Mephibosheth in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

1. Saul's son by Rizpah (2 Samuel 21:8); "crucified" (yaqah; not talah, which would mean "hanged up") with six others before Jehovah by the Gibeonites to avert the famine; from barley harvest until the rains of October the bodies remained exposed to the sun (compare Numbers 25:4), but watched by Rizpah's pious care, and finally were committed to Kish's sepulchre. 2. Saul's grandson, son of Jonathan. Originally Merib-baal, an ancestor being named Baal (1 Chronicles 8:30; 1 Chronicles 8:33; 1 Chronicles 8:24; 1 Chronicles 9:36). (See ISHBOSHETH; JERUBBAAL.) When Saul and Jonathan fell at Gilboa Mephibosheth was but five years old. His nurse at the sad tidings took him up and fled; in her haste she let him fall from her shoulders (Josephus Ant., vii. 5, section 5), whereon children in the East are carried, and he became lame of both feet (2 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 9:13). He had been for a considerable time living in obscurity with Machir in Lodebar beyond Jordan, near Mahanaim, his uncle Ishbosheth's seat of government, when David through Ziba heard of him, and for the sake of Jonathan, and his promise respecting Jonathan's seed (1 Samuel 20:15; 1 Samuel 20:42), restored to him all the land of Saul and admitted him to eat bread at his table at Jerusalem continually. (See MACHIR.)...