Daily Power-up: 2 Samuel 9:3-8
3 Then the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?”
And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.”
4 So the king said to him, “Where is he?”
And Ziba said to the king, “Indeed he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar.”
5 Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar.
6 Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?”
And he answered, “Here is your servant!”
7 So David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.”
8 Then he bowed himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?”
Personal Reflection: Mephibosheth- From Dead Dog to Royal Son
Beware. This is a story about FEAR!
My first memories are the sound of a woman screaming and the pain of something very heavy crushing my legs. Both legs. After that, no more memories, except adult voices telling me to “be quiet,” or to “get down behind the hedge,” or just warning me that “The Evil King wants to kill you.”
The warnings came so often, and with such urgency, that “Fear of the Evil King” colored every part of my life. I was afraid to go outside and play. I was afraid of loud sounds. Angry voices sent me scurrying to a safe cave I’d made beneath a stack of smelly old blankets.
Whenever King David was mentioned, everyone would look my way with sad eyes, as if the Evil King was already sizing me up for the kill.
I wished I could run and escape far away from the dangers, maybe move to Moab or Egypt or Kansas, somewhere far from the power of the Evil King. Often, I wished I had never been born, that my nurse had not dropped me beneath the wheels of the wagon, that my legs still worked, and that I could live through at least one full day without being afraid.
“He will kill you,” the village grandfather said, “like you’re nobody from nowhere.” The others nodded in agreement.
I was afraid of Evil King David. Every day I prayed that he would not find me. Not ever.
Then he came. Well, not him, but one of his servants, a slippery-looking man with a loud-wheeled cart and two strong donkeys. “The King,” he proclaimed, “commands that Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, be brought to the courtroom in Jerusalem.”
I had hidden in my cave, but one of the man’s slaves hauled me from under the blankets and plopped me into the cart, into a pile of stinking straw where two slaves watched me as if I was about to jump over the side of the cart and sprint away to safety. Only in my dreams.
I sat, weak with unspeakable terror, for every mile of the three-day journey. “He’ll kill you like a dirty dog,” one of the slaves snarled. “And laugh at every scream you give him,” the other smirked.
Jerusalem was huge, far greater than I had imagined. A “real” city so different from where I had been, in Lo Debar. “Nowhere and Nothing,” that’s what Lo Debar meant, a dirty collection of broken-down hovels beside a hill without a name. “Nowhere.” I was just nobody from this nowhere. No better than a dead dog.
They carried me directly to the throne room of the Evil King, a room that was larger than all of Lo Debar, splendid with purple carpets, scarlet walls, and golden lamps. A lovely place to die.
Ziba, my captor, growled for the slaves to make me look like I was standing. “The King wants to see Saul’s grandson. Look smart, little man.”
Someone, a person with a clear loud voice, announced my presence.
“Our special guest is Mephibosheth, son of Prince Jonathan, son of King Saul, the last meaningful remnant of the royal family.”
“Mephie! You’re still alive!”
The voice was like a golden harp celebrating sunrise. It came from a brightly-robed man who was rushing at me from the golden throne, his arms spread wide, his face glowing with excitement. His was the friendliest voice I had ever heard.
“Mephie! Let me look at you! I heard that your legs were broken when you were young, but that your heart and spirit are as strong as those of your father, prince Jonathan. You know, I’m sure, that your father was the best friend I have ever had. We were two gallant young warriors, blood brothers and best friends forever!”
I was stunned. My greatest enemy was treating a “dead dog” as a favorite long-lost friend.
“Someone get a pillow for Mephibosheth so he can sit in his new chair right next to mine at the king’s table. Mephie, this will be your place as long as I live!”
Sit in a chair? My chair? At the King’s table? This was not the Evil King I had been taught to fear. The fearful monarch was a man who above all else wished to do God’s will – to love me as Jehovah Himself loves His own children.
My eyes filled with tears, angry and thankful tears that fell hot upon my cheeks. No one had told me of his love for my father, only that I must fear his hatred. Yet now, as his arms hoisted me into my new chair, right beside his at the king’s banqueting table, my fear and anger fell away like worn out clothing. I was home.
“Rejoice, everyone,” my friend the King shouted loud enough so even the people of Lo Debar could hear. “This is Jonathan’s son, Mephie. He is of Royal blood. I feared he was dead, but he is alive. He was lost, but now he is found. Let the celebration begin!”
Dick Duerksen
serves as a Storyteller for the Oregon Conference. He is also the 50-year husband of Brenda, father of Jeremy, Julene, and Joy, grandfather to Griffyn, Gwendolyn, and Séamus, protector of Queen Sheba the Kuvasz, and the author of Storycatcher, a book about God’s Grace. www.storycatcher.world
Bible in a Year: Zephaniah 1-3
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Zephaniah 1
The Great Day of the Lord
1 The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
The Great Day of the Lord
2 “I will utterly consume everything
From the face of the land,”
Says the Lord;
3 “I will consume man and beast;
I will consume the birds of the heavens,
The fish of the sea,
And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked.
I will cut off man from the face of the land,”
Says the Lord.
4 “I will stretch out My hand against Judah,
And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place,
The names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests—
5 Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;
Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord,
But who also swear by Milcom;
6 Those who have turned back from following the Lord,
And have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.”
7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord God;
For the day of the Lord is at hand,
For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
He has invited His guests.
