Consider:
I. The sin committed by David. There is little doubt that it was manifestation of pride which made this action so offensive in the sight of the Lord. It is possible that David dwelt with pride upon the thought of his ample resources and numerous armies, and calculated that he was possessed of a power to repel aggression and attempt fresh conquests. He had forgotten that God alone, who had made him great, could preserve to him his greatness. The same offence may be committed in any rank of life. I care not what it is that a man is anxious to reckon up, but if it be pride that moves him to the reckoning, we identify his case with that of David, and charge on him the iniquity which exposed the Israelites to the pestilence.
II. The punishment which was incurred. There is something strange in the declared fact that sins are often visited on others than the perpetrators. But in the instance before us we can easily see that neither was David unpunished, nor the people punished without a cause. (1) David had sinned by a vainglorious desire to know the number of his subjects; the most suitable punishment was the destruction of thousands of those subjects, for this took away the source of exaltation. (2) It is evident, from the account in the book of Chronicles, that the people had moved the anger of the Lord before the king moved it by worldly confidence and pride. The people were really smitten for their own sins, though apparently for the sins of David.
III. The expiation which was made. The plague was not stayed by any virtue in the sacrifice which David offered. The sacrifice was but as a type, figuring that expiatory sacrifice by which the moral pestilence that had spread over the world would be finally arrested.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit,No. 1894.
References: 2 Samuel 24:17. J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year. Sundays after Trinity,Part I., p. 234; D. Hunter, The Modern Scottish Pulpit,p. 158.