2 Samuel 9:11

_THEN SAID ZIBA UNTO THE KING, ACCORDING TO ALL THAT MY LORD THE KING HATH COMMANDED HIS SERVANT, SO SHALL THY SERVANT DO. AS FOR MEPHIBOSHETH, SAID THE KING, HE SHALL EAT AT MY TABLE, AS ONE OF THE KING'S SONS._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

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 9:11. _SO SHALL THY SERVANT DO._] The promises of Ziba were fair and specious, but he was a traitor in his heart, as we shall see in the rebellion of Absalom, and David's indulgence to this man is a blot in his character; at this time however he suspected no evil; circumstances alone can develope the human character. The _internal_ villain can be known only when circumstances occur which can call his propensities into action; till then he may be reputed an honest man....

SAID THE KING - There is nothing in the Hebrew to warrant the insertion of these words. The words are: “So Mephibosheth ate at my table as one of the king’s sons.” Only it follows that the narrator is David himself....

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

THEN SAID ZIBA UNTO THE KING, ACCORDING TO ALL THE KING HATH COMMANDED HIS SERVANT, SO SHALL THY SERVANT DO,.... Till the land, and bring the fruits of it to Mephibosheth, for the support of his family; he promised very fair, had he been as faithful to his trust: AS FOR MEPHIBOSHETH, [SAID THE KING], HE SHALL EAT AT MY TABLE, AS ONE OF THE KING'S SONS; which is repeated, for the confirmation of it, and to show that he should be treated with equal respect, and fare as the king's sons themselves did; though the clause "said the king" is not in the original text, and the words are thought by Abarbinel and others to be the words of Ziba continued; who promised to do what the king had ordered, though Mephibosheth had eaten at his table, as one of the king's sons, and needed not anything, and needed not to eat at the king's table; and if it was his pleasure, he would maintain him out of this...

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....

_As for Mephibosheth_, said the king] There is nothing to warrant the insertion of the words "said the king:" nor can the words be Ziba's assertion that he would himself have entertained Mephibosheth royally. It remains to follow the LXX. in reading AT DAVID'S TABLE for "at my table," and to take the clause along with the next two verses as the narrator's conclusion of the story, thus: " SO MEPHIBOSHETH DID EAT AT DAVID'S TABLE, AS ONE OF THE KING'S SONS. ...

AS FOR MEPHIBOSHETH, SAID THE KING, &C.— _Said the king,_ is not in the Hebrew. Houbigant renders the clause thus: _afterwards Mephibosheth did eat at the king's table, as one of the king's sons._ Dr. Delaney supposes, that David composed upon this occasion the 101st Psalm. _Note;_ Our forfeited inheritance is restored to us in Christ; and, though we are utterly undeserving the least of his regard, he kindly condescends to invite us to his table below, and to sit down with him in his kingdom above....