Proverbs 13:24 Commentary and Bible Study

Unless a parent sees the harm that comes from failing to discipline his child, he may be tempted to spare him, for it is not pleasant to inflict punishment and to see the misery that results. The father or mother must however look beyond this short-term effect to the long-term improvement in character and protection that results. Failure to discipline may arise from laziness, or from the desire to avoid unpleasantness in the family, but above all, this proverb teaches, it arises from the foolishness of parents in failing to understand the benefits of discipline. There is a misplaced sensitivity to the happiness of the child that cannot bear to cross the child or risk the resentment that follows punishment. The fear is that this resentment grows into a long-term hostility of the child to the parent. The remedy to this is of course that the sanction against the child is administered in evident justice, for the child may be resentful for a time, but can be expected to turn away from this emotion when he sees that the punishment was fair and not an overreaction, that the parent’s love has not been taken away, and that this discipline was intended for good and not for evil. The wise parent does not therefore put off administering punishment, nor does he lash out in an uncontrolled and unconsidered way, but he creates a settled and protective regime in which the child knows the boundaries and meets with a predictable response when he crosses those boundaries. But he who spares the rod hates the child. The proverb using this surprising form of words to jolt us into seeing how counterproductive is an undue leniency towards the child, for it fails to take into account the nature with which every child comes into the world, a nature that must be corrected and taught to restrain sin.