What Does II Samuel 19:29 Mean?

David renders his verdict with frustrating brevity: "Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land." The decision is a compromise that satisfies no one: Mephibosheth gets half his estate back, and Ziba keeps the other half. The judgment is neither a vindication of Mephibosheth's innocence nor a punishment of Ziba's deception; it is the pragmatic splitting of the difference by a king who cannot determine the truth or, perhaps, does not want to.

The verdict is widely regarded as one of David's worst judicial decisions. If Mephibosheth is telling the truth, then he deserves the entire estate and Ziba deserves punishment. If Ziba is telling the truth, then Mephibosheth deserves nothing. The compromise suggests that David either cannot or will not investigate the competing claims, and the result rewards the deceiver and penalizes the faithful. The king who failed to judge Amnon and failed to resolve the Absalom crisis now fails to do justice between a slandered master and a lying servant.

The Lord Jesus does not render compromise verdicts. His judgments are based on omniscient knowledge, and the truth that was hidden from David is fully transparent to the Son of God. "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." The Judge who stands behind David's throne will render the final verdict on every Ziba and every Mephibosheth, and that verdict will not split the difference but will allocate the inheritance according to the perfect righteousness that governs the kingdom of God.