If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink; for you will heap coals of fire on their heads, and the Lord will reward you. (Proverbs 25:21-22)
This passage is reminiscent of Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 25 concerning the Great Judgment: The sheep, who gave food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, are blessed by the Father and inherit the kingdom. There are two striking differences, however. The first is that in Matthew, we are charged to give food and water to “the least of these who are members of my family”, whereas in Proverbs, the food and water is for our enemies. This completely changes the tone of the charge, from a general charge to use our bounty to help the needy, to a targeted charge to love our enemies. Most of us are more comfortable with the former. We give to support hands-on helping ministries, we volunteer at soup kitchens, etc. On the other hand, when was the last time we helped out our enemies? If we wanted to start such a ministry, what would it look like? We are at a loss. Yet this is the charge in Proverbs. And it’s not an isolated passage. It is repeated in Paul’s letter to the Romans (12:20). It is echoed in Jesus’ command to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).
The second striking difference is that in Proverbs, there is an emphasis on the impact that our kindness will have on our enemies. “You will heap coals of fire on their heads.” Coals of fire is what the Lord rains on the wicked in Psalms 11:6. It is a punishment for their wickedness. But this is somewhat perplexing. For if we love our enemies, why would we desire to have them punished?
Perhaps God gives us the message we need to hear at the time. Early on, the message was “an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21:23-24). This was to curb the practice of avenging an
injustice with an even greater injustice. Later, the message was to stop exacting revenge, and instead
leave the avenging to the Lord. This is the essence of Psalms 11 and this Proverbs passage. Then Christ
came, preaching love of enemies and that none are beyond God’s redemptive grace. When Paul quotes
this Proverb in Romans, he places it in the context of overcoming evil with good. Our kindness hits our
enemies like coals of fire, and they are overcome. The seeds of repentance and reconciliation have been
planted. Thanks be to God.