the Jordan to meet David. All the time David was away, he had not cared for his lame feet, trimmed his moustache or washed his clothes. To David's own eyes this was the fullest proof that Ziba's report about Mephibosheth was false. Mephibosheth had no aspirations whatever to be king.
Jerusalem was not in mourning. Mephibosheth could not follow the fleeing king, so he did the one thing left to him:
Robbed and slandered by his servant, he was forced to remain behind in the city that had cast off David. The city rejoiced and threw itself into wild celebration, but Mephibosheth did not join in; he held himself in strict separation from it all and mourned for the absent King.
Behind the neglected beard lies an earlier kindness. David had given this man from Saul's fallen house a seat at the royal table. One writer traces the mourning straight back to it:
The kindness of David had won his heart. That heart beat with affection for the rejected king. His affection was too deep to let him take any place on earth except that of a sorrowing mourner. He waited for the return of the one he loved.
Mephibosheth's own words to David explain how he lived while the king was gone. One writer sets that answer beside the busy city around him:
During the time of the King's absence he acted in a way that showed that he reckoned himself dead to the scene that surrounded him. Stirring events were taking place in the city. The city held councils, gathered an army and appointed officers. But Mephibosheth takes no part in any of these exciting scenes. He thinks of himself as dead to it all, for he says, "All my father's house were but dead men." He also thinks of himself as alive to David, for he adds, "Yet you set your servant among those who ate at your table."
Commentators apply this to believers living between Christ's departure and His return. Mephibosheth never asked what he was allowed to do; his affection decided for him:
While David was away, Mephibosheth was a mourner. He is a true picture of what a believer should be now, during his Master's absence. Fellowship with an absent Lord gives the Christian character a tone of complete separation. The question is not at all what a Christian may, or may not do. No; an affectionate heart will show the true course for all who are looking for the king's return. "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above." Ask a spiritual man why he keeps away from things he could enjoy. His answer is, Jesus is absent. This is the highest motive.
The verse fixes both ends of the mourning: the day the king left, and the day he came back in safety. Older translations read "came again in peace", and that is the wording the writers use. One writer follows Mephibosheth into that day:
With genuine, true hearted loyalty, he carried in his own body the evidence of David's absence while the king was still away. But now that the king has come home again in peace, Mephibosheth's cup is full. His portion was in David himself.
- Kindness first. David gave a lame man from a fallen house a seat at his own table. Everything Mephibosheth does later flows from that unearned kindness.
- Kindness produces loyalty. A heart won by the king could take no place on earth but that of a mourner while the king was rejected.
- Loyalty shows on the body. Untended feet, untrimmed beard, unwashed clothes — his looks were the plainest proof that Ziba's accusation was a lie.
- Loyalty separates. While Jerusalem held councils, raised armies and celebrated, he took no part. He counted himself dead to that whole scene and alive to David alone.
- Loyalty ends in joy. The mourning had a fixed limit: the king's return in peace. The motive for any believer now is the same — the absent One is coming back.
And as soon as Jerusalem came to meet the king, the king said to him, Why didst thou not go with me, Mephibosheth?
David has won back his throne, and as he comes to Jerusalem the men who stayed behind must now face him. One of them is Mephibosheth, a lame man David had once treated with kindness. The king's first word to him is not a welcome but a question.
David puts his question to a man whose appearance was already answering it.
Mephibosheth had not cared for his lame feet. He had not trimmed his moustache or washed his clothes the whole time David was away. This itself was the fullest proof before David's eyes that Ziba's report of Mephibosheth had been false. Mephibosheth had no ambition at all to be king. When David questions him as to why he did not go with David (v.25), his answer is quite simple. He had told his servant Ziba that he wanted a donkey to ride to follow David, but Ziba deceived him, so that he had no way to come to David at that time.
David asks because he had already believed a lie about this man.
Ziba is full of cunning. He meets the exiled king with provisions and acts as the false accuser of Mephibosheth. And David hastily puts all that belongs to Mephibosheth into his hands. It is strange that David could believe Ziba's falsehood. How could a helpless cripple hope to gain a kingdom? Mephibosheth had been deceived (19:26) by Ziba, and David readily believed the lying story.
There is comfort here for anyone a false report has damaged.
