Proverbs 25 · a question people ask
"you will heap coals of fire on his head" (25:22). What does it mean to heap coals of fire on an enemy's head?
The words are the second half of one saying: "If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink" (25:21), "for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the LORD will reward you" (25:22) (tap enemy, heap, coals). What to do is plain: food and water for an enemy. The verse doesn't explain the coals, and in Hebrew coals of fire is one word, gechalim. Paul (Romans 1:1) gives the saying after "Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath" (Romans 12:19), and before "Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21). Christians read the coals in two main ways, and these notes choose neither. Both readings agree on what 25:21 says to do, that the reward is the LORD's (25:22), and that the one who gives the food doesn't take revenge (Romans 12:19). The reward of 25:22 is shalam, and the notes on Proverbs 20 look at that verb beside "Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.”" (Proverbs 20:22).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
A burning that may turn the enemy
Those who read it this way hear the coals as what the kindness does in the enemy himself: fed and given water by the one he set himself against, he may feel it like fire on his head, be ashamed, and turn. They rest on the verse Paul sets right after the saying, "Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21), and on the saying itself, which answers an enemy's hunger with food and his thirst with water (Proverbs 25:21). On this reading the good done is what overcomes the evil (Romans 12:21).
Romans 12:20-21 · Proverbs 25:21-22
Coals as the LORD's judgment
Those who read it this way hear the coals as judgment, as coals are in other places: "Let burning coals fall on them" (Psalm 140:10), where burning coals is the Hebrew word of 25:22's coals, and "hailstones and coals of fire" (Psalm 18:13) when the LORD thundered. They rest on the verse Paul sets just before the saying, "Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”" (Romans 12:19), and on the saying's own close, "and the LORD will reward you" (Proverbs 25:22). On this reading the one who was wronged does good, and leaves any judgment to the LORD.
Psalm 140:10 · Psalm 18:13 · Romans 12:19-20 · Proverbs 25:22
The verses
“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the LORD will reward you.”
“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,”
“Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.” Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
“Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.” Wait for the LORD, and he will save you.”