Chapter Nine

David’s mercy toward the house of Saul.

2 Samuel 9:3. And the king said: Is there not still someone from the house of Saul to whom I might show the mercy of God? And Ziba said to the king: There is a son of Jonathan, crippled in his feet. “There is a son of Jonathan.” See (2 Sam 4:4).

2 Samuel 9:4. And the king said to him: Where is he? And Ziba said to the king: Behold, he is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel in Lodebar. Lodebar and the settlements of Machir – in the middle part of eastern Transjordan, near the former residence of Ish-bosheth son of Saul (2 Sam 2:8-9).

2 Samuel 9:8. And [Mephibosheth] bowed and said: What is your servant, that you have looked upon such a dead dog as I am? “Upon such a dead dog”, that is, upon a man who is weak and worthless. Cf. (1 Sam 24:15).

2 Samuel 9:10. Therefore you shall cultivate the land for him, you and your sons and your servants, and you shall bring in the harvest so that your master’s son may have bread for his sustenance; and Mephibosheth your master’s son shall always eat at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. “Bread for his sustenance.” In this case bread is meant not so much in a literal sense as in a figurative sense, that is, material means in general. Mephibosheth received his sustenance at David’s table (cf. 2 Sam 9:11).