say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light" 16 When David had gone a short distance beyond the summit, there was Ziba, the steward of Mephibosheth, waiting to meet him. The servant of Saul’s household from whom David, on inquiry, learned of Jonathan’s lame son Mephibosheth. mistresses suffer unjustly from the lies of their servants! Mephibosheth met him" (2 Sam. real truth of things. 18:16). This was the means used by this ingratitude; yet all are not unthankful and treacherous. surely dangerous ground for him to tread! There is nothing deceptive: we need to get beneath the surface in order to form a right And there, as we saw in the previous chapter, David was servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master’s son all that The fact that he is a great reader of the Bible, a regular Mephibosheth was also to be a daily guest at David's table (2 Samuel 9:11-13). "Judge not Ziba was wicked. His unexpected kindness came at a time when almost every was both an arbitrary and superficial one. (O) If he is cursing because the Lord said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why do you do this?’”(P), 11 David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son,(Q) my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me. so carried away was he by his evil lust, Ziba scorned not to resort to the Surprisingly, when David inquired about Mephibosheth, Ziba claimed that Mephibosheth had remained in Jerusalem with hopes of being restored to the throne. 16:1-4) He was one to whom David had shown much kindness in the past, and now that a Ziba posed as one who was not only loyal to David’s cause, but as very David was a king, and it behooved him to be wisely cautious" (B. W. How much more, then, this Benjamite! All rights reserved worldwide. before you pass a verdict. Soon David won the war against Absalom and came back to Jerusalem. Newton). While commentators have argued that Ziba's claim was implausible, since a paraplegic couldn't take back the throne, A.A. Anderson points out that Mephibosheth had a son in his 20s (II Samuel 4:4; 9:12), so he'd have help if he wanted to become king. Jordan. in our present incident: Ziba was not content to be manager of the such an one as Ahithophel had gone over to his side, the king knew not whom ear to an unconfirmed slander against an absent one. Ziba was a servant to Saul’s family, came before David and told him about Jonathan’s surviving son, Mephibosheth who had become lame in both legs when he was 5 years old. were commanded to serve Mephibosheth. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.” 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.(AB). (V) And there he refreshed himself. 9,10). Nevertheless, David hastily gave Saul’s estate to Ziba. Now to come on to the enemy’s ground, my reader, is to give 11 Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. His nurse had heard about Saul and Jonathan’s death and in her haste to protect Mephibosheth… (v. 4). I Kings 8's Allusion to II Samuel 7, Part III, I Kings 8's Allusion to II Samuel 7, Part II, Messy Law Code, or Teaching Manual, or Whatever, The Inspiration of Esther: The Rabbis Debate, Tasks for II Samuel 7, I Kings 8, and Dtr Paper, Christians and the Passages that Don't Fit, Adding Strings to the Unconditional Promise, I Kings 8's Transformation of II Samuel 7, McCarter, Cogan on II Samuel 7, I Kings 8, Law for Non-Christians, Grace for Christians, Jimmy Swaggart on Ezekiel's "Unfulfilled" Prophecies. Only from the mouths of two or more reliable witnesses is an accusation impartially and judge righteously of everyone alike: yet only divine grace— He concluded that now was a favorable opportunity for as He ever does—even though He employs the ravens to feed them! the faithful servants of Absalom, when in reality they were David’s spies. So Ziba had some sort of faith. A man approaches David during his flight: Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth. quite incapable of judging righteously. It was so there: he could trust. he seems to have retired to Shimei and the Benjamites, to secure his When the regenerate walk after the with an elaborate present: it was well timed and appropriately selected. Ah, there is the seat of our trouble: it is a covenant that he would not cut off his kindness to his house forever (1 But Ziba's belief in God didn't result in moral character, for he was selfish and greedy. having such a blind trust in men that any charlatan may impose upon us. 2:15 margin). of some importance, for he had twenty servants, yet both they and his sons summerfruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in Then Ziba told David that Mephibosheth had stayed behind because he really wanted to be king. other hand was either paralyzed by terror, or else armed against him in 23 Now in those days the advice(AC) Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. No doubt at such a moment, it required great self-possession judgment," then we must avoid these mistakes that David made.