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In these verses it is noted that God's judgment on sin revealed the sinfulness of his doings to the sinner. "God is known by the judgment that he executeth." Still, it is largely true that men do not see their sin in its proper light until they come under the sufferings which it involves. Illustrate by the licentious man and the drunkard. God's plan is to affix consequences to sin, and make these always to he of an afflictive and distressing and humiliating character, so that by them the character and quality of sin might be shown up. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Illustrations are at hand in Old Testament history, ordinary national histories, and modern life. "Though hand join in hand, the sinner shall not go unpunished." The consequences of sin come in a great variety of forms, but always with precise adaptation to the moral purpose which God holds in view in sending them. If the sin be only that of a man as an individual, the consequences may come wholly on the man's body. If the sin be that of a man as a father, the consequences may be such as will affect the family. And if the sin be that of a man as a king, we may reasonably expect that the consequences will reach to affect the nation. And this is the case of David which is now before us for consideration. An act is right or wrong, according to God's eternal laws, whoever does it; but acts gain some of their precise qualities through the relational or representative character of the persons who do them; and this often affords the true explanations of the particular judgments that attend them.

I. DAVID'S SIN. His act, considered apart from his state of mind and his purpose, cannot be called wrong. We at least are familiar with the idea of taking census, and understand it to be a necessary attendant on orderly government. Two things aid us in recognizing David's sin.

1. The sentiment of Eastern peoples concerning a census; they regarded it as imperilling their liberty, and as a state device for inflicting on them a tyrannous taxation.

2. David was not an independent sovereign; he was Jehovah's prince; and such a work as this should only have been undertaken at the direct command of the true King. In a previous sketch, on ver. 2, the precise character of David's act has been shown. His purpose was vain-glory. He would boast of the great kingdom he had founded; so he utterly failed from the theocratic kingship with which he had been entrusted. And his sin was that of the king; it was part of his government; and, therefore, it affected the people whom he governed, and, the consequences fell on him through them, just as the judgments on parental sin come on parents through their children.

II. ITS CONSEQUENCES IN THE DIVINE ADMINISTRATION. These were apparently special. Gad, God's prophet, announced the impending judgments, bidding David select which of them should fall. Bat this speciality is only in appearance, and it is designed to be illustrative of the ordinary and orderly judgments which are surely wrought out in God's providences. Sometimes God permits us to trace processes, but it is only that we may gain full conviction of the essential connections between sin and suffering. Much is made in our day of the working of law in nature. It would be altogether healthier and better for us to make much of the working of law in morals. No law is so absolute as this one: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die."

III. THE REVEALING POWER OF SUCH CONSEQUENCES. That is, their power to disclose and impress the character of men's sins, as viewed by God. In the narrative before us, the impressions made on the king (ver. 8), on the people, and, through these, upon us, may be illustrated. The mission of all judgments and so-called calamities is here shown. The revelations which they make are

(1) a vindication of God;

(2) a gracious aid to a worthy apprehension of God; and

(3) the only way to secure our due restoration to a right mind and right relations. - R.T.

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KJV: And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.

WEB: God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel.