KJV: For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.
ASV: For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.
Matthew Henry Commentary
2 For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.
Note, 1. National sins bring national disorders and the disturbance of the public repose: For the transgression of a land, and a general defection from God and religion to idolatry, profaneness, or immorality, many are the princes thereof, many at the same time pretending to the sovereignty and contending for it, by which the people are crumbled into parties and factions, biting and devouring one another, or many successively, in a little time, one cutting off another, as 1Ki 16:8, etc., or soon cut off by the hand of God or of a foreign enemy, as 2Ki 24:5, etc. As the people suffer for the sins of the prince,
Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi-- Kings play the madmen, and their people suffer for it,so the government sometimes suffers for the sins of the people. 2. Wisdom will prevent or redress these grievances: By a man, that is, by a people, of understanding, that come again to themselves and their right mind, things are kept in a good order, or, if disturbed, brought back to the old channel again. Or, By a prince of understanding and knowledge, a privy-counsellor, or minister of state, that will restrain or suppress the transgression of the land, and take the right methods of healing the state thereof, the good estate of it will be prolonged. We cannot imagine what a great deal of service one wise man may do to a nation in a critical juncture.
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