Frankly Answered Questions - FAQs

Was a rod really used for spanking?

Q: In your support of spanking, you mention several scriptures from Proverbs. Why do you "assume" the rod was used to spank with or inflict pain or stings? The shepherd used the rod to guide, create a boundary, they did not beat the sheep. Proverb 23:13-14 endorses a "beating" which sounds more like abuse and not the loving correction you purport. Also, the term "rod" is used in other scriptures that doesn't seem to connote an instrument to inflict physical pain, but rather a "parable" term to acknowledge a kind of tool.

Another concerned reader

A: Dear another,

Thanks for writing. I believe you have answered your own question about the rod by referring to Proverbs 23:13-14. These verses say: "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you beat him with the rod, he will not die. Beat him with the rod and save his soul from death."

These two verses show that the rod WAS for beating. The shepherd usually used a staff, not a rod, for rescuing, guiding, and creating a boundary for the sheep. The shepherd used the rod for beating (if not always sheep, then enemies of the sheep). Both are necessary in the life of sheep and both are necessary in our lives. Just like Psalm 23:4 says, "your rod AND your staff, they comfort me."

Concerning the word "beating" (Hebrew naka, "smite" in the King James language) - my mom used to threaten to "beat me," but no one ever needed to call social services. There is a whole range of meaning for this Hebrew word (just as in English). The word is used to describe everything from whipping a donkey, to hitting a rock with a stick, to killing a man. The entire range involves unpleasant physical affliction, but not necessarily brutality.

There are people who see any physical affliction as brutality. I'm not of that camp and I think that is more the spirit of the age, than Biblical thinking. Even in the New Testament, God sees the discipline of parents as a worthy method which "produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it" (Hebrews 12:7-11).

Thanks for your comments.