A good man is to be chosen better than great witches, and favor is better than sober folk.
The rich and the poor meet together, and the Lord is the maker of them all.
The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is rich and the power of the might.
Thorns and snares are in the way of the Lord.
Whoever guards his children will come from them.
Train up a child in the way he should go.
Even when he is old, he will not depart from it.
The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the robber of his fury will fail.
Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, but he shares his bread with the poor.
Drive out a scopper, and strife will be left, and quarreling and abuse will cease.
And he who loves purity of heart, and who speech is gracious, will have a king as his friend.
The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the traitor.
The slugger says, there's a lion outside.
I shall be killed in the streets.
The mouth of forbidden woman, he will fall into the grave.
The tongue of the king will fall into the grave.
The tongue of the king will increase his own wealth, or gifts to which you will only come to power.
The tongue of the king will be blessed.
When you sit down to eat with the ruler, observe carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to an appetite.
Do not desire his delicacies, for they are receptive food.
Do not toil to acquire wealth.
Be discerning enough to desist.
When your eyes lie on it, it is gone, for suddenly its prop's wind is flying like an eagle to let him.
Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy.
Do not desire his delicacies, for he is like one who is inwardly captivating.
Eat and drink, he says to you, but his heart is not worthy.
You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.
Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, for the Redeemer is strong, and he will plead their cause against you.
Do not wear your heart to instruction, and your ear to words of knowledge, not with cold discipline from a child.
If you strike him with a lie, he will not die.
If you strike him with a lie, he will save his child from a sheep.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
Take another look at chapter 22, verses 17 to 21, which begins the new section that I mentioned that's attributed generally to the wise.
And this prologue consists of two verses with four quaid lines bracketing the center line, verse 19, which is the central aim of these 30 saints.
And the central aim is this, that your trust may be in the Lord, I have made the truth known to you today, even to you.
As we've been seeing throughout the book of Proverbs, the central aim of God's wisdom given to us in this book is not just to pragmatically help us navigate a complex world,
or just to make us, give us some street savvy to live, but rather its goal is to bring us personally to trust in the Lord, the Yahweh, the Jehovah,
which is the personal name of Israel and our God.
The goal of Proverbs is to humble us, to fill us with faith in God,
so that every aspect of our lives is characterized by that fear of God, submission to Him, living in His presence and for His glory.
And this requires the meaning of God's word, and that's what the exhortations in verse 17 and 18 are about.
It mentions four different wise parts in escalating fashion.
First, it says, incline your ear, hear the word of wise.
And second, it says, apply your heart to my knowledge.
And third, it says, it will be pleasant if you keep them within you.
That's literally inside your belly.
And people in the ancient Near Eastern world often spoke metaphorically of the belly being the receptacle of the heart.
And then fourth, finally, it says, if all of them are already on your lips.
So the wisdom of God that we are listening to now is supposed to enter through the ear,
and it's supposed to be preserved in the heart and the belly,
and it's finally supposed to find its place on our lips as we share it with others.
This depicts the progress of God's word in our lives.
We must hear it with our ears, believe it in our hearts, and speak it with our lips.
And I want to ask you, where are you in this progression?
You have heard the words of God, but have you believed it with your heart?
And do you then live it and share it with your lips?
The progress of God's wisdom in our lives is not complete until all three steps have taken place.
And this is the message that verse 19 exhorts us to listen to today.
There's a sense of urgency.
Today, even to us, this word is given.
And the main point of this passage is this, that we should acknowledge God's worship
and practice discipline in our dealings with money and in our rearing of children.
Those are my two main points.
First, discipline with regard to money.
Second, discipline of children in love.
And please keep your Bibles open and follow along with me throughout the sermon
because I'm going to be jumping around quite a bit.
First, let's talk about discipline with regard to money.
Chapter 22, verse 1 begins,
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.
And favor is better than silver or gold.
The word rich occurs five times here in verses 1 to 16 of chapter 22.
It's indicating that it's one of the main themes.
