Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 17:5
Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: [and] he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
5. his Maker ] Comp. Pro 14:31.
glad at calamities ] “It belonged to the Greek mind in its fertility of combination, to express it (the temper here spoken of) by the single word (Arist. Eth. Nicom. ii. 6), well rendered by the German ‘schadenfreude’.” Dean Plumptre, Speaker’s Comm.
The connecting link of thought between the two clauses of the verse is that poverty and calamity proceed alike from God, so that to mock at the one, or be glad at the other, is to reproach Him and to incur His displeasure.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He that is glad at calamities – A temper common at all times as the most hateful form of evil; the Greek epichairekakia. The sins spoken of in both clauses occur also in Jobs vindication of his integrity Pro 31:13, Pro 31:29.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. He that is glad at calamity] He who is pleased to hear of the misfortune of another will, in the course of God’s just government, have his own multiplied.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mocketh the poor; derideth or reproacheth him with or for his poverty.
His Maker; God, who by his providence made him poor. See the same assertion Pro 14:31.
At calamities; at the miseries of other men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. (Compare Pr14:31).
glad at calamitiesrejoicingin others’ evil. Such are rightly punished by God, who knows theirhearts.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker,…. He that mocks the poor for his poverty, Upbraids him with his mean appearance, scoffs at the clothes he wears or food he eats, such an one reproaches his Creator; or, as the Targum,
“provokes his Creator to anger;”
him who is his own Creator as well as the poor man’s; him who made the poor man, both as a man and as a poor man; and who could have made him rich if he would, as well as the man that mocks at him; whose riches are not of himself, but of God; and who can take them away, and give them to the poor man if he pleases; and therefore rich men should be careful how they mock the poor; for, as Gersom observes, he that derides a work derides the workman;
[and] he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished; or “at calamity” c; at the calamity of another, as the Vulgate Latin; and so Gersom; for no man rejoices at his own calamity; at the calamity of the poor, as Aben Ezra; or of his neighbour or companion, as the Targum; or at the calamity of any of his fellow creatures, as the Edomites rejoiced at the calamity of the Jews, but were in their turn destroyed; and as the Jews rejoiced when the Christians were persecuted by Nero, and at length were destroyed themselves by the Romans; and as the Papists will rejoice when the witnesses are slain, and quickly after seven thousand men of name will be slain of them, and the rest frightened, Re 11:10.
c “ad calamitatem”, Schultens; “ob calamitatem”, Cocceius; “calamitate”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5 Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
See here, 1. What a great sin those are guilty of who trample upon the poor, who ridicule their wants and the meanness of their appearance, upbraid them with their poverty, and take advantage from their weakness to be abusive and injurious to them. They reproach their Maker, put a great contempt and affront upon him, who allotted the poor to the condition they are in, owns them, and takes care of them, and can, when he pleases, reduce us to that condition. Let those that thus reproach their Maker know that they shall be called to an account for it, Mat 25:40; Mat 25:41; Pro 14:31. 2. What great danger those are in of falling into trouble themselves who are pleased to see and hear of the troubles of others: He that is glad at calamities, that he may be built up upon the ruins of others, and regales himself with the judgments of God when they are abroad, let him know that he shall not go unpunished; the cup shall be put into his hand, Eze 25:6; Eze 25:7.
| Common Truths. | |
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Hard Hearted Recompensed
Verse 5 affirms that punishment is sure for those who rejoice when calamity afflicts others, see Pro 24:17-18; Oba 1:12; Oba 1:15. For verse 5a see comment on Pro 14:31.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 17:5
A DOUBLE REVELATION
I. Revealing crime. He who mocketh the poor reveals his own character. If we find one brother of a family mocking another brother, we feel that his conduct is a revelation of the state of his heart. We feel that such a man must be destitute of all right feelingthat he has no regard for their common parentnone of that tender feeling which ought to bind members of the same family. God has made of one blood all nations of the earth, and he who mocks the poor mocks one of the same great human family as himself, and thus shows that he lacks all true humanity and all right feeling towards the common Father of both. The displeasure with which God regards such a man reveals the Divine character. If the ruler of a country identifies himself with the most defenceless and friendless of his subjectsif he exacts the severest penalties for any wrong done to themif, in short, he reckons an offence against them as committed against himselfhe reveals that he is a man of true benevolence. The displeasure with which God regards not only them who oppress the poor, but also those who mock themand a man does this when he gives empty words but no sympathy and helpreveals the tender compassion of His nature. On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. 14, page 31.
