Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals:
Tuesday July 15 2025
(More Bible Studies Available @ www.marktabata.com.. To Receive Free Bible Studies And Updates Via Email, Contact Mark Tabata @ 606-216-1757 (Text Message) or markatabata@gmail.com (Email). Follow me on Substack: substack.com/@marktabata. Also please visit my author page: amazon.com/author/marktabata).
Romans 12:18-21-If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore “IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM; IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP COALS OF FIRE ON HIS HEAD.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Sometimes people hurt us, and our first impulse is to hurt them back.
It is certainly true that retaliation is the way of the world. The world often rewards vigilantism with praise and accolades. Those who take personal vengeance against one’s enemies are often looked upon with admiration by a world that has all too often become bereft of compassion.
Yet as followers of Jesus, we are called to a higher standard-one of loving our neighbors, which also includes our enemies. God had begun preparing His people for this truth long before the time of Christ.
Exodus 23:4-5-If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.
In this passage, even if a person is inclined to not help his enemy’s beast, God commands them to do the merciful thing.
Again:
Leviticus 19:17-18-You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
Jesus reminds His followers of these truths while showing them how the religious politicians of His day had twisted Scripture to justify their own traditions:
Matthew 5:43-45-You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
That brings us to this statement by Paul about “coals of fire.”
What does he mean?
When Paul wrote these words, the Christians whom he addressed were undergoing some very difficult persecution from nonbelievers. He encouraged them to remember that vengeance is not ours to take, but for God alone! In the midst of it, he quotes this passage from the Old Testament.
Proverbs 25:21-22-If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; 22 For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the LORD will reward you.
Some people believe that this text is telling us to do good to our enemies, in order that on the Day of Judgment God will punish them even more harshly for how badly they treated us when we were still doing good to them. Yet that goes against the entire flow of the passage, which argues for showing mercy to our enemies the way that God shows us mercy.
The ancient Jewish Targums (scholarly commentaries of the Jewish scribes expounding especially on the original languages of the Scriptures) clarify the true meaning of the text for us. In his commentary on Romans, Dunn enlightens us:
“But a more positive sense is probable. (1) Such a negative tone (do good to your enemy so that his punishment will be all the more severe) fits ill with the context: the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount breathes through these verses (cf. Dodd, Schmidt) with a consistent call to open-handed goodness and generous response unmotivated by malice—vv 14, 17, 19, 21. In particular the ἀλλά sets v 20 in some contrast to the idea of leaving the enemy to God’s judgment; to read the contrast as “Leave your enemy to God, but try to increase his guilt by your acts of kindness” strikes a jarring note. And it hardly fits comfortably either with the positive thrust of v 20a–b (cf. 2 Kgs 6: 22) or with the final call to “overcome evil by good” (Furnish, Love Command, 108). As already noted, therefore, the ἀλλά is best taken as calling for a positive response to hostility (by meeting it with acts of kindness) and not simply as a passive response (leave it to God). (2) The suggestion of Morenz that the original imagery of Prov 25: 22 can gain illumination from an Egyptian repentance ritual, in which carrying coals of fire (in a dish) on the head was evidence of the genuineness of repentance, has gained a good deal of support in recent years (see particularly Käsemann, Michel, Cranfield). It is of course not necessary to suppose that Paul knew of such a ceremony. Since so much of Proverbs is derived from or shared with Egyptian wisdom (see, e.g., W. McKane, Proverbs [London: SCM, 1970] 51–150) it may be sufficient that the original awareness that something positive was meant by the metaphor was transmitted with the metaphor itself (otherwise, Stendahl, “Hate,” 352). (3) Here too the Targum of Prov 25: 21–22 is probably important since it adds: “. . . on his head and God will hand him over to you” or “will make him your friend” (Str-B, 3: 302), that is, “you will win him” in a missionary sense (TDNT 7: 1095 n. 5). This seems to confirm that this particular metaphor (“ put coals of fire on someone’s head”) was recognized as a positive and beneficial act.” (D.G. Dunn, Romans 9-16, Volume 38B (Word Biblical Commentary), 750-751 (Kindle Edition); Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan)
Thus, the idea seems to be drawn from the ancient Egyptian practice where a person repented towards another and expressed it by putting a plate of hot coals on his head and showing remorse towards the one he had offended. By doing good to our enemies, the hope is that it will lead them to heap up coals of fire on their own head, i.e, it will bring them to repentance towards us.
To quote Abraham Lincoln, the best way to kill an enemy is to make him your friend.
So if you have an enemy in your life, love him. Bless him when he curses you. Do good to him when he hates you. Pray for him when he spitefully uses you and persecutes you.
If you can’t find the strength to do this, take it to Jesus.
He will help you!
Hebrews 4:15-16-For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
After all, we were never meant to face the challenges of this life alone.
Lord, help us to follow Your teachings-especially the hard ones like loving our enemies. Thank You for loving us when we were Your enemies, and help us to show that same mercy and grace to others. Amen.
Leave a Reply