Bridges on Proverbs 26:3
 
 
Charles Bridges on Proverbs 26:3
 
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3.  A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back.
 
This proverb inverts our ideas. We should have given the bridle for the horse, and the whip for the ass. But the Eastern asses are a very superior race, both in beauty and spirit, a valuable property to their owners. The bridle is necessary to curb and to guide them; while the horse, perhaps badly broken in, may need a whip; if dull, to accelerate his speed; if fiery, to correct his temper. Every creature subdued for the service of man needs his appropriate discipline. The Lord “guides his children with his eye.” But let them cultivate a pliable spirit; “not as the horse and the mule, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle.” (Psalm 32:8, 9.) The fool neither hears the voice, nor sees the directing eye. He will be ruled neither by reason nor persuasion. A rod therefore is for the fool's back. Pharaoh provoked this severe chastisement at the hands of God; the men of Succoth and Penuel at Gideon's hands. Many such fools are in the Church, self-willed, full of conceit. They need the rod, and they have it. Discipline is the most probing test. What is its fruit? In the child submission and tenderness; in the fool (except it beat out his folly, which is too often a desperate case) hardness and rebellion. Sad indeed is it, that the child sometimes needs the rod intended for the fool's back. Yet never does his loving Father use it, till gentle means have been tried in vain. Oh my God! use thine own wise means to save me from my own waywardness, folly, and ruin.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Footnote:
Michaelis was so positive on this point, that he altered his version accordingly, contrary to the authority of all versions and MSS.
 
 
Footnote:
Judges 10:3, 4; 12:13, 14. 2 Samuel 17:23; 19:26.
 

 
Judges 10:3, 4
3 And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years. 4 And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. {Havothjair: or, the villages of Jair}
 
Judges 12:13, 14
13 And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel. 14 And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years. {nephews: Heb. sons' sons}
 
2 Samuel 17:23
23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father. {followed: Heb. done} {put his...: Heb. gave charge concerning his house}
 
2 Samuel 19:26
26 And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for thy servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king; because thy servant is lame.
 
 
Footnote:
Paxton's Natural History of Scripture, p. 221, and Parkhurst.
 
 
Psalm 32:8, 9
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. {guide...: Heb. counsel thee, mine eye shall be upon thee} 9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
 
 
Footnote:
Chapter 10:13; 19:29.
 

 
Proverbs 10:13
13 ¶ In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding. {of understanding: Heb. of heart}
 
Proverbs 19:29
29 ¶ Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.
 
 
Footnote:
Exodus 10:3.
 

 
Exodus 10:3
3 And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.
 
 
Footnote:
Judges 8:5-7, 16.
 

 
Judges 8:5-7, 16
5 And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. 6 And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army? 7 And Gideon said, Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. {tear: Heb. thresh} 16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. {taught: Heb. made to know}
 
 
Footnote:
2 Corinthians 10:6-11; 13:2.
 

 
2 Corinthians 10:6-11
6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. 7 ¶ Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's. 8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed: 9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. 10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. {say they: Gr. saith he} 11 Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.
 
2 Corinthians 13:2
2 I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:
 
 
Footnote:
Jeremiah 31:18-20.
 

 
Jeremiah 31:18-20
18 ¶ I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God. 19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 20 I
 
 
Footnote:
2 Chronicles 33:11-13.
 

 
2 Chronicles 33:11-13
11 ¶ Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. {of the king: Heb. which were the king's} {fetters: or, chains} 12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.
 
 
Footnote:
Chapter 17:10; 27:22.
 

 
Proverbs 17:10
10 ¶ A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool. {entereth...: or, aweth more a wise man, than to strike a fool an hundred times}
 
Proverbs 27:22
22 ¶ Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
 
 
Footnote:
2 Chronicles 28:22. Isaiah 1:5. Jeremiah 5:3.
 

 
2 Chronicles 28:22
22 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.
 
Isaiah 1:5
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. {revolt...: Heb. increase revolt}
 
Jeremiah 5:3
3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.