"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 2
Yesterday:
“If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat;”
“And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:”
Today:
Bible instances of real people who treated their enemies well. These are good examples of treating enemies graciously.
The Word of God gives us examples of men who actually took care of the needs of their enemies.
David when running and hiding from his enemy, King Saul, twice had the opportunity to kill him. But David kindly gave his enemy his most basic of needs, his life.
“And he [David] said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD,” (1 Samuel 24:6).
“And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD’S anointed, and be guiltless?” (1 Samuel 26:9).
When Israel’s soldiers brought captives back from the war to kill, Azariah and Berechiah, along with others, stood up to the soldiers and refused to mistreat their prisoners.
“And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria,” (2 Chronicles 28:15).
God’s prophet Elisha helped the king of Israel treat their Syrian enemies well.
“And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them? And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel,” (2 Kings 6:21-23).
So, it is possible to care for our enemies’ needs, even in wartime.
But why should I care about the needs of my enemy? Why should I help him? Come back tomorrow, and we will talk further about this.