II. An aggravated crime. He who is glad at calamities, etc. It is a sin both against God and human nature to mock the poorto treat men with indifference and contempt because they are in a lowly stationbecause they are compelled to labour much and labour hard for the supply of their daily wants; he who is guilty of such conduct reveals a nature that is entirely opposed to the nature of God, and lays himself open to retribution. But when a man is not only indifferent to the miseries of others, but can actually find in them an occasion of gladness, he is as near to Satan in character and disposition as a man out of hell can be. He is not only ungodlike, but he is devilish. It is a prominent characteristic of the evil one that he finds a fiendish delight in the calamities of men, and a man cannot give a more convincing proof that he is of his father the devil (Joh. 8:44) than by imitating him in this particular crime.
III. A heavy retribution. We can form some estimate of the weight of punishment which must fall upon this last offender, by remembering how God regards the first. If He convicts him who mocks the poor of casting reproach upon his Maker, how much more will he visit Him who is glad at calamities.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
So Tyrus is threatened, because she was glad at Jerusalems calamities, saying, I shall be replenished now she is laid waste (Eze. 26:2). And Edom similarly (Oba. 1:12.)Fausset.
It is a sad thing when one potsherd of the earth, because it happens to have got from the hand of the potter a little gilding and superficial decoration, mocks at another potsherd of the earth which chances to be somewhat more homely in its outward appearance, or, perhaps, formed of a little coarser material than the other; both the work of the same hands, and both alike frail, brittle, and perishable.Wardlaw.
Why should I, for a little difference in this one particular of worldly wealth, despise my poor brother? When so many and great things unite us, shall wealth disunite us? One sun shines on us both; one blood bought us both; one heaven will receive us both, only he hath not so much of earth as I, and possibly much more of heaven.Bishop Reynolds.
To pour contempt upon the current coin with the kings image on it, is treason against the sovereign. No less contempt is it of the Sacred Majesty, to despise the poor, who have, no less than the rich, the kings image upon them (Gen. 9:6). This view marks the contempt of the poor as a sin of the deepest dye.Bridges.
If God should appear in human shape, would we dare to insult him? Would not the fear of a just and dreadful vengeance deter us? And to mock the poor, amounts to the very same thing. God did actually appear in our nature, and He was then poor for our sakes; and those that despise the poor, despise them for a reason that reflects upon our Saviour Himself when He dwelt among us.Lawson.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(5) Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker.See above on Pro. 14:31.
He that is glad at calamities.Of enemies. (Comp. Pro. 24:18; Job. 31:29.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Mocketh the poor Derides, laughs at, treats them with disrespect and contempt, because of their low estate. See Pro 14:31.
Reproacheth his Maker God, who is Maker of the poor as well as of himself.
Calamities , edh. The word means a heavy, wearisome burden of any kind; a misfortune. He that takes pleasure in the ill-fortune of others shall not be unpunished: literally, shall not be innocent, a common figure of speech, by which more is meant than is expressed. Comp. Pro 11:21; Pro 16:5. Our version gives the sense. Compare Job 31:13; Job 31:29; Pro 14:31.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 5. Whoso mocketh the poor,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 17:5 Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: [and] he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
Ver. 5. He that mocketh the poor, &c. ] See Trapp on “ Pro 14:31 “
And he that is glad at calamities, shall not be unpunished.
a Turkish History, fol. 756.
b Acts and Mon., fol. 1530.
c Ibid., 1918.
d Anno. 1571.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
mocketh. Illustrations: princes of Judah (Isa 3:14, Isa 3:15; Isa 10:1, Isa 10:2. Jer 34:10, Jer 34:11); rich (Jam 5:4).
the poor = a needy one. Hebrew. rush. See note on Pro 6:11.
