II Samuel 9
שמואל ב׳ פרק ט׳
Section: נביאים · נביאים ראשונים | Book: II Samuel | Chapter: 9 of 24 | Day: 85 of 742
Date: May 7, 2026
קלאוד על הנ״ך
After the dense military and administrative summary of chapter 8, which catalogued David’s victories over Philistines, Moabites, Arameans, and Edomites and listed the officers of his consolidated kingdom, chapter 9 turns abruptly inward. The transition is striking: from the imperial chronicle of conquests and cabinet appointments, the narrative shifts to a single intimate scene at court. Radak captures the timing precisely, suggesting that David, having achieved victory and rest, now turns his mind to the oath he had sworn to Jonathan in I Samuel 20:14-17, and asks whether anyone of Saul’s house remains “with whom I can keep faith for the sake of Jonathan” (אעשה עמו חסד בעבור יהונתן). The juxtaposition is theological as well as literary: military power is shown to be hollow if it is not accompanied by covenant fidelity. Chapter 8 establishes David as a king the nations must reckon with; chapter 9 establishes him as a king bound by personal loyalty, a king whose private oaths still govern his public conduct.
The key term of the chapter is חסד, the covenantal loyalty that binds parties beyond the strict letter of obligation. The word recurs three times in the opening verses (1, 3, 7), and its second occurrence intensifies the first: David asks not merely for חסד but for חסד אלקים (verse 3), the kindness of God, signaling that this is not ordinary generosity but a sacred faithfulness that mirrors divine loyalty. This conduct stands in deliberate contrast to the standard practice of the ancient Near East, where a new dynasty would systematically eliminate every survivor of the previous house to forestall any future claim to the throne. David inverts this expectation: rather than hunting Saul’s heirs to destroy them, he searches for them to honor them. The chapter is thus a quiet but pointed defense of David’s character against any charge that he profited from Saul’s fall. The blood-guilt of Ish-bosheth’s assassins (chapter 4) and the dirge over Abner (chapter 3) had already established the pattern; here that pattern reaches its tender culmination.
The figure who comes forward is Mephiboshet (מפיבושת), Jonathan’s son, and the narrator carefully reminds us that he is “lame in his feet” (נכה רגלים, verse 3), with the closing verse repeating that “he was lame in both feet” (verse 13). This detail is not incidental. It recalls II Samuel 4:4, where the narrator interrupted the account of Ish-bosheth’s assassination to explain how Mephiboshet had been crippled at age five: when news came of Saul and Jonathan’s deaths at Gilboa, his nurse fled in panic and dropped him. His lameness is therefore the bodily inheritance of the catastrophe that ended Saul’s house, the visible mark of a dynasty’s collapse. Metzudat David and Radak both note Mephiboshet’s terror and self-effacement: he falls on his face, calls himself David’s servant, and protests, “What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog like me?” (כלב המת אשר כמוני, verse 8). He expects, by every convention of his era, to be summoned to the new king only to be killed.
David’s response (verse 7) is structured around the reassurance “Do not fear” (אל תירא) and contains three distinct gifts: the restoration of “all the land of Saul your father,” a permanent place at the king’s table, and the explicit framing of all this as חסד “for the sake of Jonathan your father.” Each element carries weight. The restored land is economic dignity, a household and patrimony that allow Mephiboshet to remain a man of standing rather than a dependent. The royal table is a daily, public restoration of honor, signaling to the entire court that the cripple from Lo-debar is no political prisoner but a son of the king’s covenant. And the explicit reference to Jonathan transforms the act from royal patronage into the keeping of a private vow. Ziva, formerly a servant of Saul, is appointed with his fifteen sons and twenty servants to work the estate, an arrangement whose enormous practical significance the narrator records carefully (verses 9-11), and whose volatile character will return with troubling force later in the book.
The chapter closes with a quiet domestic note: Mephiboshet had a young son named Mica (verse 12), and Mephiboshet himself ate continually at the king’s table. The repetition of “lame in both feet” in the final clause has the force of a refrain — the reader is meant to remember, even at the moment of greatest dignity, the wound that the house of Saul still carries. The peaceful tableau also casts a long shadow forward. The very arrangement that here demonstrates David’s loyalty — Ziva manages the property, Mephiboshet sits at court — will become the seedbed of the painful drama in chapters 16 and 19, when David flees from Absalom. There Ziva will accuse Mephiboshet of treason and obtain his estate, and Mephiboshet will later protest his innocence in disheveled grief, leaving David to split the inheritance between them in a verdict that has troubled commentators for centuries. Chapter 9 thus stands at a hinge: it is at once the moral high point of David’s loyalty to Jonathan and the structural setup for one of the more morally ambiguous episodes still to come. The חסד is real; but in the unfolding politics of David’s house, even חסד will not be allowed to remain uncomplicated.
