The rod of correction gives wisdom, but a child left to himself causes shame to his mother.
Parallel Translations
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The rod of correction gives wisdom, but a child left to himself causes shame to his mother.
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The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
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The rod and reproof give wisdom; but a child left to himself causeth shame to his mother.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Proverbs 29:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 10:1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father; but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.
- Proverbs 17:25 A foolish son brings grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him.
- Proverbs 29:17 Correct your son, and he will give you peace; yes, he will bring delight to your soul.
- Proverbs 13:24 One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him.
- Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
- Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
- Proverbs 17:21 He who becomes the father of a fool grieves. The father of a fool has no joy.
- Proverbs 23:13-14 Don’t withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod, and save his soul from Sheol.
- Hebrews 12:10-11 For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
- Proverbs 10:5 He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during the harvest is a son who causes shame.
- 1 Kings 1:6 His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, “Why have you done so?” and he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Absalom.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but…
Pro 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left [to himself] bringeth his mother to shame.
Ver. 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom.] If reproof do the deed, the rod may be spared, and not else. Chrysippus is by some cried out upon as the first that brought the use of a rod into the schools; but there is no doing without it; for children are foolish, apt to imitate others in their vices, before they know them to be vices; and though better taught, yet easily corrupted by evil company, as young lapwings are soon snatched up by every buzzard. Now, therefore, as moths are beaten out of garments with a rod, so must vices out of children’s hearts. Vexatio dat intellectum: Smart makes wit; it is put in with the rod of correction. See Pro 22:15.
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But a child left to himself bringeth his mother, &c.] For her fondness in cockering of him, and hiding his faults from his father, lest he should correct or cashier him. Mothers have a main hand in education of the children, and usually partus sequitur ventrem, the birth follows the belly, as we see in the kings of Judah, whose mothers are therefore frequently nominated. No wonder, therefore, though the mother deeply share in the shame and grief of her darling’s miscarriages. See Pro 15:20.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The rod and reproof; correction and instruction going together.
The rod and reproof; correction and instruction going together.
Left to himself; suffered to follow his own will or lusts without restraint and chastening. His mother, and father too; but he names only the mother, either because her indulgence oft spoils the child, or because children commonly stand in least awe of their mothers, and abuse the weakness of their sex, and tenderness of their natures.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Parents, in educating their children, must consider, 1. The…
Parents, in educating their children, must consider, 1. The benefit of due correction. They must not only tell their children what is good and evil, but they must chide them, and correct them too, if need be, when they either neglect that which is good or do that which is evil. If a reproof will serve without the rod, it is well, but the rod must never be used without a rational and grave reproof; and then, though it may be a present uneasiness both to the father and to the child, yet it will give wisdom. Vexatio dat intellectum - Vexation sharpens the intellect. The child will take warning, and so will get wisdom. 2. The mischief of undue indulgence: A child that is not restrained or reproved, but is left to himself, as Adonijah was, to follow his own inclinations, may do well if he will, but, if he take to ill courses, nobody will hinder him; it is a thousand to one but he proves a disgrace to his family, and brings his mother, who fondled him and humoured him in his licentiousness, to shame, to poverty, to reproach, and perhaps will himself be abusive to her and give her ill language.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The rod and reproof give wisdom,.... Are the means…
The rod and reproof give wisdom,.... Are the means of giving wisdom to a child, reproved by its parent with the rod; and of driving out foolishness from him, and of making him wiser for the time to come; he shunning those evils for which he was before corrected, Pro 22:15; So the children of God grow wiser by the corrections and chastisements of their heavenly Father, which are always for their good; and he is a man of wisdom that hearkens to the rod, and to him that has appointed it, and learns the proper instructions from it, Mic 6:9;
