Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 19:18
Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.
18. while ] R.V. seeing: i.e. for if done now it will not be too late.
let not thy soul spare for his crying ] Rather, set not thy heart on his destruction, R.V.; lit. on causing him to die. This might mean, let not thy passionate and excessive correction kill or injure him; as LXX., Vulg. and Maurer (sed cave occidas inter castigandum), and Coverdale, “but let not thy soul be moved to slay him”; but it is better to understand it of the result of withholding correction: be not bent by thy foolish indulgence on ruining him. So A.V. marg., “Let not thy soul spare to his destruction, or to cause him to die.” Comp. 1Ki 2:6; and Sir 30:1 .
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
While there is hope – While he is still young, and capable of being reformed.
Crying – Better, as in the margin, Do not set thy soul on his destruction; words which either counsel forbearance in the act of chastisement (compare Eph 6:4; Col 3:21); or urge that a false clemency is a real cruelty. The latter sense is preferable. The father is warned that to forbear from chastising is virtually to expose the son who needs it to a far worse penalty.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. Let not thy soul spare for his crying.] This is a hard precept for a parent. Nothing affects the heart of a parent so much as a child’s cries and tears. But it is better that the child may be caused to cry, when the correction may be healthful to his soul, than that the parent should cry afterwards, when the child is grown to man’s estate, and his evil habits are sealed for life.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
While there is hope; before custom in sin, and thy indulgence, hath made him hard-hearted and incorrigible.
Let not thy soul spare, forbear not to give him due and necessary correction,
for his crying, which oft stirs up a foolish and pernicious pity in parents towards them. This word, with some small difference in the points, is used in this sense Isa 24:11. Or, as it is in the margin, to his destruction, intimating that this is a cruel pity, and a likely way to expose him to that death threatened to stubborn sons, Deu 21:18,21. But this clause is, and may be, rendered otherwise, yet or but do not lift up thy soul (which signifies a vehement desire, Deu 24:15; Psa 25:1; Jer 44:14; let not thy passion or eager desire of chastening him transport thee so far as) to cause him to die, i.e. use moderation in this work.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. (Compare Pro 13:24;Pro 23:13).
let not . . .spareliterally, “do not lift up thy soul” (Psa 24:4;Psa 25:1), that is, do not desireto his death; a caution to passionate parents against angrychastisement.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Chasten thy son while there is hope,…. Of guiding and keeping him in the right way, as long as corrections are or can be hoped to be of use; while in a state of infancy, childhood, and youth; while under parental government; and before habits in sin are grown strong, and the case become desperate, and he is hardened, and proof against all instruction and discipline;
and let not thy soul spare for his crying; the noise he makes, the tears he sheds, the entreaties he uses to keep off the rod; let not a foolish pity and tenderness prevail to lay it aside on that account the consequence of which may be bad to parent and child; see
Pr 13:24. The Targum is,
“but unto his death do not lift up thy soul;”
or to the slaying of him t, as the Vulgate Latin version; and this sense Jarchi gives into: and then the meaning is, that though parents should be careful to give due correction to their children, so long as there is hope of doing them good, yet not in a brutal and barbarous manner, to the endangering of their lives: as some parents are too indolent, mild, and gentle, as Eli was; others are too wrathful and furious and use no moderation in their corrections, but unmercifully beat their children; such extremes ought to be avoided. Gersom interprets the word of crying, as we do.
t “ad interficiendum cum”, Pagninus, Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus; “ad occidendum sum”, Piscator, Cocceius, Tigurine version, Michaelis, Schultens, Gussetius, p. 534.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
18 Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.