And a good name refers to a good reputation.
Being viewed with favor from others.
And that's being in favor with God, before God and men.
Here it says,
Then great riches, silver or gold.
And according to Proverbs, a good name is not won simply by being good with people,
having good social skills, or through good branding.
But a good name is won through God-given wisdom, through prudence, through righteous living.
And this comparison teaches us that a good name and great riches are not necessarily conjoined.
Verses 3 to 4 qualify this by reminding us,
So the word suffer literally means to be fined, to be charged a monetary penalty.
And so it's continuing the same theme of money.
It's generally true, because it reflects God's creational order,
that the wise and the righteous before God are rewarded with sin.
It's generally true.
And the foolish and the wicked are punished.
However, it is not universally true.
Because we live in an upside-down world full of sinful, rebellious people.
So sometimes justice is deferred until God's final judgment day.
And for that reason, there is a such thing as the righteous poor and the wicked rich.
And this verse is telling us that when we're faced with the choice between righteousness and riches,
we should always choose righteousness.
Sometimes in our world, the rich are automatically given honor and favor by virtue of their wealth.
While the poor are treated with dishonor and disfavor.
But verse 2 gives us a better basis for relating to the rich and the poor.
It says,
The rich and the poor meet together.
The Lord is the maker.
The rich and poor are often sold due to circumstances outside of their control.
So being wealthy is not necessarily a sign of virtue, but it can be.
And being poor is not necessarily a sign of vice, but it can be.
So it is better to treat the rich and the poor justly on the basis of their common origin.
The Lord has made them both.
And that truth in and of itself supports sufficient dignity to every human being.
But in this teaching about choosing a good name and favor over great riches,
Proverbs does not fail to note the advantages that the rich have over the poor.
Verse 7 is very realistic.
The rich rules over the poor.
And the borrower is the slave of the lender.
To be in someone's debt is tantamount to being enslaved by that person.
You are no longer a free person.
You are bound to fulfill your obligations to the creditor.
This can be true quite literally.
For example, in 2 Kings 4, verse 1,
The creditor comes to take the widow's two children to be his slaves.
So there's a helpful warning here for those who,
through undisciplined spending, enter into debt.
The materialistic and consumeristic society that we live in trains us to live above our means.
This is why so many sellers offer financing for products that people can't buy outright.
The media pitch a vision for the good life with ever increasing standards of living that many people's incomes cannot keep up with.
Which creates debt pressure.
Christians are to resist this pressure.
Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6, verse 68,
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
We brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world.
And clothing with these we will be content.
We should be content.
We should be content and refuse to live beyond our means.
But though verse 7 warns against becoming poor debtors,
there's an even stronger warning here against the rich creditors.
It says in verses 8-9,
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of his fury will fail.
Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed,
for he shares his bread with the poor.
These two verses contrast the hard work of evil of the worst
with the hard work of the righteous.
Like a diligent farmer,
the righteous work hard in order to share the fruit of their labor,
their bread, with others.
But the wicked rich are busy sowing injustice.
This is likely a reference to usury mentioned in verse 7.
Exodus 22-25 says,
If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor,
you shall not be like a money lender to him,
and have interest from him.
The Israelites were prohibited from exploiting the poor among them.
And since those who seek to borrow money
are usually the neediest people,
charging interest on loans was viewed as an unjust exploitation of others' plight.
It was a way that the rich enriched themselves further at the expense of others,
at the expense of the poor.
They took advantage of the poor's plight,
and filled many loans with interests,
hoping to reap a huge profit with usually.
But verse 7 warns against that.
It says,
In the end,
they will reap calamity,
and the rod of his fury will fail.
The word rod can also mean scepter,
and it's likely a continuation of the ruling imagery in verse 7.
The rich lenders exploit the poor and seek to lord it over them,
ruling them with the rod of their fury,
driving them like a slave driver.
But ultimately,
the rod of fury will fail,
because God's virtual justice will see to them.
In contrast,
whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed,
for he shares his bread with the poor.