but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame; a child that has the reins thrown upon his neck, is under no restraint of parents, but suffered to take his own way, is left to do his own will and pleasure; he does those things which his parents are ashamed of, one as well as another; though the mother is only mentioned, being generally most fond and indulgent, and most criminal in suffering children to have their own wills and ways; and so has the greater share in the shame that follows on such indulgences.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Left - Suffered to follow his own will without…
Left - Suffered to follow his own will without restraint and chastening.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 29:15. The rod and reproof give wisdom —…
Pro 29:15. The rod and reproof give wisdom — Correction and instruction going together; but a child left to himself — Suffered to follow his own will without restraint and chastening; bringeth his mother to shame — And father too, but he names only the mother, either because her indulgence often spoils the child, or because children commonly stand least in awe of their mothers, and abuse the weakness of their sex, and tenderness of their nature.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Left to himself - The condition of one who…
Left to himself - The condition of one who has been pampered and indulged. The mother who yields weakly is as guilty of abandoning the child she spoils, as if she cast him forth; and for her evil neglect, there shall fall upon her the righteous punishment of shame and ignominy.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain Discipline is the order of God’s government. Parents are…
Discipline is the order of God’s government. Parents are his dispensers of it to their children. The child must be broken in to "bear the yoke in his youth." (Lam 3:27 .) Let reproof be first tried; and if it succeed, let the rod be spared. (Pro 17:10 .) If not, let it do its work. Eli gave the reproof, "but spared the rod."†1 The rod is evidently to be taken literally, not metaphorically; corporal, not spiritual chastisement.†2
Some give the rod without reproof, without any effort to produce sensibility of conscience. From this tyranny or caprice nothing can be expected. The combined influence not only "drives foolishness far away," but, as a positive blessing, gives wisdom. (Pro 22:15 .) God’s own children grow wiser under correction. They see their folly, and in genuine shame turn from it, blessing him for his rod of faithfulness and love,†3 and teaching us the folly of rejecting medicines because they are bitter.
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But look at the child left to himself — without restraint. A more perfect picture of misery and ruin cannot be conceived. His evil tempers are thought to be the accident of childhood. ’They will pass away, as his reason improves. Time only can mend them.’ But in fact time of itself mends nothing. It only strengthens and matures the growth of the native principle. This, being a decided bias to evil, must tend to deadly injury. The mother cannot conjecture the future stature, health, talents, or prospects of her new-born infant. But of one thing she may be absolutely certain — a corrupt and wayward will. The poison however does not appear at first. No special anxiety is excited. The child is not nurtured in wickedness, or under the influence of bad example. He is only left to himself. Left! The restive horse, with his rein loosened, full of his own spirit, plunges headlong down the precipice. The child, without government, rushes on under the impetuous impulse of his own will;†4 and what but Almighty sovereign grace can save him from destruction? Many a hardened villain on the gallows was once perhaps the pleasing, susceptible child; only left to himself, to his own appetite, pride, and self-willed-obstinacy.†5
The sound discipline of heavenly guidance is our Father’s best blessing. His most fearful curse, is to be given up to our own ways, "to walk in our own counsels." (Psa 81:12 .) A child thus left is at the furthest point from salvation, in the very jaws of the devouring lion.
Turn we now from the ruined child to the disgraced, broken-hearted parent. The mother only is mentioned, as the chief superintendent of the early discipline; perhaps also as the most susceptible of the grievous error. For if the father’s stronger character induces him to "provoke his children to wrath" (Col 3:21 ); to rule rather by command than by persuasion; does not the mother’s softer mold tend to the opposite evil? And so far as she yields to mistaken indulgence, she bears the greater share of the punishment. It is not, that she is brought to trouble, or even to poverty; but to that, which is the most keenly-felt of all distress — to shame.†6 Nowhere is God’s retributive justice more strongly marked. The mother’s sin is visited in the proportioned punishment. What greater neglect of obligation, than a child left to himself? What greater affliction, than the shame to which he brings her? Parental influence is lost. The reverence of authority is forgotten, as a by-gone name. (Pro 19:26 .) The child rules; instead of being as a corrected child, in subjection. (Heb 12:9 .) The parent fears, instead of the child; and thus virtually owns her own degradation. Instead of "the wise son, that maketh a glad father;" it is "the foolish son, that is the heaviness of his mother."†7 The sunshine of bright prospects is clouded. The cup of joy is filled with wormwood. The father’s mouth is dumb with the confusion of grief. The dearest object of the mother’s tenderness, instead of being the staff and comfort of her age, bringeth her to shame. Truly children, thus left to themselves, will mingle the bitterest cup that man can ever have to drink, and stir up the saddest tears, that ever eyes can have to weep.
