Proverbs 28:2

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 28:2

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 Kg1 16:8, etc., or soon cut off by the hand of God or of a foreign enemy, as Kg2 24:5, etc. As the people suffer for the sins of the prince, Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi - Kings play the madmen, and their people suffe…

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 28:2

Anarchy producing contending rulers shortens the reign of each. but by a man . . . prolonged--or, "by a man of understanding--that is, a good ruler--he who knows or regards the right, that is, a good citizen, shall prolong (his days)." Good rulers are a blessing to the people. Bad government as a punishment for evil is contrasted with good as blessing to the good.

John Gill on Proverbs 28:2

For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof,.... Either together; that is, reigning princes, such as lay claim to the crown, and usurp it; otherwise it is a happiness to a nation to have many princes of the blood, to inherit in succession, to support the crown in their family, and defend a nation, and study the good of it; but it is a judgment to a nation when many rise up as competitors for rule, or do rule, as at Athens, where thirty tyrants sprung up at once; by which factions and parties are made, and which issue in oppression, rapine, and murder: or successively, very quickly, one after another, being dethroned the one by the other: or removed by death, as in the land o…

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 28:2