The verse also starts with not withholding discipline, which could mean many things, and ends with the statement about the rod. If someone today said it in that order, I would assume it meant "even if you had to go to the extremes of hitting him with a rod, he didn't die for it."
Now, it might seem that I'm warping the scriptures in saying that, but the actual text in Hebrew does not say what the English versions say.
Between Brown's lexicon and Strong's definitions, we have these linked words:
23:13
Do not
hold back discipline from the
child,
Although you
strike him with the
rod, he will not
die.
Which Strong could roughly translate: "withhold, restrain youth [because then] hit, kill."
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva]
1 withhold, hold back, keep back, refrain, deny, keep restrain, hinder
2 [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva]
to withhold, hold back, keep back, refrain, deny, keep restrain, hinder (either a double negative, or a reinforced statement)[/FONT]
3. [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva]
a boy, lad, servant, youth, retainer (Uses the general word "Na'ar," not "ben" --the word for son)
4. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva]
that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since
5. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva]
to strike, smite, hit, beat, slay, kill
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva]
- rod, staff
- shaft (of spear, dart)
- club (of shepherd's implement)
- truncheon, sceptre (mark of authority)
- clan, tribe
6.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva]
to die, kill, have one executed
It's not as clear and obvious as translators make it sound.
[/FONT]
I don't know the nuances of Hebrew, but with the limited words I see here, it seems it could almost be translated with the
opposite meaning... which with the following verse, could mean that even though disciplining can rescue a soul from Sheol, one should restrain themselves when hitting, in case the youth dies. It even seems that it could be referring to the youth's potential to kill by hitting.
Similarly, notice the unlinked words in this translation are the filled in words:
You shall
strike him with the
rod And
rescue his
soul from
Sheol.
In the context of other laws, I do believe that the verse was about discipline. Citizens who broke certain laws were put to death. So if a person prevented someone from future stoning by reprimanding them along the way, then they did save the soul from death.
(Sheol is the grave, "the unseen state", not necessarily the lowest part of Sheol reserved for the worst people.)
I think we need a Hebrew scholar to check this out.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva]
[/FONT]