Stock in Fetters

(Pro 7:22 KJV)  He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;

Do you require “stocks” (fetters NASB) to bring “correction” (discipline NASB) (4148)?  “Correction” is usually used in a positive way.  It has the idea of the kind of discipline that teaches us the things we need to know.  In this case it has gone to the extreme meaning of the word.

You may not be familiar with “fetters.”  It means something around your ankle.  If you have seen cartoon pictures with a prisoner in a dungeon, spread-eagled on the wall, the iron rings around the wrists and ankles would be described by this word.  There are chains that can ruin our lives.  An obvious one would be drugs.  A less obvious one might be food.  The chain that is being referred to here is behavior that violates the clear standards of God.  In a simple word, sin.

The specific here is adultery.  For you it might be the TV or your smart phone.  I have my own list of choices I can make that will tie me down and keep me from the life God has for me.

So?  In our church we have an old gospel song that has the words,

“Once I was bound by sin’s galling fetters.
Chained like a slave I struggled in vain.
Then I received a glorious freedom
When Jesus broke my fetters in twain.”

Old words.  Maybe they need a new application.