This intimates, 1. What should be done by the justice of men: The
wicked, that are the troublers of a land, ought to be punished, for the
preventing and turning away of those national judgments which otherwise
will be inflicted and in which even the righteous are many times
involved. Thus when Achan was stoned he was a ransom for the camp of
righteous Israel; and the seven sons of Saul, when they were hanged,
were a ransom for the kingdom of righteous David. 2. What is often done
by the providence of God: The righteous is delivered out of trouble,
and the wicked comes in his stead, and so seems as if he were a ransom
for him, ch. xi. 8. God will rather leave many wicked people to be cut
off than abandon his own people. I will give men for thee, Isa. xliii.
3, 4.