I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
Ver. 14. I will be his father.] Solomon's, by adoption and regeneration. See 2 Corinthians 6:18. Christ's, by eternal generation and personal union. Heb 1:5 Psa 2:7
If he commit iniquity.] As Solomon did, but Christ could not. One Augustinus de Roma was censured in the Council of Basil for affirming that Christ was the greatest of sinners. It may be he meant that Christ was so by imputation, as Isaiah 53:6 2 Corinthians 5:20. Otherwise it was blasphemy in the highest degree.
I will chasten him with the rod of men,] i.e., Gently and favourably, as parents do their children; thereby to break their stomachs, but not their bones. I will not lay the weight of my mighty hand upon him, to crush him to pieces, or grind him to powder; I will not scourge him with scorpions, but chasten him with the rods of men, of old, or weak, sickly men - as the Hebrew word signifieth a - who cannot strike hard, or do any great hurt with their ictus imbelles, and vanae sine viribus irae.
a Virga senum vel hominum debilium.