210. Scouring Away Evil (Proverbs 20:30)

The Scoffer And The King

3/22/2026

Turn with me to Proverbs 20:29-21:1. These are our verses to continue studying and memorizing.

Proverbs 20:29-21:1 The glory of young men is their strength, And the honor of old men is their gray hair. 30 Stripes that wound scour away evil, And strokes reach the innermost parts. 21:1 The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.

Introduction

Proverbs 20:29-21:1 provides the conclusion of our section on the scoffer and the king from chapter 20 as it transitions to dealing more directly with the scoffer and God in chapter 21. Last time, in verse 29, we saw that the king should make use of the strength of the young in full coordination with the experience and wisdom of the old.

From verse 30, we will now see the way that evil is removed from people or a nation through physical discipline. Then finally, from Proverbs 21:1, we will see the over-arching truth that both kings and citizens need to keep in mind: God’s sovereignty extends over even the hearts of kings. No one else is truly sovereign. Thus, earthly power and authority are to be used for good because supreme power rests with God.

This, then, is God’s final guidance from this section of Proverbs on how a king is to rule by that foundational loving-kindness and truth which Proverbs 20:28 so strongly emphasized. To correctly administer people within a nation, a ruler needs to understand them and put them in the right places given their differing strengths and abilities. To protect the nation, a ruler needs to actively exercise discipline so that evil is removed and his people are purified. To build up a nation, a ruler needs to constructively use power and resources under God’s authority to promote God’s righteous purposes. That is the pathway for a nation to truly thrive: have a ruler who, in living by loving-kindness and truth, knows his people, removes evil, and spurs on righteous progress.

These same foundational truths helpfully apply not just to the rulers of a country, but also to each of us in our families, churches, companies, cities, and states. So let’s take a closer look now at verse 30 to better see the importance of removing evil. Lord willing, next time we will conclude by looking at Proverbs 21:1 as we examine the importance of promoting righteousness.

Have you ever gotten sick and tired of the outright evil, unkindness, yelling, bickering, manipulation, and drama which can often be found in our nation, communities, workplaces, schools, and even our churches or homes? The last verse of chapter 20 gives us the essence of God’s straightforward solution. Notice what it tells us.

30 Stripes that wound scour away evil, And strokes reach the innermost parts.

Discipline removes evil by getting to the root of the matter.

This verse is quite blunt. A nation needs to scrub away evil within it by using firm punishments and discipline. While Proverbs 20:28’s proclamation that what is needed for a king’s rule to be preserved is for him to exercise loving-kindness and truth might seem to contradict this, it does not in the least. As a matter of fact, this verse is put here for us to see that exercising firm discipline and justice is precisely part of living by loving-kindness and truth. It is necessary to deal with evil. It is what scours wickedness out of a nation so that it can remain righteous. It is what is needed to prevent a nation from being undermined and ruined by wickedness.

Some crimes need to be dealt with by the death penalty or exile—like Proverbs 20:26 emphasizes with the wise king winnowing out the wicked and driving the threshing wheel over them. Other people and other crimes do not reach that same level. Their crimes need to be dealt with firmly, but they might still be taught the error of their ways. They might not be too far gone. They might be teachable and change their ways.

To bring about such a change, these people need a judgment strong enough to truly teach them the evil and danger of their ways. The discipline needs to reach their innermost parts and truly motivate reform. The consequences need to be strong enough to make a return to their wicked ways not an option that they are willing to pursue.

The language used in this proverb shows us this point clearly. The word for “stripes” there is the same word for the kind of wound that Lamech received from the young man that he then killed in Genesis 4:23 (and boasted of to his wives). It was not some light, superficial injury. It was enough for him to pursue the ultimate revenge. From Psalm 38:5, we see that this kind of wound most likely included a cut or laceration, and not just a bruise, because David says that “My wounds grow foul and fester.” Apparently, it could get an infection. Bruises do not usually do that.

