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Why put coal on your enemies?

ZoxsasiZoxsasi
edited December 1969 in Coptic Orthodox Church
The Bible says that by forgiving and being nice to your enemies, you are in fact putting burning coal on their heads.

Unfortunately, I do not necessarily see that happening with me personally, but then, I've never really forgiven to see anyone get coal on their heads for being a moron.

But how on earth does forgiving your enemies result in burning coal being put on their heads. And if they do get burning coal on their heads because you've forgiven them, then perhaps its wise not to forgive them? or to just pretend that you're still upset from them so that they don't suffer?

Here are a few Biblical quotes that I'm adding, but this concept is riddled everywhere in the Bible.

Thanks

In Proverbs 25:22

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
      if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
      and the LORD will reward you.

In Romans 12:12

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"[d]says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
  "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
      if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."[e] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Comments

  • [Deleted User]
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  • peterfarringtonpeterfarrington
    If you look on books.google.com you will see that there is a great deal of discussion by commentators as to what this reference means. There is a great degree of variation in explanations. There are even whole books written about the idea.

    The best source would probably be a Jewish scholar who had some insight into ancient Jewish customs.

    Many of the more modern commentators essentially seem to just make up an explanation, which is why I will not add one here since I am not sure what it does mean. It needs some study.

    Father Peter
  • DanieMDanieM
    From my personal view (as Fr. Peter has already ststed, the best you will hear on here will be people's personal views) it si to give the enemy or wrongdoer a means of purification. As in the Old Testament to take hot coal seems to bring that.

    Leviticus 16:11-13
    Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord,  and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the Testimony, so that he will not die.

    Also Isaiah 6:6
    "Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which  he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

    It seems that when someone does wrong, the sin is purged through hot coals. SO to give the enemy hot coals is to give them a means to purify themselves, as the Seraphim did Isaiah.
  • new123
    Zoxsasi,

    Here is a quote from John Gill's Exposition of The Bible via http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/ Although I think he was a Protestant, so I think his commentary is from a Protestant perspective. Also, I'm not sure how accurate his commentary is in general, or even here specifically, but his commenatry seems to often be helpful for me. John Gill's Exposition of The Bible is found here http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/ (If you go to this webpage, I think you need to click on the New Testament link [next to the Old Testament link] to see his commentary on the New Testament) and his commentary on Romans 12:20 is here http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/romans-12-20.html

    for in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head;
    not to do him hurt, not to aggravate his condemnation, as if this would be a means of bringing down the wrath of God the more fiercely on him, which is a sense given by some; as if this would be an inducement to the saints to do such acts of kindness; which is just the reverse of the spirit and temper of mind the apostle is here cultivating; but rather the sense is, that by so doing, his conscience would be stung with a sense of former injuries done to his benefactor, and he be filled with shame on account of them, and be brought to repentance for them, and to love the person he before hated, and be careful of doing him any wrong for the future; all which may be considered as a prevailing motive to God's people to act the generous part they are here moved to: in the passage referred to, ( Proverbs 25:21 Proverbs 25:22 ) , "bread" and "water" are mentioned as to be given, which include all the necessaries of life: and it is added for encouragement, "and the Lord shall reward thee". The sense given of this passage by some of the Jewish commentators on it agrees with what has been observed in some measure; says one F16 of them,

        ``when he remembers the food and drink thou hast given him, thou shall burn him, as if thou puttest coals upon his head to burn him, (er Kl twvem rwmvyw) , and "he will take care of doing thee any ill";''

    that is, for the time to come: and another of them observes F17 that

        ``this matter will be hard unto him, as if thou heapest coals on his head to burn him, (wtvb bwrm) , "because of the greatness of his shame", on account of the good that he shall receive from thee, for the evil which he hath rendered to thee.''

    ...
    FOOTNOTES:

    ...
    F16 R. Aben Ezra in loc.
    F17 R. Levi ben Gersom in loc. Vid. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 147. 2.
    ...

    Hope this helps.

  • anba bolaanba bola
    Here is an answer from Father Tadros Malaty's book on the Epistle to the Romans:

    It means coals of the fire of the Spirit of God that
    purify the enemy: through repentance, he comes to comprehend the love you give in return for
    his hostility.
    + This means that you purge your enemy from sin due to your patience which overcomes his
    counsel.
    + In other words, you heal him of his vices by burning his hatred, and so win him over through
    repentance.
    + The Law teaches us to love our enemy. If the beast of the enemy falls, we are obligated to lift
    him up (Ex 42:4). The Apostle encourages as he says: ‘Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed
    him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
    He does not intend us to behave in this manner in order to curse or belittle the adversary as most
    would like to believe. Rather, he intends to educate and attract him to repent as he is conquered
    by our gentleness. He would surrender to the warmth of love and no longer continues to be an
    adversary.


    This explanation makes a lot of sense too because Father Tadros Malaty says purge, and in Isaiah 6:6-7 it says

    Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said:


          “ Behold, this has touched your lips;
          Your iniquity is taken away,
          And your sin purged.”

  • socoolbishoysocoolbishoy
    forgive me for my personal opinion... but this is how I look at it!

    what is the coal?! as in the Midnight praise, and in the symbols of the church, the coal is Jesus!

    Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which  he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “ Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.”[/i

    who else has the power through Him to cleans sin?

    [i] "If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;  And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For so you will heap coals of fire on his head,  And the LORD will reward you."

    by you doing Good, Jesus will fill this person's thought, it will burn his thinking, He will find God!


    again this is a person thought, or how I usually understood!


    Akhadna el baraka... neshkor Allah
  • Theophilus 1Theophilus 1
    Maybe what is meant by coal is the feeling that you arose in your enemy by forgiving him. Have you ever had an argument where the other person doesn’t reply to you aggressively even when you are insulting him. Later on, when you are by yourself you feel like an idiot - you feel guilty. I think the guilt you feel is what the coal is. Imagine how much more coal (guilt) you feel on your head if you go back to the person and ask him for forgiveness and he forgives you candidly.

    In Christ  :)
    Theophilus
  • ilovesaintmarkilovesaintmark
    There is a time for kindness and a time for defense.  It is relative to the situation.  You have to call on God for His Inspiration.
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