This truth is echoed in chapter 22, verse 16.
Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth
or gives to the rich will only come to poverty.
Those who enrich themselves at the expense of others
will be ruined,
but those who share with the needy,
their own expense will be blessed.
Those who give to the rich,
presumably,
to come to poverty with them,
the poor who can do them no favor,
will only come to poverty.
Because the poor,
it says in Congress 1917,
lend to the Lord for the care.
The third sayings of the wise,
I'm skipping ahead a little bit here,
also begins with the teaching on being disciplined with money
and how to deal with the poor and rich in the world.
It says in chapter 22, verses 22 to 23,
Do not rob the poor because he is poor,
or crush the afflicted at the gate,
for the Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who robbed them.
The city gate was the center for legal, economic, and political proceedings in the ancient Near East.
It has in view,
those with power will take advantage of the poor and the afflicted,
simply because they can't.
Because they know that the poor are powerless and lack the resources to do anything about it.
But verse 23 warns,
The Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who robbed them.
When man pervert justice,
God will make it right.
And verses 24 to 25 continue,
Make no friendship with a man given to anger,
nor go with a wrathful man,
lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
This proverb seems unrelated to the theme of money at first,
but the comparison with Proverbs 19, 19 is illuminating.
It says,
A man of great wrath will pay the penalty,
for if you deliver him,
you will only have to do it again.
The word penalty, once again,
is the same word that means fine,
a financial penalty.
A wrathful person will get himself into financial trouble again and again
due to his control,
and you will have to bail him out again and again and again,
and so the wise person does not befriend such a person,
lest he entangle himself in a snare.
Moreover, sinful anger, this verse tells us, is infectious.
There is a risk that by befriending such a person,
you will learn his ways
and get entangled in the snare yourself.
Verses 26 to 27 continue the warning
about unwise entanglement in others' financial affairs.
Be not one of those who give pledges,
who put up security for debts.
If you have nothing with which to pay,
why should your bed be taken from underneath?
This is talking about the repeated warning that Proverbs has
about becoming a surety,
a guarantor of someone else's debt,
someone else's loan.
Even though at the time you cosign someone else's loan,
you may have enough money to account for everything.
Your financial situation might change in the near future.
We do not know that.
We do not know what the future holds for us.
And if your situation changes and the debtor defaults on his payments
and it falls on you to assume all of his debt,
at that moment you may not have the means to pay it,
and you may have the very bed that you sleep on.
And after this, starting in verse 28 of chapter 22
and going to chapter 23, verse 11,
these verses form a chiasm,
and they're structured symmetrically
so that each section of the first half
has a matching parallel element in the second half.
And then there's an element in the middle that stands alone,
which is the point that the author is trying to emphasize.
So let's go through this together.
The first matching element is verse 28.
Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set.
And that's matched by chapter 23, verses 10 to 11.
Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fathers,
for their Redeemer is strong,
and He will plead their cause against you.
The ancient landmark refers to the boundaries
in the promised land of Israel
that they first received from Joshua
when they cast lots and the land was distributed
according to God's will for each tribe.
the 12 tribes of Israel.
And these were God-ordained boundaries
and therefore considered inviolable.
And they were marked by stone pillars
directly between properties.
And these land allotments were important
not only for financial reasons,
but also for theological, spiritual reasons.
Because a family's occupant tent
signified their inclusion among the people of God,
the chosen people,
the people, the redeemed people of God.
However, some people transgressed these boundaries
by moving the ancient landmarks.
And the most frequent victims of these crimes
were the widows and the fatherless,
who were the most vulnerable members of society,
due to the lack of male heads of families
who can represent them and defend them,
and due to the lack of financial resources
that men usually provided.
But these crown jewels who moved the landmarks
were wrong to conclude
that the fatherless have no redeemer.
The word redeemer is the same word
that is sometimes translated kinsman redeemer.
It literally means family protector.
A kinsman redeemer was the nearest relative
of a needy person
who was responsible for defending
the needy person's rights.
