Mephibosheth
Pronounced meh-FIB-oh-sheth
- Meaning
- "Exterminator of shame; From the mouth of shame"
- Origin
- Hebrew
Mephibosheth means "exterminator of shame" or "from the mouth of shame" in Hebrew. He was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of King Saul — a prince who became a cripple and whose story illustrates one of the Bible's most beautiful pictures of unmerited grace. When Mephibosheth was five years old, news of Saul and Jonathan's deaths reached the palace. His nurse grabbed him and fled, but dropped him in her haste. Both his feet were permanently injured, leaving him unable to walk. The prince became a pauper, living in obscurity in Lo-debar — a place whose name means "no pasture" or "nothing." Years later, David asked: "Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" When Mephibosheth was brought before the king, he fell on his face and called himself "a dead dog." But David restored all of Saul's lands to him and gave him a permanent place at the king's table. This story is the Old Testament's clearest picture of Gospel grace: an enemy's grandson, crippled and hiding in a place of nothing, summoned not for judgment but for kindness, restored to royalty, and given a permanent seat at the king's table — all "for Jonathan's sake," not for his own merit.
Spiritual meaning
Mephibosheth — crippled, hiding, called 'a dead dog' — was invited to the king's table forever. His story is the Gospel: we are broken enemies invited to feast with the King, not for our sake but for Another's.
Related verses (KJV)
"And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually."
2 Samuel 9:7 (KJV) →"So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king's table; and was lame on both his feet."
2 Samuel 9:13 (KJV) →