This is not a trial, which, like many others, she might cover in her own bosom. Alas! the shame is too public to be concealed. What must have been the open dishonor upon Eli’s name, when "the sins of his children made men abhor the offering of the LORD"! (1Sa 2:17 .) When the treason of David’s sons brought him to shame in the sight of all Israel; surely his own conscience must have brought his own perverted fondness to mind, as the cause of their ruin; both left to themselves — one palliated in the most aggravated sin;†8 the other having been not even corrected by a word. (1Ki 1:5-9 .) And if the shame before men be so bitter, what will be the overwhelming confusion at the great consummation, when the evil propensities, cherished with such cruel fondness in the parental bosom, shall produce their harvest "in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow"! (Isa 17:11 .)
Oh! as our children’s happiness or misery, both for time and eternity, is linked with our own responsibilities; shall not we "watch and pray," and resist "the weakness of the flesh," in self-denying firmness? ’Take this for certain’ — says Bishop Hopkins — ’that as many deserved stripes as you spare from your children, you do but lay upon your own back. And those whom you refuse to chastise, God will make severer scourges to chastise you.’†9 At whatever cost, establish your authority. Let there be but one will in the house. And let it be felt, that this will is to be the law. The child will readily discover, whether the parent is disposed to yield, or resolved to rule. But however trifling the requirement, let obedience be, in small as great matters, the indispensable point. The awe of parental authority is perfectly consistent with the utmost freedom of childlike confidence. Nay — it is the very foundation of it (for the child can hardly appreciate the kindness of a parent, whom he thinks afraid to strike), while it operates as a valuable safeguard against a thousand follies of uncontrolled waywardness. But ever let us put the awful alternative vividly before us. Either the child’s will, or the parent’s heart, must be broken. Without a wise and firm control, the parent is miserable; the child is ruined.†10
Footnotes:
†1 1Sa 2:22-25 ; 1Sa 3:13.
†2 Pro 23:13-14. Compare Pro 19:29 ; Pro 20:30 .
†3 2Ch 33:12 . Psa 119:67, Psa 119:71, Psa 119:75 . Luk 15:13-17 . Mic 6:9 .
†4 ’Puer, cui frænum laxatum.’ - Schultens.
†5 Compare 1Ki 1:6-9 ; 1Ki 2:23-25 . Rousseau inculcated this system to its fullest extent - ’That no kind of habits ought to be impressed on children; that you should leave them to the natural consequences of their own actions; and that, when reason comes to exert itself in a maturer state, all will be right.’ Upon which the following beautiful apostrophe has been given - ’Emilius! how I tremble for thee, while I see thee exposed to the care of thy too ingenious tutor. I see thee willful to thy parents; domineering in the nursery; surfeiting on meats; inflaming thy body with noxious humours, thy mind with unquiet passions; running headlong into dangers, which thou canst not foresee, and habits which thou canst not eradicate; mischievous to others, but fatal to thyself.’ - See Bp. Horne’s Sermon on Self-Denial. ’We pity orphans’ - remarked a wise Christian parent - ’who have neither father nor mother to care for them. A child indulged is more to be pitied. It has no parent. It is its own master, peevish, froward, headstrong, blind; born to a double portion of trouble and sorrow above what fallen man is heir to; not only miserable itself, but worthless, and a plague to all who in future will be connected with it. What bad sons, husbands, masters, fathers, daughters, wives, and mothers, are the offspring of fond indulgence, shewn to little masters and misses almost from the cradle! Wise discipline gives thought and firmness to the mind; and makes us useful here, and fit for the world of perfect subordination above.’ - Venn’s Life, p. 257.
†6 ’Conturbator matris suæ.’ - Schultens. ’Filius confundens, confusione omni arefaciens, et perplexens.’ - Ib. on Pro 10:5 .
†7 Pro 10:1; Pro 17:21, Pro 17:25 .
†8 2Sa 14:21, 2Sa 14:23 ; 2Sa 15:6 ; 2Sa 18:33 .