Maker. See note on Pro 14:31.
unpunished = held guiltless. Illustrations: Tyrians (Eze 26:2-6); Edom (Oba 1:10-15).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 17:5
Pro 17:5
“Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker; And he that is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.”
“Some people make fun of poor people. They laugh at people who have problems. This shows that those bad people don’t respect God who made them. These bad people will be punished. “He who mocks a poor man insults his Maker, and one who makes fun of calamity will not escape punishment. Most of these various versions and translations speak truth, but not always in conformity with the sacred text.
Pro 17:5. Pro 14:31 talked of oppressing the poor; this verse of mocking the poor. People mock the poor when they make fun of them, laugh at them, mimic them, and make life harder for them. God is the Maker of the poor as well as the rich (Pro 22:2); when we mock them, we mock Him; when we give to them, we are making a loan to the Lord (Pro 19:17). We should not be glad at any calamity, whether that calamity be poverty (as in this context) or any other. Job said he was free from this (Job 31:29), but Edom wasnt (Oba 1:12). God will punish us if we do (Pro 24:17).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
mocketh: Pro 14:21, Pro 14:31, Psa 69:9, 1Jo 3:17
and: Pro 24:17, Pro 24:18, Job 31:29, Jer 17:16, Oba 1:11-13, Oba 1:16, Rom 12:15
unpunished: Heb. held innocent, Pro 16:5, *marg.
Reciprocal: Lev 14:21 – poor Lev 25:35 – thy brother Job 30:25 – was Psa 35:15 – in mine Pro 28:20 – innocent Jer 25:29 – Ye shall Jer 49:12 – they whose Jer 50:11 – ye were Eze 25:3 – thou saidst Eze 35:15 – didst Eze 36:5 – with the Oba 1:12 – rejoiced Mat 25:45 – Inasmuch Rom 12:16 – condescend to men of low estate Rom 15:26 – the poor 1Co 11:22 – that have not Jam 1:9 – the brother Jam 2:6 – ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 17:5. Whoso mocketh the poor See on Pro 14:31; and he that is glad at calamities At the miseries of other men; shall not be unpunished The cup shall be put into his hands, Eze 25:6-7.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
-34
CHAPTER 25
FORGIVING
“Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause, and deceive not with thy lips. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me; I will render to the man according to his work,”- Pro 24:28-29
“Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thy heart be glad when he is overthrown, lest the Lord see it and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him.”- Pro 24:17-18.
“He that is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.”- Pro 17:5
“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.”- Pro 25:21-22
THERE is no subject on which the teaching of the Proverbs more strikingly anticipates the morality of the New Testament than that of forgiveness to our enemies. Our Lord Jesus Christ could take some of these sayings and incorporate them unchanged into the law of His kingdom, for indeed it is not possible to surpass the power and beauty and truth of the command to feed those who have injured us if they are hungry, to give them drink when they are thirsty, and in this Divine way to kindle in them repentance for the injury which they have done. This is the high-water mark of moral excellence. No better state can be desired. When a human spirit is habitually in this tender and forgiving mood, it is already united with the Father of spirits, and lives.
It is almost superfluous to point out that even the saints of the Old Testament fall very far short of the lofty standard which is here set before us. The Psalmist, for example, is thinking of coals of a quite different sort when he exclaims: “As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them. Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits that they rise not up again.” {Psa 140:9-10} That is the old elemental hate of human nature, the passionate, indignant appeal to a righteous God against those who have been guilty of a wrong or an injury. Even Jeremiah, one of the latest, and certainly not the least holy, of the prophets, could cry out concerning his enemies: “Yet, Lord, Thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from Thy sight; but let them be overthrown before Thee; deal Thou with them in the time of Thine anger.” {Jer 18:23} Words painfully natural, words echoed by many. a persecuted man of God, but yet quite inconsistent with the teaching of the Savior in the Sermon on the Mount, the teaching already foreshadowed in this beautiful proverb.