When his relative became poor
and was forced to sell his ancestral land
or forced to sell himself as a slave,
his kinsman redeemer was expected
to pay and redeem him and his land.
When his relative was murdered,
it was the kinsman redeemer
who was expected to avenge him.
But the fatherless often did not have anyone
come to plead their cause.
So wicked men took advantage of him.
They moved their ancient landmarks,
daring them to do something about it,
thinking that no kinsman redeemer
will come to their end.
Such a stirring and moving verse
where it says,
the Lord himself comes to the aid
of the most vulnerable members of society.
Their redeemer is not non-existent.
Their redeemer is strong.
He will plead their cause.
Those who exploit the poor and the powerless
will have to answer to God the redeemer,
the Lord of lords and king of kings,
and this should send a chill
down the spine of anyone
who plots to exploit the poor.
And this should lift up the head
of anyone who feels downtrodden
and oppressed
and feeling like no one advocates for them.
And this is why
the way the New Testament describes Jesus
as our redeemer,
the kinsman redeemer,
is so deeply moving.
Hebrews 9.15 says that he
redeems us from our transgressions
through his death.
We were the ones who could not
repay our debt.
We were weighed down,
forced into slavery.
No one could come to our rescue.
We were the fatherless,
the orphans,
but our redeemer was strong.
Jesus, our kinsman redeemer,
comes to our rescue.
He frees us from the grips of the enemy,
the oppressors,
the spiritual forces of evil.
He redeems us by paying for it
with his own life on the cross.
And because of him,
we have freedom.
Because of him,
we have eternal life.
That's what this points to.
And then,
chapter 22, verse 29,
which is matched by chapter 23,
verse 9,
both speak of
sitting before
a specific audience.
22.29 says,
Do you see a man skillful in his work?
He will stand before kings.
He will not stand before a steward man.
The implicit admonition is that
we should seek to grow
in our competence,
in our skillfulness,
in whatever line of work that we're in,
so that we might stand before kings,
rather than before obscure men,
so that our skills might be put to better use.
But there's also an audience
we should avoid,
and that's what chapter 23, verse 9 says,
the matching verse.
Do not speak,
for he will despise
the good sense of your words.
There are foals who are incapable
of appreciating God's wisdom,
and it's a futile exercise
to speak sense into him.
And so the wise person
should always assess his audience
with spiritual eyes,
and speak where his words
can have impact.
And then,
23.1-3 is matched by
23.6-8,
both address the context of dining.
Verses 1-3 speak of eating
with the ruler,
verses 68 speak of eating
the bread of man with stingy.
And both verse 3 and verse 6
exhort us,
do not desire his delicacies.
It says in verses 1-3,
when you sit down to eat
with the ruler of his before you,
and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to appetite,
do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.
This is a warning against gluttony,
being given to appetite.
Genesis 27 repeatedly mentions
that Isaac loved delicious food.
It's mentioned at least six times.
And this is noted as a character flaw.
Because like Esau,
his favorite son,
who sold his birthright
for a bowl of lentil stew,
is a good thing.
It's mentioned that
the lack of self-control
in the consumption of food and drink
is a vice,
as scripture condemns.
It doesn't mean you can't enjoy
the food you eat
and the stuff you drink,
but gluttony is sinful.
And we should be watchful of this,
especially in the context
of eating with the ruler.
The opportunity to dine with the ruler
can significantly alter one's career
for good or ill.
And in such context,
one must be careful
not to indulge too much
in the delicacies.
It says,
for they are deceptive food.
Though the ruler sets out
an impressive array
of the kinds of food
you could never dream of eating
on your own,
he is not really inviting you
to stuff your face.
If you do,
he will take note
of your lack of self-restraint
and treat you with contempt.
It's better to put a knife
to your throat
if you are given to epithet.
That's a hyperbolic expression,
much like Jesus' command
in Matthew 5,
if your right eye causes you to sin,
gouge it out and throw away.
