“And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.”
My Notes
What Does 2 Samuel 24:17 Mean?
"I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house." David sees the angel striking the people with pestilence — the consequence of his census — and confesses: I sinned. They didn't. Punish me. Not them. The king takes responsibility for the plague his pride produced and asks for the punishment to redirect from the people to himself.
The phrase "these sheep, what have they done" uses the shepherd metaphor: David sees the dying Israelites as innocent sheep. They didn't number themselves. David did. They didn't sin with the census. David did. The sheep are dying for the shepherd's failure. The language echoes David's earlier life: the shepherd-king recognizes his flock's innocence.
The request — "let thine hand be against me" — is substitutionary: David offers himself as the target instead of the people. The king volunteers to absorb the punishment his subjects are receiving. The offer is the kingly version of the shepherd laying down his life for the sheep.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What consequences have your decisions produced for innocent people around you?
- 2.Are you taking full responsibility — or hiding behind the suffering you caused?
- 3.What does David's substitutionary offer teach about leadership accountability?
- 4.How does 'these sheep, what have they done' model the right response when your sin hurts others?
Devotional
I sinned. They didn't. Punish me instead. David watches the plague strike his people — seventy thousand dead (verse 15) — and takes full responsibility: this is my sin. These are innocent sheep. Direct the punishment at me and my family. Not at them.
The confession is immediate and complete: 'I have sinned, and I have done wickedly.' No qualifiers. No explanations. No blame-shifting to Joab (who objected to the census — verse 3) or to the circumstances. I sinned. I acted wickedly. The responsibility is entirely mine.
The 'these sheep, what have they done' is David at his most shepherd-like: the king whose first career was protecting sheep recognizes that his current flock — the people of Israel — is suffering for something they didn't do. The sheep didn't count themselves. The shepherd counted them. And the consequence of the shepherd's sin falls on the sheep.
The substitutionary offer — punish me instead — is the most Christlike prayer David ever prays. The shepherd volunteering to absorb the punishment that falls on the flock. The leader offering himself as the target so his people can be spared. The principle that will reach its fulfillment on the cross starts here: the innocent shepherd offering himself for the guilty sheep — except in David's case, the shepherd is the guilty one and the sheep are innocent.
What responsibility are you taking for consequences that fell on others because of your decisions? And are you offering yourself as the substitute — or hiding behind the suffering you caused?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And David spake unto the Lord,.... In prayer; he and the elders of Israel being clothed in sackcloth, and fallen on…
Compare the passage in Chronicles. The account here is abridged; and 2Sa 24:18 has the appearance of being the original…
But these sheep, what have they done? - It seems that in the order of Providence there is no way of punishing kings in…
when he saw the angel The writer of Chronicles, dwelling upon the details of the miraculous circumstances which attended…
Cross References
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