But it may not be superfluous to notice that the Proverbs themselves, even those which stand at the head of this chapter, do not all touch the high-water mark of Pro 25:21. Thus, for example, the motive which is suggested in Pro 24:18 for not rejoicing in the fall of an enemy is none of the highest. The idea seems to be, if you see your enemy undergoing punishment, if calamity is falling upon him from the Lord, then do not indulge in any insolent exultation, lest the Lord should be offended with you, and, in order to chastise your malignity, should cease to plague and trouble him. In such a view of the question, God is still regarded as a Nemesis that will resent any unseemly rejoicing in the calamity of another; {Pro 17:5 b} in proportion therefore as you wish to see your enemy punished, you must abstain from that joy in his punishment which would lead to its diminution. From a precept of that kind there is a vast moral stride to the simple prohibition of retaliation, announced without any reason given or suggested in Pro 24:29 -“Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me, I will render to the man according to his work.” And from this again there is an incalculable stride to the positive spirit of love, which, not content with simply abstaining from vindictiveness, actually turns the tables, and repays good for evil, looking with quiet assurance to the Lord, and the Lord alone, for recognition and reward. Our wonder is occasioned not because all the Proverbs do not reach the moral altitude of this one, but rather that this one should be so high. When an ideal is set up far in advance of the general practice and even of the general thoughts of the time, we can ascribe it only to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
It needs no proof that forgiveness is better than revenge. We all know that-
“Revenge at first though sweet,
Bitter ere long back on itself recoils.”
We all know that the immediate effect of forgiving our enemy is a sweet flow of tenderness in the soul, which surpasses in delight all the imagined joys of vindictiveness; and that the next effect is to soften and win the foe himself; the scornful look relents, the tears of passion give place to those of penitence, the moved heart is eager to make amends. We all know that nothing more powerfully affects our fellow-men than the exhibition of this placable temper. We all know that in forgiving we share Gods prerogative, and come into harmony with His Spirit.
Yet here is the melancholy fact that notwithstanding this proverbial truth, taken up into the teaching of our Savior, and echoed in the writings of His Apostles, even in a Christian society, forgiveness is almost as rare as it was in the days of King Solomon. Men are not ashamed-even professing Christians are not ashamed-to say about their enemies, “I will do so to him as he has done to me, I will render to the man according to his work.” We even have a lurking admiration for such retaliatory conduct, calling it spirited, and we still are inclined to contemn one who acts on the Christly principle as weak or visionary. Still the old bad delight in seeing evil fall on the head of our enemies glows in our hearts; still the act of vengeance is performed, the bitter retort is given, the abusive letter is written, with the old sense of unhallowed pride and triumph. How is this? Ah, the simple truth is that it is a small matter to get right principles recognized, the whole difficulty lies in getting them practiced. We need a power which can successfully contend against the storm of passion and self-will in those terrible moments when all the calm lights of reason are quenched by the blinding surf of passion, and all the gentle voices of goodness are drowned by its roaring waves.
Sometimes we hear it said that the moral teaching of Christ is not original, but that all His precepts may be found in the words and writings of ancient sages, just as His teaching about forgiveness is anticipated by the proverb. Yes, but His claim does not rest upon His teaching, but upon the Divine and supernatural power which He has at His command to carry out His doctrines in the conduct of His disciples. This is the point which we must realize if this sweet and beautiful ideal is to be worked out in our lives. We have but touched the fringe of the question when we have conned His words, or shaped conceptions of what a life would be passed in conformity to them. The center of Christian doctrine is power, the power of Christ, the fountain of living waters opened in the heart, the grafting of the withering branches upon a living stock, the indwelling of Christ Himself, as the spring and principle of every holy action, and the effectual restraint on all our ungovernable passions.