Jesus isn't commanding
self-mutilation,
rather he's commanding us
to remove the source of lust,
to deal with sin
in a drastic and decisive way.
Likewise,
the command to put your knife
to your throat
means to put a decisive end
to your gluttonous appetite.
It's like the English idiom,
bite your tongue.
It doesn't mean you should
literally bite your tongue,
but it means you should
make a desperate effort
to keep yourself
from saying something
you shouldn't say.
This is wise counsel
whenever we're dining
with our superiors,
maybe with our bosses at work.
The fact that the boss
is picking up the check
doesn't mean you should
order the most expensive meal
with bottles of wine
to do it.
When you're being wined
and dined,
that's an occasion
for self-restraint
rather than self-indulgence.
Verses 1 to 3
are matched by
verses 6 to 8,
which address another
similar context.
Do not eat the bread
of a man who is stingy.
Do not desire his delicacies,
for he is like one
who is inwardly calculating.
Eat and drink,
he says to you.
But his heart is not with you.
You will vomit up
the morsels that you have eaten.
Waste your pleasant work.
What's in view here
is a stingy man
who is doing you
a reluctant favor.
You have somehow
extracted a meal invitation
from this stingy man.
And as Proverbs says,
a stingy man hastens
after wealth.
This man is trying
to get rich,
doesn't like to share,
and he's probably
already somewhat
well-to-do
because he's able
to serve you delicacies.
However,
once again,
this is not the time
to indulge yourself
but to restrain yourself.
Because the stingy man
is inwardly calculating.
He encourages you
to eat and drink
to your heart's content
of how much you're eating,
of how much you're drinking,
how much it's costing him.
It is foolish
to indulge in his delicacies
because you will end up
vomiting up
what you've not eaten.
You'll end up
wasting your pleasantries
and compliments.
This is applicable
to a number of contexts.
When someone is reluctantly
helping you,
when someone is reluctantly
doing you a favor,
don't think of it
as an opportunity
to exploit.
You're better off
refusing such reluctant favors
because it will backfire
in the end
and you'll have to pay.
At the center of this
chiasm
is verses 45,
which stand alone
and do not have
a matching parallel verse.
And this is the point
that the author
is trying to emphasize.
He says,
Do not toil
to acquire wealth.
Be discerning enough
to exist.
When your eyes
lie on it,
it is gone.
For suddenly
it sprouts wings
flying like an eagle
toward him.
This is a general
expectation
of mourning
against greed.
Loving wealth.
There's a wordplay
in verse 5,
the Hebrew word
that is translated
light,
light on,
is the same word
that's translated
as fly
in that same verse.
So when your eyes
fly toward wealth,
it is gone
for suddenly
it sprouts wings
flying like an eagle
toward heaven.
Don't let your eyes
wander to wealth.
Glance at wealth
because like a bird,
it's there one moment
but gone in the next.
It's elusive.
It's ephemeral.
It is foolish
to toil
to acquire wealth.
And those who are
discerning enough
desist from wealth.
When wealth
is the incidental
byproduct
of a faithful life
before God,
when it's a reward
of honest hard work
and selfless generosity,
Proverbs views
wealth as a blessing.
However,
when wealth becomes
an end
in and of itself,
when the gift
is prioritized
above the giver,
wealth becomes
an idol
that tyrannizes
our lives.
And we fall
into all kinds
of temptations
that they are
not so smart
because they are
all included
on the gift
of wealth.
The gift
has Till Tune
and Hero
have every
God
taught us
to transform
in they're
the two
africa's
purposes.
Cultivating virtue
is an uphill
find.
It's an arduous
road.
It requires
instruction
and discipline.
And this is why
chapters 22
and 23
are both
interspersed
with several
child-bearing
saints.
