2 Samuel 2:10

“Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, [was] forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, etc.] Being born the same year his father began to reign. (See Gill on “<093106>1 Samuel 31:6”); and reigned two years; which some understand of these, and no more; and whereas David reigned seven years and a half over Judah, before he reigned over all Israel, it is thought by the Jewish chronologer f27 that there was a vacancy in the throne of Israel for the space of five years, and so says Kimchi; which vacancy was either before the reign of Ishbosheth, it being a matter in dispute whether he or Mephibosheth should be set up, or after his death; the tribes of Israel being so long before they acknowledged…”

“Forty ... two - The numerals are somewhat strange. First, as regards the 40 years. Even assuming that Ish-bosheth’s reign did not commence until five and a half years after Saul’s death, which must have been the case if the two years in the text gives the true length of his reign, it is startling to hear of Saul’s younger son being 35 years old at his father’s death, born consequently some three years before his father’s accession, and five years older than David, the bosom friend of his older brother Jonathan. The age, too, of Jonathan’s child, Mephibosheth, who was five years old at his father’s death, would lead one to expect rather a less age for his uncle. Next, as regards the two…”

“Two years - Namely, before the following war broke out, which continued five years. 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 2:12”

“2:10-11 Ishbosheth . . . ruled from Mahanaim for two years at some point during David’s 7½-year reign from Hebron. Apparently a gap of five years occurred in which the northern tribes were without a king.”

“two years: Houbigant proposes to read shesh shanah, "six years" instead of shetayim shanim, "two years," of the text, which he contends is a solecism; for, in pure Hebrew, the words should be shetayim shanah; and this is the reading of twenty manuscripts; but two is acknowledged by all the versions and manuscripts yet collated. Sa2 2:10 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 2:11”

“Length of the reigns of Ishbosheth over Israel, and David at Hebron. The age of Ishbosheth is given, as is generally the case at the commencement of a reign. He was forty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years; whereas David was king at Hebron over the house of Judah seven years and a half. We are struck with this difference in the length of the two reigns; and it cannot be explained, as Seb. Schmidt, Clericus, and others suppose, on the simple assumption that David reigned two years at Hebron over Judah, namely up to the time of the murder of Ishbosheth, and then five years and a half over Israel, namely up to the time of the conquest of Jerusalem: for this is at variance…”