But before looking more closely at this, we ought to pay some attention to the constant motive which our Lord, even in His teaching, presents for the practice of a forgiving disposition. He always bases the duty of forgiveness on the need which we have of Gods forgiveness; He teaches us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us”; and in the moving story of the unmerciful servant, who demanded the full payment from his fellow-servant just when his lord had pitifully remitted his own debt, He tells us that forgiveness of our enemies is an indispensable condition of our being forgiven by God. “His lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due. So shall also My Heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts.” {Mat 18:35} It is not therefore only, as it is sometimes stated, that we ought to be moved to pity by remembering what God has done for us. No, there is a much sterner thought in our Lords mind; it is that if we do not forgive we shall not and cannot be forgiven. The forgiving spirit manifested to our fellow-men is that without which it is vain for us to come near and to ask God for pardon. If we have come, and are just about to offer our prayer, and if we then remember that we have aught against a brother, we must go first and be reconciled to him, before our prayer can be so much as heard.
Here is certainly a motive of a very powerful kind. Which of us would dare to cherish the bitter thought, or proceed with our plan of vengeance, if we remembered and realized that our vindictiveness would make our own pardon at the hands of God impossible? Which of the countless deeds of retaliation that stain with blood the pages of history would have been perpetrated, and which of the perpetrators would not have tremblingly relinquished all thought of reprisals, if they had seen that in those savage acts of vengeance they were not, as they supposed, executing lawful justice, but actually cutting off their own hope of pardon before the throne of God?
If we avenge ourselves, if society is constantly torn by the quarrels and the mutual recriminations of hostile men whose one thought is to give as good as they have got, it can only be because we do not believe, or do not realize, this solemn teaching of the Lord. He seems a faint and doubtful voice compared with the loud tumult of passion within; His authority seems weak and ineffectual compared with the mighty domination of the evil disposition. Powerful, therefore, as the motive is to which He constantly appeals, if He had left us nothing but His teaching on the subject we should not be materially better off than they who listened with attention to the teaching of the wise authors of these ancient Proverbs. What more has He left us?
It is His prerogative to give to those who believe in Him a changed heart. How much is meant by that, which only the changed heart can know! Outwardly we seem much alike; outwardly, there is little sign of an inward transformation; but far as the east is from the west is the unregenerate heart from the regenerate, the Christless heart from one which He has taken in His hands, and by His great redemption created anew. Now without stopping to follow the processes of faith by which this mighty change is effected, let us simply mark the characteristics of the change so far as it affects the matter in hand.
The first and most radical result of the New Birth is that God takes the place which self has occupied. All the thoughts which have clustered about your own being now turn to His Being, as stray fragments of iron turn to the magnet. Consequently, all the emotions and passions which are stimulated by self-love give place to those which are stimulated by the love of God. It is as if the pipes of your aqueduct had been changed at the fountain head, disconnected from the malarious waters of the marsh, and connected with the pure and sparkling water of the hills. Gods ways of regarding men, Gods feelings towards men, His yearning over them, His pity for them, flow into the changed heart, and so preoccupy it that resentment, hatred, and malice are washed out like the sour dregs in a cup which is rinsed in a running stream.
There is the man who did you the wrong-very cruel and unpardonable it was!-but, as all personal elements are quite out of the question, you regard him just as if you were not the injured being. You see him only as God sees him; you trace all the malignant workings of his mind; you know how the fire of his hate is a fire which burns the heart that entertains it. You see clearly how tormenting those revengeful passions are, how the poor soul mastered by them is diseased, how the very action in which it is triumphing now must become one day a source of bitter regret and implacable self-reproach; you soon begin to regard the ill deed as a shocking wound inflicted on the doer of it, and the wells of pity are opened. As if this enemy of yours had been quite innocent of all ill-will, and had been overtaken by some terrible calamity, your one instinctive thought is to help him and relieve him. Out of the fullness of your heart, without any sense of being magnanimous, or any thought of a further end, -simply for the pity of it, -you come to proffer him bread in his hunger and water in his thirst.