David was deceived, but you cannot deceive Christ. There is no deceiving Him. People have said many things about me during these thirty-three years that I have been a Christian, but I do not care what they say. They cannot deceive my Master. He knows the truth, and that is the great thing.
A guilty man could not have answered as Mephibosheth did.
If Ziba's account of Mephibosheth had been true, how could Mephibosheth have replied to David when he said, "Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?" But he was able to answer: "My lord, O king, my servant deceived me … He has slandered your servant to my lord the king." … Here was simple integrity of heart. Unaffected devotedness must show itself.
Mephibosheth does not plead his own loyalty. He rests on what the king once gave him.
He rejoiced that the King had come back to his own, and he wanted nothing for himself. The King's rights and not his own were everything to him. He claimed nothing for himself, but he made his boast in David's grace and in David's word. … Dead men have no place or rights; they cannot claim anything, especially when they are dead under the sentence of a righteous law. … Because of what he was, he could claim no place in the King's palace and favour. But he could rely on David's word and boast in his kindness: "Yet you set your servant among those who eat at your table." He knew the King's word would stand, and he wanted nothing more.
His neglected state was the natural effect of loving someone who was gone.
Such is the Spirit's testimony to this faithful man. While David was away, Mephibosheth was a mourner: a true picture of what the believer ought to be now, during the time of his Master's absence. Fellowship with an absent Lord gives a tone of thorough separation to the Christian character. The question is not at all what a Christian may or may not do. No; an affectionate heart will suggest the true course for all those who are looking for the king's return.
Commentators differ on how David took the explanation. Some read his curt ruling — split the land with Ziba — as a sign of lingering doubt.
His doing this, and the way he answered Mephibosheth, "Why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land," makes it doubtful whether David was quite convinced of Mephibosheth's innocence.
Others see the same blunt answer as the very thing that let the man's heart shine.
I used often to be puzzled at the King's unjust reply … But now I know why. Only that answer could make the true, loyal and undivided devotion of Mephibosheth's heart shine as brightly as it deserved. … Houses and lands were nothing to Mephibosheth when he had the king he loved.
- Grace first. David gave Mephibosheth a seat at his own table when the man had no claim of his own. Everything else grows from that gift.
- Grace holds. With the king gone and his name blackened, he still boasted in David's word rather than his own record.
- Grace shows. He left his beard untrimmed and his clothes unwashed. Real devotion shows itself.
- Grace answers. Asked why he stayed behind, he told the plain truth about Ziba's deceit and then asked nothing for himself.
- Grace is safe. A slanderer could deceive David. No one deceives Christ, and He knows the truth about every servant who waits for Him.
And he said, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me; for thy servant said, I will saddle me the ass, and ride thereon, and go with the king; for thy servant is lame.
David asks Mephibosheth why he stayed behind in Jerusalem. The answer names two things: a servant who lied and a body that could not walk. A donkey that was never saddled raises a harder question. How does a king tell loyalty from treachery when he has heard only one side?
Mephibosheth's charge is simple: his servant tricked him. Commentators point to the motive behind the trick.
But Mephibosheth had a faithless servant. To promote his own ends, this man misrepresented his master to the king. The opening verses of chapter 16 will give the reader an account of what Ziba did. He pretends kindness to David, and blackens Mephibosheth's character, so that he can get hold of his lands. He takes advantage of his master's weakness of body to deceive and slander him. What a picture!
The donkey never reached its rider. One writer says the food Ziba carried to David had come from Mephibosheth himself.
But what about the fruits, and bread, and wine? "Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?" Now the truth comes out. It was he who had provided the donkey-loads of fruit. But he was lame, so Ziba slipped into the saddle instead. In this way he misrepresented Mephibosheth and played the hypocrite.
Mephibosheth ends his answer with his own body. Commentators read that weakness as a picture of every person before God.
Note, Mephibosheth was lame on both his feet. In the same way, since the fall, man has been incapable both toward God and toward other people… It is wisdom on our part to acknowledge our total moral ruin. It is not enough to admit that there may be shortcoming here and there. A person reaches the bottom only when he owns that he is completely "without strength," and depends on Christ alone for salvation, who died for the ungodly.
David had already given his verdict, and he gave it without hearing Mephibosheth. One writer is blunt about that failure.
He judges when the accused is not there. He believes a most unlikely story, told by a man who might well suppose that slandering his master would be his own stepping-stone to advancement. Ziba takes the credit for the help he brings to David, and he wins a royal reward for it at his master's expense.