This is also the same word used in Isaiah 53:5, where it says in the prophecy about Jesus that “by His scourging we are healed.” Thus, we get the idea here of a whipping or scourging, which breaks the skin and leaves some kind of wound. That it was not just some light whipping can be seen in the use of the separate word that defines the stripes. They are “stripes that wound.”

The second half of the verse uses a different word for the chastisement, but it is fairly similar. It uses the word “strokes.” If anything, that word may have to do more with blows, hitting, or striking.¹ From that, bruises are what would be more expected. Thus, the discipline that is needed in a nation to remove evil from within people and to keep it out is a strong discipline that truly teaches the recipient the reality, urgency, and importance of the lesson.

We also see all this in the idea of scouring away evil, which is mentioned here. That has to do with scrubbing something clean. In Jeremiah 46:4, that word is used for the polishing of spears. In 2 Corinthians 4:16, it is used of polishing bronze tools used for worship. In Leviticus 6:21, it is used of the scouring of a bronze pot to cleanse it from impurities. Scrubbing off tarnish, rust, or burnt food layers from those kinds of objects was not just some quick, light task. It took effort. Those layers of impurity had to be removed.

The same is true of evil within our hearts. It needs to be reached and dealt with in our innermost parts. We need to realize the painful, damaging consequences of our behaviors. We need cleansing at a deep level so that we are truly motivated to change our actions and be different. No superficial, light remonstrance is going to do that. Sin has its pleasures. Selfishness is deeply ingrained in our sinful natures. The seriousness of our situations has to reach our innermost parts for there to be any actual change or removal of evil. Physical pain and experiencing the real consequences of our actions can often do this. It can help us to stop and evaluate our experiences so that we learn from them. Indeed, as a friend of mine quite helpfully pointed out recently, the best teacher is evaluated experience (not just experience). Deeper pain and suffering have a way of promoting that which many other experiences do not.

Historically, countries did not have large, extensive, long-term prison systems (like in nations today, and most especially the United States). Instead, when the death penalty was not warranted, physical discipline was often used to try to drive the point home and motivate lasting change.

In God’s wisdom, that is one of the specific tools that He instituted to deal with situations that did not deserve the death penalty. With that, it should be noted that to prevent this physical discipline from becoming abuse, God’s law required that no more than 40 stripes be given.

Deuteronomy 25:1-3 “If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges decide their case, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, 2 then it shall be if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt. 3 “He may beat him forty times but no more, so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and your brother is not degraded in your eyes.

Used correctly, physical discipline is an effective tool to help remove evil from people and society. After that kind of punishment, one would not lightly return to the same wicked behavior.

For us in “modern” times, it might seem barbaric for a nation to have such physical punishment. Yet in ancient times—up until probably about a hundred years ago—it probably would have seemed quite barbaric and horribly unproductive to lock up vast hordes of people for decades. It also would have been seen as barbaric and horribly unjust not to administer an equitable death penalty on criminals for murder and other heinous crimes.

Regardless of changing personal and societal perspectives, this verse plainly teaches us that judgment needs to be strong enough to grab an evil offender’s mind so that they actually learn from it and change. Discipline needs to reach one’s innermost being to produce a real desire to change and to result in a true fear of the consequences if one does not change.

Thus, our response to evil needs to be strong enough to truly deal with it and remove it. The principle of this applies whether it is for evil behaviors in a nation that need to be dealt with and removed, or whether it is for an evil behavior that needs to be removed from our own personal lives.

A king needs to know and apply this principle about evil for a nation to thrive. Evil must not be whitewashed or ignored. People need to be shocked out of the dangerous deceptions that they have bought into and wickedly lived out. They need to see the truth of reality and the actual destructiveness of wickedness. To accomplish this, a nation needs to deal directly and firmly with evil. It needs to be scrubbed away with whatever it takes to remove it. Physical discipline is pictured here as an important tool to produce such cleansing.

