Mephibosheth
Encyclopedia
Mephibosheth was the name of two men of the family of Saul
Saul
-People:Saul is a given/first name in English, the Anglicized form of the Hebrew name Shaul from the Hebrew Bible:* Saul , including people with this given namein the Bible:* Saul , a king of Edom...

, who is stated in the books of Samuel
Books of Samuel
The Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...

 of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

 to have been the first king of ancient Israel:
  1. The name of Saul
    Saul
    -People:Saul is a given/first name in English, the Anglicized form of the Hebrew name Shaul from the Hebrew Bible:* Saul , including people with this given namein the Bible:* Saul , a king of Edom...

    's son by the concubine Rizpah
    Rizpah
    Rizpah was the daughter of Aiah, and one of Saul's concubines. She was the mother of Armoni and Mephibosheth .After the death of Saul, Abner took her as wife, resulting in a quarrel between him and Saul's son and successor, Ishbosheth. The quarrel led to Abner's going over to the side of David, ...

    , daughter of Aiah. During the reign of King David, some members of Saul's family were punished for what had been done to the Gibeonites. Mephibosheth and his brother Armoni
    Armoni
    Armoni was the first-named of the two sons of Saul with his concubine Rizpah, daughter of Aiah. He and his brother Mephibosheth were two of the seven descendants of Saul to be given by David to the Gibeonites to be hanged....

     along with five others, were "hanged on a hill before the Lord" by the Gibeonites, and their bodies left exposed in the sun for five months .
  2. The son of Jonathan, and grandson of Saul . He was five years old when his father and grandfather fell in the Battle of Mount Gilboa
    Battle of Mount Gilboa
    According to the Bible, Saul, the king of the Israelites, went to war against the Philistines, who were attacking his kingdom. Facing a more numerous and sophisticated enemy, Saul used guerilla tactics, but was eventually forced to confront a Philistine army...

    . Hearing of this calamity, his nurse fled with him from Gibeah
    Gibeah
    Gibeah is a biblical site identified by archaeologists as a hill in Jerusalem, on the outskirts of the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood, known as Tell el-Ful.-Etymology:...

    , the royal residence, and in her haste stumbled, dropping him on the ground and causing his paralysis . He was carried to the land of Gilead
    Gilead
    In the Bible "Gilead" means hill of testimony or mound of witness, , a mountainous region east of the Jordan River, situated in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It is also referred to by the Aramaic name Yegar-Sahadutha, which carries the same meaning as the Hebrew . From its mountainous character...

    , where he found refuge in the house of Machir
    Machir
    Machir/Makir - meaning bartered - was the name of two figures in the Bible.1. Machir, the son of Manasseh, and father of Gilead....

    , son of Ammiel
    Ammiel
    Ammiel means "people of God."# One of the twelve spies sent by Moses to search the land of Canaan . He was one of the ten who perished by the plague for their unfavourable report ....

    , at Lo-debar
    Lo-debar
    Lo-debar was a town in the Old Testament in Gilead not far from Mahanaim, north of the Jabbok in ancient Israel. It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the home of Machir, a contemporary of David. ....

    , by whom he was reared.


Some years later, when King David had subdued all the adversaries of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, he recalled the family of Jonathan, and discovered that Mephibosheth was residing in the house of Machir. So he sent royal messengers there, and brought Mephibosheth and his infant son Micah
Micah
Micah is a given name.Micah is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible , and means "who is like God?". The name is sometimes found with theophoric extensions...

 to Jerusalem, where they resided from that point on .

When David was a fugitive, according to the story of Ziba , Mephibosheth proved unfaithful to him, and Ziba was subsequently awarded all of Mephibosheth's estate. However , Mephibosheth later told David that he had remained loyal to him, and that Ziba had lied. David then ordered the estate divided between the two. Mephibosheth allowed Ziba to keep everything as he was simply content in knowing that David was safe. After this incident, Mephibosheth is only mentioned as having been protected by David .
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