Mephibosheth did reach the king in the end. What David saw then counted for more than what he had heard.
Mephibosheth clearly found help to get him down to the Jordan to meet David. He had not cared for his lame feet nor trimmed his moustache nor washed his clothes during all the time that David had been away. This itself was the fullest proof before David's eyes that Ziba's report of Mephibosheth had been false. Mephibosheth had no ambition at all to be king… What he says about Ziba's slander is plainly true.
Mephibosheth defends himself to a king who has already believed the lie. One writer moves from David's mistake to a Master no one can fool.
His heart was true to his absent lord… He was the one who prepared the bread and fruit and wine to meet the king. But Ziba, rogue that he was, seized the loaded donkeys, rode off to the king, and slandered his master. Ziba deceived David, but you can't deceive Christ. There is no deceiving Him. People have said many things about me in these thirty-three years that I have been a Christian, but I don't care what they say. They can't deceive my Master. He knows the truth, and that is the great thing.
Mephibosheth had every reason to press a claim against Ziba. One writer notes what he asked for instead.
He was no whining, self-serving flatterer, thinking only of his own advantage. His loyalty to David in rebellious Jerusalem was great… He was so glad the king had come home in peace that he does not even ask the king to punish his slanderous, thieving servant. He wanted no property. He sought nothing for himself.
- Lame — Mephibosheth's answer ends with his own helplessness. Commentators read that lameness as a picture of a person "without strength" before God.
- Deceived — that weakness gave Ziba his opening. He used his master's lame body to slander him and take his lands.
- Misjudged — David ruled without hearing the accused, on an unlikely story from a man who stood to gain by it.
- Evident — the unwashed clothes and untrimmed moustache proved what words alone could not. A heart set on the absent king shows itself.
- Vindicated — Ziba could deceive David, but no one can deceive Christ. Anyone slandered today can leave the verdict with a Master who knows the truth.
And he has slandered thy servant to my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God; do therefore what is good in thy sight.
David has won back his throne, and Jonathan's crippled son Mephibosheth comes to meet him on the road home. A servant had ruined his name while the king was away, and what Mephibosheth does with that injustice is more striking than the injustice itself.
The servant Mephibosheth accuses is Ziba. One writer names the motive behind the lie:
But Mephibosheth had an unfaithful servant. To serve his own ends, he misrepresented him to the king. The opening verses of chapter 16 will give the reader an account of what Ziba did. He pretends kindness to David, and blackens the character of Mephibosheth, to get possession of his lands. He takes advantage of his master's weakness of body to deceive and malign him. What a picture!
Ziba's trick worked on David. One writer turns that into comfort for anyone who is lied about today:
He was the one who got ready and prepared the bread and fruit and wine to meet the king; but Ziba, rogue that he was, seized the loaded donkeys, rode off to the king, and slandered his master. David was deceived, but you cannot deceive Christ. There is no deceiving Him. Many things have been said about me during these thirty-three years that I have been a Christian, but I do not care what people say. They cannot deceive my Master. He knows the truth, and that is the great thing.
Mephibosheth was not the first to speak of David this way:
To "know good and evil" is to sit in judgment and pass sentence on good or evil which we find in our own souls. Of David the king, the wise woman of Tekoa said, "as an angel of God, so is my lord the king, to discern good and bad" (2 Sam. 14:17). This refers to the decisions of judgment.
Mephibosheth states the facts and then stops. One writer finds three marks of a tested faith in his answer:
David's words put Mephibosheth's precious faith to the test, and what comes out is only the perfume of dependence and self-denial. This faith has three marks. First, Mephibosheth accepts David's will as the will of God. This will, whatever it may be, is good in Mephibosheth's eyes because it is good in David's eyes (cf. Rom. 12:2). Second, he knows he has no right to the king's favour from his family line or his own worth… Finally… he gives up all his earthly advantages.
Another writer explains why Mephibosheth claimed nothing:
He did not claim any place for himself. Instead, he tells the king that all his father's house "were dead men" before him. A dead man has no place or standing whatever; he has no claims… He could claim no place in the king's palace because of what he was. But he could still cast himself upon David's good favour.
