After dealing kindly with Mephibosheth, 2 Samuel 10:1-19 tells us how David also dealt kindly with Hanun, son of Nahash the Ammonite King on the occasion of the death of Nahash. However, advisors for Hanun got into his ear and planted seeds of suspicion and fear and David’s ambassadors were treated with contempt. An all out war soon arose with inevitable consequences. Whenever God’s grace and kindness to mankind is rejected, those inevitable consequences still happen. We call it judgement and we must pray that people will repent before that judgement comes.
After God made a covenant with David in chapter 7, in turn, David remembered the covenant he had earlier made with Saul to never wipe out Saul’s descendants. In a lovely part of the unfolding tapestry of God’s grace, 2 Samuel 9:1-13 records how David showed loving kindness (Hebrew: chesed) to one of Jonathon’s sons, Mephiboseth. To many people this may come as a surprise as the Old Testament is often characterised as being all about law or war. But in the story of David’s kindness to this cripple, the heart of the gospel can be seen.