The Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 26:3

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass. We should be inclined to invert the words, and say a bridle for the horse, and a whip for the ass; but it must be remembered that in early times the horse was not ridden, but only driven.

The animals used in riding were the ass and mule, and sometimes the camel. The Eastern ass is really a fine animal, larger, more spirited, and more active than the poor creature which we are wont to see.

Or the whip and bridle may be intended to apply to both animals, though divided between the two for rhythmical or antithetical reasons (see on Proverbs 10:1). A rod for the fool's back. Sharp correction is beth useful and necessary for the fool (so Proverbs 10:13; Proverbs 19:29).

Similar treatment Siracides advises to be employed in the ease of an idle servant (Ec Proverbs 30:24-28). Septuagint, "As a whip for a horse and a goad for an ass, so is a rod for a lawless nation."

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