David's reply split the land between the two men. Commentators read it in two ways. Some call it a failure:
David's answer to Mephibosheth lacked grace and truth… He ought to have apologised to Mephibosheth for this. He ought to have faced Ziba with the seriousness of his falsehood. Instead he dismissed Mephibosheth with no real courtesy… David is a picture of Christ, yet here he badly misrepresented the righteousness of the Lord Jesus in the way he ran his kingdom.
Others see the harsh reply as the thing that brought the man's loyalty into full view:
Mephibosheth told the king he was loyal as ever. The king's unjust reply — "You and Ziba divide the land" — used to puzzle me. But now I know that only that answer could make the true, loyal and undivided devotion of Mephibosheth's heart shine as it deserved… Houses and lands were nothing to Mephibosheth when he had the king he loved.
- Defamed. Ziba used his master's lameness against him. He blackened Mephibosheth's name to get his lands.
- Deceived. David believed the lie. Christ cannot be fooled — He knows the truth about His own.
- Discerning. His words for the king echo 2 Samuel 14:17 — a mind able to judge between good and bad.
- Dependent. Mephibosheth hands the verdict to the king. He takes the king's will as God's will, and pleads no claim of his own.
- Devoted. Was David's curt ruling a failure of grace, or a test? Commentators differ. Either way, it exposed a heart that wanted the king more than the land.
For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king; and thou didst set thy servant among them that eat at thine own table. What further right therefore have I? and for what should I cry any more to the king?
I have strong material. Here is the commentary.
Mephibosheth speaks here while defending himself against a lie, after David has already given half his family estate to the man who told it. The verse turns on two facts he holds together: a household under sentence of death, and a seat at the king's table.
Mephibosheth belonged to the family of Saul, the king David had replaced. He does not argue that the sentence over that house was unfair. He speaks as a man with nothing to plead.
Dead men have no place and no rights. They cannot claim anything, especially when they are dead under the sentence of a righteous law. And it was this that this grandson of Saul, David's great enemy, meant, so it seems to me.
Another writer asks what a man from Saul's house could normally expect from a king:
What can those who belong to the house of Saul expect from the king but death? "A king's wrath is a messenger of death" (Prov. 16:14). Mephibosheth cannot make any claims. He can only submit to the king and accept his decision.
Against that background stands one word: "but." David did more than spare him. He gave him a seat among those who ate at the royal table. Mephibosheth's boast is not in himself but in what the king chose to do.
"Worthless though I am, that is the way you have acted, and since you have done it, nothing can change it. You have done your best for me and it cannot be exceeded." It was in this that Mephibosheth boasted and not in himself. His whole delight was in David's grace, for in that grace he had displayed himself.
That seat was not a payment sent from a distance. It was nearness, and one writer follows that nearness into our own lives:
It was not only royal favour that Mephibosheth enjoyed. Instead of being shut out, he is brought so near to the king that he eats bread continually at his table, "as one of the king's sons." This is beautiful, and it goes beyond the thought of owning the inheritance. In Christ we have the inheritance, and in Him we enter into the divine favour too. But what can go higher in actual experience than this — "our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ"? As with Mephibosheth, this is not a temporary or occasional privilege. Our whole life, in its greatest and smallest details, may by the Holy Spirit be lived so near the divine presence that it shares in this fellowship.
The closing question is not bitterness. Mephibosheth is asking what is left for him to ask for.
This is wonderful. It is the highest possible position. What more could he cry for? This went much further than he would have expected in his brightest moments.
David's reply in this scene is blunt, and commentators read it differently. Some see it as a test that drew out the best in Mephibosheth:
When an engineer builds a bridge, he sends very heavy loads across it to test it. David's words do the same. They test Mephibosheth's precious faith, and what comes out of it is only the perfume of dependence and self-denial. He accepts David's will as the will of God.
Others judge David plainly at fault, unwilling to admit he had believed a lie:
Clearly David was annoyed, because he did not like to admit his mistake in accepting Ziba's slander of Mephibosheth. He ought to have apologized to Mephibosheth for this, and to have faced Ziba with how serious his lie was. Instead he dismissed Mephibosheth with no real courtesy. He told him that he and Ziba should divide the property that really belonged to Mephibosheth... David pictures Christ, yet in this case he badly misrepresented the righteousness of the Lord Jesus in the way he ran his kingdom.
