Observe here, 1. That God takes notice of and is displeased with the
sins of rulers. Those who have power to call others to account are
themselves accountable to the ruler of rulers; for, as high as they
are, there is a higher than they. This is intimated in that the
commandment transgressed is here said to be the commandment of the Lord
his God, v. 22. He is a prince to others, but let him know the Lord is
a God to him. 2. The sin of the ruler which he committed through
ignorance is supposed afterwards to come to his knowledge (v. 23),
which must be either by the check of his own conscience or by the
reproof of his friends, both which we should all, even the best and
greatest, not only submit to, but be thankful for. What we have done
amiss we should be very desirous to come to the knowledge of. That
which I see not, teach thou me, and show me wherein I have erred, are
prayers we should put up to God every day, that though through
ignorance we fall into sin we may not through ignorance lie still in
it. 3. The sin-offering for a ruler was to be a kid of the goats, not a
bullock, as for the priest and the whole congregation; nor was the
blood of his sin-offering to be brought into the tabernacle, as of the
other two, but it was all bestowed upon the brazen altar (v. 25); nor
was the flesh of it to be burnt, as that of the other two, without the
camp, which intimated that the sin of a ruler, though worse than that
of a common person, yet was not so heinous, nor of such pernicious
consequence, as the sin of the high priest, or of the whole
congregation. A kid of the goats was sufficient to be offered for a
ruler, but a bullock for a tribe, to intimate that the ruler, though
major singulis--greater than each, was minor universis--less than the
whole. It is bad when great men give bad examples, but worse when all
men follow them. 4. It is promised that the atonement shall be accepted
and the sin forgiven (v. 26), that is, if he repent and reform; for
otherwise God swore concerning Eli, a judge in Israel, that the
iniquity of his house should not be purged with sacrifice nor offering
for ever, 1 Sam. iii. 14.