Scriptural Example: In Scripture, we have an example of this proverb in the life of the wicked king Manasseh of Judah. Manasseh was the son of the godly king Hezekiah. No doubt, he would have known better. But instead of following God, he pursued almost every kind of idolatry, witchcraft, divination, sorcery, and even the fiery sacrifices of his sons. He greatly misled Judah to do more evil than the nations which the Lord had destroyed before them (2 Chronicles 33:9). Because of that, God rebuked Manasseh and the people. They did not listen. So the Lord disciplined Manasseh directly and physically.

2 Chronicles 33:11 Therefore the LORD brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon.

Assyria was a very cruel nation. According to their own carved stone reliefs, they would literally put hooks through the noses, lips, or jaws of captured leaders. Then they would parade them around like animals. Manasseh needed a strong discipline to humble him and bring him to repentance. He needed a physical scouring to remove his great evils. The Lord gave it to him through the Assyrians. The next verses record the result.

2 Chronicles 33:12-16 When he was in distress, he entreated the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. 14 Now after this he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the Fish Gate; and he encircled the Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15 He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. 16 He set up the altar of the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.

In reading about all the wickedness that Manasseh did in Judah, one cannot help but wonder why God did not just judge him and kill him. Here, though, we see the reason. God’s severe discipline brought him to repentance. God used His chastisement to scour away Manasseh’s evil. That’s what God does. He uses His discipline to cleanse people and redeem them. He uses it to bring His children back to Himself and purify them. This might all seem barbaric. Nevertheless, God used it to get Manasseh’s attention, humble him, and save him. Sometimes that kind of hard discipline is just what we need.

Proverb in Comparison: When we compare this proverb with the rest of Scripture, we see that this is not an isolated truth. Oftentimes, we need to be shaken up to face reality, to turn away from our sin in repentance, and to turn to God for His salvation or purification. Jacob wrestled with the angel and had to be struck in the hip with a crippling blow. Miriam had to be struck with leprosy and humbled to stop complaining and usurping authority. Samson had to lose his eyes and be enslaved before turning back to God. David had to be confronted by the prophet Nathan over his sin with Bathsheba and lose his son in order to be humbled and brought back to God. Jonah had to be thrown into the sea, spend three days in the belly of a fish, and suffer under a blistering sun to bring him to repentance and obedience. Paul had to be struck blind on the road to Damascus. Quite often, what it takes to discipline our sin and scour away our evil is God’s physical discipline on us.

Scripture reiterates God’s redemptive, sanctifying, and good purposes through His affliction of His people in a number of places. We see this in His severe dealings with Israel in Lamentations 3:31-33.

Lamentations 3:31-33 For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33 for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

While from our perspective it might seem like God’s oppression of us was final or simply punishment, these verses help tell the rest of the story. Israel’s fierce judgment and exile were not final. Similarly, in the midst of our situations (like with Job), we simply cannot see the end result of all that God is doing. The reality is that God’s compassion is right around the corner. His steadfast love, His “chesed,” is unchanging. He will not forget His promises. He is at work within us and others through what He ordains and allows. If there is sin in our lives or something that needs to be purified, then dealing with that is the response we need to have. We need to humble ourselves before God, examine our lives, turn from sin, and come to Him to do whatever He wants in our lives. We must hold nothing back.

When it says there in verse 33 that He does not afflict from His heart or grieve the children of men, it is a promise that in His character and nature He is not simply doing what He does to bring hurt and inflict pain. He is not somehow just being vindictive to His children. Rather, it is in His heart and very nature to have compassion and steadfast love. Because of that, what He allows and does is all designed for a good purpose in those He loves (cf. Romans 8:28-39).

Yes, He will cause grief. He will cause pain. He will even appear to cast off His people at times. But it is to sanctify us, to make us holy, and to further His plan of redemption in this world. We may not, and often will not, see all the details and “why’s” of what He does. Yet we can be assured that what is in His heart from His nature is to work things out for what is good, righteous, and holy. It is to work out His love toward us.

