1 Samuel 20

A Promise And How It Was Kept

Thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever. 1 Samuel 20:15.

I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. 2 Samuel 9:7.

Once upon a time there were two young men who were fast friends. They loved each other as perhaps no two friends have ever done before or since. One of them was a prince, the other had been a shepherd and a soldier and he was now an outlaw. For the king, the prince's father, did not love him as the prince did. It had come to his knowledge that one day this young shepherd-soldier would sit on the throne, and he was very jealous. He was so jealous that he tried to take the young man's life, and the youth had to flee from him.

So the time came when the prince and the soldier must part. The prince must stay beside his father, for that was his duty, but the soldier must hide himself among the hills so that the king might not find him.

The two friends were very, very sad, and very, very sorry; and because they were so sad and sorry, and because they loved each other so much, they made a vow one with another. The prince knew that some day the soldier would come to the throne, that he would take the place that was really his. Unlike his father, he was not a bit jealous. He loved his friend so much that he was glad when anything good happened to him. But he made him promise that he would never forget him. And the soldier promised that, whatever happened, he would always show kindness to the prince and to his sons and grandsons who should come after him. So they parted.

Later God sent the prince a little son, and the prince gave him an odd long name. He called him Mephibosheth.

For the first five years of his life little Mephibosheth had a very happy time. He lived in a palace and was very much petted and adored. And he was quite sure that nobody had such a splendid daddy as he. For Mephibosheth loved and admired his father tremendously. Who was so brave, or so handsome, or so good? He liked to see him dressed in his beautiful shining armor and wearing on his face such a brave, stern look: for daddy went a great deal to war in those days. But best of all he loved the quiet evenings when there was no fighting and daddy lifted him on his knees before bedtime and told him stories of the great battles of long ago.

There was one story he liked specially to hear. It was the tale of how the young shepherd boy who was daddy's greatest friend fought the big giant who was frightening all the famous warriors of his land. Often and often the prince spoke about this friend. He used to tell how brave he was, and how loving and kind. And sometimes his voice would grow husky, and something that was warm and wet would fall on Mephibosheth's brow. Then the little boy would put up his hand and stroke his father's face and say, “Don't cry, Daddy: I love you too.”

There was one thing that the prince repeated over and over again: “If ever you are in trouble, Mephibosheth, and I am away, you must go to this friend. He will help you and be kind to you for he has promised. And he never breaks his promise.”

When Mephibosheth was just live years old there came a very sad morning when daddy came in all dressed in his shining armor and told his little son that he was going away to fight grandfather's enemies. I think he must have known he would never come back, for his face looked so sad, and he kissed Mephibosheth long and tenderly and told him always to be a good boy.

That evening there was terrible excitement in the palace. Messengers came rushing in bearing very bad news. There had been a great battle and the king's army had been defeated. The king was killed, and the brave prince, and other two of the king's sons. And the enemy were in pursuit. They would soon reach the palace, and they would kill everyone they found there. The women and children must flee for their lives.

In terror, Mephibosheth's nurse caught him up in her arms, set him on her shoulder, and ran with him as fast as she could away from the palace. And as she ran she tripped and fell. The boy was dashed violently against some stones, and his feet were injured. Oh how they hurt! After that he didn't quite know what happened. Somebody picked him up and ran on and on with him, on and on across a river, on and on till they came to a farm among the hills, where a kind farmer offered to take care of the king's grandson.

When Mephibosheth came to himself he discovered a very sad thing he was lame in both his feet! He would never be able to run and play like other boys: he would always be a helpless cripple. Besides that his dear daddy was dead. He would never see him again. Don't you think he must have been a very sad and sorry little boy that day?

There was another thing that made him sad. Always his friends kept saying that they must hide him from David. David was the new king who sat on grandfather's throne; and if David knew there was such a person as Mephibosheth he would want to kill him, they said. For it often happened in those cruel days that the new king put to death all the relatives of the old king.

Mephibosheth was puzzled. “David!” Wasn't that the name of daddy's great friend the brave shepherd who slew the giant? And daddy had told him to go to David if he was in trouble. Yet they said David wanted to kill him. It was all very odd. Of course he couldn't go to David now because of his poor lame feet, and nobody would take him. And later he began to half believe the things these friends of his grandfather told him. You see he was very little, and daddy was dead, and there was no one to tell him anything better.

So the years passed until Mephibosheth had grown to be a man and was married and had a little boy of his own.

Then one evening, away in his palace in Jerusalem, King David sat thinking about the long ago days when he was a young man. He had been very busy fighting the enemies of his country since he came to the throne, but now the land was at peace and he had time to think His mind went back to the day when he had fought the giant, to the days when he had lived in King Saul's palace, to the days when he had wandered as an outlaw among the hills. And always in his thoughts there was the remembrance of a friend who had been true and unselfish and loyal, a friend who would have laid down his life for him.

One scene especially came back to his memory. It was a scene in a field where this friend, on the eve of their parting, made him promise a solemn promise that he would be kind to him and to his children for ever.

And David cried out with a great longing “Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake?”

Now some of his servants overheard him and they said, “There is here an old servant of Saul called Ziba. He knows something about Saul's descendants.” So David sent for Ziba and when the servant was brought into his presence he repeated his question.

The old man replied that Jonathan had a son called Mephibosheth who was lame in both his feet and that he was living with a farmer away across the Jordan. Can't you imagine how glad David was when he heard that? Jonathan had a son still alive, and he had never known!

He sent at once to find him. And when Mephibosheth was brought into the king's presence he threw himself down at his feet and made himself very humble. You see he had been told nearly all his life that David wanted to kill him, and he may have been afraid that David had just sent for him to put him to death.

But the king raised him up and spoke very kindly to him. He told him not to fear, for he would surely show him kindness for Jonathan his father's sake. He told him also that he would give him all the land that had belonged to his grandfather Saul, and that he would lend him Ziba and his fifteen sons to be his servants. They would till the land for him so that he need never want. Finally he said that always Mephibosheth was to sit at the king's table and take his place among the king's sons.

Don't you think Mephibosheth must have felt proud and glad that day? And don't you think that David kept that old, old promise splendidly?

Why have I told you this story today? Because I want you, like David, to remember that a promise, a solemn promise, is a sacked thing, and that it ought to be kept.

There was a little boy once who was asked what the word “promise” meant; and he replied, “To promise is to keep it in your mind, keep it in your mind, keep it in your mind, till you do it” Don't you think that was a splendid answer? Sometimes it is years, as it was in David's case, before we can fulfill our promise, but we must “keep it in our mind,” until at last we are able to do it.

Away up in the north of Scotland there is a little footbridge over a mountain stream, and on the central stone of the bridge there is an unusual inscription. It consists of just three words “God and me.” Would you like to know the story of that bridge?

In the summertime the stream is often a mere trickle of water, but in spring, when the snows melt on the hills, it becomes a raging torrent. Once when this burn was “in spate,” as we say in Scotland, a little girl attempted to cross it. She attempted to cross, and she fell in and was in danger of drowning. She prayed to God to help her, and she promised that if He would save her then she would build a bridge over the stream. Well, God did help her and she got safely across to the other side.

She was just a poor girl, but after a while she went to work. And she never forgot her promise. Little by little she gathered her money until before she died she had saved enough to build the bridge. And she put on it that beautiful motto “God and me.”

Boys and girls, try always to make promises that are good and worthy. And when you have made them, remember that they are not things to be tossed aside lightly. They are binding and sacred; and we must keep them in our mind, keep them in our mind, keep them in our mind, till we fulfill them.