2 Samuel 9:10

_THOU THEREFORE, AND THY SONS, AND THY SERVANTS, SHALL TILL THE LAND FOR HIM, AND THOU SHALT BRING IN THE FRUITS, THAT THY MASTER'S SON MAY HAVE FOOD TO EAT: BUT MEPHIBOSHETH THY MASTER'S SON SHALL EAT BREAD ALWAY AT MY TABLE. NOW ZIBA HAD FIFTEEN SONS AND TWENTY SERVANTS._ Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. The mention of his sons, and the slaves in his house, was to show that Mephibosheth would be honoured with an equipage 'as one of the king's sons.'...

9-13 As David was a type of Christ, his Lord and Son, his Root and Offspring, let his kindness to Mephibosheth remind us of the kindness and love of God our Saviour to fallen man, to whom he was under no obligation, as David was to Jonathan. The Son of God seeks this lost and ruined race, who sought not after him. He comes to seek and to save them!...

Verse 2 Samuel 9:10. _THOU THEREFORE, AND THY SONS - SHALL TILL THE LAND_] It seems that Ziba and his family had the care of the whole estate, and cultivated it at their own expense, yielding the half of the produce to the family of Mephibosheth. Ziba was properly the _hind_, whose duty and interest it was to take proper care of the ground, for the better it was cultivated the more it produced; and his _half_ would consequently be the greater....

FIFTEEN SONS ... - See 2 Samuel 19:17, marginal reference....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 9:1 IS THERE YET ANY THAT IS LEFT OF THE HOUSE OF SAUL? As Mephibosheth was five years old at his father's death (2 Samuel 4:4), but now had a son (2 Samuel 9:12), a sufficient time must have elapsed for him to grow up and marry; so that probably the events of this chapter occurred seventeen or eighteen years after the battle of Gilboa. As David was king at Hebron for seven years and a half, he had been king now of all Israel for about nine years. But during this long period he had been engaged in a weary struggle, which had left him little repose, and during which it might have been dangerous to draw the house of Saul out of obscurity. But he was at

THOU THEREFORE, THY SONS, AND THY SERVANTS,.... Which were many, and whose numbers are after given: SHALL TILL THE LAND FOR HIM; manure it, plough it, sow it, and reap it: AND THOU SHALL BRING IN [THE FRUITS]; the corn, and oil, and wine, the land produces: THAT THY MASTER'S SON MAY HAVE FOOD TO EAT; meaning either Micha, the son of Mephibosheth, since Mephibosheth seems to be distinguished from him, and opposed to him in the next clause: and who would stand in no need of food from any other quarter, being a guest at the king's table continually; or else Mephibosheth, who by this means would have a sufficiency for his son and servants, and in which Ziba's family and servants would have a share: BUT MEPHIBOSHETH THY MASTER'S SON SHALL EAT ALWAYS AT MY TABLE; wherefore the land was to be tilled not for him personally, but for his family, and for what uses he should think fit to put the...

6. DAVID AND MEPHIBOSHETH CHAPTER 9 _ 1. Mephibosheth brought to David (2 Samuel 9:1)_ 2. Grace and mercy shown to him (2 Samuel 9:7) The story of Mephibosheth is the first thing mentioned after the government of David had been fully established. Typically it reveals the gospel in a beautiful way, and dispensationally the kindness of God which will be manifested in the coming kingdom. Mephibosheth is a type of the sinner and the condition which he is in. He was helpless, being lame of both feet. How he became lame is found in 2 Samuel 4:4. He fell and became lame, a helpless cripple. It reminds us of the fall of man and the helpless condition into which sin has put man. Therefore he could not c

2 SAMUEL 9. DAVID SHOWS FAVOUR TO MERI-BAAL (J). David, asking as to survivors of the house of Saul, hears of Meri-baal (2 Samuel 4:4 *); he bestows upon him Saul's private estates, and gives him the status of a royal prince at his court....

_shall till the land_ This arrangement suggests that Ziba was already in occupation of the land, so that the only change to him would be that Mephibosheth would now receive the fruits instead of David. _that thy master's son_, &c. Though Mephibosheth himself was to be a guest at the royal table, he would require the revenues of this estate for the support of his family and household. It may be inferred from the number of Ziba's servants that they would be considerable....

I HAVE GIVEN UNTO THY MASTER'S SON, &C.— Grotius and Dr. Trapp observe, that David made Ziba Mephibosheth's _colonus partiarius,_ his farmer, upon the terms of bringing in to his master, yearly, half the annual produce of grain and fruits. The property of the whole patrimony was reserved to Mephibosheth; but Ziba was to take care of the estate, and to be himself and his whole family maintained out of it; and from the character and condition of the man at this time, David, to all appearance, could not have chosen a fitter person for the trust....