2 Samuel 21:5

5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us and that devised against us, let us destroy him that nothing of him remains in any of the borders of Israel.

2 Samuel 21:5 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 21:5

And they answered the king
Declaring expressly what they would have done: the man that consumed us; meaning Saul, who lessened their number by cruel oppressions of some, and by taking away the lives of others:

and that devised against us, [that] we should be destroyed from
remaining in any of the coasts of Israel;
who had formed schemes, and published edicts, for banishing them out of the land; perhaps at the same time that he put away wizards and those that had familiar spirits out of the land, under the same pretence for zeal for the glory of God, and the good of the people of the land, ( 1 Samuel 28:3-9 ) .

2 Samuel 21:5 In-Context

3 Therefore, David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make reconciliation that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?

4 And the Gibeonites replied unto him, We have no quarrel regarding silver nor gold with Saul, nor with his house; neither do we desire that anyone in Israel should die. And he said unto them, What ye shall say that will I do for you.

5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us and that devised against us, let us destroy him that nothing of him remains in any of the borders of Israel.

6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will disjoint them, hanging them from a tree, unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.