Parents are here cautioned against a foolish indulgence of their children that are untoward and viciously inclined, and that discover such an ill temper of mind as is not likely to be cured but by severity. 1. Do not say that it is all in good time to correct them; no, as soon as ever there appears a corrupt disposition in them check it immediately, before it gets head, and takes root, and is hardened into a habit: Chasten thy son while there is hope, for perhaps, if he be let alone awhile, he will be past hope, and a much greater chastening will not do that which now a less would effect. It is easiest plucking up weeds as soon as they spring up, and the bullock that is designed for the yoke should be betimes accustomed to it. 2. Do not say that it is a pity to correct them, and that, because they cry and beg to be forgiven, you cannot find in your heart to do it. If the point can be gained without correction, well and good; but if you find, as it often proves, that your forgiving them once, upon a dissembled repentance and promise of amendment, does but embolden them to offend again, especially if it be a thing that is in itself sinful (as lying, swearing, ribaldry, stealing, or the like), in such a case put on resolution, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. It is better that he should cry under thy rod than under the sword of the magistrate, or, which is more fearful, that of divine vengeance.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Parental Discipline
Verse 18-See comment on Pro 13:24.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 19:13. Calamity. The word so translated is in the plural form, so as to express the continuance of the trouble.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 19:13-14; Pro. 19:18
DOMESTIC SORROW AND HOW TO AVOID IT
I. Two fruitful sources of sorrow. There are many fountains whence flow waters which sadly embitter the lives of men, but there is none outside of personal character which can more entirely darken their days than either of those mentioned in the thirteenth verse. To be either the father of a foolish son or the husband of a contentious wife is sorrow indeed. The first clause of this proverb is nearly the same as that in chap. Pro. 10:1, for Homiletics on which see page 137. The contentious wife is here compared to a continual dropping, because although the discomfort would not be great if it was only occasional, its perpetual existence makes life wretched. A drop of water falling upon a mans head is a very trifling matter, but one of the most dreaded tortures of the Spanish inquisition was that in which a man was placed in such a position that a single drop was constantly descending upon his head. Hour after hour, day after day, and night after night, the drops followed one another in regular and unbroken succession until the poor wretch first lost reason and then life. It is much harder to bear a burden which is never lifted from the shoulders than to carry one which is much heavier for a short time and for a very limited distance. So it is easier for a man to rise above trials which, although they may be almost overwhelming for a time, last but through a comparatively very short portion of his life. But the trial of a contentious wife is unceasing so long as the marriage bond continues, and it is this that makes it so greatly to be dreaded.
II. Means suggested whereby these sources of sorrow may be avoided. If so much depends upon our family relationshipsif the character of wife and child have so much to do with our weal and woeit becomes a most momentous question how to act so as to secure a prudent wife in the first place, and then to avoid the calamity of a foolish son. It must be remembered that the first is purely a matter of choice. A mans house and riches may be the inheritance of fathers, his social position may depend upon his parents, but his wife depends upon his own choice, and as a prudent wife is from the Lord, if he seeks the guidance of Him who is alone the infallible reader of character, instead of following the leadings of his fancy or consulting his worldly interests, he may with confidence expect to avoid the curse and secure the blessing. The other relationship is not one of choice. Our children are sent to us by the hand of God, and we have no more voice in determining their dispositions and mental constitutions than we have the colour of their hair, or any other bodily characteristic. But of two things we are certain.
1. That they will need a training which will not be always pleasant to them. Where there is disease in the body a cure cannot often be effected without a resort to unpleasantoften to painfulmeasures. It is not pleasant to a surgeon to use the knife, but it is often indispensable to his patients recovery to health. And both experience and revelation testify to the fact that our children come into the world with a moral taint upon themthat they have a tendency to go the wrong waythat, in the words of the Psalmist (Psa. 51:5) they are shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. If a parent desires to avoid the calamity of a foolish son he must early recognise the truth that his child will not become morally wise unless he chasten him, unless he subject him to a system of moral training, unless he make him feel that punishment must follow sin. This will be as painful sometimes to the parent as to the child; the crying of the son will hurt the father more than the rod will hurt the child, but the end to be attained by present suffering must be borne in mind, and must nerve the heart and hand of him whose duty it is to administer chastisement. (On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. Pro. 13:24, page 334).
