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2 Samuel 9

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1 And David saith, `Is there yet any left to the house of Saul, and I do with him kindness because of Jonathan?'

2 And the house of Saul hath a servant, and his name [is] Ziba, and they call for him unto David; and the king saith unto him, `Art thou Ziba?' and he saith, `Thy servant.'

3 And the king saith, `Is there not yet a man to the house of Saul, and I do with him the kindness of God?' And Ziba saith unto the king, `Jonathan hath yet a son -- lame.'

4 And the king saith to him, `Where [is] he?' and Ziba saith unto the king, `Lo, he [is] in the house of Machir, son of Ammiel, in Lo-Debar.'

5 And king David sendeth, and taketh him out of the house of Machir son of Ammiel, of Lo-Debar,

6 and Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, son of Saul, cometh unto David, and falleth on his face, and doth obeisance, and David saith, `Mephibosheth;' and he saith, `Lo, thy servant.'

7 And David saith to him, `Be not afraid; for I certainly do with thee kindness because of Jonathan thy father, and have given back to thee all the field of Saul thy father, and thou dost eat bread at my table continually.'

8 And he boweth himself, and saith, `What [is] thy servant, that thou hast turned unto the dead dog -- such as I?'

9 And the king calleth unto Ziba servant of Saul, and saith unto him, `All that was to Saul and to all his house, I have given to the son of thy lord,

10 and thou hast served for him the land, thou and thy sons, and thy servants, and hast brought in, and there hath been to the son of thy lord bread, and he hath eaten it; and Mephibosheth son of thy lord doth eat continually bread at my table;' and Ziba hath fifteen sons and twenty servants.

11 And Ziba saith unto the king, `According to all that my lord the king commandeth his servant, so doth thy servant;' as to Mephibosheth, `he is eating at my table ([saith the king]) as one of the sons of the king.'

12 And Mephibosheth hath a young son, and his name [is] Micha, and every one dwelling in the house of Ziba [are] servants to Mephibosheth.

13 And Mephibosheth is dwelling in Jerusalem, for at the table of the king he is eating continually, and he [is] lame of his two feet.

   

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Field

  
The Sower, by Vincent van Gogh

A "field" in the Bible usually represents the Lord's church, and more specifically the desire for good within the church. It's where good things start, take root, and grow. When you have a desire to be a good person and to do good things, the natural first questions are "What does that mean?", "What should I do?", "What can I do?". You look for ideas, concepts, direction. Once you figure out something you want to do or a change you want to make in yourself, you seek specific knowledge. If you want to volunteer at a food pantry, say, you'd need to know whom to call, when they need help, where to go, what to bring. Armed with that knowhow, you're ready to get to work. That process could be compared to food production. You start with a field -- which is that desire to be good. Then you plant seeds -- those ideas and concepts. Those seeds sprout into plants -- the specific facts and knowledge needed for the task (easily seen in the food pantry example, but also true with deeper tasks like "being more tolerant of my co-workers" or "taking more time for prayer," or "consciously being a more loving spouse"). Finally, those plants produce food -- the actual good thing that you go and do. The Writings also say that in a number of cases a "field" represents the doctrine, or teachings, of the church. This sounds markedly different. The desire for good is emotional, a drive, a wanting; doctrine is a set of ideas. But for a church to be true, its doctrine must be centered on a desire for good, and must lead people toward doing what is good. So sound doctrine is actually closely bound up with the desire for good.