For all those who wish to learn how to live out their faith in a concrete way, there is no book of the Bible more important than the Proverbs of Solomon. A true synthesis of Judeo-Christian moral and religious ethics, here we find everything that can help us follow the path to holiness: warnings about the gravity of sin, concrete ways to fight it, descriptions of human types and temperaments, their corresponding vices and virtues, etc. Among the thousands of verses, there are a few that, in my opinion, capture the essence of Christian morality:
“If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat: if he thirst, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head, and the Lord will reward thee” (Proverbs 25: 21-22).
Very clearly and concretely, we are called here to do good to those who do us evil. In complete harmony and continuity with the Wisdom of the Old Testament, this teaching is resumed and developed in the New Testament by the One who is Himself Wisdom, our Lord Jesus Christ:
“Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. Bless them that curse you, and pray for them that calumniate you. And to him that striketh thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh away from thee thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every one that asketh thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner” (Luke 6: 27-31).
From these verses, some of the most famous Christian demands are highlighted, such as the one urging someone who has been struck to turn the other cheek. Probably no other specific Christian recommendation is more often quoted (even by secular minded people) and referenced than this one. At the same time, reading these lines, many have asked how it is even natural for someone to follow such commands, which seem to so directly and flagrantly contradict the principle: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” However, in the same chapter, the Savior offers us a complete explanation:
“If you love them that love you, what thanks are to you? For sinners also love those that love them. And if you do good to them who do good to you, what thanks are to you? For sinners also do this. And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thanks are to you? For sinners also lend to sinners, for to receive as much. But love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest; for he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6: 32-36).
Reading these words, we begin to grasp the depth behind moral imperatives that, at first glance, seem not only extremely difficult to fulfill, but even unnatural. What the revealed texts ask of us is, above all, to be like God, who “is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.” Indeed, as we remember from the healing of the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19), only one (a Samaritan) returned to thank Jesus. Of course, He knew beforehand that only one would be thankful. Yet He healed them all. This is God’s generosity. This is His mercy — even towards those who are evil and unthankful. By imitating Him, He calls us to be like Him, doing good to those who do us harm.
The Proverbs of Solomon also tell us that if we do good to someone who has wronged us, we “shalt heap hot coals upon his head”.
However, there’s also a subtler teaching hidden here, one that can easily be overlooked. It refers to the nature of love when engaged in doing good. For if we do what, as Christ tells us, even sinners do (loving those who love them), then only a supernatural love can give us the strength to do what He commands: to love and do good to those who hate and harm us. This is the mark of the Christian — who, like God, can do something so difficult through a supernatural love, that is, a divine love. This is, ultimately, the kind of love proposed to us by the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of the Most Pure Virgin Mary. Not human love, which we know to be fragile, fleeting, and unreliable, but divine, eternal love, capable of acts beyond our imagination — such as the death on the Cross, out of love for us, of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, with that said, let us return to the verses from the Proverbs of Solomon. They also contain another interesting and significant detail: they tell us that if we do good to someone who has wronged us, we “shalt heap hot coals upon his head” (carbones ignis congeres super caput ejus). Likewise, in the Epistle to the Romans, Saint Paul uses the same expression:
“If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head” (Romans 12: 20).
Profoundly knowledgeable in both rabbinic traditions and sacred Old Testament texts, Saint Paul naturally quotes from the Proverbs of Solomon and expands upon them. The essence, as the Apostle puts it, is to “overcome evil by good” (Romans 12: 21). But what exactly are these “coals of fire”?
The Church Fathers and Doctors have pondered this question. Before forming our own interpretations and opinions, it is always beneficial to meditate on their teachings. For example, in his treatise Against the Pelagians, Saint Jerome comments on Romans 12: 20:
“We are not to revile and condemn our enemy, as the world does, but rather we are to correct him and lead him to repentance so that, being won over by our good deeds, he may be softened by the fire of charity and may cease to be an enemy.”[i]
So, for Saint Jerome, the burning coals are the fire of divine love that warms the hearts of Christians and inspires their actions. Saint Augustine offers a broader interpretation, aiming to refute those who believe the “coals of fire” represent punishment. He shows that evildoers must be brought to repentance through the good done to them. He even identifies a verse from the Psalms that sheds light on the mystery of the burning coals:
“The coals of fire serve to burn, i.e., to bring anguish to his spirit, which is like the head of the soul, in which all malice is burnt out when one is changed for the better through repentance. These coals of fire are mentioned in the Psalms: ‘What should be given to you or what appointed to you, for your deceitful tongue? Sharp arrows of the warrior with devouring burning coals’.”
