“The king said, ‘Is there anyone still alive from the family of Sha’ul, to whom I can show God’s grace?” Tziva said to the king, “There is still Y’honatan’s son with the lame legs.‘”-2 Samuel 9:3
So let’s continue with our discussion from yesterday.
In verse 3, when David says he wants to show grace or CHESED to any surviving member of Saul’s family…
This might surprise you but this really wasn’t about showing “grace” or “kindness”…
It was more about David keeping a covenant vow he made to Jonathan.
So when Tziva, the high servant who was in charge of Saul’s estate, was summoned, he told David that indeed there was a member of Saul’s family still alive.
However, Tziva added this survivor had “lame legs.”
Now, there’s some nuance here I need to make sure you homies are privy to.
See, Tziva wasn’t just answering David’s question…
He was trying to cast Mephibosheth in a bad light.
That’s right.
Tziva was throwing Mephibosheth under the bus.
There’s another point we shouldn’t overlook that points to an unspoken question.
If there are survivors from Saul’s family…
why in the world is a servant like Tziva running Saul’s estate?
See, it wasn’t lost on Tziva that if there were no remaining family members, he would remain in power.
So he had to explain to David why he was in charge of Saul’s estate when Mephibosheth could’ve been.
He wasn’t stupid enough to lie to the king.
He had to admit there was a member of Saul’s family alive…
But had to explain why this member wasn’t ruling over Saul’s estate.
That’s why Tziva added “Oh, but he’s a cripple.”
The real meaning?
“Yeah, there’s a survivor, but don’t expect much from him.”
In ancient times, crippled folks were seriously looked down on.
Most ended up begging on the streets because people saw them as useless.
A crippled person could never hold a high position.
No one would trust them to handle important duties or defend their role from challengers.
Again, they were despised.
Many thought they were cursed by God.
In the New Testament, Yeshua challenged this mindset.
He spoke out against the idea that disabled people are worthless.
Okay, so normally that would lead to the takeaway for today.
But I wanna save that for tomorrow because there’s more to go into.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
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