If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink
Proverbs 25 collects short sayings for daily life, but this one asks what no law demands: feed your enemy when he is hungry. Paul quotes it again in Romans 12, and its reason — coals of fire on his head — has drawn close attention ever since.
Nature, and even law, treats hostility as it deserves. This saying breaks the pattern, and one writer points to a time when Israel obeyed it on a national scale.
This first saying must have startled an ordinary Israelite. It rises above nature and law, which deal with evil feelings and evil ways as they deserve. Here it is "the kindness of God," and His call to act on a goodness seen in Him, which can only flow from Him. We see it done literally, and on a large scale, when God's power drew a Syrian army, sent to arrest Elisha, blinded into the capital city of Israel. The king asked the prophet, Shall I strike them? Shall I strike them? But God's spokesman said, No; "set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master." No wonder the Syrian raiders came into the land of Israel no more... It was God in Christ, it is God in the Christian.
The proverb does not stop at holding a man's hand back from revenge. It puts bread and water in that hand.
Instead of taking revenge himself, he bends before the storm and looks to God. He seeks to do real good to his enemy in his need and distress... He not only holds back from vengeance, he shows love. He returns good for evil, kindness for injury, blessing for cursing. The words feed him and give him drink stand for every duty of kindness.
The next verse gives the reason: coals of fire on his head. Writers take the picture from metalworking, where fire softens hard metal.
To heap coals of fire on an enemy's head is to care for him, feed him well, and treat him kindly. This is the most effective way to subdue him, to melt him down. Who ever conquered an enemy's heart by revenge? How many have been conquered by love? ... "Surround the stubborn metal below and above. Do not only put it over the fire; heap coals of fire on top of it. Few hearts are so hard as not to melt under the energy of patient, self-denying, burning love."
Commentators differ on the result. Others read the fire as a test with two possible outcomes:
Heaping coals of fire on an enemy's head by kindness becomes a test to him, as fire tests metal. The kindness shown him will either bring him to sorrow for his wrong and to friendship, or harden him even more.
Paul does not quote the whole proverb. One writer notes what he leaves out.
Verse 20 in Romans 12 quotes Proverbs 25, but leaves out the words, "the Lord shall reward you." This is interesting. It shows one of the early hints of grace scattered here and there in the Old Testament... We are to leave an enemy in the Lord's hands. Our own hearts, instead of calling down judgment, are to go out in tender compassion towards him... We show him every kindness we can. In this we represent the heart of God towards us when we were still enemies. So, with God's blessing, we will make him feel the effect of coals of fire on his head. The coals still mean judgment — but self-judgment produced in his heart, not judgment poured on him.
The command is not a theory. Christ Himself fed a hungry crowd, knowing what many of them were.
Did the Lord Jesus Himself not do this very thing when He multiplied the loaves and fishes? He provided for all the tired and hungry crowd, many of whom proved to be His enemies, and He knew it... whether in material things or spiritual, we who have the bread that men need should always be ready to give it freely.
So the excuse that it cannot be done falls away:
Do not hold the common thought that all these commands cannot be kept — that they are only an ideal, something to admire but never actually practise. This is unbelief.
- Startling. The saying rises above nature and law, which repay evil as it deserves. It calls for the kindness of God, which can only come from Him.
- Active. The believer does more than refuse revenge. Bread and water stand for every kindness he can put in his enemy's hand.
- Melting. Coals of fire picture kindness heaped on hard metal. It may melt an enemy; writers say it may also test him and harden him further.
- Grace. Paul drops "the Lord shall reward you" when he quotes it. The enemy stays in God's hands, and compassion stays in ours — the very way God met us when we were enemies.
- Possible. Christ fed hungry enemies with His own hands. Calling the command impossible is unbelief, and Proverbs still promises the Lord's reward.
for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and Jehovah shall reward thee.
This verse gives the reason for the strange command just before it: feed your hungry enemy, and give your thirsty enemy a drink. So are the coals a hidden curse on that enemy, or a mercy aimed at his heart?
Commentators take the image from metalwork. Kindness is the fire that softens what force can never bend.
To heap coals of fire on an enemy's head is to care for him, feast him, and treat him kindly, as the most effective means of subduing him, of melting him down. Who ever conquered an enemy's heart by revenge? How many have been conquered by love? What was it that dissolved the hardness of our unyielding hearts? A Saviour's love. "Try it," says Charles Bridges. "Surround the stubborn metal below and above. Do not only put it over the fire; heap coals of fire on it. Few hearts are so hard as not to melt under the energy of patient, self-denying, burning love."
But the outcome is not guaranteed. Fire tests metal as well as melting it:
Heaping coals of fire on an enemy's head by kindness (Prov. 25:21-22; Rom. 12:20) becomes a test to him, as fire tests metal. The kindness shown him will either bring about contrition and friendship, or harden him yet more.
This rule does not belong to the world of deserved returns. It comes from God's own character, and a prophet once acted it out on a national scale.
This saying would normally have startled an Israelite. It rises above nature and above law, which deals with evil feelings and evil ways as they deserve. Here it is "the kindness of God," and His call to act on a goodness which is seen in Him and can only flow from Him. We see it acted out in real life, and on a large scale. God's power drew a Syrian army, sent to arrest the prophet Elisha, blindfolded into the capital city of Israel. The king asked the prophet, Shall I strike them? Shall I strike them? But God's spokesman said, No: "set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master." No wonder that the raiding bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel… It was God in Christ, it is God in the Christian.
Elsewhere in Scripture, burning coals fall on enemies as judgment. When Paul takes up this proverb, he leaves out the closing clause about reward:
Note first that Romans 12:20 quotes Proverbs 25, but leaves out the words, "the Lord shall reward you." That is interesting. It shows one of the early hints of grace scattered here and there in the Old Testament. When the Psalmist cries, "Let burning coals fall upon them," the context makes clear that he wants judgment on his enemies… But under the reign of grace all is changed… We show him every possible kindness. In this we represent the heart of God towards us when we were still enemies (see Romans 5:8). And so, with the blessing of God, we make him feel the effect of coals of fire on his head. The coals keep the meaning of judgment — but self-judgment produced in his heart, not judgment falling on his head.
A believer can afford to feed an enemy because judgment belongs to the Lord, and its hour has not yet come.
The Lord does not take that place now. He is saving sinners, and displaying full grace in other ways… Suppose someone sets himself against a believer with evil intent. It would be foreign to Christianity, and against all that Christianity breathes, for that believer to wish him dead or hurt. Christianity shows that the victory grace gives us is to show love and kindness to one's enemy. It may be heaping coals of fire on his head; but such is the Lord's way — overcoming evil with good.
The promise at the end of the verse does not depend on the enemy's response.
Such treatment should burn into the conscience of an enemy, like coals of fire on his head, whether he is converted by it or not. But the Lord will reward that reality of faith.
And the standard is not an admirable ideal hung out of reach:
We close our reflections by begging all our readers not to hold the common thought that these precepts cannot be practised. They are not mere ideals, to be admired but never carried out. This is unbelief… Let us rather use the words of the apostle: "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
- Fire melts. The coals are kindness, not cruelty. They are the heat that softens hard metal, as a Saviour's love once softened us.
- Fire tests. The same warmth either brings the enemy to contrition and friendship, or hardens him further. The result is not in your hands.
- Fire is God's. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, and He is not judging now. So the believer's only weapon is good done to the one who wronged him.
- Fire startles. Bread and water for a captured army ended Syria's raids. What shocked Israel is now the Christian's plain rule.
- Fire rewards. Whether the enemy is won or not, the Lord rewards the faith that fed him. And this rule is for doing, not for admiring.