Proverbs 25:20-21, “Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda, Is he who sings songs to a troubled heart. 21, If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;…”
This morning I looked out of my window to find twelve inches of global warming on my car and from the weather reports it appears Al Gore is going to have lot of explaining to do as the temperatures dip to 20 degrees below zero, the coldest it has been here in Chicago in the last two decades. I tell you it gets plenty cold up here in Yankee land. As I meditated on which garments I was going to wear to dig my car out I could not help but think about Proverbs 25:20-21. We must read both verses together to really understand the irony of this passage. Irony, that is sort of like the tourist who were stranded in Antarctica recently when their tourist ship became stuck in ice that had very quickly frozen around their and by the time help arrived they were trapped in ice that had formed up to 16 miles and this was in an Antarctic summer. But the true irony was that these tourists were really scientist and researchers trying to find evidence of global warming. Now I am not taking a stand one way of the other on the matter of global warming, I am just saying that with the prospects of digging my car out of twelve inches of snow in sub-zero weather I just can’t help but cry out, “Where is global warming when you need it.”
But, I digress, back to Proverbs 25:20-21. There is a subtle play on words in verse 20. The words for cold day in Hebrew are beyom qarah. Now at first glance you would want say the root word for qarah is simply that, qarah which means to come upon someone or an accidental meeting. Yet, the root word could also be garar which means cold. If we take the obvious root word, garah, we would then render this as in a day of a chance meeting, which makes a lot of sense if you take the literally rendering of the word ma’adeh (take off) as to adorn. You would then say “Like one who adorns themselves for a chance meeting. But the word ma’adeh which comes from the root word ‘adah means both to take off and adorn oneself. The Semitic origin of the word ‘adah has the idea of removing your plain garments for ornamental garments. Hence you have both the idea of removing and adorning yourself. Commentators argue back and forth whether you should render this to read, take off garments or adorn yourself with garments. The context suggests that this is an action with shows incongruity and both renderings would suggest this. I mean if I am going outside to dig my car out of a foot of snow in subzero weather, I am not going to be too concerned about my appearance, my concern is just to stay warm. Yet, I believe both renderings should be taken in tandem using the play on the two possible root words qarah (to accidentally meet someone) and qarar (cold). You see in verse 21 we are instructed to do something that is seemingly incongruent and yet it is consistent with the loving nature of God, to feed your enemy when they are hungry and to give them water when they are thirsty. The logical thing to do is let your enemy starve and go thirsty, but the Godly thing to do is what Jesus taught, love your enemy and pray for them who curse you (Matthew 5:44).
You see you do not remove your garments in cold weather just as you do not feed your enemy when they are hungry. But you do adorn yourself when you go out in case you accidentally meet someone you wish to impress just as you are to feed your enemy when they are hungry. The same is with adding vinegar to soda. The word for vinegar used here is chamats which could mean to be splendid or dazzling or to be sour or a sour substance such as vinegar or some other type of acid substance. It Semitic root has the idea of something that is striking, attention grabbing. It could be the bitter taste of vinegar or an acid substance or someone so decked out that they are striking in appearance. The word for soda is natar which could mean the palpitating of the heart when you are excited. Thus this could have the idea of making your appearance so striking that the one you wish to impress will be so excited over your appearance that their heart begins to palpitate. Like the husband who comes home from work after an exhausting day of fighting rush hour traffic in twelve inches of global warming. He comes home tired, exhausted to his wife who greets him decked out in high heels and tight dress. If he is any husband at all his heart will natar (heart palpitating). Now that is a reasonable thing, but the word natar could also be nitre which is known to the ancients in the Near East as natron which was used extensively for making bread. However, when it was mixed with vinegar or some other acid it would change its character and become salt rendering the bread dough as useless.
So once again you have a double meaning which could be both proper and improper. It could be adorning yourself for a chance meeting or taking off a garment in cold weather . It could be creating an appearance to cause someone to get excited or adding an acid to dough and ruining the bread. So, too, is the idea of feeding your enemy when they are hungry and giving them water when they are thirsty. Most people would say, “Let them starve and die of thirst, serves them right.” God would say, give them food and water. Notice that one rendering focuses on oneself, dressing to adorn yourself and impress someone. The other rendering which makes no sense such as removing your garment in cold weather and adding vinegar to bread dough makes no sense unless you remove that garment to give to someone else who is cold. This bread dough when mixed with vinegar would turn to salt and would be useless. However ancient farmers would add such a salt to the unfertile ground to make it fertile so they could grow more wheat thus produce more bread to feed others than just yourself.
So too if you let your enemy starve and die of thirst you will have more food and water for yourself, but if you feed your enemy and give them water you will have even greater abundance. I cite as an example World War I. After the war the victorious nations laid heavy tribute on Germany and practically starved the whole nation. Within twenty years Hitler arose and we had World War II. After World War II the United States as the lead victory emptied their treasurys and poured their resources into rebuilding the nations of their former enemies of Japan and Germany. Today we share the abundance of Japan and German as well as their friendship. When we fed our enemies and gave them water, we entered the most prosperous era of any nation in World History.
I think Jesus was on to something when He said in Matthew 5:44, “Love your enemies and pray for them who curse you.” I recently read about a police officer on one cold winter night saw a homeless man without a coat. Rather than remove the dirty vagrant and hall him off to jail, he removed his own coat and gave it to him and, without a coat for himself, took this man to a shelter. Maybe he was thinking of Proverbs 25:20-21.
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