"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
Part 1
How should I treat my enemy? After all, he wishes to harm me at best and to destroy me at the worst. Since he is bent on my maltreatment, how should I, in turn, treat him? Understanding that my enemy is a soul for whom Christ died, what should be my strategy to reach him, given the opportunity to do so? God wants His believing child to share His love with all sinners. Could it be that my Lord wants me to be the source of blessing to my enemy’s thirsty soul?
“If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat;”
“And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:”
Solomon, the wise man, includes no categories of opponents here. He just says, “your enemy.” The Hebrew word translated here as “enemy” means “to hate, be hateful… hater, one hating, enemy… to be hated…”1 (BDB). Can we agree that an enemy is probably not up for the “man of the year” award? For whatever reason, your enemy hates you.
The way our flesh wants us to deal with our enemy is to hate him back by doing hateful things to him. But Solomon, by the pen of inspiration, says that is not to be our plan for our enemy. As we have an opportunity, we are to help our enemy by meeting his basic needs for food and water. This sounds like an impossibility—to treat an enemy with kindness! Our “old man” wants to punch his lights out. Is it really possible to be kind to your enemies? Surely not!
Come back tomorrow for real-world examples from the Bible, of men who treated their enemies well. It can be done, if we will rely on the Lord for strength and self-control. Be thinking of ways you might help an enemy.
1. Brown, Driver, Briggs. Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions, the electronic version in eSword.