One other person, place or group in the registry answers to the name Mephibosheth. Every Mephibosheth in the Bible
- verses
- 14
- first named
- 2 Samuel 4:4
- last named
- 1 Chronicles 9:40
- period
- United Monarchy
- tribe
- Benjamin
Description
Who was Mephibosheth?
Mephibosheth, also known as Merib-baal, was the son of Jonathan and grandson of King Saul (1Ch.8.34; 9.40). He was five years old when his father and grandfather died in battle at Mount Gilboa (2Sa.4.4). During the panic following their deaths, Mephibosheth's nurse picked him up to flee, but he fell and became lame in both feet (2Sa.4.4). Years later, when David had established his kingdom, he sought to show kindness to Mephibosheth for the sake of his father Jonathan (2Sa.9.6). David restored to him all the land that had belonged to Saul and allowed him to eat at the king's table regularly (2Sa.9.6,10,11,13). Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica (2Sa.9.12). During Absalom's rebellion, Mephibosheth's servant Ziba falsely accused him of disloyalty to David (2Sa.16.1,4). After Absalom's death, Mephibosheth met David and explained that Ziba had deceived him (2Sa.19.24,25). David divided Saul's land between Mephibosheth and Ziba (2Sa.19.30). Later, when the Gibeonites demanded seven of Saul's descendants to avenge Saul's attempt to annihilate them, David spared Mephibosheth because of his oath to Jonathan (2Sa.21.7).
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
The 10 best-attested of 12 are drawn. All 12 are listed below.
Child of
Descendant of
Father of
Located in
Stands in the same events as
Places
Where this happens
The places the claims about this person reach, drawn where the gazetteer locates them. A point is where a row puts them and never where tradition does; no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.
The pattern
Where Mephibosheth is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
14 verses across 2 of 66 books; 64 write the name nowhere. Named in 2 Samuel (12) and 1 Chronicles (2).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 14, across 2 books. The name is written 18 times in them.
Onward
Where this page goes
Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Where they appear
Chapter by chapter
Atlas's reading of each chapter this person appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.
- 2 Samuel 4Mephibosheth is carried away in flight as a child, falls, and becomes lame.
- 2 Samuel 9Mephibosheth came to David, fell facedown, received Saul’s land, and ate at the king’s table like one of the king’s own sons.
- 2 Samuel 16Mephibosheth was said to be staying in Jerusalem and expecting Israel to restore his grandfather’s kingdom to him.
- 2 Samuel 21Mephibosheth, one of Rizpah’s sons by Saul, was delivered with the other descendants.
Sources