II Samuel 9:11

Ziba promised to obey the king's command. The last clause of this verse is a circumstantial clause in form, with which the writer passes over to the conclusion of his account. But the words שׁלחני על שׁלחן, "at my table," do not tally with this, as they require that the words should be taken as David's own. This is precluded, however, not only by the omission of any intimation that David spoke again after Ziba, and repeated what he had said once already, and that without any occasion whatever, but also by the form of the sentence, more especially the participle אכל. There is no other course left, therefore, than to regard שׁלחני (my table) as written by mistake for דּוד שׁלחן: "but Mephibosheth ate at David's table as one of the king's sons." The further notices in Sa2 9:12 and Sa2 9:13 follow this in a very simple manner. בּית מושׁב כּל, "all the dwelling," i.e., all the inhabitants of Ziba's house, namely his sons and servants, were servants of Mephibosheth, i.e., worked for him and cultivated his land, whilst he himself took up his abode at Jerusalem, to eat daily at the king's table, although he was lamed in both his feet.

The only thing recorded in this chapter is the kindness David showed to Jonathan's seed for his sake. I. The kind enquiry he made after the remains of the house of Saul, and his discovery of Mephibosheth (Sa2 9:1-4). II. The kind reception he gave to Mephibosheth, when he was brought to him (Sa2 9:5-8). III. The kind provision he made for him and his (Sa2 9:9-13).

9:11 Both Ziba and Mephibosheth (9:6) used the phrase “I am your servant” when presenting themselves before King David. By referring to himself as David’s servant, Ziba showed that he was no longer loyal to Saul’s dynasty. The sincerity of both later came into question (16:1-4; 19:17-30).