†9 Works, i. 450.
†10 ’I earnestly entreat you’ - writes the wise and experienced Josiah Pratt to his children - ’to subdue the wills of your children most tenderly if you can? But if not, your duty and your love require measures, which shall enforce obedience. Commit yourselves as little as may be into a contest with your children. But having once done this, you must maintain the contest till the child yields. Every such victory will make the next easier, and in all likelihood deter the child from entering on another contest. And you must make thorough work of it, if you would bless the child. The guile of the heart is seen in combination with its self-will, in trying to evade your authority. A very young child puts forth perhaps his first approaches to sin in acts of cunning and rebellion. Rely with unshaken confidence on that divine maxim - "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."’ - Memoir, Chapter 19.
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Compare Pro 13:24; Pro 23:13).
(Compare Pro 13:24; Pro 23:13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. Left to himself — נער, (na’har,) a boy…
15. Left to himself — נער, (na’har,) a boy permitted to go where he pleases; or משׁלח, (meshullahh,) sent forth without parental control, neglected, uncontrolled. Such a child will bring disgrace upon his family. Solomon was a wise man, and believed in the rod when necessary.
Bringeth… shame — Makes his mother ashamed — puts her to the blush. “Mothers are wont to be most at fault in indulging their children, and, therefore, bear the chief shame of their faults.” — Von Gerloch. Comp. Pro_29:7; Pro_10:1; Pro_17:21; Pro_17:25; Pro_23:13.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. left to himself] Comp. 1Ki_1:6.
15. left to himself] Comp. 1Ki_1:6.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) A child left to himself.—Allowed to wander unchecked…
(15) A child left to himself.—Allowed to wander unchecked as the wild ass (Job_39:5).
Bringeth his mother to shame.—Whose foolish indulgence has ruined him.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The rod and reproof give wisdom to the young.…
The rod and reproof give wisdom to the young. The former denotes bodily correction, what we call corporal punishment; the latter, discipline in words, rebuke administered when any moral fault is noticed. The idea here enunciated is very common in this book. (see Pro_10:1, 13 13:24 23:13) But a child loft to himself bringeth his mother to shame. The verb translated "left" (jlv, shalach) is used in Job_39:5 of the wild ass left to wander free where it wills. A child allowed to do as he likes, undisciplined spoiled, as we call it is a shame to his mother, whose weakness has led to this want of restraint, fond love degenerating into over-indulgence. (comp. Pro_17:21 Pro_28:7) Septuagint, "A son that goeth astray shameth his parents.
Vers. 15-17. See homily on Pro_13:24. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child…
Pro_29:15
The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
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A neglected education, the parents dishonour
I. Look at the child left to himself. That is, without reproof, and that grave advice which gives wisdom. The original term is applied to the unbridled impetuosity of an animal. The child, if not held in by the bit and bridle of a religious education--if left to the impetuosity of his own passions--will be ruined. Appeal to the nature of things. What is there left to itself that comes to any good? What is land without inclosure and cultivation? Appeal to experience as to the effect of a neglected education. Who are the pests of society? Appeal to Scripture.
II. The effect of this neglect. Look at the parent. Bringeth his mother to shame. This is only one result. Other things follow. Ruin to the childs principles. All the consequences of his conduct to a neighbourhood. Tendencies to sap the foundations of morality and justice between man and man. In all this there seems to be a remarkable feature of the retributive justice of God in His moral government. The education of children in the fear of God is one of the first and self-evident duties, the foundation of all moral good. But it is implied that a child carefully trained for God and religion shall not bring his mother to shame.
III. The motives flowing from these considerations.
1. Enforce this duty on our own hearts.
2. See it in reference to the children of the poor.
3. The need of guarding children against the evil influence of the press. Show what religion you possess by your endeavours to educate your children religiously. (Daniel Wilson, M.A.)
A child neglected, a parents disgrace
I. The affecting object: A child left to himself. Allusion is probably intended to the natural impetuosity of a horse.
1. A child left without religious instruction. Parents are enjoined to train up a child in the way he should go: not the way he would go. Education must have its foundation in Scripture. The spirit of the age requires that parental instructions should be of a decidedly Scriptural character. The work of instilling Divine truth must be commenced early. Train them to early habits of industry, to diligent reading of the Scriptures, and to constant prayer.
