Premeditated Discipline

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 says, “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of the city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear and fear.”

Fifty years ago the paddle was still a form of discipline in the public schools. I got my first hack in about the fifth grade, for throwing snow balls. My last hack was in my senior year. It was by choice. In our homeroom, which was all boys, we had a “hack fund.” When someone was unruly, and needed a hack, the rest of us would bid on who got to administer it. A dollar was usually the high bid. The money went for a party at the end of the year. The teacher’s paddle was made from a ski. It was about two feet long and had a groove in it. One day the biggest boy got the bid, and paddled the offender. I thought I was tough, and said, “I could take three of those.” I grabbed my ankles. The first hack did smart. “That’s one,” I managed to say. The second hack was for real. “That’s all I can take,” I said and sat down. When I got home and looked in the mirror, I saw a long blood blister left from the groove in the paddle. It finally went away.

In those days, students weren’t shooting teachers and each other. The pistol has replaced the paddle.

I only got two hacks in school, but many whippings at home with the belt. The home is where discipline needs to happen. Sometimes it fails. God predetermined a plan for this situation. The first step was the voice. The rebellious son will not obey the voice. The next step was chastening, or beating with the rod. In many homes this does not happen. Some parents think the voice is all that is needed. For some children, this may work. It often leads to frustration. The voice gets louder and louder—the parent counts to ten. Chastening isn’t fun, but usually works. For some rebellious sons it won’t. The last step was death at the city gate.

This law was in place, and known, before the rebellious situation arose. The result was, it put evil out of the land and caused Israel to fear. God said He chastens those He loves. Jesus, God’s Son, took the beating of beatings for us. He was obedient unto the cross. He was tougher than two hacks. He died for rebellious gluttons and drunkards. He took their death penalty, He didn’t abolish it.

When capital punishment is premeditated and carried through, it is a great deterrent to premeditated murder. In Noah’s day, God cleaned up the population with capital punishment. It was premeditated for 100 years. I wonder if Noah spanked his sons? Either by voice or chastening, he loved them enough to discipline. We as parents fail our job when we don’t premeditate discipline.