The cross is the ultimate example of this. The Father’s heart toward the Son was not to inflict pain. Rather, His purpose through the pain was to justly bring about our redemption and holiness. 1 Peter 4:1-2 highlights holding onto the truth of this beneficial suffering of Jesus. As we do this, it will enable us to benefit from the suffering that we likewise go through.

1 Peter 4:1-2 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

By suffering in the flesh, if we respond rightly, we are moved from sinful desires and behaviors to holiness in God. Suffering strips away everything. The emptiness and destructiveness of sin become evident. We see that it can offer us nothing in our suffering. Meanwhile, the glory and power of God’s grace and redemption become clear. We see the reality of God’s promises and the truth of His wisdom and love. As we hold onto these truths, we turn from sin to walk in the right and good will of God. As we look to Jesus as our example, hope, and help in our suffering, this holiness is what it produces. Hebrews 12:3-17 gives us the big-picture purifying purposes of our discipline.

Hebrews 12:3-17 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; 6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. 12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. 14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; 16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.

When we go through suffering, we are to consider Jesus to keep us from growing weary and losing heart. We are to hold onto His example so that we persevere in faithfully resisting sin. We are to consider His discipline of us as a good thing. It is evidence of being His children. It is evidence of His love. It is designed for good to purify us. It is for our good. It is so that we may share in God’s holiness. We are to humbly receive His correction and allow Him to change us. We must not allow our response to it to be one of bitterness, anger, or rebellion. That will only cause our defilement and trouble. Rather, we must see that discipline is all part of God’s sanctifying process in our lives. He is doing it to bring us to Himself in a holy and blameless way.

Truth in Connection: Given all this, we see God’s purpose for discipline and therefore also the purpose that nations, churches, and families should have. God uses physical discipline not to selfishly abuse people, but rather to remove evil from them. He uses it to purify them from an attitude of love and concern for them. That is exactly how nations, churches, and families should also use it.

Because of the intense nature of our proverb’s description of this discipline with “stripes that wound” and bruising “strokes,” a very important clarification is needed as we move to applying this to our lives. We do not want any misunderstanding to occur. The context of this proverb is a king’s exercising justice over a nation. When considering that this is an alternative to the death penalty, and that the clarifying example in the law in Deuteronomy 25:1-3 says “if the wicked man deserves to be beaten,” then it becomes clearer that this is not something to be done rashly, angrily, or undeservedly. The full extent of this proverb is only to be applied when the crime deserves it. That is something that a nation’s judicial system needs to carefully weigh out. Thus, we are not at all saying that this specific, intense, physical punishment should be carried out in churches or families or anywhere else.

Thus, to boil it all down, we are first emphasizing the point and principle of this proverb that nations need to use physical discipline to scour evil from people’s lives. Evil must not be allowed to run rampant. From that principle, we are then also highlighting how God Himself lovingly carries out this discipline for all of His children. From Hebrews 12, we have seen that God does whatever He needs to do in order to remove evil from our lives and to purify us. This emphasizes 1. the true danger of evil, and 2. an effective cure for it is physical discipline and suffering.

Therefore, as we turn to applying this proverb to our own personal lives, we need to do whatever it takes to completely cut evil out of our lives—like Jesus said in Matthew 18:8-9 with our offending eye, hand, or foot. Since God goes to this extent to teach us the danger of evil, we need to listen to His correction.

Beyond that, we need to see that in our nations, churches, and homes, holiness is absolutely essential for them to flourish. We need to scour out evil. We must not tolerate it in ourselves or turn a blind eye to it in our families or communities. Otherwise, it will spread and bring further ruin and destruction. That being said, as we apply this principle, we are not to engage in some kind of self-flagellation where we leave welts, wounds, and bruises on ourselves! Likewise, we should definitely never do that to our children or fellow church members either! Yes, corporal punishment is advocated for in Scripture in the home, and we should do it as needed. But we should not do it in a way that would bring such harm.

Instead, if the evil gets so bad that a more drastic and intense consequence is needed, then it is almost certain that a crime is being carried out—at least in any nation with reasonably righteous laws. In that case, the state should be justly carrying out that further, more intense punishment which our proverb references. It should then be done through the due process of the justice system. Ideally, that will then take care of the evil and lead to reform in the individual.

