Is This Fair? Does It Matter?

2 Chronicles 21:12-15(NKJV)

12And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying,          Thus says the Lord God of your father David:         Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 

13but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father’s household, who were better than yourself, 

14behold, the Lord will strike your people with a serious affliction—your children, your wives, and all your possessions; 

15and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day.

Here we have an example of the people being held responsible and punished for the actions of their leader. 

Does that seem fair?  Could they stop their leader from acting?  Not very easily.  Did they have the right to fire their king and elect another one?  Nope.  And yet this Scripture clearly tells us that the people were being punished for the actions of their leader.  Does that seem fair? 

And more importantly, does it matter?  If God says that is the way it is, does it matter whether it is fair or not?  I would suggest that it does matter and it is fair.  Here is my reasoning.

One of God's attributes is that He is a God of justice.  Therefore it would be inconsistent with God's character for it not to be fair (just).  Here is my take on it.  The reason it is fair is that it was the people that asked for a king to begin with.  Therefore they have a responsibility to see that the king acts responsibly on their behalf.  It seems to me that this verse is saying that ultimately the people are responsible and they need to rise up and deal with a leader that has gone so far from God's Word.