2 Samuel 9:9

DAVID'S INSTRUCTIONS TO ZIBA

"Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, "All that belonged to Saul and all his house I have given to your master's son. And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him, and shall bring in the produce, that your master's son may have bread to eat; but Mephibosheth your master's son shall always eat at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants."

Note the elastic use of the word "son" in this passage, where Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, is referred to repeatedly as the "son" of Ziba's master (Saul).

"That your master's son may have bread to eat" (2 Samuel 9:10). "The size of Saul's estate is indicated by the number of men required to cultivate it, that is, the fifteen sons and twenty servants of Ziba."[9]

In the same breath David indicated that Mephibosheth would always eat at the king's table, just like the members of the king's family. Why then, was it necessary for Ziba to bring all that wealth to Mephibosheth? Again from H. P. Smith, "The presence of Mephibosheth at court would increase rather than diminish his expense."[10] Besides that, Mephibosheth had a family to support, and the maintenance of an appropriate establishment in keeping with the customs of royalty would be possible only by the collection of such revenues from Ziba.

It is of interest that Mephibosheth, through his son Micah, became the head of an extensive clan in Israel, continuing all the way to the days of the Captivity.