This, by the way, is precisely where and why spousal abuse, child abuse, molestation, and sexual abuse—whether in a family or church—would need to be reported to the government. Those are evils which need to be scoured away with a level of correction which will actually lead to repentance and true change and truly protect others from further abuse.

Throughout any discipline that a family, church, or nation carries out, we must remember God’s purpose for it and the way He does it. This is absolutely crucial. According to our proverb, the purpose of discipline is to remove the evil for the good of the society and of the individual. Thus, it should be entirely just and right. It should not be done in haste or anger. Foundationally, it should be done out of love for the individual, the family, the church, and society for what is truly best for them all. This will keep it from becoming evil abuse in and of itself. Doing it in love will keep it functioning in its intended purpose.

On the recipient side of things, when we are the ones experiencing discipline, this proverb also teaches us how to take it and use it. We must take the discipline as a needed opportunity for our learning. We must not ignore it. We should use it as a time to carefully evaluate our lives so that we turn from evil. We should take it as the prodding we need to accurately see the danger, wickedness, and consequences of our sin. We should not become bitter and somehow redirect blame to others for our misery and suffering. Rather, we should humbly and wholeheartedly turn to God and allow Him to scour us clean from whatever has defiled us. Then it will indeed produce its beautiful fruit in our lives.

Discipline and suffering are not pleasant to experience. But they can be the very best things that we will ever experience if they take off our blinders and bring us to God. Discipline and suffering have a way of cutting through everything that we have going on to see reality. As we see the result and consequences of our sin, we realize our true situation before God. We see our wickedness and His holiness. As we see that and our failures, we will hopefully also end up seeing the impossibility of our fixing these things and cleaning up our lives on our own. At first, this is a realization that can lead us to hopelessness and despair. But that is actually a very good thing if it ends up causing us to look up in our hopelessness to God. If we do, then we will see that this is exactly why Jesus came to this earth.

God knew we could not ever fix our situation. He knew that we were dead in our sin. We were under His eternal judgment. Yet, He loved us so much that despite all our wickedness, He came to bring salvation, cleansing, forgiveness, and new life to hopeless sinners. He came to bring redemption and holiness to us by bearing our sin and punishment upon Himself on the cross. He bore it all and died for us. Then He conquered sin and death and rose from the grave. He victoriously came forth to give life, forgiveness, and cleansing to all who turn from their sin in repentance and who trust Him as their Lord and Savior.

If we do this, then our hopelessness, despair, and wickedness can be turned into purity, holiness, and eternal life with God. Thus, our suffering can be used to bring us to an end of trusting in ourselves and into the glorious goodness of reconciliation to God and holiness. Has your suffering and discipline led you to Jesus? Has it taken the blinders off of the way you have been dangerously living your life and onto the truth of your sinful situation and your utter need for Jesus? Trust Him today. Turn to Him to turn your suffering into the greatest goodness you have ever experienced.

For those of us who have experienced this new life in Jesus, we need to keep remembering Him and where we have come from. We need to keep walking in His new life. We also need to continue to let our suffering and God’s discipline purify us in our daily lives until the day that He calls us home to Him and completes that process.

May we humbly listen to His discipline. May we be thankful for His purifying work in our lives and respond rightly to it. May we keep our eyes on Him so that we do not grow weary in well doing. May we not allow sin to overtake us and defile us through bitterness and rejection of His ongoing work in our lives. May we remember that evil behavior must be dealt with and not ignored in our personal lives, homes, workplaces, churches, and communities. May we remember that it is because of His great love that He works in these ways to bring about the supreme good of holiness in our lives. To God, our holiness is worth suffering and discipline. Evil is that bad.

Conclusion

If you have any questions on any of this or want help in coming to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior please come talk with us. We are available. Let’s pray.

© 2026, Kevin A. Dodge, All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org