John Gill Commentary 2 Samuel 16

And when David was a little past the top [of the hill]
Of the mount of Olives, the ascent of which he is said to go up by, and to come to the top of it, (2 Samuel 15:30 2 Samuel 15:32) ;

behold, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, met him ;
of whom see (2 Samuel 9:2) ;

with a couple of asses saddled :
and so fit to ride on, but for the present he used them to another purpose:

and upon them two hundred [loaves] of bread ;
an hundred on each ass very probably:

and an hundred bunches of raisins ;
or dried grapes, as the Targum: and an hundred of summer fruits :
not in number, but in weight, as apples, pears, plums, apricots so the Targum, an hundred pounds of figs: and a bottle of wine :
a cask or flagon of wine; for a bottle, such as is in use with us, would have signified nothing in such a company.

And the king said unto Ziba, what meanest thou by these ?
&c.] Are they to be said, or are they presents?

and Ziba said, the asses are for the king's household to ride on ;
for himself, his wives, and children, his courtiers, and the principal officers of his house; it being usual in those times and countries for great personages to ride on asses, see (Judges 5:10) ;

and the bread and summer fruits for the young men to eat ;
the king's menial servants, his guards and his soldiers:

and the wine, that such as are faint in the wilderness may drink ;
where no water was to be had, that their fainting spirits might be revived, and they be able whether to fight or march.

And the king said, and where [is] thy master's son ?
&c.] The son of Saul, who was Ziba's master, meaning Mephibosheth:

and Ziba said unto the king, behold, he abideth at Jerusalem ;
as there was reason for it, since he was lame of both his feet, (2 Samuel 9:13) , though he could have rode upon an ass, and followed the king, as he proposed to do; but his servant deceived him, and carried off the asses to serve a purpose for himself, see (2 Samuel 19:26) ;

for he said, today shall the house of Israel restore unto me the
kingdom of my father ;
his father Saul; which was far from his thoughts; and a most wicked suggestion of his servant to blacken his character, and get his estate from him; nor was there the least probability of the kingdom coming to him, but all the reverse; for let it go how it would with David, Absalom, and not Mephibosheth, stood fair for the kingdom.

Then said the king to Ziba, behold, yours are all that
pertain to Mephibosheth
Being forfeited to the king by an overt act of treason as they had been before by the rebellion of Ishbosheth, but had been graciously restored to Mephibosheth; and had it been true what Ziba suggested, it would have been a righteous thing to have taken them from him; though it seems to be too hasty a step in David to take and give them away without further inquiry:

and Ziba said, I humbly beseech you that I may find grace in your
sight, my lord, O king ;
he had found favour already, but seems not to be sufficiently thankful for it, and satisfied with it, but craved more and other favours, when opportunity should serve.

And when King David came to Bahurim
The Targum is, Alemath, perhaps the same that is said to be a city of the Levites, given unto them out of the tribe of Benjamin, (1 Chronicles 6:60) for the man next described, who was of this place, was a Benjaminite, (2 Samuel 19:16) ; (See Gill on 2 Samuel 3:16); David was not yet come to the city itself, but into the neighbourhood of it, the fields adjacent to it: and

behold, thence came out a man of the family of Saul ;
a descendant of a branch of his family, who had entertained a private grudge and secret enmity against David, to whom he imputed the fall of the family of Saul:

whose name [was] Shimei, the son of Gera :
which might be a name common in the tribe of Benjamin, one of Benjamin's sons being named Gera, (Genesis 46:21) . Some say ^F19 he was the same with Nebat, the father of Jeroboam; but he was of the tribe of Ephraim, this of Benjamin:

he came forth, and cursed still as he came ;
he came out of Bahurim, of which place he was, and all the way he came continued cursing David, until he came near unto him.