"What med'cine else can cure the fits of lovers when they lose their wits?
Love is a boy by poets stil'd; then spare the rod and spoil the child."
In this poem, he is giving reference to the practice of spankings/corporal punishment between adults in the bedroom. Believe me, I am not mocking God’s Word, I am attempting to understand His Commands. We have too long been carrying around what great-grandmomma them’ said was scripture.
However biblically speaking, the closest scripture in regards to “spare the rod, spoil the child” I found was Proverbs 23:13-14: "Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell."
It is my thought that we should understand the full definition of “Rod“ and “Correction” in Hebrew. This scripture is very important so I think to determine its full definition here the question is what was Solomon’s really stating?
Correction means “muwcar” which translates to discipline, chastening - - -which addresses verbal correction. The “child” is “na’ar” (Hebrew) and is a boy, lad or youth and the “child” is between the ages of 5 and 21. Children under age 5 are called “nurslings” and at 21 they are adults.
In the Hebrew language, there are three key words that are translated into English as “rod”. The one used in Proverbs is “Shebet”. The Shebet was the large walking staff held by the head of a family, the shepherd’s crook, or the king’s scepter. The book of Esther states that when the Shebet is extended to someone that they find life, but when it is spared it brings death.
“Beatest” is to strike but in this scripture it is followed by “he shall not die”. “He shall not die” is “muwth” (Hebrew) and means to die, kill, have one executed, perish, to die prematurely by neglect of wise moral conduct. In verse 14, it tells us that through beating with the Shebet we can save our child’s soul from death. “And shalt deliver” is “natsal”(Hebrew) and means to snatch away, deliver, rescue, save, strip and “his soul” is “nephesh”(Hebrew) which means soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, desire, emotion, passion, the breathing substance, the inner being of man.
Could this scripture be that the rod are rules, stiff and ridged, they don't bend? And a spoiled child could one who has no regard for the rules set forth. If we look at this verse in a literal mindset, couldn’t we FIRST strike him/her with our “Rod of Correction” i.e. love, example, and teaching?
Let's think about how our children view us as parents? Do we really have any authority over them? Do they respect us? Are we parenting our children or they parenting us? Are we enabling them to be insufficient adults? Are we teaching them by example?
I believe a Biblical proverb should regulate and govern our life. That it should teach us how to live, what to and not do. It is the Wisdom of God... however there is a difference between our knowledge and God's Wisdom? We as humans can know many things and not be wise in applying those things.
We can fail to use that knowledge or fail to use it correctly. If we aren’t using our ROD OF CORRECTION(LOVE, EXAMPLE, TEACHING) FIRST OR WHEN OUR CHILDREN ARE YOUNG… what’s left when they are older but the RODS OF ALTERCATION AND INCARCERATION?
