Proverbs 25:21

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 25:21-22. If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread, &c. — By bread and water he intends all things necessary for his subsistence; for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head — If he have the least spark of goodness in him, such conduct in thee toward him will work a change in his mind, and make him throw off all his enmities; thou shalt melt him into repentance, and inflame him with love and kindness to thee for so unexpected and undeserved a favour; or, as Dr. Doddridge paraphrases the words, Romans 12:20-21, (where they are quoted by St. Paul verbatim from the translation of the LXX.,) “Thou wilt touch him so sensibly, that he will no more be able to stand against such conduct than to bear on his head burning coals; but will rather submit to seek thy friendship, and endeavour, by future kindnesses, to overbalance the injury.” Or, if it have not this effect, but he still hardens his heart against thee, he shall have so much the sorer punishment; these coals shall consume him. And the Lord shall reward thee — Thy charity to him shall be fully recompensed to thee, if not by him yet, by God, which will be far better. In other words, as is the plain meaning of the passage, “Be kind to your enemy, for that is the surest way to gain his love and God’s blessing.” That St. Paul understood it in this sense is manifest from the words which he immediately subjoins, after quoting it, Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good, in which he evidently explains what is meant by heaping coals of fire on an enemy’s head, namely, by acts of kindness, to soften his heart and dispose him to friendship; which is the natural effect of a generous unexpected goodness. The phrase seems to be taken from melting metals in a crucible; for when gold or silver is melted in that manner they not only put fire under and round all the sides, but also heap coals of fire upon the head of the crucible, and so melt the metal. In allusion to this, we are to heap acts of kindness and beneficence upon the head of an enemy, and so melt down his obstinacy, bring him to a better temper, and overcome his evil by our good: which is noble, glorious, reasonable, and truly Christian: see Schultens on this place. It is justly observed by Mr. Scott here; that as St. Paul’s quoting this passage is a strong testimony to the divine authority of the book from which it is taken, so it clearly evinces that the rule of duty in this case is the same in both testaments, however ancient scribes and Pharisees, and many modern writers, have overlooked it. “The law of love, perhaps, is not expounded more spiritually, in any single precept, either of Christ or his apostles, than in this exhortation. Seize the moment of distress to show kindness to him that hates thee.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:19. Confidence in an unfaithful man is painful and vexatious; when we put any stress on him, he not only fails, but makes us feel for it. 20. We take a wrong course if we think to relieve those in sorrow by endeavouring to make them merry. 21,22. The precept to love even our enemies is an Old Testament commandment. Our Saviour has shown his own great example in loving us when we were enemies. 23. Slanders would not be so readily spoken, if they were not readily heard. Sin, if it receives any check, becomes cowardly. 24. It is better to be alone, than to be joined to one who is a hinderance to the comfort of life. 25. Heaven is a country afar off; how refreshing is good news from thence, in the everlasting gospel, which signifies glad tidings, and in the witness of the Spirit with our spirits that we are God's children! 26. When the righteous are led into sin, it is as hurtful as if the public fountains were poisoned. 27. We must be, through grace, dead to the pleasures of sense, and also to the praises of men. 28. The man who has no command over his anger, is easily robbed of peace. Let us give up ourselves to the Lord, and pray him to put his Spirit within us, and cause us to walk in his statutes.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A precept reproduced by Paul Romans 12:20; the second clause of which seems at first sight to suggest a motive incompatible with a true charity. Leviticus 16:12 suggests an explanation. The high priest on the Day of Atonement was to take his censer, to fill it with "coals of fire," and then to put the incense thereon for a sweet-smelling savor. So it is here. The first emotion in another caused by the good done to him may be one of burning shame, but the shame will do its work and the heart also will burn, and prayer and confession and thanksgiving will rise as incense to the throne of God. Thus, "we shall overcome evil with good."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21, 22. (Compare Mt 5:44; Ro 12:20). As metals are melted by heaping coals upon them, so is the heart softened by kindness.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

By bread and water he understands all things necessary for his subsistence.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat,.... Which includes all manner of food; whatever persons may have in their houses, that they should bring out and feed the hungry with, even though an enemy;

and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink; which was what was usually and in common drank in those countries. These two, bread and water, take in all the necessaries of life; and giving them is expressive of all acts of beneficence and humanity to be performed to enemies; see 2 Kings 6:22; or "drink to him", so Pagninus and Montanus; which is still more expressive of respect and kindness.

Geneva Study Bible

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 21, 22. - This famous tetrastrich is reproduced (with the exception of the fourth line) from the Septuagint by St. Paul (Romans 12:20). Verse 21. - The traditional hatred of enemies is here strongly repudiated (see Proverbs 24:17, 18, and notes there). Thus Elisha treated the Syrians, introduced blindly into the midst of Samaria, ordering the King of Israel to set bread and water before them, and to send them away unharmed (2 Kings 6:22). "Punish your enemy by benefiting him," say the Arabs, though they are far from practising the injunction; "Sweet words break the bones;" "Bread and salt humble even a robber," say the Russians. Proverbs 25:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

21 If thine enemy hunger, feed him with bread;

     And if he thirst, give him water to drink.

22 For thereby thou heapest burning coals on his head,

     And Jahve will recompense it to thee.

The translation of this proverb by the lxx is without fault; Paul cites therefrom Romans 12:20. The participial construction of 22a, the lxx, rightly estimating it, thus renders: for, doing this, thou shalt heap coals on his head. The expression, "thou shalt heap" (σωρεύσεις), is also appropriate; for חתה certainly means first only to fetch or bring fire (vid., Proverbs 6:27); but here, by virtue of the constructio praegnans with על, to fetch, and hence to heap up - to pile upon. Burning pain, as commonly observed, is the figure of burning shame, on account of undeserved kindness shown by an enemy (Fleischer). But how burning coals heaped on the head can denote burning shame, is not to be perceived, for the latter is a burning on the cheeks; wherefore Hitzig and Rosenmller explain: thou wilt thus bring on him the greatest pain, and appease thy vengeance, while at the same time Jahve will reward thy generosity. Now we say, indeed, that he who rewards evil with good takes the noblest revenge; but if this doing of good proceed from a revengeful aim, and is intended sensibly to humble an adversary, then it loses all its moral worth, and is changed into selfish, malicious wickedness. Must the proverb then be understood in this ignoble sense? The Scriptures elsewhere say that guilt and punishment are laid on the head of any one when he is made to experience and to bear them. Chrysostom and others therefore explain after Psalm 140:10 and similar passages, but thereby the proverb is morally falsified, and Proverbs 25:22 accords with Proverbs 25:21, which counsels not to the avenging of oneself, but to the requital of evil with good. The burning of coals laid on the head must be a painful but wholesome consequence; it is a figure of self-accusing repentance (Augustine, Zckler), for the producing of which the showing of good to an enemy is a noble motive. That God rewards such magnanimity may not be the special motive; but this view might contribute to it, for otherwise such promises of God as Isaiah 58:8-12 were without moral right. The proverb also requires one to show himself gentle and liberal toward a needy enemy, and present a twofold reason for this: first, that thereby his injustice is brought home to his conscience; and, secondly, that thus God is well-pleased in such practical love toward an enemy, and will reward it; - by such conduct, apart from the performance of a law grounded in our moral nature, one advances the happiness of his neighbour and his own.