Pro 19:25 | KingComments | STEP | There are three types of people in this verse: “a scoffer”, the “naive” and “one who has understanding”. They show who they are by their response to discipline. The scoffer does not allow himself to be corrected by any discipline. Its purpose does not penetrate him because he shuts himself off from it. The naive is someone without knowledge, a simpleton, an empty head. He is not yet as hardened as the scoffer. It may dawn on him that the discipline that comes upon the scoffer is a warning to him. If that penetrates, he will become shrewd and recognize what awaits him if he continues on the path of foolishness and becomes a scoffer (cf. ). One who has understanding does not need strokes. He has sufficient spiritual maturity to be able to distinguish between right and wrong. If he does something that needs correction, he can be reproved with words. Those words may also be painful, but he will listen to them and “gain knowledge” about what he has done or said that was not right and must be corrected.

‏ Proverbs 19:25

Discipline Makes Others Shrewd

There are three types of people in this verse: “a scoffer”, the “naive” and “one who has understanding”. They show who they are by their response to discipline. The scoffer does not allow himself to be corrected by any discipline. Its purpose does not penetrate him because he shuts himself off from it.

The naive is someone without knowledge, a simpleton, an empty head. He is not yet as hardened as the scoffer. It may dawn on him that the discipline that comes upon the scoffer is a warning to him. If that penetrates, he will become shrewd and recognize what awaits him if he continues on the path of foolishness and becomes a scoffer (cf. Deu 19:20).

One who has understanding does not need strokes. He has sufficient spiritual maturity to be able to distinguish between right and wrong. If he does something that needs correction, he can be reproved with words. Those words may also be painful, but he will listen to them and “gain knowledge” about what he has done or said that was not right and must be corrected.