A Proper Interpretation

“If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.” (Proverbs 25:21-22)

Let’s start with what the proverb is not saying: if you do something nice for your enemy, he will become enraged, inflamed if you will, and thus it will serve as a God-approved retaliation.

Do we seriously think God would reward us for that?

Of course not.

Isn’t our ‘Christian kindness’ designed to draw people towards Christ?

Of course it is.

The ‘head’ being spoken of in the Proverb is a term which refers to the barely glowing, seemingly dormant embers of a fire, as in a furnace or an old locomotive, that are intended to go low, but never go out, the rationale being that a blaze can be easily stoked by just adding fuel, without having to start a fire from scratch. 

 

The ‘enemy’ in the proverb is a broad term. It simply could mean those who have done you wrong, but it could also typify the unsaved or back slidden person whose head has gone cold. The niceties of the Christian who blesses this person are likened to hot coals that will serve to restore the flame that has expired or perhaps was never there to begin with. 

This is the type of behavior the Lord rewards.