Lock ‘em Up

(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;

Today I read the phrase “discipline of a fool” in the NASB and it struck a cord in my mind.  I was thinking in terms of the kind of self discipline that is necessary to be successful in life and it would seem that fools don’t have any.  Alas, I looked at the KJV and it talked about the “correction of the stocks.”  Both translations are looking at the same Hebrew.  My confusion was that I was thinking of “discipline” (4148) as a positive thing but the word can also refer to actions that try to knock sense into us.  The word has the idea of chastening and correction more than getting up on time.

So?  The point Proverbs makes is that there are fools and we need strong measures to keep them in line.  Too often we promote them and elect them to office.  We give them another chance when we should be locking them up.  There are times when it is a hard call to make but we need to work on our wisdom to figure it out.