Posted on 03/25/2020 5:53:38 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“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).
Verse 21 and 22 go together. Now, this once and forever defines and tells you exactly what Romans 12:20 is stating.
There is a controversy over what Paul meant in Romans chapter 12, and after reading this passage, there's no doubt in anybody's mind. Paul says in Romans 12:20-21, ““Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Verse 20 is basically the same thing as is given here in 25:21-22, “for thou shot heap coals of fire upon his head and the Lord shall reward thee.” He will reward your enemy with what he deserves, and you, for not taking vengeance, because Paul says in Romans 12, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves.”
Give that enemy what he needs. Give him a coat in cold time, weep with him if he is weeping. When tragedy happens to our enemy, our natural response is to laugh. He said, that’s just the wrong thing to do at that time, and he said if you'll do the right thing, if you weep with that man, instead of singing songs of mirth, and rejoicing at it; he said that God will reward you and He'll take care of that other fella too. That settles it once for all what Paul was talking about in Romans chapter 12, because the context here, they got some crazy kind of interpretation, I can't even tell you what it is, they want to say that it's not really bringing vengeance on your enemy when you heap coals of fire upon his head; it is supposedly that you are really just helping him out. Well, you are helping him out in the sense that you are accommodating him and doing right by him. But by doing right by him when he does wrong by you—God will knock the tar out of him.
That’s just common sense, that's just what the passage says and they're trying to twist it around to say that wasn't what Paul was talking about. Well, Paul was talking about not bringing vengeance on our enemies and letting God do it and bringing more vengeance on them by you doing right!
“Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again” (Psalms 140:10). This was an imprecatory prayer of David against his enemies—God! Just kill them! Old Testament saints prayed a lot like that.
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It gets down to forgiveness.
Doing good to someone who has harmed you for the purpose of heaping God’s vengeance on him, is not what this passage means. That still amounts to retaliation, only using God for it.
What is needed is a genuine forgiveness of the offense, and that is often hard. And then showing him the love of Christ anyways, just because it’s the right thing to do.
There are several small books out on forgiveness that are excellent. I’ve read both of these.
Forgiveness - God’s Master Key: Pray the Most Powerful Prayer on Earth! by Peter Horrobin
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12149500-forgiveness-—god-s-master-key
Forgiveness by Rodney Hogue
https://www.amazon.com/Forgiveness-Rodney-Hogue-ebook/dp/B006BG7YO2
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