2. A child left without fervent prayer. Do you know the way to a throne of grace, and can you forget the child of your affections? If you do not pray for him it is not likely that you will pray with him.
3. A child left without a good example. Children understand actions better than words. The parent who, by his ungodly example, betrays the confidence of his child by leading him in the way of sin when he should guide him in the paths of piety and peace is guilty of a species of cruelty difficult to be described.
4. A child left to himself is one without salutary restraint. Instruction should be enforced by authority. If you lose your influence, the child will assume it and rule you, when you should govern him. In compelling obedience the happy medium should be observed between too much harshness on the one hand and too great laxity on the other. Eli does not appear to have failed either in instruction or example, but he is censured for withholding restraint. Let there be energy of character, efficient discipline, the tenderness of love blended with firmness of decision, and there will seldom be a necessity for adopting any painful or severe measures.
II. The parents disgrace. The duties and responsibilities of parents are mutual. It must, however, be admitted that a mothers influence is more powerful, her appeals more touching, her access to the heart more easy. But how many parents have passed days of sorrow and nights of sleeplessness in consequence of the misconduct of their offspring! Much of your future happiness is in the hands of your children. Look at the nature of things. A field without cultivation would speedily be overgrown by noxious weeds. Appeal to experience. Who are the Sabbath-breakers, the drunkards, the lawless and disobedient, the scoffers at Divine things? Are they not the persons who, in their childhood and youth, were left to themselves? Examine facts. David was brought to shame by Absalom and Adonijah. Hophni and Phineas brought Eli to shame.
1. A word of expostulation. You are leaving your children to themselves because you have never felt the value of your own soul. Think of your own comfort. Think of your countrys welfare. Think of the approbation of heaven.
2. A word of exhortation. Your danger is great. Repent and believe the gospel.
3. A word of encouragement. The Christian parent has much to animate him in the conscientious discharge of his duty. All the promises of God, the experience of the past, and the hope of the future encourage his affectionate endeavours to train up his children in the fear of the Lord. He must not; however, expect harvest in spring. (James Cottle, B.A.)
The importance of early discipline
If we have conscientiously performed any particular duty, no failure in the object to which it has been directed can inflict disgrace. We may do our part, and do it well, but we cannot command success by our best contrivances and our utmost diligence. It is not every child who is trained up in the way he should go that walks in that way. In such cases, deplorable as they are, no disgrace attaches to the parent, the instructor, the guardian. It is when the duty imposed by God and enforced by natural feelings has been neglected that the ignorant, the vicious, or the worldly character becomes the just reproach upon those to whom it is in that case justly to be ascribed. A child left to himself. How many ideas of compassion are suggested by these words! A child, however carefully nourished and guarded, left to himself in regard to his soul, his intellect, his tempers, habits, and character, is no uncommon case. A child left to himself is a child untaught. For them to be grounded in the languages, informed in history, and embellished with every usual branch of knowledge and accomplishment is not enough. To know God alone is life eternal. Too often children are practically left to themselves to gather their notions of religion from the opinions around them and the current literature of the day. They ought to have been trained from childhood to know the Holy Scriptures; they should have been taught their ruined state, the love of God in the gift of His Son, and the love of Christ in giving Himself to the death upon the Cross. The child untaught is often undisciplined and unrestrained. The twig which might have been bent becomes firm as the gnarled oak. Habits of self-will, habits of self-gratification, habits of idleness perhaps, prepare for everything that is bad. When a child has been thus left to himself what can be expected but vice, want of honourable principle, a character passionate, headstrong, reckless? It cannot be a surprise that, in such a case, disgrace is thrown back upon the parents. The parent and the child are allied as long as recollection can associate them, and honour or dishonour they reflect, and cannot but reflect, upon each other. If parents neglect the soil and suffer it to be overrun with weeds what can they expect to be the harvest? The shame and discredit that come will be shared by both parents, but the feeling is fastened upon the heart of the mother in a manner and degree which are peculiarly severe. This is partly the case because so much depends on a mothers care, and partly because of the keener sensibilities of her sex. To the mother her domestic scene is the whole world. The shame which comes upon her as the punishment of neglected duty gathers intensity by its perpetual concentration of the reflection. Let me urge upon you as parents to encounter your arduous and responsible duty with the firm resolve that you will, heavens grace assisting you, vigorously discharge it. They are beings to eternity, and for eternity it is your duty to prepare them. (T. Kennion, M.A.)