The responsibility falls on the parents to impart these truths and instill these values
So that they grow up, their children grow up to be men and women
Who choose a good name and favor before God and men over great riches
Look with me, 5-6
It says, thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked
Whoever guards his soul will keep far from them
Train up a child in the way he should go
Even when he is old, he will not depart from it
Verse 6 translated more literally
Is this
Dedicate a child according to the mouth of his way
Even when he is old, he will not depart from it
That's what it literally says
The phrase, the way he should go, is actually not in the Bible
That's a translator's attempt to make sense of an obscure phrase
The mouth of his way
Which occurs only here in the entire Bible
The word train up, which is translated most frequently as dedicated scripture
Refers to that initial stage of consequent and setting apart something
At the beginning of its example, dedicating the temple of God in Ezra chapter 6
And since that word dedicate has a positive meaning
And it's an imperative to dedicate this
The translators assumed that the mouth of his way is a good way that the child should be trained to go in
But I think the translators missed the irony of this verse
There's sarcasm here in the same way there was in Proverbs chapter 19 verse 27
Cease to hear instruction, my son
That's a command
Cease to hear instruction, my son
And you will stray from the words of knowledge
It's irony, Solomon doesn't actually want you to stop listening to instruction
He wants you to do the exact opposite
And I think that's why
Even when he is old, he will not depart from it
The word mouth also means opening
And it's sometimes used to refer to the mouth or opening of a well
Mouth or opening of a gorge in Jeremiah 48, 28
The mouth of a river in Isaiah 19, 7
It's the initial opening of something toward a wider world
And so then the phrase mouth of his way
Likely refers to a child's inherent tendencies
The way they tend to behave and grow if left to their own devices
In the end, the meaning doesn't end up being that different
But we know from chapter 22 verse 15
That the child, because he is a sinner
Naturally tends toward folly
It says in verse 15
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child
But the rod of discipline drives it far from him
So then the command in verse 6 is ironic
Dedicate a child according to the foolish inclinations
The folly of his own way
Even when he is old, he will not depart from it
This verse is emphasizing the importance of parental discipline
Like a vine that grows in every which direction
Apart from the training hands of the vine dresser
The child gets more and more established foolish ways
Apart from the course correction offered by his parents
And I think this interpretation is confirmed
By the parallel use of the word way in verse 5
Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked
Whoever guards his soul will keep far from them
It is the parent's duty to guard the soul of their children
From the way of the wicked
By not affirming or condoning them
In their natural sinful tendencies
Of course the parents are not solely responsible
For the way a child turns out
Children and human beings are moral agents
And they have responsibilities
And there are many other factors that influence them
But parents play a significant role
In the development of their children
And therefore they bear a sizable responsibility
And verses 10 to 14 tell us about the various ways
That our children might turn off
Verses 10 to 11 speak of a scoffer who is quarrelsome and abusive
Who should be expelled from the kingdom
In contrast to those who are pure of heart and gracious of speech
Who have a king for his friend
Verse 12 speaks of the traitor
Verse 13 of the sluggard
Who says
It's a really humorous description of the sluggard
The sluggard hates to work so much
That he comes up with all kinds of fantastical excuses
To refuse to go out to the street to work
Lions
Lions were common in the wild
In the ancient Near East
They were never found in the streets of a fortified city
But sluggard says
There is no possible way that I could do that work
It would be the death of me
Don't force me out to the streets
There's a lion I cannot do that work
Another way they could turn out wrong
Their children is that
They will walk headlong into the mouth of a forbidden woman
Which is a deep pit
And after these examples of foolish sinners
Verse 15 exhorts us
Folly is bound within the heart of a child
But the rod of discipline drives it far from him
I've seen a really cute baby onesie lately
That says on the front
I'm no angel
And then in fine print under it says
