Mephibosheth

About Mephibosheth

Mephibosheth, also known as Merib-baal, was the son of Jonathan and grandson of King Saul (1Ch.8.34; 9.40). He was five years old when his father and grandfather died in battle at Mount Gilboa (2Sa.4.4). During the panic following their deaths, Mephibosheth's nurse picked him up to flee, but he fell and became lame in both feet (2Sa.4.4). Years later, when David had established his kingdom, he sought to show kindness to Mephibosheth for the sake of his father Jonathan (2Sa.9.6). David restored to him all the land that had belonged to Saul and allowed him to eat at the king's table regularly (2Sa.9.6,10,11,13). Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica (2Sa.9.12). During Absalom's rebellion, Mephibosheth's servant Ziba falsely accused him of disloyalty to David (2Sa.16.1,4). After Absalom's death, Mephibosheth met David and explained that Ziba had deceived him (2Sa.19.24,25). David divided Saul's land between Mephibosheth and Ziba (2Sa.19.30). Later, when the Gibeonites demanded seven of Saul's descendants to avenge Saul's attempt to annihilate them, David spared Mephibosheth because of his oath to Jonathan (2Sa.21.7).

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.