By responding to evil with good, the Christian ignites the coals of conscience in those acting out of hatred. No better method exists for winning over the lost and errant to eternal life.
The Alexandrian theologian and philosopher Origen also believed that fulfilling this divine command could lead evildoers to repentance:
“Perhaps here also these coals of fire which are heaped on the head of an enemy are heaped for his benefit. For it may be that a savage and barbarous mind, if it feels our good will, our kindness, our love and our godliness, may be struck by it and repent, and he will swear that as his conscience torments him for the wrong which he has done, it is as if a fire were enveloping him.”
With his extraordinary precision and subtlety, Saint Thomas Aquinas discusses in detail the matter of doing good to those who do us harm. He explains that one only returns evil for evil when the act “is inspired by hatred or envy, so that we take pleasure in another’s evil.”[ii] But for instance, when a judge punishes justly, he actually returns good for evil:
“If in return for the evil of guilt which someone commits, a judge pronounces an evil of punishment in a just way to compensate for malice, he does, indeed, return evil materially, but formally and in itself he returns a good. Hence, when a judge hangs a criminal for murder, he does not return evil for evil but good for evil. This is the way the Apostle handed over to Satan the man guilty of incest, for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved (1 Corinthians 5: 5).”
Following Saint Augustine’s interpretation (to whom, as usual, he is deeply indebted), Thomas clarifies the correct understanding in the spirit of Christian charity:
“This can be given a sinister interpretation, so that the sense would be: if you do good to him, your good will turn out evil for him, because from it he will incur eternal fire by his ingratitude. But this sense is opposed to charity, against which a person would be acting, if he helped someone, so that the help would turn out evilly for him.
Therefore, it must be given a good sense, namely, doing this, i.e., helping them in time of need, coals of fire, i.e., the love of charity, of which Song of Songs says, ‘the lamps thereof are as lamps of fire and flame; you shall heap’ (Song 8:6), i.e., gather together, upon his head, i.e., on his mind. For, as Augustine says: ‘there is no greater incitement to love than to be the first to love. For the man is exceedingly hard who, though unwilling to bestow love, refuses to return love’.”
All of these teachings clarify the meaning of those “coals of fire” heaped by the good deeds of Christians upon the heads of those who wrong them. Essentially, it’s about acts of charity from those who, though wronged and hated, refuse to retaliate, continuing instead to do good. Clearly, this is the way we become like God — who does good even to the wicked and ungrateful — and the means by which we act through the “burning coals” of conscience, a powerful tool for conversion recommended by God Himself.
Behold the power of the supernatural love of God, spread through the thoughts, actions, and deeds of His servants! This is, ultimately, the fire that our Lord, Jesus Christ, came to bring upon the earth — and which He desires to remain ever burning.
Finally, alongside the poetic metaphor, Scripture also offers concrete examples of such actions and their outcomes. Besides the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross, the most famous example is undoubtedly that of King David. Although hated and unjustly persecuted by Saul, David refuses to kill him when given the chance. The episode, recounted in the First Book of Kings (also known as 1 Samuel), is truly extraordinary. For God visibly delivers Saul into David’s hands when the former unknowingly enters the very cave where the latter is hiding. Here’s what David thinks and does:
“Then David arose, and secretly cut off the hem of Saul’s robe. After which David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off the hem of Saul’s robe. And he said to his men: The Lord be merciful unto me, that I may do no such thing to my master the Lord’s anointed, as to lay my hand upon him, because he is the Lord’s anointed. And David stopped his men with his words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rising up out of the cave, went on his way” (1 Kings 24: 5-8).
This is a concrete example of what it means to do good to the one who wrongs you — “heaping burning coals upon his head.” From the same chapter, we learn that David, for a moment, considered revenge by killing Saul — but rejected the thought and didn’t do it. The consequence of his good deed, detailed in Scripture through Saul’s emotional reaction, is extraordinary:
“And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. And he said to David: Thou art more just than I; for thou hast done good to me, and I have rewarded thee with evil. And thou hast shewn this day what good things thou hast done to me: how the Lord delivered me into thy hand, and thou hast not killed me. For who when he hath found his enemy, will let him go well away? But the Lord reward thee for this good turn, for what thou hast done to me this day” (1 Kings 24: 17-20).
Behold the power of the supernatural love of God, spread through the thoughts, actions, and deeds of His servants! This is, ultimately, the fire that our Lord, Jesus Christ, came to bring upon the earth — and which He desires to remain ever burning:
“I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12: 49).