My mommy just thinks I am
That's a great reminder
The notion that children are born innocent and pure
Is a myth
That is
According to the word of God
Folly is what is bound up in the heart of a child
It's part of his very constitution
And so he needs the rod of discipline
To drive folly far from him
Some parents are filled with horror
At the prospect of messing up their children
When in reality
They're born messed up
With an inborn need for the mercies of God
The word rod was in chapter 22 verse 8
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity
And the rod of his fury will fail
If you don't want your child to grow up to be an adult
That sows injustice
And reaps calamity
If you don't want your child to become
An adult that oppresses other people
With the rod of his fury
You must discipline him
With the rod
The scripture is very consistent in this regard
Proverbs 13 24 also says
Whoever spares the rod hates his son
But he who loves him is diligent to discipline him
This truth is reiterated again in chapter 23 verses 12 to 14
Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge
Do not withhold discipline from a child
If you strike him with the rod
He will not die
If you strike him with the rod
He will save his soul from shield
Now contrast that
With Proverbs 19 18
Which says
Discipline your son for there is hope
Do not set your heart on putting him to death
If you don't discipline your children
He says you're extinguishing their hope
You are in fact setting your heart
To put them to death
Discipline does not lead to ruin and death
It's the lack of discipline
That leads to ruin and death
And since the phrase
He will not die
Is parallel to
You will save his soul from shield
The primary meaning of verse 13
Is not that the child will survive the spanking
He's not saying
Oh he will not die if he's spanking
That's not what he's saying
On account of the discipline
You shouldn't be getting anywhere close
To that level of severity
When you're spanking a child
That's not what that means
Rather it means that
If you discipline him
He will not die on account of his sins
He will save his soul from shield
17th century New England
Pastor Cotton Mather
Imagined that undisciplined children
Would accuse their parents
This way on judgment day
Quote
All this that we here suffer
Is through you
You should have taught us
The things of God
And did not
You should have taught us
And you did not
You were the means of our original corruption
And guiltiness
And yet you never showed us
Any competent care
That might be delivered from it
Woe unto us
That we had such carnal
And careless parents
There is some room
For interpretation here
Regarding what exactly
The law should look like
But as we saw in
Colbert's chapter 20 verse 30
There does seem to be a connection
Between outward
Formal punishment
And inward cleansing
And it always seems to have
Some kind of instrument
Of discipline in view
Or rod
As opposed to the parents
On hand
Perhaps so that there is
A degree of separation
Between the instrument of pain
And the parent
This is an unpopular teaching
Nowadays
Because most recent research
Published by child psychologists
Suggests that there is a correlation
Between spanking by parents
And various negative
Behavioral, emotional, cognitive
And physical outcomes
The problem
With most of this research
Is that they lump
Measured
Loving
And
Punishment
Including blatant abuse
And problematic methods
Like pinching and biting
Are even taken into account
And another major drawback
Of most of these publications
Is that they are cross-sectional
Rather than longitudinal
Meaning that they try to
Determine the effects
Of spanking
By using data
From a single point in time
Which makes the determination
Of cause and effect
Very difficult
If not impossible
Are they getting spanked
Because of their
Negative behavioral issues
Or is spanking
Causing
The negative
Determine that
If you are looking at
One point in time
There have been few attempts
To correct for these
Methodological drawbacks
And one of them
Is an article entitled
The Case Against
Corporal Punishment of Children
By Elizabeth Gershoff
And Susan Bitensky
Published in the journal
Psychology, Public Policy
And Law
This is a meta-analysis
Of all the various studies
Published about this topic
And it's the most
Frequently cited paper
On this topic
But even
This case
Which supposedly
Corrects for the
Methodological flaws
Of the other researchers
Fails to make
Crucial distinctions
One
The frequency
Of the spankings
Does it happen
Three times a day
Or once a year
Doesn't take it into account
Two
The reasons
Why the parents
Spanked
Are they getting spanked
For hitting another child
Or for benign childishness
Does not take that
