Now because we have maintenance from [the king's] palace, and it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonour, therefore have we sent and certified the king;
Ver. 14. Now because we have maintenance from the king's palace] Chaldee, are salted with the salt of the palace, Salarium de regis palatio pereipimus, have our salary from the court, as Junius rendereth it. The great use of salt makes it here put for all kind of commodity; like as bread is called pants, as if it were το παν, the all and whole of our sustenance, Deuteronomy 8:3 .
And it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonour] Chaldee, nakedness, privities, which uncovered, cause contempt, as it befell Noah in his drunkenness; and the king of Spain, when by Queen Elizabeth proclaimed bankrupt.
Therefore have we sent and certified the king] As knowing that Beneficium postulat officium, Bounty commands duty. Ingratitude is a monster in nature, a solecism in good manners, &c. Lycurgus would make no law against it, because he held that none could be so unreasonable as to be guilty of it. Yet Alphonsus complained of his ungrateful courtiers; and so did Frederick III, emperor of Germany. Queen Elizabeth also said, that in trust she had oft found treason. That traitor Parry had vowed her death, although he had been condemned for burglary, and saved by her pardon (Speed).