Ziba, the servant who had slandered him, was after land. Mephibosheth wanted the king. That is why losing the estate could not shake him.
The contrast between Ziba and Mephibosheth is striking. Ziba was after the inheritance; Mephibosheth only wanted to be near the king... Nearness to the king himself so filled and satisfied Mephibosheth's heart that he could give it all up without any difficulty — everything Ziba had worked so hard to get by deceiving and slandering.
- Dead. His whole family stood under sentence of death. A dead man can claim nothing.
- But. The turning word of the verse is the king's free act — a seat at the royal table given to a man with no case to argue.
- Near. The seat meant nearness, not payment. It reached further than any inheritance could.
- Tested. David's harsh reply brought out what was in Mephibosheth. Commentators differ: some call it a test, others a failure in David.
- Content. He already has the highest thing, so he has no further cry. Ziba can take the land; nearness to the king is his whole joy.
And the king said to him, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land.
David has come home from exile, and lame Mephibosheth stands before him, slandered to the king by his servant Ziba. The king cuts the matter short — no verdict, no apology, just a split of the land — and the reply it draws from Mephibosheth is the heart of the story.
Several commentators read the reply as impatience, not justice.
Ziba's deception practised on the king is now discovered. But David's conduct towards lame Mephibosheth cannot be justified. The impatience David showed when Mephibosheth speaks is proof that he felt guilty at the rash word he spoke to Ziba. Then he tells Mephibosheth that he and Ziba should divide the land. This was injustice. The deception of Ziba had deserved punishment... In all this David still acts as a natural man, not as a man guided by the Lord and His Spirit. His aim was to make himself more attractive to the people and to win over the rival factions. If he had acted in faith, remembering that the Lord had called him to the kingdom and was able to keep him there, he would not have tried to gain his end by such means.
David is a picture of Christ, but here the picture breaks down. One writer traces the failure to what David would not admit.
David's answer to Mephibosheth was sadly lacking in grace and truth. He was irritated, because he did not want to admit his blunder in accepting Ziba's slander of Mephibosheth. He ought to have apologized to Mephibosheth for this, and to have faced Ziba with the seriousness of his falsehood. Instead he dismissed Mephibosheth with no real courtesy, and told him he and Ziba should divide property that really belonged to Mephibosheth — property David had already given to Ziba when Ziba brought his false report. Though David is a type of Christ, yet in this case he badly misrepresented the righteousness of the Lord Jesus in the administering of his kingdom.
Commentators differ on how to read the sting in David's words. One writer was puzzled by it for years before he saw what it drew out of Mephibosheth.
The king's unjust reply used to puzzle me: "You and Ziba shall divide the land," he said, when Mephibosheth had just told him he was loyal as ever. But now I know that this was the very answer needed. It made the true, loyal and undivided devotion of Mephibosheth's heart shine as brightly as it deserved... Houses and lands were nothing to Mephibosheth when he had the king he loved.
David tells him to stop speaking of his "affairs." Mephibosheth does not argue for his half — he gives up the whole estate, and the contrast with Ziba shows why.
The contrast between Ziba and Mephibosheth is truly striking. The former was seeking for the inheritance; the latter only desired to be near the king... "Let him take it all," he said, "since my lord the king has come safely home." His heart was set on David, not on the "affairs." How could he stand on the same footing as Ziba? How could he divide the land with such a man? Impossible!... Being near the king filled and satisfied Mephibosheth's heart. So he could give up, without any difficulty, everything that Ziba had worked so hard to get by deceit and slander.
One writer sees Ziba's wish alive in Christians today.
I don't care about the land, says Mephibosheth. That was all Ziba cared for. He wanted the earth. Like the worldly Christian, he wants things on earth. Mephibosheth says, I don't want the land, I wanted you. I wanted your presence, I wanted to be for you, and with you.
Mephibosheth's whole answer rests on one fact: the king is home. One writer looks from that return to the one still ahead.
Who can tell how soon He may come for whom we wait? His very last words were "Surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" Did David return, and will not David's Lord? Yes, our eyes shall soon behold Him. Oh, bright and blessed hope! Not the millennium. Not fulfilments of prophecy. These are blessed in their place. But it is Jesus Himself that the believer, washed in His blood, longs to see.
- Grace wronged. Ziba's lie cost Mephibosheth land that was rightly his, and David believed the lie.
