Necessity of Parental Severity
1 Samuel 2:23-24
And he said to them, Why do you such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.…


When George III wished his two sons, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, to be instructed, he sent for one of the most rigid disciplinarians of the day; and when the king and the teacher stood together, one would have been at a loss to know whether to admire more the majesty of royalty or the majesty of learning. The king gave a side glance at the two boys who stood at, his feet, and said to the stern doctor who stood before him, "Sir, I wish you to teach these, my two sons." "And, please your majesty," replied the teacher, "how do you wish these princes to be treated?" "Just treat them," returned the king, "as you would treat the sons of a private gentleman; if they require it, flog them; just do with them as you do at Westminster School." And so the doctor did; he let them know by hard experience that the rod was made for the fool's back. And when Louis XIV of France, one of the proudest kings that ever sat on the French throne, began to feel his inferiority in knowledge after he had arrived at the years of maturity, he complained to his courtiers that he was ignorant of many things which they knew. Upon which a nobleman near him ventured to hint that when a child he was wilful and wayward, and refused listen to the voice of instruction. "What!" he exclaimed, "was there not birch enough, in the forest of Fontainebleau?"

(J. Hutchinson.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.

WEB: He said to them, "Why do you do such things? for I hear of your evil dealings from all this people.




Laxity of Parental Authority
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