2. That there is reason to hope that children, if rightly trained, will be a joy and not a sorrow. There is hope. When a river has but just left its source among the hills, and the current is feeble, its progress can be stopped with ease; but when it has flowed on for a few miles and there is depth of water enough to float a fleet, it is almost impossible to stop its onward course. So, when the power of evil in the human soul is in its infancy, it is a much more easy task to restrain it than when it has acquired strength by years of uncontrolled dominion. When the young oak is but a few inches above the ground, the hand of the woodman can bend the slender stem as he pleases; but when it has grown for half a century he is powerless to turn it from the direction which it has taken. So a childs will is pliable to the wise training of the parent, and if the education of the moral nature be begun early, there is every reason to hope that it will acquire strength to overcome both sin within and without, and that a righteous manhood will in the future more than repay both him whose duty it is to chasten, and him upon whom the chastisement must fall.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 19:13-14. A prudent wife is not to be got by an imprudent mode of choice. The gift must be sought from the Lord. But this does not mean that the Lord is supernaturally to point out the individual. Our own discretion must be put in exercise, along with prayer for the divine superintendence and direction, so as to bring about a happy result. And then the precious gift should be owned, and the all-bountiful Giver praised for his goodness in bestowing it.Wardlaw.
Every good gift is from the Lord (Jas. 1:17) only, some in the ordinary course, others more directly from Him. Houses and riches, though His gifts, come by descent. They are the inheritance of fathers. The heir is known, and in the course of events he takes possession of his estate. But the prudent wife is wholly unconnected with the man. There has been no previous bond of relation. She is often brought from a distance. The Lord brought her to the man by His special Providence, and therefore as His special gift.Bridges.
Pro. 19:18. The great force of the rule is its timely applicationwhile there is hope. For hopeless the case may be, if the remedy be delayed. The cure of the evil must be commenced in infancy. Not a moment is to be lost. Betimes (chap. Pro. 13:24; Pro. 22:15)is the season when the good can be effected with the most ease, and the fewest strokes. The lesson of obedience should be learnt at the first dawn. One decided struggle and victory in very early life, may, under God, do much towards settling the point at once and to the end. On the other hand, sharp chastening may fail later to accomplish, what a slight rebuke in the early course might have wrought.Bridges.
You are here taught further, that firmness must be in union with affection in applying the rod. The words seem to express a harsh, yet it is an important and most salutary lesson:let not thy soul spare for his crying. The words do not mean, that you should not feel, very far from that. It was the knowledge that feeling was unavoidable, and that the strength and tenderness of it was ever apt to tempt parents to relent and desist, and leave their end unaccomplished,that made it necessary to warn against too ready a yielding to this natural inclination. The child may cry, and cry bitterly, previously to the correction; but, when you have reason to think the crying is for the rod rather than for the fault, and that, but for the threatened chastisement, the heart would probably have been unmoved, and the eyes dry;then you must not allow yourselves to be so unmanned by his tears, as to suspend your purpose, and decline its infliction. If a child perceives this (and soon are children sharp enough to find it out) he has discovered the way to move you next time; and will have recourse to it accordingly.Wardlaw.
On the subject of Pro. 19:15 see Homiletics on chap. Pro. 6:9-10, page 79.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 19:18. Let not thy soul spare for his crying. The translations of most expositors here differ widely from the authorised version. Grotius, Maurer, Delitzsch, Zckler, etc., read, Let not thy soul rise to kill him, Go not too far to kill him, etc., all understanding the precept to be directed against excessive severity. Cartwright renders it Let not thy soul spare him, to his destruction.
Pro. 19:20. Latter end, rather afterwards.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Pro. 19:18-20
RELATIVE DUTIES
We have before considered Pro. 19:18 in connection with Pro. 19:13-14. A reference to the Critical Notes will, however, show that there is an interpretation of the last clause which was not treated there. Pro. 19:19-20, regarded separately, embody thoughts and precepts which we have had before. (See Homiletics on chap. Pro. 14:17; Pro. 14:29, pages 363, 386, and on chap. Pro. 12:15, page 271.) But these verses, taken in conjunction with the other interpretation of the last clause of Pro. 19:18, may be regarded as giving valuable advice both to those who have to enforce discipline and administer chastisement, and to those who have to endure them.
I. Counsel for parents. The reasonableness and necessity of chastisement has been considered before, but the additional thought which the other rendering of Pro. 19:18 makes prominent is, that it must be administered from a sense of duty, and dictated by love. Parents are far too apt to punish their children, not because they have sinned against God, but because they have offended them,and when this is the case, the anger manifested deprives the correction of its salutary effect. When the rod is used, says Wardlaw,and the words may be applied to any form of parental chastisement,the end in view should be, purely and exclusively, the benefit of the child; not the gratification of any resentful passion on the part of the parent. Should the latter be apparent to the child, the effect is lost, and worse than lost; for, instead of the sentiment of grief and melting tenderness, there will be engendered a feeling of sullen hostility, if not, even, of angry scorn, towards him who has manifested selfish passion rather than parental love. The parent must regard himself as Gods representative, and must act, not as for himself, but for the Divine Master and Father of both parent and child. If this is done, there will be none of that provocation to wrath or discouragement, against which Paul puts Christians on their guard (Col. 3:21; Eph. 6:4), and there will be good ground to hope that the chastisement will bring profit.
II. Counsel for children. The reasoning here is akin to that used by the Apostle in the twelfth of Hebrews. It is admitted by him (Pro. 19:11-12) that no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, those who have to endure it are exhorted to accept it with submission because of the precious after-yieldthey are counselled to give themselves up to the Divine pruner and suffer Him to work His will upon them now, in consideration of the peaceable fruits of righteousness which will be the result in the days of harvest. So Solomon argues here. He does not deny that counsel and instruction, or rather discipline, may often be unpalatable and irksome, but he holds up the wisdom that may be gained by them as an incentive to induce the young to hear and to receive themhe reaches a hand through time, and fetches the far-off interest of what at present seems grievous in order to give effect to his exhortations. The actions of men in the present are mainly determined by the amount of consideration they give to the future. There are men who live wholly in the present hourwho gratify the fancy or follow the passion of to-day without giving a thought of the needs of to-morrow, or of the penalty that they may then have to pay for their folly. Others look ahead a little fartherthey fashion the actions of to-day with a due regard to the interests of their whole future earthly life, but they bestow no thought upon the infinite afterward that is to succeed it. The proverb counsels both the young and the old to bring this long to-morrow into the plans of to-day, and to let the remembrance of it open the ear to the words of Divine wisdom by whomsoever they are spoken, and bend the will to receive the chastening of the Lord, whether it come in the form of parental discipline or in a sterner garb.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 19:18-19. Being in great wrath, remit the punishment; but if thou let him escape, yet apply (or add) chastisement again. (So Muffet renders Pro. 19:19.) When thou are in thy mood, or burnest with fiery anger and displeasure, let pass for that time the correcting of thy child, lest thou passest measure therein, or mayest chance to give him some deadly blow. Nevertheless, if for that time or for that fault thou let him go free, yet let him not always go uncorrected; but when thou art more calm, according as he offereth occasion, correct him again.Muffet.
Do not venom discipline by naked animosity. This is the human aspect. But now for the fine model of Jehovah. He does not afflict willingly (Lam. 3:33). He follows this maxim: Discipline thy son, because there is now hope. But Solomon wishes plainly to declare that to kill him He does not lift up His soul. He taketh no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but that all should turn and live (Eze. 33:11). It is evidently these great timbers of thought that Solomon is eyeing at the bottom of his structure. He is settling them along in place. Secularly, they may have but little connection; spiritually, they are all morticed close.Miller.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(18) And let not thy soul spare for his crying.Or, but set not thy soul on his destruction. Do not go so far as to kill him in thy zeal for his good, or despair of his amendment. (Comp. Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:21.) It may also signify do not let him perish for want of chastisement, as Pro. 23:13 is also explained.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Chasten while there is hope Correct for the purpose and with the expectation of improvement; of course, therefore, neither vindictively nor cruelly.
