2 Samuel 9:4

_AND THE KING SAID, IS THERE NOT YET ANY OF THE HOUSE OF SAUL, THAT I MAY SHEW THE KINDNESS OF GOD UNTO HIM?_ And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-8 Amidst numerous affairs we are apt to forget the gratitude we owe, and the engagements we are under, not only to our friends, but to God himself. Yet persons of real godliness will have no rest till they have discharged them. And the most proper objects of kindness and charity, frequently will not be found without inquiry. Jonathan was David's sworn friend, therefore he shows kindness to his son Mephibosheth. God is faithful to us; let us not be unfaithful to one another. If Providence has raised us, and our friends and their families are brought low, we must look upon that as giving us the fairer opportunity of being kind to them....

Verse 2 Samuel 9:4. _LO-DEBAR._] Supposed to have been situated beyond Jordan; but there is nothing certain known concerning it....

David reaped the fruit of his kindness to Mephibosheth, for, when he fled from Absalom, Machir, the son of Ammiel, was one of those who were most liberal in providing him and his army with necessaries (marginal reference). According to 1 Chronicles 3:5, Ammiel (called inversely Eliam, 2 Samuel 11:3) was the father of Bath-sheba. If this be the same Ammiel, Machir would be Bath-sheba’s brother. However, the name is not a very uncommon one (Num 13:12; 1 Chronicles 26:5, etc.). LO-DEBAR - Evidently on the east of Jordan River, and in the neighborhood of Ish-bosheth’s capital, Mahanaim...

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

AND THE KING SAID UNTO HIM, WHERE IS HE?.... In what part of the land, city, or town, does he dwell? AND ZIBA SAID UNTO THE KING, BEHOLD, HE [IS] IN THE HOUSE OF MACHIR, THE SON OF AMMIEL; a descendant of Machir, the son of Manasseh, to whom the land of Gilead was given, which lay on the other side Jordan: IN LODEBAR; a place in that country, perhaps the same with Debir in Joshua 13:26. Here it may be his mother's relations lived, and here he might dwell in obscurity, and lie hid from the knowledge of David; who, it might be feared by his friends, would have dispatched him, had he known where he was. Some take it to be an appellative, and render it, as Abarbinel observes, "without anything"; as if he was so poor that he had not anything to support himself with. No mention as yet is made of his name, perhaps because the h

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....

BEHOLD. FIGURE OF SPEECH _Asterismos._ App-6. LO-DEBAR. no pasture. Where the sinner is until found by God. s free grace....

4. David's Kindness to the House of Saul, 2 Samuel 9:1-13. _David Seeks Saul's Heirs._ 2 Samuel 9:1-4 And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? 2 And _there was_ of the house of Saul a servant whose name _was_ Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, _Art_ thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant _is he._ 3 And the king said, _Is_ there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him? and Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, _which is_ lame on _his_ feet. 4 And the king said unto him, Where _is_ he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he _is_ in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel,