steve@vicom.com (Steve Maurer) (09/02/90)
The following booklet was first published in 1985 by my grandmother,
Dr. Adah Maurer, in her drive to educate the public about the dangers of
corporal punishment. (All child abuse, including blows which kill children,
are defended by the abusers as "corporal punishment"). In this booklet,
she addresses the relegious issues surrounding the beating of children,
which is in the United States one of the most often cited defenses for
this practice.
The physical damage (including death) that results from corporal
punishment is also documented in a booklet entitled: THINK TWICE, THE
MEDICAL EFFECTS OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, the psycho-social harm that
results is outlined in THE INFLUENCE OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT ON CRIME,
both of which are available via email, at the address below.
Steve Maurer
steve@vicom.com
p.s. My comments in the text are at a bare minimum, but where they do
exist, they are surrounded by brackets. Followups have been
directed to talk.religion.misc.
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THE BIBLE AND THE ROD
by
James S. Wallerstein
and
Adah Maurer
Copyright (c) 1987 by James S. Wallerstein. and Adah Maurer.
All rights reserved.
Parts of this booklet may be copied for educational purposes,
as for use in parent education classes, but not for resale.
[ Republished in electronic form with permission. ]
THE BIBLE AND THE ROD
- BY -
Adah Maurer
and
James S. Wallerstein
Third Printing
1987
Issued by:
END VIOLENCE AGAINST THE NEXT GENERATION, INC.
977 Keeler Avenue
Berkeley, California 94708-1498
(415) 527-0454
ISBN-0-932141-01-3
[ This booklet published in memory of James S. Wallerstein ]
``He that spareth the rod hateth his son, but he who loveth him
chastiseth him betimes'' (Prov. 13:24). ``Chasten thy son while there
is still hope and let not thy soul spare for his crying'' (Prov. 19:18).
These are quotations from the Book of Proverbs, the twentieth
book of the Holy Bible. There are some who hold that these proverbs
are the Word of God. That the Lord sanctions and indeed advocates
the corporal punishment of youth. But the Holy Bible tells us
otherwise. Proverbs is the word of a mortal man, ``Solomon, the son
of David, King of Israel'' (Proverbs 1:1). The tenth chapter tells
us again, these are ``The Proverbs of Solomon'' (Prov. 10:1).
God's voice appears frequently in the Old Testament. From the
first stunning phrase, ``Let there be light'' and ``It is not good that
man should be alone'', the words that God speaks are labelled clearly.
God speaks to Adam and Eve in anger for their disobedience
(Genesis 3). God lays a curse on Cain for the murder of Abel
(Genesis 4). God warns Noah to build the ark (Genesis 6). He tells
Abraham to circumcise all male children as a token of the Holy
Covenant (Genesis 17:10-14).
The Lord blesses Isaac (Gen. 26:2-5). He comforts Rebekah,
mother of the twins, Jacob and Esau, in her pregnancy (Gen. 25:23).
God instructs Jacob to build an alter (Gen. 35:1).
The Lord promises Moses to deliver the Children of Israel from
bondage (Exodus 6). He reveals the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20).
God tells Samuel to select a king over Israel (I Samuel 8:22).
He commands David to smite the Philistines (I Samuel 23:2-4).
God tells Joshua to blow the seven trumpets that the walls of
Jericho may crumble (Joshua 6:2-5). He tells Gideon to destroy the
evil alter of Baal (Judges 6:25). God appears out of a whirlwind
to the suffering Job and restores his faith (Job, Chapters 38 to 42).
The Lord speaks to Jeremiah and pronounces judgement against
Judah and Jerusalem for their abominations (Jeremiah, Chapters 1
to 25). He speaks to Jonah and bids him call Nineveh to repentance
(Jonah 1:2). And God speaks to Elijah not in the earthquake, nor
in fire, nor in wind that rent the mountains, but ``in a small
still voice''. God bids the aging prophet anoint Elisha as his
successor and anoint Jehu an King that Jehu may destroy the evil
worshipers of Baal (I Kings 19:12-18).
There are times in the Holy Bible when God Himself speaks. At
other times, He sends an Angel, that is a Divine Messenger. But
the Holy Bible also records the words and thoughts of men. Some
of these human sayings are wise and inspiring. Some are foolish
and wrongful. But these human words are quite different from
the Words of the Lord.
God does talk to Solomon -- twice to bless him (I Kings 3:11-14,
9:2-9), and later to condemn Solomon for his evil-doing (I Kings
11:11-13), but never to approve using ``the rod'' on youth. The
words of Proverbs are Solomon's only. Never the Lord's.
THE ROD OF GOD
In the Bible, the rod is many things. It is a symbol of
miraculous power. Moses holds up his rod and the waters of the
Red Sea part before the escaping Hebrews (Exodus 14:16). He
lifts up his rod, and the Children of Israel prevail over their
enemies (Exodus 14:16). In the desert, he smites his rod against
a rock and water flows (Numbers 20:11).
The rod of Levi blossoms as a plant and God designates the
House of Levi as the true priests of Israel (Numbers 17:8).
The rod is the symbol of God's anger and retribution. ``I
will visit their iniquities with the rod and their transgressions
with stripes'' (Psalms 89:32). The Assyrian King, conquering
Judah, is the ``rod of God's anger'' (Isaiah 10:5). Suffering
Job cries out, ``Let him take his rod away from me'' (Job 9:34).
Sometimes, on the other hand, the rod symbolizes God's gentle
guidance. ``Thy rod and staff, they comfort me'' (Psalms 23:4).
Again, the rod symbolizes the force and power of a human
tyrant. ``He shall rule them with a rod of iron'' (Revelations 19:15).
``Thou hast broken the rod of the oppressor'' (Isaiah 9:4). ``The
rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous''
(Psalms 125:3).
And the rod may be just a twig, with no symbolism at all.
``Jacob took him rods of green popular'' (Genesis 30:37).
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON
Exclusively in the Book of Proverbs is the rod recommended for
child rearing. ``Withhold not correction from the child, for if
thou beatest him with the rod, he will not die. Thou shalt beat
him with the rod and deliver his soul from Hell'' (Prov. 23:13,14).
These references are most frequently quoted by the advocates
of corporal punishment in school and home. They could, however,
equally cite the Bible to support the flogging of adults.
Deuteronomy (25:2,3) authorizes forty stripes for ``he who is
worthy to be beaten''. St. Paul was among the victims of this
law (II Corinthians 11:24).
Proverbs urges corporal punishment for Fools as well as
children. ``A rod for the back of him who is void of understanding''
(Proverbs 10:13). ``A rod for the fool's back'' (Proverbs 26:3).
The corporal punishers, understandably, never quote the part
about using the rod on fools. For if this Proverb were strictly
enforced, they might find themselves on the receiving end.
But let us leave the fools to fend for themselves, and return
to the kids. The Biblical authority for the whipping of youths in
school and home rests solely on King Solomon's Proverbs, and has
no other Biblical support.
AN OVERRATED KING
Tradition has attributed great wisdom to King Solomon. The
Encyclopedia Britannica, however, terms him ``perhaps the most
overrated figure in the Old Testament'' (1). He accumulated great
wealth and treasure and erected the magnificent Temple. But
ordinary people were oppressed and impoverished by his crushing
taxation and forced labor.
So great was Solomon's passion for wealth that he ``gave away''
``twenty cities in Galilee'' to the King of Tyre (I Kings 9:11).
The King of Tyre, we are told, was displeased and thought he
got stung.
In his later years, Solomon ``did evil in the sight of God''.
He turned to idol worship. To ``Chemosh, the abomination of Moah,
and Meloch, the abomination of the children of Amnon, and to
Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians'' (I Kings 11:4-8). These
were not just a passing fancy. Solomon built temples to the
three abominations which stood throughout his lifetime. Later,
King Josiah tore these ``mounds of corruption'' down (II Kings 23:13).
Ashtoreth was a Semitic goddess of love and fertility. Chemosh
may have been her mate, and a god of war.
Most evil of all was the bloody Meloch (Moloch) to whom children
were sacrificed, and who became one of of the chief devils in the
Christian Hell. Moloch is cited by Milton in Paradise Lost: ``Horrid
king... besmeared with blood and parents' tears... '' (2).
One might forgive Solomon's dalliance with the sexy Ashtoreth,
who was relatively harmless. But should we take advice on child-
rearing from one who followed the abominations of Moloch?
Perhaps the abominations and the Proverbs were not altogether
unrelated. Gibson (3) and others have shown that youth floggings
involve deep subconscious drives, both sexual impulses (Ashtoreth)
and violent impulses (Chemosh, Moloch).
ROD INSPIRED WISDOM
``The rod and reproof bring wisdom'' (Proverbs 29:15). Now
King Solomon, we are told, had seven hundred wives and thus must
have had a goodly number of children. Presumably he practiced
what he preached and all were raised by the rod.
How did his own children turn out? Did they honor their father
and grow in wisdom? Perhaps the story of Solomon's sons carries
the real message of what happens to families when children are
beaten with rods.
When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king. At
the coronation, the people petitioned for a redress of grievances.
Led by Jeroboam, once Solomon's chief executive officer, but later
an exile in Egypt, they came before the new king and said:
``Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh
labor and the heavy yoke he put on us and we shall serve you'' (II
Chronicles 10:4).
Rehoboam was unsure of how to answer. He told them to come back
in three days and sought counsel, first from the elder statesmen
among his father Solomon's wise men. They advised that he agree to
lighten the load.
Their counsel was: ``If you will be kind to these people and
please them and give a favorable answer, the will always be your
loyal subjects.''
But Rehoboam rejected the advice from the elder statesmen and
turned instead to the young men who had grown up with him -- the
hoards of half brothers who were also Solomon's sons. From them
he heard the ultimate insult to the memory of their father. They
said to tell the people:
``My little finger is thicker than my father's loins'' (II
Chronicles 10:10).
What Solomon's sons said of their father remains in the private
and vulgar language of junior high age boys to this day. To say
that a man has a thin, small organ is to say that he lacks what it
takes to be a man, that he is a wimp with no real guts at all. To
growing boys, this is the ultimate insult.
Solomon's sons advised their elder brother to tell the people --
as some might express it today, ``You ain't seen nothing yet!''
They told him to say: ``My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will
make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will
scourge you with scorpions'' (I Kings 12:14). What were scorpions?
It sounds like they may have been whips with multiple strips with
stingers at the tips, perhaps something like a cat-o-nine-tails
used to flog sailors in the days of sail. Whatever scorpions were,
they were dreaded by the people.
King Rehoboam followed the advice of the young men who had been
raised with him under his father's rod of correction. The people who
had come to him in good faith listened to his insulting threats and
went home to their tents. But they were so angry that the next time
the King and his foreman in charge of forced labor came to conscript
laborers, they stoned the foreman to death and Rehoboam himself
barely escaped in his chariot back to town. (II Chronicles 10:18).
Ten of the tribes, led by Jeroboam revolted. Many years of
devastating civil war followed. ``There was war between Rehoboam and
Jeroboam all the days of his life'' (I Kings 15:6). Rehoboam forsook
the Lord and turned to idol worship. Jerusalem was raided by the
Egyptians who carried off much of Solomon's treasure. Rehoboam ``did
evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord'' (II Chron-
icles 12:9,14).
The civil war continued after Rehoboam's death and after Jeroboam's
death. At length, the divided and weakened Jewish kingdom, first
Israel in the north, then Judah in the south, was overrun and conquered.
Rehoboam and his half-brothers, indeed seem far more like abused
children, than examples of rod-inspired wisdom.
Nowhere in the Bible does God approve of the hitting of kids. When
the Lord stops the sacrifice of Isaac, He tells Abraham, ``Lay not
your hands upon the lad, and do nothing to him'' (Genesis 22:12).
God doesn't say, ``Don't kill the lad, but it's all right to beat him.''
THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS
``Foolishness if found in the heart of a child. But the rod of
correction will drive it far from him''. So declared Solomon (Proverbs
22:15). But Jesus held otherwise. ``Verily, I say unto you, unless
you become as a little child, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven''
(Matthew 18:3).
To Jesus, not only did the grown-ups not have all the answers, but
they may have forgotten things that they knew in youth. Many things
fade as we depart from childhood. The power to laugh joyfully, to
dream and imagine, to love truly and form deep friendships, to believe
in the wonders and sense the things of the Spirit. In teaching youth
our knowledge, instead of ``beating the foolishness out of them'', we
may have something to learn in return.
Some of the gloomier theologians believes that children were born
depraved. They were ``tainted with sin'' and had to be beaten and
subdued. Thus, John Wesley wrote, ``Break his will, if you would not
damn the child. Teach him to fear the rod and to cry softly ... Break
his will now that his soul shall live'' (4).
But Jesus viewed the child as the poet Wordsworth:
In trailing clouds of glory do we come...
Heaven lies about us in our infancy.
Shades of the prison house begin to close
Upon the growing boy...
At length, the man perceives it die away
And fade into the common light of day. (5)
Said Jesus, ``Suffer the little children to come unto me, and
forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of Heaven'' (Mark 10:14).
And Jesus warned, ``It were better for him if a millstone were
hanged around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that
he should offend one of these little ones'' (Luke 17:2).
Jesus does not advocate throwing child abusers into the sea with
millstones around their neck. He just says it would be better for
them if it happened.
There are some who cite the Bible to populate our schools with
rods and paddles. But they are very silent on the subject of millstones.
Instead of force and fear, Jesus would bring forth the Divine
Power that lay within, for man was made in the image of God. ``Be
ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect'' (Matthew 5:48).
``Seek and ye shall find ... Call and it shall be answered ... Knock
and it shall be opened'' (Matthew 7:7).
And Jesus asks, ``Of what man is there of you who, if his son asks
for break, would give him a stone?'' (Matthew 7:9).
Yet for hundreds of years, in the schools of avowedly Christian
nations, youths who sought the bread of education, were given the
stone of corporal punishment.
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL
St. Paul took a gloomier view of human nature. But he never
favored ``beating the sin out of kids''. The chastisers of children
were sinful themselves.
``Whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth and scourgeth. The Lord
dealeth with you as his sons. If ye be without chastisement, ye
are bastards and not sons......''
``The Lord chastiseth us for our profit, that we may partake of
His Righteousness''.
But human fathers, he warned, ``Chastise us after their own
pleasure'' (Hebrews 12:5-10).
Certain elders, over the centuries, have misread the Epistle.
Modestly, they have set themselves in the Lord's place and proceeded
to chastise and scourge youth ``for their own good''. They failed
to heed the warning of Jesus: ``Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For what measures ye mete out, so shall be meted out to you''
(Matthew 7:1,2).
Paul's Epistle shows great psychological insight. The punishing
father (or teacher, master, guardian) may derive unwholesome pleasure
out of chastising a culprit. The flogger gets enjoyment from his
flogging, though he pretends it is a painful duty. This can be as
sinful as the punished sin.
Paul had only contempt for the human floggers who wielded their
rods unjustly and for selfish reasons. He suffered from them, too.
In Macedonia, Paul and a companion, Silas, were severly beaten, put
in stocks and jailed, after being falsely accused of stirring up
violence. Paul had freed a troubled girl from possession by an
evil spirit that gave her psychic powers. The girl's master, who
had made a lot of money from her fortune-telling, caused the
whippings of Paul and Silas to get even (Acts 16:16-23).
Sinful humans are not fit to chastise justly. Only divine
punishments are righteous. Chastisements should be left to God.
Again, Paul asks, ``Which shall it be? Shall I come to you
with the rod? Or with love and the spirit of meekness?'' (I
Corinthians 4:21).
There is no hypocrisy here, as in Solomon's Proverbs, about
beating somebody because you love him. The rod or love. It
cannot be both. Paul does not doubt that love and meekness are
the way of Christ.
And Paul wrote:
Fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up
in nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians, 6:4).
Ye Fathers, provoke not your children to anger... (Colossians, 3:21)
We now know well that corporal punishments do provoke youth
to anger, though the effects may be delayed. Many of such youths
tend to be more violent and aggressive, more inclined to juvenile
delinquencies, vandalism, and adult crime. They also have lower
achievements in learning and education.
This has been confirmed many times by scientific studies. (See
related booklets).
FORCE AND FEAR ARE EVIL. LOVE IS DIVINE
Nowhere is there a more sublime statement of Christianity than
in the Pastoral Letter of the Apostle John (6). He urges Love rather
than Force and Fear -- in education and in life.
We urge all Christians next time to reach for the Bible instead
of the rod or paddle and read the words of John.
``Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them (fear
and evil) because greater is He that is in you than he that is in
the world'' (I John 4:4).
``God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God...''
``There is no fear in love. But perfect love casteth out fear.
Fear is torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love''
(I John 4:16,18).
CONCLUSIONS
There is no authority in the Bible for the corporal punishment of
children with rod or otherwise, except in the Proverbs of Solomon. It
is only Solomon who recommends child-beating. Never the Lord.
Solomon's child-rearing methods worked very badly for his own son,
Prince Rehoboam. Solomon has an undeserved reputation for wisdom. In
reality, he left his country oppressed and impoverished. In his later
years, he turned to idol worship and practiced ``the abominations
of Chemosh and Moloch''.
These is no support for the beating of youth outside of Solomon's
Proverbs. Solomon's views are controverted both by Jesus and the
Apostle John.
Paul warned Fathers against the anger and resentment that might be
aroused in their children by corporal punishments. The way of
love is better.
St. Paul deplored the punishment of youth by human fathers who
chastised youth ``for their own pleasure''. Only divine chastisements
are righteous.
Jesus and John saw children as being close to God and urged love
rather than fear in education.
If a Christian henceforth grabs for a rob or a paddle because ``the
Bible says so'', he is heeding the words of an idol-worshiping king,
rather than the words of Christ.
REFERENCES
(1) Encyclopedia Britannica. XVth Edition (1974) The Bible
(2) Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Oxford England,
Twentieth Printing (1981)
(3) Gibson, Ian, The English Vice, Duckworth Ltd. London 1978
(4) Ford, Donald, The Child as a Legal Entity in The Maltreatment
of Children, Edited by Selwyn Smith, University Park Press,
Baltimore Md. (1978) p403.
(5) Wordsworth, William, Intimations of Immortality, 1806
RELATED BOOKLETS
Published by: End Violence Against The Next Generation
977 Keeler Avenue Berkeley, California 94708
Corporal Punishment and Crime - James S. Wallerstein $2.00
1001 Alternatives to Corporal Punishment, Vol 1 - Adah Maurer $5.95
1001 Alternatives to Corporal Punishment, Vol 2 - Adah Maurer $6.95
THINK TWICE: Medical effects of Physical Punishment - Lesli Taylor, MD $5.95
[ Except for the "1001 Alternatives" Volumes, these booklets are
available in electronic form, -free- from Steven Maurer (steve@vicom.com) ]
[ EVAN-G also publishes a quarterly newsletter "The Last Resort"
(subscription $10.00, examples $1.00) EVAN-G is a registered
charity (all donations are tax-deductible). ]
MANIFESTO OF THE
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS
Prepared by Fr. Robert Choquet with the suggestion that it be signed
and presented to school authorities.
To Whom it May Concern,
As a family we object in conscience, formed by our religious
and moral beliefs, to the infliction of physical punishment upon
our children and to any submission on their part to it. We have
instructed them to use whatever means are necessary and possible
to avoid participation in this act.
The basis of this religious and moral objection is as follows:
1. We do not wish our children to participate in the sin of
child abuse or to contribute to its commission elsewhere, but to
uphold respect to their persons.
2. We do not want our children taking part in any action
which dehumanizes or degrades them, but to uphold basic human
rights which apply to all people.
3. We do not approve of our children exposing themselves to
the indecency of immodesty of bending over in front of someone
to have violent force directed at the private zones of their
bodies. Church teachings state that laws that do not respect
the integrity of the child and the rights of the family are
subject to conscientious disobedience.
4. Discipline means modeling good behavior and reinforcing it.
Allowing a professional to use fear of assault and intimidation
is quackery, which the church prohibits.
[ end of text ]