8 “And it shall be,
In the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,
That I will punish the princes and the king’s children,
And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
9 In the same day I will punish
All those who leap over the threshold,
Who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
10 “And there shall be on that day,” says the Lord,
“The sound of a mournful cry from the Fish Gate,
A wailing from the Second Quarter,
And a loud crashing from the hills.
11 Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh!
For all the merchant people are cut down;
All those who handle money are cut off.
12 “And it shall come to pass at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And punish the men
Who are settled in complacency,
Who say in their heart,
‘The Lord will not do good,
Nor will He do evil.’
13 Therefore their goods shall become booty,
And their houses a desolation;
They shall build houses, but not inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.”
14 The great day of the Lord is near;
It is near and hastens quickly.
The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter;
There the mighty men shall cry out.
15 That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of devastation and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 A day of trumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities
And against the high towers.
17 “I will bring distress upon men,
And they shall walk like blind men,
Because they have sinned against the Lord;
Their blood shall be poured out like dust,
And their flesh like refuse.”
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
Shall be able to deliver them
In the day of the Lord’s wrath;
But the whole land shall be devoured
By the fire of His jealousy,
For He will make speedy riddance
Of all those who dwell in the land.
Zephaniah 2
A Call to Repentance
1 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together,
O undesirable nation,
2 Before the decree is issued,
Or the day passes like chaff,
Before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you,
Before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you!
3 Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth,
Who have upheld His justice.
Seek righteousness, seek humility.
It may be that you will be hidden
In the day of the Lord’s anger.
Judgment on Nations
4 For Gaza shall be forsaken,
And Ashkelon desolate;
They shall drive out Ashdod at noonday,
And Ekron shall be uprooted.
5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,
The nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the Lord is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines:
“I will destroy you;
So there shall be no inhabitant.”
6 The seacoast shall be pastures,
With shelters for shepherds and folds for flocks.
7 The coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah;
They shall feed their flocks there;
In the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God will intervene for them,
And return their captives.
8 “I have heard the reproach of Moab,
And the insults of the people of Ammon,
With which they have reproached My people,
And made arrogant threats against their borders.
9 Therefore, as I live,”
Says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
“Surely Moab shall be like Sodom,
And the people of Ammon like Gomorrah—
Overrun with weeds and saltpits,
And a perpetual desolation.
The residue of My people shall plunder them,
And the remnant of My people shall possess them.”
10 This they shall have for their pride,
Because they have reproached and made arrogant threats
Against the people of the Lord of hosts.
11 The Lord will be awesome to them,
For He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth;
People shall worship Him,
Each one from his place,
Indeed all the shores of the nations.
12 “You Ethiopians also,
You shall be slain by My sword.”
13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north,
Destroy Assyria,
And make Nineveh a desolation,
As dry as the wilderness.
14 The herds shall lie down in her midst,
Every beast of the nation.
Both the pelican and the bittern
Shall lodge on the capitals of her pillars;
Their voice shall sing in the windows;
Desolation shall be at the threshold;
For He will lay bare the cedar work.
15 This is the rejoicing city
That dwelt securely,
That said in her heart,
“I am it, and there is none besides me.”
How has she become a desolation,
A place for beasts to lie down!
Everyone who passes by her
Shall hiss and shake his fist.
Zephaniah 3
The Wickedness of Jerusalem
1 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted,
To the oppressing city!
2 She has not obeyed His voice,
She has not received correction;
She has not trusted in the Lord,
She has not drawn near to her God.
3 Her princes in her midst are roaring lions;
Her judges are evening wolves
That leave not a bone till morning.
4 Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people;
Her priests have polluted the sanctuary,
They have done violence to the law.
5 The Lord is righteous in her midst,
He will do no unrighteousness.
Every morning He brings His justice to light;
He never fails,
But the unjust knows no shame.
6 “I have cut off nations,
Their fortresses are devastated;
I have made their streets desolate,
With none passing by.
Their cities are destroyed;
There is no one, no inhabitant.
7 I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me,
You will receive instruction’—
So that her dwelling would not be cut off,
Despite everything for which I punished her.
But they rose early and corrupted all their deeds.
A Faithful Remnant
8 “Therefore wait for Me,” says the Lord,
“Until the day I rise up for plunder;
My determination is to gather the nations
To My assembly of kingdoms,
To pour on them My indignation,
All My fierce anger;
All the earth shall be devoured
With the fire of My jealousy.
9 “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language,
That they all may call on the name of the Lord,
To serve Him with one accord.
10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia
My worshipers,
The daughter of My dispersed ones,
Shall bring My offering.
11 In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds
In which you transgress against Me;
For then I will take away from your midst
Those who rejoice in your pride,
And you shall no longer be haughty
In My holy mountain.
12 I will leave in your midst
A meek and humble people,
And they shall trust in the name of the Lord.
13 The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness
And speak no lies,
Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth;
For they shall feed their flocks and lie down,
And no one shall make them afraid.”
Joy in God’s Faithfulness
14 Sing, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
15 The Lord has taken away your judgments,
He has cast out your enemy.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
You shall see disaster no more.
16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Do not fear;
Zion, let not your hands be weak.
17 The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
18 “I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly,
Who are among you,
To whom its reproach is a burden.
19 Behold, at that time
I will deal with all who afflict you;
I will save the lame,
And gather those who were driven out;
I will appoint them for praise and fame
In every land where they were put to shame.
20 At that time I will bring you back,
Even at the time I gather you;
For I will give you fame and praise
Among all the peoples of the earth,
When I return your captives before your eyes,”
Says the Lord.