Alrighty, let’s get our bearings on where we’re at.
When we last left off, the setting was Avshalom’s attempted takeover of his father’s kingdom.
During this time, the gentile servant Tziva appeared to support David by showing up bearing gifts for him in his time of need.
Meanwhile, Mephibosheth was nowhere to be found, making it look like he had betrayed David.
If you’d like to review the passage, click HERE.
Now, following our Sod (deeper) interpretation of Scripture…
If King David represents Messiah Yeshua…
Mephibosheth represents the dispersed Israelites in the Diaspora…
And Tziva represents the gentile church…
Then, it seems as if Messiah cast off His people and replaced them with the gentile Christian church.
However, as I hinted at yesterday, there may be more to this picture than meets the eye.
And indeed there is!
We’re gonna look at another passage that tells us what really happened between Tziva and Mephibosheth.
But before you do, lemme give you the context.
Here’s the situation:
David’s rebellious son Avshalom is dead.
The uprising is over, and God’s anointed king is back in charge!
As David heads back to Jerusalem, guess who shows up?
None other than the crippled Mephibosheth!
With that backdrop in mind, let’s read 2nd Samuel 19:25-30.
“When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, ‘Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?‘
He said, ‘My lord the king, since I, your servant, am lame, I said, ‘I will have my donkey saddled and will ride on it, so I can go with the king.’ But Tziva, my servant, betrayed me. And he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. My lord, the king is like an angel of God, so do whatever you wish. All my grandfather’s descendants deserved nothing but death from my lord the king, but you gave your servant a place among those who eat at your table. So what right do I have to make any more appeals to the king?”
The king said to him, ‘Why say more? I order you and Tziva to divide the land.’
Mephibosheth said to the king, ‘Let him take everything, now that my lord the king has returned home safely.’”
Well, well, well, it turns out that gentile caretaker Tziva was not as righteous as he made himself out to be.
He duped his master Mephibosheth…
He duped the king…
Heck, I think he may even have duped himself.
Mephibosheth had every intention of pledging full allegiance to King David…
He was in the process of preparing an offering and gifts to bring to David.
But before he could, Tziva swooped in and stole everything Mephibosheth had prepared…
Then, he took it to the King—acting like all the goods were his own!
To make matters worse, Tziva told David a bald-faced lie…
That Mephibosheth had betrayed him!
What a low move.
David knew instantly he’d been tricked by the gentile.
But it’s his response that was unexpected.
.“Alright,” he said.
“Split it.
You’ll both get a share in the kingdom.”
See, even though the land legally belonged to Mephibosheth, Tziva had been taking care of it for years.
Sure, Tziva had elevated his status beyond what it was…
But that didn’t mean he was out completely.
In the end, both got a piece of the estate—Mephibosheth, the rightful heir, and Tziva, the long-time caretaker.
The Hebrews and the Gentiles were both included in the blessings of Israel.
So, what are the theological implications of this?
First, this is a perfect illustration—and a warning—of what the gentile Church has done to the Jewish people for centuries.
And to be fair, it also exposes the mistaken idea some Jews have—that only they have a place before the God of Israel.
The truth?
God sees both parties as having a claim.
But here’s where the church has gone wrong:
They’ve misled the Israelites, and they’ve misled ourselves.
They’ve told the Jews they can follow their own Messiah only if they give up their Hebrew identity and become pork-eating, Christmas and Easter-celebrating gentiles like themselves.
In other words, they’ve been saying, “You can join us in what’s OURS—but only on our terms.”
The Israelites were preparing to follow their Messiah, but then the Gentiles showed up.
They wrested control away from the Jews and treated them like they’d lost their rightful place.
Or another way to put it…
They took the inheritance meant for Israel and claimed it as their own.
Then they turned to King Messiah and said:
“Look! These gifts are from us (the gentile church) because the Israelites you put in charge didn’t want to follow you.”
But that was a lie.
Are you seeing the picture here?
For a time, the gentile Tziva (the church) took over Israel’s estate, acting like it was rightfully his—like he had earned his place because the Israelites seemed too weak to claim their inheritance.
But later, the King finds out the truth that Mephibosheth, the Israelite, had been deceived!
He had always planned to follow the King (the Messiah), but the gentile got in the way.
It was the gentile who snatched the gifts, took the inheritance, and claimed it all for himself.
It was the gentile who arrogantly put himself above the Hebrew—pushing him aside like he didn’t even belong.
After the kingdom was taken back from the rebel (Avshalom)…
The King (the Messiah) was heading back to Jerusalem.
That’s when he saw Mephibosheth—the crippled, worn-down Israelite—finally coming to Him with gifts.
The King asked, “Why didn’t you follow me before now?”
Mephibosheth answered…
“I wanted to!
But the gentile tricked me.
He stole my offering…
Lied to you…
And then claimed my inheritance.
Now… I don’t know if I have a place in your kingdom any more.
I don’t even feel like I have the right to ask.”
But the King shook His head.
“There’s no need for that.
Of course, you have a place!
In fact, you both do.
You stand on equal ground.”
And with that, He split the inheritance between them.
So what’s the big takeaway from all of this?
Well, here’s the new reality that the Gentile Church can no longer ignore as much as it would like to.
In our day and age, the Almighty has restored Mephibosheth to his rightful inheritance.
This is evidenced by the resurrection of Israel in 1948…
The retaking of Jerusalem in 1967…
And Jews around the world returning to their eternal Promised Land.
Mephibosheth has been restored and resurrected to his rightful place.
But the gentile caretaker (the Christian church) isn’t too comfortable about this.
They are beginning to realize that what was once a crippled Israel who they thought God had abandoned has NOT been forsaken after all!
Sensing their position is in danger, they don’t know how to deal with this new reality.
The church is being forced to answer questions such as…
Where do we fit in now that it’s clear the Lord never abandoned the Jews in the first place?
How do we deal with the fact that the wall we built between us and the Jewish people is being torn down by God Himself?
What do we do with all those church doctrines that took Israel’s inheritance and handed it to us—now that it’s clear we were wrong from the start?
These are big questions with no easy answers.
But they can no longer be ignored.
I like to think my humble little blog is doing its small part to welcome Mephibosheth back…
And shed some light on where Tziva (the gentile church) has erred.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Or is God the God of Jews only?
Is he not the God of Gentiles too?
Yes, of Gentiles too,
since there is only one God,
who will justify the circumcised by faith
and the uncircumcised
through that same faith.”
-Romans 3:29
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN 2ND SAMUEL CHAPTER TEN
One think to add, if I may, is that in the end, both will have to obey the King.
And once other thing the church has done has been to recreate the king, changing not just his appearance, but his divinity and his laws.
I didn’t think that will go over very well with the true king.
Thanks for your additional comment. Agree.