And yes, there are times in the OT when burning coals are used as a metaphor for judgment. Some see these burning coals as the judgment of God. If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,Īnd if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,Ģ2 for you will heap burning coals on his head, This kind of kindness will be like burning coals on their head. To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him if he is thirsty, give him something to drink for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”ĭon’t seek vengeance, seek to help your enemy. Want to learn more? Get started with Bible study here. Appreciate these answers? Help us continue by donating here.Romans 12:20. And it's clear from one glance around the world that, even apart from religious teaching, responding to hate with more hate makes things worse, not better. We are to do the good and loving thing, whether it changes anything about the relationship or not. From "love your neighbor as yourself" in Leviticus 19:18 to "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" in Matthew 5:44 and many other passages, it's clear throughout the Bible that whether enemies who receive our kindness have a change of heart or not, it's our own behavior, not theirs that should be our focus. With all those differing interpretations, we are left to think about the text in its context, both in Proverbs and in Romans as well as the other general teachings of Jewish and Christian faith. John Calvin's words about this idiom in his commentary on Romans sums it up in practical terms: "Either our enemy will be softened by kindness, or, if he is so ferocious that nothing may assuage him, he will be stung and tormented by the testimony of his conscience, which will feel itself overwhelmed by our kindness." In the Egyptian literature and in Proverbs the 'coals of fire' is a dynamic symbol of change of mind which takes place as a result of a deed of love." (p. I was not able to find the whole work online, but I did find someone who recorded his conclusion: "he interpretation so widely accepted by interpreters that the coals of fire refer to shame, remorse, or punishment lacks all support in the text. The work cited most frequently in discussing this is an essay by William Klassen called "Coals of Fire: Signs of Repentance of Revenge" in the ninth volume of New Testament Studies, pp. Your loving action has changed my mind about you. (I deserve the treatment of an enemy, but you have given me the treatment of a friend. (My wickedness is burned away by your kindness and I will no longer be an enemy to you.)ĥ. (Someone carrying burning coals on their heads can't haul off and punch you without endangering themselves.)Ĥ. It's a clever means of protecting yourself. And now I hate you more for making me feel bad.)ģ. (Well, now I feel like scum for being an enemy when you've been kind to me. (Hey, thanks for the coals to keep the fire in my hearth going.)Ģ. On the head is where many cultures, even today, carry things in containers suitable for the substance.Ĭommentators from the early church Fathers, to the Protestant reformers, right through today's scholars differ in their interpretations of the idiom and those interpretations break down into a number of categories:ġ. There is also no consensus on what the idiom actually means, although it's helpful to remember that it is not talking about literally harming someone by placing burning coals directly on their heads. The issue comes up because we're not certain what that idiom means exactly, other than that both Paul and the writer of Proverbs believed that if you were kind to an enemy, they would respond in a way that both writers found was helpful in de-escalating a conflict with an enemy.īut what ancient practice does that draw from? What is that response, exactly? We don't really know the answer to the first question, although someone studying ancient cultures may one day tell us. As others have noted, Paul is quoting here from Proverbs 25:21-22 and the phrase is an idiom.
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