And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he.
A servant, whose name was Ziba. On inquiry, Saul's land steward was found, who gave information that there still survived a son of Jonathan, who was five years old at his father's death, and whom David, then wandering in exile, had never seen. His lameness (2 Samuel 4:4) had prevented him from taking any part in the public contests of the time. Besides, according to Oriental notions, the younger son of a crowned monarch has a preferable claim to the sucession over the son of a mere heir-apparent; and hence, his name was never heard of as the rival of his uncle Ish-bosheth. His insignificance had led to his being lost sight of; and it was only through Ziba that David learned his existence, and the retired life he passed with one of the great families in the pastoral regions of trans-Jordanic Canaan, who remained attached to the fallen dynasty. Mephibosheth (his proper name was Merib-baal, 1 Chronicles 8:34) was invited to court; but whether from the simplicity and bashfulness of a youth who had lived in a nomad country, and awed by the splendour of a court, or apprehending some danger from the supplanter of his family, he betrayed so much nervous alarm that he required all the tender and soothing words David kindly spake to reassure him (2 Samuel 9:7).