Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

I have given unto thy master's son - Unless Ziba had been servant of Jonathan, this seems to refer to Micha, son of Mephibosheth, and so some understand it; but it is more likely that Mephibosheth is meant, who is called son of Saul instead of grandson. Yet it is evident enough that the produce of the land went to the support of Micha, (see 2 Samuel 9:10;), for the father was provided for at the table of David; but all the patrimony belonged to Mephibosheth.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Saul‘s servant - Josephus calls him one of Saul‘s freedmen. The difference this would make in Ziba‘s position would only be that instead of paying in the fruits of the confiscated land to David, he would have to pay them to Mephiboseth.

The Biblical Illustrator

2 Samuel 9:9

I will give unto thy master’s son all that pertained to Saul and to all his house,

A lost inheritance recovered

When Warren Hastings was a boy he had to grieve at the fact that his family had lost their paternal estate at Dayleford, and he formed an early resolution of bringing it back once again into the family.
To purchase that forfeited estate became to him a great ambition of his life, and he ultimately succeeded: he bought back the estate, and died at Daylesford. But no such possibility lay before the disinherited prince Mephibosheth. As far as his own achievements go, he must live and die alienated from his ancestral possessions. What, however, is impossible to Mephibosheth to achieve is not beyond the grace of David freely to bestow, and thus the grant of Saul’s patrimony to his forlorn and impoverished grandson is analogous to the method of Divine grace whereby, in Christ, the lost station and purity of Adam are restored to us who have inherited his fallen condition (Charles Deal.)
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Coffman Commentaries on the Bible

DAVID'S INSTRUCTIONS TO ZIBA

"Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, "All that belonged to Saul and all his house I have given to your master's son. And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him, and shall bring in the produce, that your master's son may have bread to eat; but Mephibosheth your master's son shall always eat at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants."

Note the elastic use of the word "son" in this passage, where Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, is referred to repeatedly as the "son" of Ziba's master (Saul).

"That your master's son may have bread to eat" (2 Samuel 9:10). "The size of Saul's estate is indicated by the number of men required to cultivate it, that is, the fifteen sons and twenty servants of Ziba."[9]

In the same breath David indicated that Mephibosheth would always eat at the king's table, just like the members of the king's family. Why then, was it necessary for Ziba to bring all that wealth to Mephibosheth? Again from H. P. Smith, "The presence of Mephibosheth at court would increase rather than diminish his expense."[10] Besides that, Mephibosheth had a family to support, and the maintenance of an appropriate establishment in keeping with the customs of royalty would be possible only by the collection of such revenues from Ziba.

It is of interest that Mephibosheth, through his son Micah, became the head of an extensive clan in Israel, continuing all the way to the days of the Captivity.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant,.... Who had been his servant:

and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's son; meaning either, as some, the son of Mephibosheth, Micha after mentioned; or rather Mephibosheth himself, the grandson of Saul, whose servant Ziba had been:

all that pertained to Saul, and to all his house; all his paternal estate, or what he had acquired, or in any wise belonged to him and his family; which David had in possession, and which he readily and cheerfully delivered up to Mephibosheth, having so great a regard to the memory of his father.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

2 Samuel 9:9 Then the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master’s son all that pertained to Saul and to all his house.

Ver. 9. I have given unto thy master’s son,] i.e., To Mephibosheth; though some expositors will have it meant of Micha, Mephibosheth’s son; since Mephibosheth himself was to eat at David’s table continually.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

9.Thy master’s son — Ziba had doubtless been accustomed to regard and call both Saul and Jonathan master. The word son is also often used where grandson, or even a more remote descendant, is intended.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Son, Miphiboseth. Some understand less correctly, (Calmet) "I have given to Micha, the son of Miphiboseth, all that belonged to Saul; and, as for Miphiboseth, I give him my table." (Munster; Vatable; Salien) (Menochius) --- Saul's patrimony might be administered by Siba, to support Micha. (Du Hamel)

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

I have given

16:4; 19:29; 1 Samuel 9:1; Isaiah 32:8