Proverbs 13:24 He that spares his rod hates his son: but he that loves him chastens him betimes. Properly treated and fully expanded, this subject of "the stick" would cover all the races of man in all regions and all ages; indeed, it would hide every member of the human family. Attention could be drawn to the respect accorded in every chapter of the world's history, sacred and profane, to the rabdos — to the fasces of the Roman lictors, which every schoolboy honours (often unconsciously) with an allusion when he says he will lick, or vows he won't be licked — to the herald's staff of Hermes, the caduceus of Mercury, the wand of AEsculapius, the rods of Moses, and the contending sorceress — to the mystic bundle of nine twigs, in honour of the nine muses, that Dr. Bushby loved to wield, and which many a simple English parent believes Solomon, in all his glory, recommended as an element in domestic jurisdiction — to the sacred wands of savage tribes, the staffs of our constables and sheriffs, the highly-polished gold sticks and black rods that hover about the ante-rooms of courts at St. James or Portsoken. The rule of thumb has been said to be the government of this world. And what is this thumb but a short stick, a sceptre emblematic of a sovereign authority which none dares to dispute? "The stick," says the Egyptian proverb "came down from heaven." (J. Cordy Jeaffreson.) Parallel Verses KJV: He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.WEB: One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him. |
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