פרק ט׳ · Chapter 9
פסוק א׳ · Verse 1
Hebrew:
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר דָּוִ֔ד הֲכִ֣י יֶשׁ־ע֔וֹד אֲשֶׁ֥ר נוֹתַ֖ר לְבֵ֣ית שָׁא֑וּל וְאֶעֱשֶׂ֤ה עִמּוֹ֙ חֶ֔סֶד בַּעֲב֖וּר יְהוֹנָתָֽן׃
English:
David inquired, “Is there anyone still left of the House of Saul with whom I can keep faith for the sake of Jonathan?”
פסוק ב׳ · Verse 2
Hebrew:
וּלְבֵ֨ית שָׁא֥וּל עֶ֙בֶד֙ וּשְׁמ֣וֹ צִיבָ֔א וַיִּקְרְאוּ־ל֖וֹ אֶל־דָּוִ֑ד וַיֹּ֨אמֶר הַמֶּ֧לֶךְ אֵלָ֛יו הַאַתָּ֥ה צִיבָ֖א וַיֹּ֥אמֶר עַבְדֶּֽךָ׃
English:
There was a servant of the House of Saul named Ziba, and they summoned him to David. “Are you Ziba?” the king asked him. “Yes, sir,“aYes, sir Lit. “Your servant is.” he replied.
פסוק ג׳ · Verse 3
Hebrew:
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר הַמֶּ֗לֶךְ הַאֶ֨פֶס ע֥וֹד אִישׁ֙ ל��בֵ֣ית שָׁא֔וּל וְאֶעֱשֶׂ֥ה עִמּ֖וֹ חֶ֣סֶד אֱלֹהִ֑ים וַיֹּ֤אמֶר צִיבָא֙ אֶל־הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ ע֛וֹד בֵּ֥ן לִיהוֹנָתָ֖ן נְכֵ֥ה רַגְלָֽיִם׃
English:
The king continued, “Is there any member of the House of Saul left with whom I can keep faith as pledged before God?“bas pledged before God See 1 Sam. 20.14 and note. Ziba answered the king, “Yes, there is still a son of Jonathan whose feet are crippled.”
פסוק ד׳ · Verse 4
Hebrew:
וַיֹּֽאמֶר־ל֥וֹ הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ אֵיפֹ֣ה ה֑וּא וַיֹּ֤אמֶר צִיבָא֙ אֶל־הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ הִנֵּה־ה֗וּא בֵּ֛ית מָכִ֥יר בֶּן־עַמִּיאֵ֖ל בְּל֥וֹ דְבָֽר׃
English:
“Where is he?” the king asked, and Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.”
פסוק ה׳ · Verse 5
Hebrew:
וַיִּשְׁלַ֖ח הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ דָּוִ֑ד וַיִּקָּחֵ֗הוּ מִבֵּ֛ית מָכִ֥יר בֶּן־עַמִּיאֵ֖ל מִלּ֥וֹ דְבָֽר׃
English:
King David had him brought from the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar;
פסוק ו׳ · Verse 6
Hebrew:
וַ֠יָּבֹ֠א מְפִיבֹ֨שֶׁת בֶּן־יְהוֹנָתָ֤ן בֶּן־שָׁאוּל֙ אֶל־דָּוִ֔ד וַיִּפֹּ֥ל עַל־פָּנָ֖יו וַיִּשְׁתָּ֑חוּ וַיֹּ֤אמֶר דָּוִד֙ מְפִיבֹ֔שֶׁת וַיֹּ֖אמֶר הִנֵּ֥ה עַבְדֶּֽךָ׃
English:
and when Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, he flung himself on his face and prostrated himself. David said, “Mephibosheth!” and he replied, “At your service, sir.”
