2 Samuel 9:8

‘ And he did obeisance, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look on such a dead dog as I am?” ’

Mephibosheth again did obeisance to David in acceptance of his generous gifts, and his words indicate his true gratitude, but they may also well have included an element of his own bitterness at being a lame duck. He had to be carried everywhere. And there were few diversions for such as he. Thus his reference to himself as a ‘dead dog’ reflects both his sense of humility in the presence of the great king, and something of his bitterness. Compare for the description 16:9; 1 Samuel 24:14. A dead dog was the greatest nuisance possible. Alive it had been a continual flea-bitten scavenger to be avoided if at all possible, but dead it had become one mass of maggots and wholly to be rejected. No one wanted to take responsibility for a dead dog.