This history is inserted as that which encouraged these men to this wicked murder, because Saul's family was now reduced to a low ebb; and if Ish-bosheth was dispatched, there would be none left but a lame child, who was altogether unfit to manage the kingdom, especially in so troublesome a time as this was; and therefore the crown must necessarily come to David by their act and deed, for which they promised themselves no small recompence. Jezreel; the place of that last and fatal fight, 1 Samuel 29:1. Mephibosheth; called also Merib-baal, 1 Chronicles 8:34. See Poole on "2 Samuel 2:8".
Related Commentaries of 2 Samuel 4:4
2 Samuel 4:4
4 And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.b