She hugs her young ones to death – Thomas Brooks

“Withhold not correction from the child, for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die. You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell.” Proverbs 23:13-14

God uses the rod to prevent further folly, mischief, and misery. It is said of the ape, that she hugs her young ones to death; so many fond parents, by not correcting their children, they come to slay their children. The best way to prevent their being scourged with scorpions in hell, is to chastise them with the rod here.

So God takes up the rod; He afflicts and chastises His dearest children, but it is to prevent soul-mischief and misery; it is to prevent pride, self-love, worldliness, etc.

The rod is to purge out that vanity and folly that is bound up in the heart of the child. Proverbs 22:15, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” The rod is an ordinance, as well as the word; and such parents who use it as an ordinance praying and weeping over it shall find it effectual for the chasing away of evil out of their children’s heart. Eli and David were two very choice men, and yet, by their fondness on one hand, and neglect of this ordinance on the other hand, they ruined their sons; and whether they did not undo their souls, I shall not at this time stand to inquire.

When Moses cast away his rod, it became a serpent; and so, when parents cast away the rod of correction, it is ten to one but that their children become the brood of the serpent: Proverbs 13:24, “He who spares his rod hates his son; but he who loves him chastens him often.” Not only the care, but also the cure of the child so far as the rod will reach lies upon the hands of the parent.