Let not thy soul spare for his crying Or, as many good critics read. “Lift not up thy soul to slay him;” let not thy desire or passion extend so far as to slay him; a very necessary caution to a passionate father, especially where, as in the East, he had the power of life and death over his children. Rueetschi, however, maintains that it is not a caution against undue severity, but against the cruel kindness that kills by witholding seasonable correction. He suggests as parallels Pro 3:12; Pro 13:24; Pro 22:15. More in point is Pro 23:13. The Speaker’s Commentary favours this view; but many respectable commentators take the other, and regard Eph 6:4, and Col 3:21, as supporting it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 18. Chasten thy son while there is hope,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 19:18. And let not, &c. But suffer not thyself to be transported to cause him to die. The LXX read, Chasten thy son, so shall he be hopeful; but be not raised in thy wrath to the provocation of him. See Col 3:21.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 19:18 Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.
Ver. 18. Chasten thy son while there is hope. ] See Trapp on “ Pro 13:24 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Chasten = Correct, or discipline.
let not, &c. This is not a caution against excess of severity, but against a cruel kindness which ends in death, by withholding seasonable correction.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 19:18
Pro 19:18
“Chasten thy son, seeing there is hope; And set not thy heart on his destruction.”
This passage stresses the value of parental discipline of children while there is still time to direct the child in the right way. One of the great sorrows of 20th Century America is the widespread neglect of this duty, the results of which threaten the total ruin of our civilization. “Pro 19:18 b (the second line) may set a limit to discipline”; and in keeping with that interpretation, we have this: “But be careful not to flog him to death. Even the New Testament strongly suggests that there is a limit beyond which discipline should not go. “Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath” (Eph 6:4). Harris, however interpreted Pro 19:18 b here thus; “Don’t avoid chastening and thus bring about thy son’s death.
Pro 19:18. Correction administered in time without which the childs mischief becomes meanness, and the character becomes set in wickedness. Other passages teaching parental correction: Pro 13:24; Pro 23:13-14; Pro 29:17. A German saying: It is better that the child weep than the father. Clarke: It is better that the child may be caused to cry, when the correction may be healthful to his soul, than that the parent should cry afterwards, when the child is grown to mans estate, and his evil habits are sealed for life. Non-chastening parents finally give up on their children and seem content to await the inevitable (whatever may result in life for them, which in Old Testament days would have been death by stoning: Deu 21:18-21). But this verse would condemn such parents.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Chasten: Pro 13:24, Pro 22:15, Pro 23:13, Pro 23:14, Pro 29:15, Pro 29:17, Heb 12:7-10
for his crying: or, to his destruction, or, to cause him to die
Reciprocal: Deu 21:18 – when they 1Sa 3:13 – restrained them not Eph 6:4 – but Heb 12:11 – no chastening
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 19:18. Chasten thy son while there is hope Before custom in sin, and thy indulgence have made him hard-hearted and incorrigible; and let not thy soul spare for his crying Forbear not to give him due and necessary correction, through a foolish and destructive pity, excited by his tears and cries; for it is better he should cry under thy rod, than under the sword of the magistrate, or, which is more to be feared, that of divine vengeance.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
If a parent does not discipline his child while there is hope of correcting him, he is really, though perhaps not consciously, willing for him to die. The child’s folly will lead to his death if his parents do not curb it with discipline. [Note: Whybray, The Book . . ., p. 110.] Some parents allow their children to go astray out of neglect. "Discipline" (Heb. yasser) includes chastisement as well as instruction.
"Better the child is corrected by a parent than by a law enforcement officer in a correctional institution." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 105.]