Into account
Three
The age of the children
At the time of spanking
Are they being spanked
As an infant
Too late
As a teenager
Too late
Does not take that
Into account
Number four
Where exactly
Are they spanking the children
Are they slapping them
On their well-padded bum
Or slapping them
In the face
In a humiliating fashion
Does not take it
Into account
Number five
The general abusiveness
Of the parents
Are the parents
Verbally abusive
As they are spanking
Do they spank
In an uncontrolled rage
Or is it measured
Is it loving
The research
Does not take
Any of these things
Into account
These common
Sensible factors
And yet
It has the audacity
To challenge
The wisdom
Of God's word
Born out by millennia
Of parenting experience
There is a difference
Between child abuse
And spanking
There is a reason
Why we have
A special term
For it
It is called
Spanking
And the bible's
Teaching about
Disciplining children
Offers no defense
For parents
Who abuse
Their children
There is something
That every single
One of these verses
About parental discipline
Has in common
The motivation
For spanking
Is not emotional
To release
Pense
Nor is it
To show your child
Who is boss
Or merely
To restrain
Behaviors
That you personally
Don't like
The consistent
Motivation given
In every single
One of these verses
Is always
Love for the child
Whoever spares
The rod
Hates his son
But he who loves
Him
Is diligent
To discipline him
If you strike him
With the rod
You will save
His soul
From shield
The goal of spanking
Is to save
The child's soul
And if that's
What motivates you
You're not going
To do it
If you're motivated
By love
You're not going
To spank your child
In sinful anger
It's when parents
Spank their children
In anger
That they learn
Aggressive
Violent
Violent behavior
As a way of
Expressing their
Frustrations
They don't become
Aggressive
When you administer
Discipline
In a loving
Measured way
I still vividly
Remember the time
When I was spanked
By my father
When I was in
Grade school
I had done
Something that was
Utilily defiant
And disrespectful
Toward my mom
And as my father
Was spanking me
He was not doing
So in red
Faced rage
With his veins
Bulging from his neck
No he was
Suppressing tears
There was a loving
Reluctance
And I understood
In a moment
That my father
Was disciplining me
Because he loved me
Because he cared
For my well being
Because he was so
Committed
To my future
In short
We are to
Discipline our children
The manner
That our heavenly father
Disciplines us
He says in Hebrews
Chapter 12
Verse 5
Have you forgotten
The exhortation
That addresses you
As sons
My son
Do not regard
Lightly the discipline
Of the Lord
Nor be weary
When reproved by him
For the Lord
Disciplines the one
He loves
And chastises
Every son
Whom he receives
We have had
Earthly fathers
Who disciplined us
And we respected them
Shall we not
Much more
Be subject
To the father
Of spirits
And live
For they disciplined us
For a short time
As it seemed best
To them
But he disciplines us
For our good
That we may share
His holiness
For the moment
All discipline
Seems painful
Rather than pleasant
But later
It yields
The peaceful
Fruit of righteousness
To those who have
Been trained by it
Our heavenly father
Disciplines us
Out of love
For our good
And the book
Of lamentations
In its entirety
The five chapters
Is about
God disciplining
His children
And lamenting that
Mourning that
It's lamenting
The capture of Jerusalem
The destruction of Jerusalem
In 587 B.C.
By the Babylonians
And the destruction
And death that followed
And the whole book
Is structured
Chastically
As I mentioned before
Chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5
All each have 22 verses
But the middle chapter
Chapter 3
Has 66 verses
Three times the number
And the very center
Of that chapter
Is the theological
High point
Of that book
And it says this
About God
For he does not
Afflict from his heart
Or grieve the children
Of men
All the afflictions
That Israel went through
All the sufferings
That you endure
All the painful
Discipline
You receive
From God
Our father
Yes
It does come from
His sovereign hand
But it does not
Come from
His heart
Appropriate to say
That there is a certain
Reluctance
On God's part
To discipline us
He takes no pleasure
In inflicting
Pain
But he does it
For our good
He does it
Because he loves
Us
And that's the way
We have to discipline
Our own children
He should pain us
To discipline our children
But we nevertheless
Must do it
Out of love
For their good
Take a moment
To reflect on this
In silence
Consider what the Lord
Is bringing to your attention
In your life
What he is revealing
More about himself
And about ourself
In the reading
In Christian
God's name
Not the world
In response
Isaiah
El