And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house. But these sheep, what have they done? - It seems that in the order of Providence there is no way of punishing kings in their regal capacity, but by afflictions on their land, in which the people must necessarily suffer. If the king, therefore, by his own personal offenses, in which the people can have no part, bring down God's judgments upon his people, (though they suffer innocently), grievous will be the account that he must give to God. The people generally suffer for the miscarriages of their governors: this has been observed in every age.
Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.
- "When doting monarchs urge
Unsound resolves, their subjects feel the scourge."
Hor. Ep. lib. i., Ephesians 2, ver. 14.
Against my father's house - That is, against his own family; even to cut it off from the face of the earth.