פסוק ז׳ · Verse 7
Hebrew:
וַיֹּ֩אמֶר֩ ל֨וֹ דָוִ֜ד אַל־תִּירָ֗א כִּ֣י עָשֹׂה֩ אֶעֱשֶׂ֨ה עִמְּךָ֥ חֶ֙סֶד֙ בַּֽעֲבוּר֙ יְהוֹנָתָ֣ן אָבִ֔יךָ וַהֲשִׁבֹתִ֣י לְךָ֔ אֶֽת־כׇּל־שְׂדֵ֖ה שָׁא֣וּל אָבִ֑יךָ וְאַתָּ֗ה תֹּ֥אכַל לֶ֛חֶם עַל־שֻׁלְחָנִ֖י תָּמִֽיד׃
English:
David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for I will keep faith with you for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will give you back all the land of your grandfather Saul; moreover, you shall always eat at my table.”
פסוק ח׳ · Verse 8
Hebrew:
וַיִּשְׁתַּ֕חוּ וַיֹּ֖אמֶר מֶ֣ה עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ כִּ֣י פָנִ֔יתָ אֶל־הַכֶּ֥לֶב הַמֵּ֖ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר כָּמֽוֹנִי׃
English:
[Mephibosheth] prostrated himself again, and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?”
פסוק ט׳ · Verse 9
Hebrew:
וַיִּקְרָ֣א הַמֶּ֗לֶךְ אֶל־צִיבָ֛א נַ֥עַר שָׁא֖וּל וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלָ֑יו כֹּל֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר הָיָ֤ה לְשָׁאוּל֙ וּלְכׇל־בֵּית֔וֹ נָתַ֖תִּי לְבֶן־אֲדֹנֶֽיךָ׃
English:
The king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I give to your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire family.
▶Commentaries (1)
פסוק י״ · Verse 10
Hebrew:
וְעָבַ֣דְתָּ לּ֣וֹ אֶֽת־הָאֲדָמָ֡ה אַתָּה֩ וּבָנֶ֨יךָ וַעֲבָדֶ֜יךָ וְהֵבֵ֗אתָ וְהָיָ֨ה לְבֶן־אֲדֹנֶ֤יךָ לֶּ֙חֶם֙ וַאֲכָל֔וֹ וּמְפִיבֹ֙שֶׁת֙ בֶּן־אֲדֹנֶ֔יךָ יֹאכַ֥ל תָּמִ֛יד לֶ֖חֶם עַל־שֻׁלְחָנִ֑י וּלְצִיבָ֗א חֲמִשָּׁ֥ה עָשָׂ֛ר בָּנִ֖ים וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים עֲבָדִֽים׃
English:
You and your sons and your slaves shall farm the land for him and shall bring in [its yield] to provide food for your master’s grandsoncgrandson Septuagint reads “household.” to live on; but Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, shall always eat at my table.”—Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty slaves.—
פסוק י״א · Verse 11
Hebrew:
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר צִיבָא֙ אֶל־הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ כְּכֹל֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְצַוֶּ֜ה אֲדֹנִ֤י הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ אֶת־עַבְדּ֔וֹ כֵּ֖ן יַעֲשֶׂ֣ה עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ וּמְפִיבֹ֗שֶׁת אֹכֵל֙ עַל־שֻׁלְחָנִ֔י כְּאַח��֖ד מִבְּנֵ֥י הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃
English:
Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do just as my lord the king has commanded him.” “Mephibosheth shall eat at my tabledMephibosheth shall eat at my table Septuagint reads “And Mephibosheth ate at David’s table.” like one of the king’s sons.”
▶Commentaries (1)
פסוק י״ב · Verse 12
Hebrew:
וְלִמְפִיבֹ֥שֶׁת בֵּן־קָטָ֖ן וּשְׁמ֣וֹ מִיכָ֑א וְכֹל֙ מוֹשַׁ֣ב בֵּית־צִיבָ֔א עֲבָדִ֖ים לִמְפִיבֹֽשֶׁת׃
English:
Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica; and all the members of Ziba’s household worked for Mephibosheth.
▶Commentaries (1)
פסוק י״ג · Verse 13
Hebrew:
וּמְפִיבֹ֗שֶׁת יֹשֵׁב֙ בִּיר֣וּשָׁלַ֔͏ִם כִּ֣י עַל־שֻׁלְחַ֥ן הַמֶּ֛לֶךְ תָּמִ֖יד ה֣וּא אֹכֵ֑ל וְה֥וּא פִסֵּ֖חַ שְׁתֵּ֥י רַגְלָֽיו׃ {פ}
English:
Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate regularly at the king’s table. He was lame in both feet.
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