SEV Biblia, Chapter 12:20
Así que, si tu enemigo tuviere hambre, dale de comer; si tuviere sed, dale de beber: que haciendo esto, ascuas de fuego amontonas sobre su cabeza.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Romans 12:20
Verse 20. If thine enemy hunger, feed him] Do not withhold from any man the offices of mercy and kindness; you have been God's enemy, and yet God fed, clothed, and preserved you alive: do to your enemy as God has done to you. If your enemy be hungry, feed him; if he be thirsty, give him drink: so has God dealt with you. And has not a sense of his goodness and long-suffering towards you been a means of melting down your heart into penitential compunction, gratitude, and love towards him? How know you that a similar conduct towards your enemy may not have the same gracious influence on him towards you? Your kindness may be the means of begetting in him a sense of his guilt; and, from being your fell enemy, he may become your real friend! This I believe to be the sense of this passage, which many have encumbered with difficulties of their own creating. The whole is a quotation from Prov. xxv. 21, 22, in the precise words of the Septuagint; and it is very likely that the latter clause of this verse, Thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, is a metaphor taken from smelting metals. The ore is put into the furnace, and fire put both under and over, that the metal may be liquefied, and, leaving the scoriae and dross, may fall down pure to the bottom of the furnace. This is beautifully expressed by one of our own poets, in reference to this explanation of this passage:- "So artists melt the sullen ore of lead, By heaping coals of fire upon its head. In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow, And pure from dross the silver runs below." It is most evident, from the whole connection of the place and the apostle's use of it, that the heaping of the coals of fire upon the head of the enemy is intended to produce not an evil, but the most beneficial effect; and the following verse is an additional proof of this.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 20. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him , etc..] These words are taken from ( Proverbs 25:21,22), and to be understood, as a Jewish f230 writer observes, w[mmk , according to their literal sense; though some of the Rabbins explain them in an allegorical way, of the corruption of nature. The Alexandrian copy and some others, and the Vulgate Latin version, reads but if; so far should the saints be from meditating revenge upon their enemies, that they should do good unto them, as Christ directs, ( Matthew 5:44), by feeding them when hungry, and giving drink unto them when thirsty: if he thirst give him drink ; which includes all offices of humanity and beneficence to be performed unto them: the reason, or argument inducing hereunto is, 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 25:21,22), 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 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, [r l tw[m rwmyw , and he will take care of doing thee any ill; that is, for the time to come: and another of them observes that this matter will be hard unto him, as if thou heapest coals on his head to burn him, wtb 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.
This advice of showing kindness to enemies, and against private revenge, is very contrary to the dictates of human nature, as corrupted by sin. The former of these Julian the emperor represents as a paradox, though he owns it to be lawful, and a good action, to give clothes and food to enemies in war; and the latter, to revenge an injury, he says f234 , is a law common to all men, Greeks and Barbarians; but the Gospel and the grace of God teach us another lesson.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 17-21 - Since men became enemies to God, they have been very ready to be enemies one to another. And those that embrace religion, must expect to meet with enemies in a world whose smiles seldom agree with Christ's Recompense to no man evil for evil. That is a brutish recompence befitting only animals, which are not conscious of any being abov them, or of any existence hereafter. And not only do, but study an take care to do, that which is amiable and creditable, and recommend religion to all with whom you converse. Study the things that make for peace; if it be possible, without offending God and woundin conscience. Avenge not yourselves. This is a hard lesson to corrup nature, therefore a remedy against it is added. Give place unto wrath When a man's passion is up, and the stream is strong, let it pass off lest it be made to rage the more against us. The line of our duty i clearly marked out, and if our enemies are not melted by perseverin kindness, we are not to seek vengeance; they will be consumed by the fiery wrath of that God to whom vengeance belongeth. The last vers suggests what is not easily understood by the world; that in all strif and contention, those that revenge are conquered, and those tha forgive are conquerors. Be not overcome of evil. Learn to defeat il designs against you, either to change them, or to preserve your ow peace. He that has this rule over his spirit, is better than the mighty. God's children may be asked whether it is not more sweet unt them than all earthly good, that God so enables them by his Spirit thus to feel and act __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
εαν 1437 COND ουν 3767 CONJ πεινα 3983 5725 V-PAS-3S ο 3588 T-NSM εχθρος 2190 A-NSM σου 4675 P-2GS ψωμιζε 5595 5720 V-PAM-2S αυτον 846 P-ASM εαν 1437 COND διψα 1372 5725 V-PAS-3S ποτιζε 4222 5720 V-PAM-2S αυτον 846 P-ASM τουτο 5124 D-ASN γαρ 1063 CONJ ποιων 4160 5723 V-PAP-NSM ανθρακας 440 N-APM πυρος 4442 N-GSN σωρευσεις 4987 5692 V-FAI-2S επι 1909 PREP την 3588 T-ASF κεφαλην 2776 N-ASF αυτου 846 P-GSM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
20. Feed (ywmize). See on sop, John xiii. 26. The citation from Proverbs xxv. 21, 22, closely follows both Hebrew and Septuagint.Shalt heap (swreuseiv). Only here and 2 Tim. iii. 6.
Coals of fire. Many explain: The memory of the wrong awakened in your enemy by your kindness, shall sting him with penitence. This, however, might be open to the objection that the enemy's pain might gratify the instinct of revenge. Perhaps it is better to take it, that kindness is as effectual as coals of fire. Among the Arabs and Hebrews the figure of "coals of fire" is common as a symbol of divine punishment (Psalm xviii. 13). "The Arabians call things which cause very acute mental pain, burning coals of the heart and fire in the liver" (Thayer, "Lexicon"). Thomas De Quincey, referring to an author who calls this "a fiendish idea," says: "I acknowledge that to myself, in one part of my boyhood, it did seem a refinement of malice. My subtilizing habits, however, even in those days, soon suggested to me that this aggravation of guilt in the object of our forgiveness was not held out as the motive to the forgiveness, but as the result of it; secondly, that perhaps no aggravation of his guilt was the point contemplated, but the salutary stinging into life of his remorse hitherto sleeping" ("Essays on the Poets").
Robertson's NT Word Studies
12:20 {Feed him} (ps"mize auton). Quotation from LXX text of #Pr 25:21f. Present active imperative of verb from ywmos, a morsel, and so to feed crumbs to babies, qen to feed in general. In N.T. only here and #1Co 13:3. {Thou shalt heap} (swreuseis). Future active of old verb swreuw from swros, a heap. In N.T. only here and #2Ti 3:6. {Coals of fire} (anthrakas puros). That is, burning or live coals. {Anthrax} (our "anthracite") is an old word, only here in N.T. It is a metaphor for keen anguish. The Arabs have a proverb "coals in the heart,"fire in the liver." Such kindness may lead to repentance also.
