David is an interesting guy. We first start following his story when he is a shepherd boy in the Judean pastures. In the Bible we read about his triumphs, his trials, his failures and his comebacks. This story of kindness spans a great portion of his life.
In 2 Samuel 17:27-29 (esv) we read:
"When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils, honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, 'The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.'"
Here is the setting for these verses. David had a son (one of many) named Absalom. Absalom staged a coup against his father, and David and his household fled into the wilderness, running for their lives.
Now David (and company) left Jerusalem with little more than the clothes on their backs. There were women and children in the group, and David himself was now advancing in years. They had no food and no bedding. The situation was serious and getting worse.
As they were running they came to a place called Mahanaim. Word of the coup was spreading. They were met there by three men; Shobi, Machir, and Barzillai. These men helped David and his family in a time of desperation by bringing them bedding and some high calorie, high protein food.
Now remember, there was a coup underway, and these guys were sticking their necks out by picking sides. Why would they do such a thing? Why not hang back and see who was going to come out on top first?
There is an interesting story for each of these guys, but I want us to look at this fellow known as “Machir…of Lo-debar” for a minute.
Machir's back story
If we scroll back through the life of David to 2 Samuel chapter 9 we will find him as a much younger man. At this point in his life he is on top of the world. He has finally succeeded in defeating his enemies and the Kingdom of Israel has been consolidated under him.
Then he does a very classy, non-typical thing, especially for monarchs of that period in history. He sent for the crippled, orphaned grandson of the previous king, King Saul. The boy's name was Mephibosheth. David brought the boy to sit continually at the royal table and restored to him his grandfather's property.
In this event, David sowed seeds of kindness in the way he treated this unfortunate child. He had no way of knowing that some day those seeds would come to fruition in his own life.
How can we draw such a connection? Well, let's take a look at where they had to go to get Mephibosheth so they could bring him to the kings house:
"The king [David] said … 'Where is he?' And Ziba said to the king, 'He is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.'" [2 Samuel 9:4 esv]
Yes, that's right. It is the same guy. Many years before he had watched as David went out of his way to show kindness to this crippled orphan boy. Now David was in need and it was payback time. Funny how that turned out.
What goes around does come back around after all…
