Are we truly “content to let the world go by” just as long as the King has His rightful place?
As David makes his way up to the royal city, his next recorded meeting is with Mephibosheth. Ziba, his steward, had fled with David, bringing along a supply of provisions. When David wondered aloud where Jonathan’s lame son was, Ziba said, “He is staying in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will restore the kingdom of my father to me’” (2 Sam 16:3). If that was the case, Mephibosheth had a strange way of showing his joy! “Now Mephibosheth…had not cared for his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he returned” (19:24). It was as if time stopped for him the moment David left. David had assumed Ziba was telling the truth on the outbound journey, and said he could have all of Mephibosheth’s restored estates when they returned. But it’s never a good idea to pass judgment when we only hear one side of a story. Now David finally asks Mephibosheth to hear his side. I’m lame, he says, and dependent on the physical help of Ziba. But he left without me. I’m not complaining, he adds, “For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet you set your servant among those who eat at your own table. Therefore what right have I still to cry out anymore to the king?” (v 28). Perhaps now David realizes he has acted too hastily, and uses a ploy his son will later use effectively with two women disputing the motherhood of a baby. Says David, “Why do you speak anymore of your matters? I have said, ‘You and Ziba divide the land’” (v 29). Now the truth comes out in Mephibosheth’s reply: “Let him take it all, inasmuch as my lord the king has come back in peace to his own house” (v 30). Let him have the stuff; I just want the king!