Leaving children to themselves
Left to himself means left alone, with nobody to mind him and take notice of what he does. This, however, does not seem to have been the meaning of the author of the proverb. Hebrew writers, in their poetry, would sometimes bring two thoughts together, meaning nearly the same, only expressed in different words. Sometimes they would bring two thoughts together, the meaning of which is exactly opposite. This is the thing we have in the text before us. The words rod and reproof are intended to be opposite to the words a child left to himself. A mother may have her child almost always with her and yet be leaving him to himself. A child is left to himself whenever he is allowed to do as he likes, whenever his character is not watched over, and his evil inclinations checked. It is the spoilt child who brings his mother to shame. The mother is specially mentioned because she has the first and the most direct and constant influence on the child. And when children are allowed to do as they like it is usually from a weak fondness and over-indulgence on the mothers part rather than on the fathers. In all reproof of the faults of children the object aimed at is not merely to guide them aright at the present time, but also to make them able to guide themselves aright when they shall have become older, correct their own faults, and restrain their own inclination to what is evil. A self-willed child brings his mother to shame, because the remarks of her acquaintance on his character and conduct never fail to reach her ears. In nine cases out of ten, shameful conduct on the part of a man signifies shameful carelessness on the part of that mans mother when he was a child and subject to her authority and influence. The children who are sure to honour their mother when they grow up are those who in childhood were kept in their proper place, whose waywardness and inclination to what is evil were kept in check with the greatest kindness indeed, but still with the greatest firmness. Children thus trained have something to be grateful for. One cannot but believe that the grace of God often reclaims in after-years, and restores to what they should have been, many of those whose character seemed deeply injured and likely to be ruined by the mistaken treatment of a parent in childhood. But must it not sometimes be the case that the grace of God does not reclaim them? For our wills are free. It should be borne in mind that a father and a mother constantly differ much from each other in character and in their ideas of their duty towards their children, and so the one may in part correct the mischievous influence of the other. And the evil influence of home is, happily, often corrected by the beneficial influence of school discipline. (W. H. Nauben, M.A.)
Left to himself
1. Left to himself, he will not fully know right or wrong.
2. Left to himself, he will grow proud and self-confident.
3. Left to himself, he will take up with bad companions.
4. Left to himself, he will think more about his pleasures than his duties.
5. Left to himself, childish follies will develop into mans vices. (Robert Tuck, B.A.)
A child left to himself
Thelwall thought it very unfair to influence a childs mind by inculcating any opinions before it should have come to years of discretion and be able to choose for itself. I showed him my garden, and told him it was my botanical garden. How so? said he; it is covered with weeds. Oh, I replied, that is only because it has not yet come to its age of discretion and choice. The weeds, you see, have taken the liberty to grow, and I thought it unfair in me to prejudice the soil towards roses and strawberries. (Coleridges Table Talk.)
Children impressed by gentle rule
It is a great mistake to suppose that what will make a child stare or tremble impresses more authority. The violent emphasis, the hard, stormy voice, the menacing air only weakens authority; it commands a good thing as if it were only a bad, and fit to be no way impressed, save by some stress of assumption. Let the command be always given quietly, as if it had some right in itself and could utter itself to the conscience by some emphasis of its own. Is it not well understood that a bawling and violent teamster has no real government of his team? Is it not practically seen that a skilful commander of one of those huge floating cities, moved by steam on our American waters, manages and works every motion by the waving of a hand, or by signs that pass in silence--issuing no order at all, save in the gentlest undertone of voice? So when there is, or is to be, a real order and law in the house, it will come of no hard and boisterous or fretful and termagent way of commandment. Gentleness will speak the word of firmness, and firmness will be clothed in the airs of true gentleness. (H. Bushnell.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Source of Evil Shown
The Source of Evil Shown
v. 15. The rod and reproof, properly and judiciously administered to a child, give wisdom, lay the foundation for the attainment of true morality; but a child left to himself, without proper discipline, left to his own will, bringeth his mother to shame, whose foolish indulgence is often to blame for the degeneration of her children.
