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Bible Dictionaries
Mephibosheth
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Mephib'osheth. (exterminating the idol). The name borne by two members of the family of Saul - his son and his grandson.
1. Saul's son, by Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, his concubine. 2 Samuel 21:8. He and his brother, Armoni, were among the seven victims, who were surrendered by David to the Gibeonites, and by them, crucified to avert a famine, from which the country was suffering.
2. The son of Jonathan, grandson of Saul, and nephew of Mephibosheth, 1; called also Merib-baal. 1 Chronicles 8:34. His life seems to have been, from beginning to end, one of trial and discomfort. When his father and grandfather were slain on Gilboa, he was an infant, but five years old. At this age, he met with an accident which deprived him, for life, of the use of both feet. 2 Samuel 4:4. After this, he is found a home with Machir ben-Ammiel, a powerful Gadite, who brought him up, and while here, was married.
Later on, David invited him to Jerusalem, and there treated him, and his son, Micha, with the greatest kindness. From this time forward, he resided at Jerusalem. Of Mephibosheth's behavior during the rebellion of Absalom, we possess two accounts - his own, 2 Samuel 13:24-30, and that of Ziba, 2 Samuel 16:1-4. They are naturally, at variance with each other. In consequence of the story of Ziba, he was rewarded by the possessions of his master.
Mephibosheth's story - which however, he had not the opportunity of telling, until several days later, when he met David returning to his kingdom, at the western bank of Jordan - was very different from Ziba's. That David did not disbelieve it, is shown by his revoking the judgment, he had previously given. That he did not entirely reverse his decision, but allowed Ziba to retain possession of half the lands of Mephibosheth, is probably due partly to weariness at the whole transaction, but mainly to the conciliatory frame of mind in which he was at that moment. "Shall there any man be put to death this day?" is the keynote of the whole proceeding.
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Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Mephibosheth'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/m/mephibosheth.html. 1901.
