Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 Samuel 9:1 - 9:1

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 Samuel 9:1 - 9:1


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

2Sa 9:1-4

When David inquired whether there was any one left of the house of Saul to whom he could show favour for Jonathan's sake (יֶשׁ־עֹוד הֲכִי: is it so that there is any one? = there is certainly some one left), a servant of Saul named Ziba was summoned, who told the king that there was a son of Jonathan living in the house of Machir at Lodebar, and that he was lame in his feet. אִישׁ עֹוד הַאֶפֶס, “is there no one at all besides?” The ל before בֵּית is a roundabout way of expressing the genitive, as in 1Sa 16:18, etc., and is obviously not to be altered into מִבֵּית, as Thenius proposes. “The kindness of God” is love and kindness shown in God, and for God's sake (Luk 6:36). Machir the son of Ammiel was a rich man, judging from 2Sa 17:27, who, after the death of Saul and Jonathan, had received the lame son of the latter into his house. Lodebar (לֹודְבָר, written לֹאדְבָר in 2Sa 17:27, but erroneously divided by the Masoretes into two words in both passages) was a town on the east of Mahanaim, towards Rabbath Amman, probably the same place as Lidbir (Jos 13:26); but it is not further known.

2Sa 9:5-7

David sent for this son of Jonathan (Mephibosheth: cf. 2Sa 4:4), and not only restored his father's possessions in land, but took him to his own royal table for the rest of his life. “Fear not,” said David to Mephibosheth, when he came before him with the deepest obeisance, to take away any anxiety lest the king should intend to slay the descendants of the fallen king, according to the custom of eastern usurpers. It is evident from the words, “I will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father,” that the landed property belonging to Saul had either fallen to David as crown lands, or had been taken possession of by distant relations after the death of Saul. “Thou shalt eat bread at my table continually,” i.e., eat at my table all thy life long, or receive thy food from my table.

2Sa 9:8

Mephibosheth expressed his thanks for this manifestation of favour with the deepest obeisance, and a confession of his unworthiness of any such favour. On his comparison of himself to a “dead dog,” see at 1Sa 24:15.