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v. 16. When the wicked are multiplied, when they are in the majority in a community or state, transgression increaseth, for not only do they themselves grow in impudence, but they influence others as well and cause them to transgress; but the righteous shall see their fall, be witness of the punishment laid upon the godless by the Lord.
v. 17. Correct thy son, with proper reproof and punishment, and he shall give thee rest, bring a feeling of quiet satisfaction to the parent’s heart; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul, so that the parent may have constant enjoyment.
v. 18. Where there is no vision, the people perish; if revelation is scarce, if the Word of God is precious, if men do not properly judge circumstances with relation to their ultimate effects, the people become wild, untractable, grow beyond discipline; but he that keepeth the Law, happy is he, sure to come under the blessing of Jehovah.
v. 19. A servant will not be corrected by words, being in need often of sharper correction; for though he understand, he will not answer, he will pay no attention to an ordinary statement or reproof.
v. 20. Seest thou a man that is hasty In his words? one who speaks before he thinks. There is more hope of a fool than of him. cf Pro 26:12; Ecc 9:18.
v. 21. He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child, causing the slave to believe himself more than his station really permits him to be, shall have him become his son at the length, or, his end will be contention, for rebellion on the part of the slave will naturally follow.
v. 22. An angry man, one readily yielding to his temper, stirreth up strife, Pro 15:18, and a furious man, one who gives way to angry passions, aboundeth in transgression, that being the inevitable consequence of such a disposition.
v. 23. A man’s pride shall bring him low, for self-exaltation comes before the fall; but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. Cf Mat 23:12; Luk 14:11; 1Pe 5:5.
v. 24. Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul, the concealer, being on the same level with the criminal, must expect to share his punishment; he heareth cursing and bewrayeth it not, he hears the imprecation or objurgation of the judge, Lev 5:1, warning him to tell the truth, but he refuses to reveal the crime, and so the penalty descends upon him.
v. 25. The fear of man bringeth a snare, many a person having yielded to sin under the constraint of such terror; but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe, both by overcoming temptation and by escaping the evils attending transgression.
v. 26. Many seek the ruler’s favor, literally, "his face," they try to gain his good will by every form of attention; but every man’s Judgment cometh from the Lord, who is not swayed by fawning or flattery, but always judges a righteous judgment.
v. 27. An unjust man is an abomination to the just, on account of his utter lack of uprightness; and he that is upright in the way, in his entire conduct, is abomination to the wicked, because the behavior of the righteous is a constant accusation of the ungodly, a fact which they resent very strongly. There can be no union between the godly and the ungodly, between believers and unbelievers. To be a friend of the world is equivalent to being an enemy of God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 The rod and reproof give wisdom
The rod and reproof give wisdom
The writer speaks as if a rod and reproof were people who could give wisdom as a physical gift. AT: "If a parent uses the rod on his child and reproves him, the child will become wise" or "If parents discipline their child and tell him when he has done wrong, the child will learn to live wisely" (See: Personification)
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The rod
Parents in Israel used wooden rods as instruments to discipline children by striking them. AT: "discipline" (See: Metonymy)
reproof
When a person gives reproof to another person, or reproves that person, he tells that person that he does not approve of what that other person is doing.
transgression increases
The abstract noun "transgression" can be translated as a verb. AT: "more people will transgress and their sins will become worse" (See: Abstract Nouns)
the downfall of those wicked people
The abstract noun "downfall" can be translated with the verb "fall," which is a metaphor for losing the power to rule. AT: "those wicked people fall" or "those wicked people lose their power to rule" (See: Abstract Nouns and Metaphor)
translationWords
rod
wise
shame
evil
transgress
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 29:15 Wisdom is not instinctive—it must be taught.
29:15 Wisdom is not instinctive—it must be taught.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.