The historical books 1st & 2nd samuel lesson five

G 8:-17 Scribe

F 8:18- Captain

E 8:-18 David’s sons

1. 
   Joab is listed first, reflecting the reality that the military commander was second in command in the administration.
   
2. 
   This was normal in the Levant.
   
3. 
   The recorder would have charge of the records and documents of state and could be viewed as a herald or even as the equivalent to the modern press secretary.
   
4. 
   He also had control of who was admitted to see the king and would have been the protocol officer.
   
5. 
   The secretary would have been in charge of diplomatic correspondence and would have been comparable in some ways to the Secretary of State.
   
6. 
   There has been some suggestion that these offices are tailored to Egyptian models of administration, but Canaanite models are equally defensible. (IVP Commentary)
   

(IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament)

1. 
   The Hebrew text uses the word "priests," but this is not the problem it has been portrayed as.
   
2. 
   Although the tribe of Levi had been exclusively assigned all of the duties related to the sanctuary (see comments on Leviticus 10:10 and Numbers 18:1-7), there is no text that prohibits non- Levites from performing other priestly tasks (see comments on Exodus 28:1).
   
3. 
   It is just that as time went on, priestly tasks not related to the sanctuary were gradually eliminated (see 2 Kings 23:8).
   
4. 
   The existence of priestly duties carried out within the family context are indicated in post-Sinai contexts (Judges 6:24-26; 13:19; 1 Samuel 20:29),
   

5. 
   And in the general culture of the ancient Near East the oldest son frequently had priestly duties in the veneration of ancestors (see comment on Numbers 3:1).
   
6. 
   Saul had been reprimanded for his involvement in a priestly function, but that may have been because it violated the charter (1 Samuel 10:25) that delineated his role with respect to Samuel's (see comment on 1 Samuel 13:8-13).
   
7. 
   David's priestly prerogatives may have been attached to the traditional roles in Jerusalem.
   
8. 
   The existence of such a royal priestly tradition is recognized in places like Psalms 110:4 and perhaps in David's participation in the ceremony of installing the ark (above, 6:14).
   

[Jewish Study Bible]

[Ahilud was recorder] Mazkiyr (OT 2141), remembrancer; one who kept a strict journal of all the proceedings of the king and operations of his army; a chronicler. Adam Clarke Commentary

1. 
   The first occurrence of this title.
   
2. 
   The Hebrew word here is sophir, a counter.
   
3. 
   Individual scribes held high positions as associates of the High Priests, and of the commander-in-chief.
   
4. 
   They were amanuenses, registrars, accountants (2 Kings 12:10); adjutants (2 Kings 25:19); secretaries of state (2 Samuel 8:17; Isaiah 33:18).
   
5. 
   First occurrence as a class or caste (I Chronicles 2:55); a branch of the Levites (2 Chronicles 34:13).
   

6. 
   When Priests, who should have been teachers of the Law (Deut. 17:11; 33:10), became absorbed in ritual, the Scribes became custodians.
   
7. 
   Ezra was an ideal priest and scribe.
   

[Benaiah] The chief of the second class of David's worthies. We shall meet with him again.

1. 
   The former supposed to be those who accompanied David when he fled from Saul;
   
2. 
   The latter, those who came to him at Ziklag.
   
3. 
   But the Targum translates these two names thus, the archers and the slingers; and this is by far the most likely.
   
4. 
   It is not at all probable that David was without a company both of archers and slingers.
   
5. 
   The bow is celebrated in the funeral lamentation over Saul and Jonathan;
   
6. 
   And the sling was renowned as the weapon of the Israelites and how expert David was in the use of it we learn from the death of Goliath.
   
7. 
   I take for granted that the Chaldee paraphrast is correct.
   
8. 
   No weapons then known were equally powerful with these; the spears, swords, and javelins, of other nations, were as stubble before them.
   
9. 
   The bow was the grand weapon of our English ancestors;
   
10. 
    And even after the invention of firearms, they were with difficulty persuaded to prefer them and leave their archery. Adam Clarke
    

I 9:4- Inquiry of David. “Where?”

K 9:-4 Ziba’s answer. Place Lo-debar
2 Samuel 9:1-13

9:1 David's Kindness to Mephibosheth

Now David said, "Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" 2 And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, "Are you Ziba?" He said, "At your service!" 3 Then the king said, "Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?" And Ziba said to the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet." 4 So the king said to him, "Where is he?" And Ziba said to the king, "Indeed he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar." 5 Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar. 6 Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, "Mephibosheth?" And he answered, "Here is your servant!"
7 So David said to him, "Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually." 8 Then he bowed himself, and said, "What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?" 9 And the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, "I have given to your master's son all that belonged to Saul and to his entire house. 10 You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master's son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master's son shall eat bread at my table always." Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 Then Ziba said to the king, "According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do." "As for Mephibosheth," said the king, "he shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons." 12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king's table. And he was lame in both his feet. NKJV
9:1-13

David's Care for Mephibosheth
9:3 lame in both feet. See the comment on Mephibosheth and his disability in 2 Samuel 4:4.

(IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament)

1. 
   Mephibosheth had good cause to be afraid of David.
   
2. 
   There is wide precedent in Mesopotamian texts for the elimination of all rival claimants to the throne when a king comes to power (compare Baasha's murder of Jeroboam's family in 1 Kings 15:29).
   
3. 
   Such purges also occurred years later as a form of revenge for political opposition or rebellion attempted against previous rulers.
   
4. 
   For example, Ashurbanipal mutilated, executed and fed the bodies of his grandfather's rivals to dogs as part of his first official acts as king of Assyria.
   
5. 
   David, however, treats Mephibosheth, the only surviving male member of the royal family, as the rightful heir to Saul's estates.
   
6. 
   His generosity is coupled with the command to eat at David's table.
   
7. 
   In this way Mephibosheth is treated with honor, though some have noted it also keeps him under observation should he be inclined to subversion. (IVP Bible Background Commentary)
   

1. 
   Political prisoners were seldom kept in prison cells.
   
2. 
   It was more advantageous for the king to hold them in confinement within his palace or royal city, treating them to the pleasures of the "king's table"
   
3. 
   But always keeping a close eye on their activities.
   
4. 
   Reports in ration lists from the Babylonian and Assyrian periods provide evidence of food, clothing and oil provided to "guests" of the king.
   
5. 
   Persian courts contained political detainees as well as "allies" who were kept in the king's presence to insure a continual flow of taxes and soldiers for the army.
   
6. 
   Thus Mephibosheth, like Jehoiachin many years later (2 Kings 25:27-30), enjoyed the largesse of the king's court but was not truly free.
   

1. 
   The original form of the name was “Merib-baal” (the original form of the name. Merib-baal is preserved in 1 Chronicles 8:34, 9:40. Also 4:4).
   
2. 
   The element “baal” was changed into “bosheth,” meaning, “shame” (Meaning “Man of Shame,” deliberately altered from Ish-baal, “man of Baal;” cf. 1 Chronicles 8:33; 9:39.).
   
3. 
   The names of his father and grandfather are mentioned because of their relevance to David’s treatment of Mephibosheth (v. 7).
   
4. 
   His excessive expressions of submissiveness testify to his fear that David will put him to death as a potential pretender to the throne (see 1 Samuel 20:15). [Jewish Study Bible]
   

[That I may show the kindness of God unto him?] That is, the utmost, the highest degrees of kindness; as the hail of God is very great hail, the mountains of God, exceeding high mountains: besides, this kindness was according to the covenant of God made between him and the family of Jonathan. A.C.

1. 
   The word Lo-debar means no pasture this is where the sinner finds himself or herself until he or she is found by God’s free grace [9:4].
   
2. 
   Now we find Mephibosheth saying to David just ‘what he is –a dead dog’, which is what happens as we see the result of grace being shown to us. [9:8].
   
3. 
   Now we see the words ‘I am.’ And so the sinner is concerned about what he is, rather that when
   

4. 
   Listen to the Prophet Isaiah ‘Woe is me? For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a People of unclean lips…’ Isaiah 6:5
   
5. 
   Now listen to Simon Peter as he fell down at the knees of Jesus, ‘Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ Luke 5:8 Paul the Learner
   

This is the action of grace towards the “lost” sinner. See Luke 15:4, 5, 8, 9.

4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he fined it?

5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. (KJV)
Luke 15:8-9

8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, rejoice with me, for I have found the piece, which I had lost. (KJV) Paul the Learner
2 Samuel 9:9

[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. Adam Clarke Commentary

[Thou therefore, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall till the land] It seems that Ziba and his family had the care of the whole estate and cultivated it at his own expense, yielding the half of the produce to the family of Mephibosheth. Ziba was properly "the hind", whose duty and interest it was to take proper care of the ground, for the better it was cultivated the more it produced; and his half would consequently be the greater. Adam Clarke Commentary

[So shall thy servant do.]? The promises of Ziba were fair and specious, but he was a traitor in his heart, as we shall see in the rebellion of Absalom, and David's indulgence to this man is a blot on his character; at this time however he suspected no evil, circumstances alone can develop the human character. The internal villain can be known only when circumstances occur which can call his propensities into action; until then he may have the reputation of an honest man. Adam Clarke