- Grace tested. Gaebelein calls David's curt ruling injustice. Willis reads the same harsh sentence as the test that made Mephibosheth's loyalty shine.
- Grace answered. "Let him take it all" — the heart engaged with the king's person could not stand on the same footing as the slanderer who wanted the estate.
- Grace contrasted. Ziba wanted the earth; Mephibosheth wanted the man. The division sorted the two desires in public.
- Grace rewarded. David came safely home. Stanley presses the question the scene leaves: if David returned, will not David's Lord?
And Mephibosheth said to the king, Let him even take all, since my lord the king is come again in peace to his own house.
Absalom's rebellion is over, and David is on his way back to Jerusalem. The king has just told Mephibosheth, who is lame, to split the family land with Ziba, the servant who lied about him — and Mephibosheth gives the whole estate away.
David's ruling sounds unfair. One writer admits it often puzzled him, until he saw what it drew out of Mephibosheth:
I was often puzzled by the king's unjust reply, "You and Ziba divide the land," when Mephibosheth told the king he was loyal as ever. But now I know that just that answer was needed. It made the true, loyal and undivided devotion of Mephibosheth's heart shine as brightly as it deserved. He says: "Oh, let him take it all, since my lord the king has come safely home." Houses and lands were nothing to Mephibosheth when he had the king he loved.
Ziba had worked hard to get the property. Put the two men side by side, and they want opposite things:
The contrast between Ziba and Mephibosheth is truly striking. Ziba was after the inheritance. Mephibosheth only wanted to be near the king… His heart was set on David, not on the "matters." How could he be put on the same level as Ziba? How could he divide the land with such a man? Impossible! The king had returned; this was enough for him. To be near him was far better than all the inheritance of the house of Saul. "Let him take all." Being near the king so filled and satisfied Mephibosheth's heart that he could easily give up everything Ziba had lied and cheated to get.
Why could he give up the land so easily? Grace had already won him:
David had captured the heart of Mephibosheth by his grace. Now his one desire was that David should have his rights, and that the king should let him stay where he had put him. "Let Ziba take all," he said. "I want nothing for myself."
Notice what he does not ask for. Ziba had robbed him and lied about him, yet Mephibosheth asks for no property and no verdict against him:
His joy at the king's return in peace was so great that he does not even ask the king to punish his slandering, thieving servant. He wanted no property; he sought nothing for himself. The person of the king was everything to him, and his one desire was that the king should have his rights… I set Mephibosheth, lame and of no apparent use to the king, as the greatest of all the king's men.
Commentators differ on how David comes out of this. Most look past his ruling to admire Mephibosheth. One weighs the king himself:
David treats him like a man who cannot escape the conviction that he had been too hasty, and yet will not face the injustice he has done… David compromises with his conscience and with his promise to Ziba. His blunt, irritable manner shows that he is ill at ease. The son of Jonathan shows the spirit of his father — affection that cannot be bought, and that the undeserved treatment he receives cannot change… We would like to think the cloud could lift from David here, but the history leaves him under it, and so must we.
One writer reads the scene as a picture of the Christian waiting for a Lord who is away:
Mephibosheth had received David's kindness with complete confidence. Despite all his lameness, he had never doubted that David's love was real. He waited patiently for David's return, bearing every reproach until the time should come… Who can tell how soon He may come, for whom we wait? … it is Jesus Himself that the believer, washed in His blood, longs to see.
The same thread runs through another writer's comment: the portion is the person, and everything else can then be held loosely.
Now that the king has come home again in peace, Mephibosheth's cup is full. His portion was in David himself, and because it is so, even the good things of David, the gifts and favour of his hand, he can let go with a willing heart.
- Grace first. David's grace had already captured Mephibosheth's heart; houses and lands meant nothing to him once he had the king he loved.
- Test next. The king's blunt "divide the land" looked unjust. That very answer made Mephibosheth's undivided loyalty shine.
- Choice revealed. Ziba wanted the inheritance. Mephibosheth only wanted to be near the king, and that was enough to make him let the whole estate go.
- Claims dropped. He asked for no property. He did not even ask the king to punish the servant who had lied about him. His one desire was that the king should have his rights.
- Cloud remains. One writer sees David uneasy with his own haste, bargaining with his conscience. The history never lifts that cloud.