And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. I ... will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father - i:e., grandfather; his private estate at Gibeah.
Thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. A place at the royal table on public days was assigned him, as is still the custom with Eastern monarchs. Saul's family estate, which had fallen to David in right of his wife (Numbers 27:8), or been forfeited to the crown by Ish-bosheth's rebellion (2 Samuel 12:8), was provided (2 Samuel 9:11; also 2 Samuel 19:28) for enabling him to maintained an establishment suitable to his rank, and Ziba appointed steward to manage it, on the condition of receiving one-half of the produce in remuneration of his labour and expense, while the other moiety was to be paid as rent to the owner of the land (2 Samuel 19:29), This is a very common arrangement in farming the soil in Eastern countries, especially when the proprietor furnishes the seed.