Mephibosheth was the victim of circumstance and timing. He was the grandson of Saul—the man who tried to kill David. When Saul and Jonathan died in battle against the Philistines, power shifted to David. Mephibosheth “was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came ... and his nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame” (2 Sam. 4:4).