9:1-8 Amidst numerous affairs we are apt to forget the gratitude we owe, and the engagements we are under, not only to our friends, but to God himself. Yet persons of real godliness will have no rest till they have discharged them. And the most proper objects of kindness and charity, frequently will not be found without inquiry. Jonathan was David's sworn friend, therefore he shows kindness to his son Mephibosheth. God is faithful to us; let us not be unfaithful to one another. If Providence has raised us, and our friends and their families are brought low, we must look upon that as giving us the fairer opportunity of being kind to them.Then King David sent,.... Messengers; it may be Ziba, none being more proper than he that knew him, and where he was:

and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar; they demanded him in the king's name, and being delivered to them, they brought him from thence to Jerusalem.