Advice & Correction

Be not wise in your own eyes (Prov. 3:7 and 26:12). The voice of experience says, listen to advice and accept instructions, that you may gain wisdom for the future (19:20). The wisdom of many is seen to be superior to the wisdom of one. Those who trust in their own minds alone are foolish (28:26). Without counsel plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed (15:22), and in an abundance of counselors there is safety (11:14).
Sensible people give weight to the experiences of others: they value other people’s opinions. Opinions that are given or solicited before any action is taken are usually called advice or counsel as in 13:10 and 20:18. Opinions that are given after the fact and disagree with the actions taken may be called rebuke or correction. In English, the meaning of instruction can overlap with the meanings of both advice and correction.
Translation ‘musar’ as either discipline or instruction, as distinct from tokahat (reproof) as in 12:1 or 13:18. However in 16:22 folly is said to be the chastisement of fools. Usually, the sayings seem to have oral forms of correction in mind. But in 13:24 it is clear that the speaker means corporal punishment (as in 22:15; 29:19; and 1 Kg. 12:11). In Egyptian school texts, the word for instruction also means reproof and flogging, and it is quite possible that the Hebrew speakers held this understanding of education in common with their Egyptian counterparts. The Israelites clearly shared this culturally conditioned attitude with their counterparts in the rest of Mesopotamia.
The proverbs observe that the wise are willing to listen to and learn from advice, instruction, correction, and rebuke. Those who ignore (despise) themselves, while those who heed to gain understanding (literally, a heart/mind). Those who are stiff-neck (who stubbornly persist in ignoring correction) will suddenly be broken beyond healing (29:1). In the long run those who give rebukes when they are needed will find more favor than those who flatter (28:23).
The fear of the L-rd itself is equated with instruction in wisdom, and one who heeds discipline is on the path to life (10:17). In the instructions the wisdom teacher says, so not despise the L-rd’s discipline or be weary of His reproof, for the L-rd reproves him whom He loves (3:11-12). Discipline and correction are a part of love (13:24; 19:18) and, in return, the child who is disciplined will give delight to your heart (29:17).
References to the rod of discipline 22:15; 13:24; 29:15) are meant in terms of corporal punishment.
The rod can be seen as a symbol of authority as well as an instrument of punishment. And in the hand of a good shepherd, a rod can be a comforting, rather than a threatening object.