2 Samuel 9:7 Meaning David Said to Him

Abhayadāna: The gift of fearlessness Freedom from fear is a thing one person can hand to another. Saul's grandson is carried in on crippled feet before the very king his grandfather hunted through the wilderness, and by the custom of that age his life is already forfeit. "Don't be afraid" comes before the land and before the bread, so that the first gift he receives is his own life put back in his hands.

Mettā: Loving-kindness Goodwill that wants another to be well. David's kindness arrives as things a man can count: fields returned, servants to work them, a standing invitation, all of it toward someone with no claim to press and nothing to offer in trade. Warmth like this goes out to a person simply because they are standing in front of you, the way you hold a door for a stranger.

Kataññutā: Knowing what was done for you Remembering an old kindness and acting on the memory. Jonathan lies dead on Gilboa and can collect nothing, so what he is owed is paid down to his son, and paid whole. Few people carry a debt that far past the death of the one who lent it, which is why such a person is called rare.

Avera: Freedom from enmity Hostility set down instead of carried forward. Two houses stand behind this meeting: a spear thrown at a harp player, years of hiding in caves, a war that ended on a mountain with the old king's body. Hatred does not end through hatred, and here the feud stops in a single sentence, with the last heir of the losing side seated rather than removed.

Samānattatā: Sharing your own standing One of the four ways of holding people together, this one puts the other person on your own level. Eating bread at the king's table continually places a lame man from a rival house exactly where the king's sons sit, at the same loaf, every evening, with no end date attached. The food is the smaller half of it; the chair is the rest.