http://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/duff/the_shepherd's_rod_and_staff.htm

i

only swatted my kids when they were in danger, like walking across the street without holding my hand...my kids were very well behaved because i as a jw mom married to a muslim, kept them with me always and i stood between my husband and my kids so he would not beat them the way HE BEAT ME and it was Because I was christian JW...now an exjw and i have to say...striking children is not a good example of the rod.... If he saw a sheep creeping up too far on the one hand, or going too near the edge of the dangerous precipice on the other, he would at once turn back and go to it, gently pulling it back. He had a long rod as tall as himself, round the lower half of which was twisted a band of iron. There was a crook at one end of the rod, and it was with this the shepherd took hold of one of the hind legs of the sheep to pull it back. The thick band of iron at the other end of the rod was really a staff, and was ready for use whenever he saw a hyena or wolf or some other troublesome animal coming near the sheep, for especially at night these creatures prowled about the flock. With the iron part of the rod he would give a good blow when an attack was threatened. In Psalm 23:4, we have mention made of "Thy rod and Thy staff." There is meaning in both, and distinct meaning. God's rod draws us back, kindly and lovingly, if we go aside from His path. God's staff protects us against the onset, open or secret, whether it be men or devils which are the enemies watching an opportunity for attack....No child should ever be beaten and yet once i did it...and i cried, i was very very sick and very ready to give birth and my kids were 3 and 4 and they jumped on my belly, harming my unborn child and me...I beat them and then cried, never again did i ever hurt them...it was life threatening...I had toxemia and did not know it.