Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

9:2-4 For Ziba, the servant (here the Hb. word is ‘ebed) of Saul's house, see note on v. 9. The exact location of Lo-debar is unknown, but it seems to have been in northern Transjordan (17:27). Mephibosheth had probably been taken to Transjordan soon after Saul's death (4:4), during the time his uncle Ish-bosheth ruled from the Transjordanian city of Mahanaim (2:8).

9:6-8 For the name Mephibosheth, see note on 4:4. Note that the word father (Hb. ’ab) in 9:7 means "father" in one sentence and "grandfather" in the next. This phenomenon can also be seen in some of the genealogies (e.g., probably 1 Sam. 9:1). In 2 Sam. 9:9-10, the "grandson" is literally "son" (Hb. ben), as can be seen in the translation of the same Hebrew phrase in 16:3. Dead dog is a term of self-abasement here and in 1 Sam. 24:14; in 2 Sam. 16:9 it is used for contempt.

9:9 Ziba is here referred to as a servant (Hb. na‘ar, "young man, servant"), but because Ziba had 15 sons (v. 10), it was probably the more specific "steward of an estate." Ziba had probably continued to be the steward in charge of the land after Saul's death, but had paid the benefits of the estate to David or to someone to whom David had assigned the land. But from now on he is required to pay the benefits to Mephibosheth.

9:11 Mephibosheth ate at David's table, like one of the king's sons. The arrangement David sets up for Mephibosheth is similar to that of at least David's older sons. Though the king's sons "ate at David's table," some of them lived in their own houses in Jerusalem (13:7, 20) and had fields and agricultural lands of their own to support them (13:23; 14:30).

9:12 Mica (or "Micah") had many descendants, through whom the house of Saul and Jonathan was preserved (1 Chron. 8:35-40; 9:41-44).