And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over Jordan before the king.
A thousand men of Benjamin with him. This display of his followers was to show what force he could raise against or in support of the king. Expressing the deepest regret for his former outrageous conduct, he was pardoned on the spot; and although the son of Zeruiah urged the expediency of making this chief a public example, his officiousness was repulsed by David with magnanimity, and with the greater confidence that he felt himself now re-established in the kingdom (see the notes at 1 Kings 2:8-9). David confirmed his pledge to this man by a solemn oath.
Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul. He had deceived his master, and when ordered to make ready the donkey for the lame prince to go and meet the king, slipped away by himself to pay court first; so that Mephibosheth, being lame, had to remain in Jerusalem until the kings arrival.