Yes, it is in the atmosphere of pity that personal resentment dies away, and it is only by the power of the Son of Man that the heart can be filled with a pity large enough to pardon all the sins of our kind.
It is this thought-though without any definite statement of the means by which it is produced-that finds expression in Whittiers touching lines:-
“My heart was heavy, for its trust had been
Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong;
So turning gloomily from my fellow-men,
One summer Sabbath day I strolled among
The green mounds of the village burying-place;
Where pondering how all human love and hate
Find one sad level; and how, soon or late,
Wronged and wrongdoer, each with meekened face!
And cold hands folded over a still heart,
Pass the green threshold of a common grave,
Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart,
Awed for myself, and pitying my race,
Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave,
Swept all my pride away, and, trembling, I forgave.”
Yes, one who is touched by the spirit of the Son of Man finds too much to pity in the great sorrowing world, and in its fleeting and uncertain life, to cherish vengeful feelings. Himself redeemed by the untold love of His Father, by the undeserved and freely offered pardon in Christ Jesus his Lord, he can feel for his enemies nothing but forbearance and love; if they too are Christians, he longs to win them back to the peace and joy from which their evil passion must have driven them; and if they are not, his eyes must fill with tears as he remembers how brief is their apparent triumph, how unsubstantial their gleam of joy. The desire to save them immediately masters the transitory wish to punish them. The pity of men, for the sake of the Son of Man, wins the day.
And now we may just glance at the effect which the Christly conduct has upon the offender, and the reward which God has attached to its exercise.
It is one of the most beautiful traces of Gods likeness, in even bad men, a characteristic to which there is no parallel in the animal creation, that though passion awakes passion, wrath, and vengeance revenge-so that savages pass their whole time in an unbroken series of blood feuds, the hideous retaliation bandied from tribe to tribe and from man to man, generation after generation-the spirit of meekness, proceeding not from cowardice, but from love, disarms passion, soothes wrath, and changes vengeance into reconciliation. The gleam of forgiveness in the eye of the injured is so obviously the light of God that the wrongdoer is cowed and softened before it. It kindles a fire in his spirit, his heart melts, his uplifted hand falls, his angry voice grows tender. When men are so dehumanized as to be insensible to this softening effect, when they interpret the gentleness as weakness, and are moved by the forgiving spirit simply to further injury and more shameless wrong, then we may know that they are possessed, -they are no longer men, -they are passing into the category of the lost spirits, whom the forbearance of God Himself leads not to repentance but only to added sin.
But if you have ever by the sweet spirit of Christ so mastered your natural impulse as to return good for evil lovingly and whole-heartedly, and if you have seen the regenerating effect in the beautiful subjugation of your foe and his transformation into a friend, it is not necessary to say much of the reward which God has in store for you. Do you not already possess it?
Yet the reward is certainly greater than you are able at once to apprehend. For what a secret is this which you possess, the secret of turning even the malignity of foes into the sweetest affection, the secret which lay in the heart of God as the spring and the means of mans redemption. The highest reward that God can give to His creatures is to make them partakers of His nature as He has made them in His own image. When we share in a Divine attribute we enter so far into the Divine bliss; and in proportion as this attribute seems removed from our common human nature, our spirit must exult to find that it has been really appropriated. What further reward, then, can he who avenges not himself desire? The pulse of the Divine heart beats in him; the tides of the Divine life flow through him. He is like God-God who opposes to mans ingratitude the ocean of His pardoning love; he is conscious of that which is the fountain of joy in the Divine Being; surely a man must be satisfied when he awakes in Gods likeness! And that satisfaction comes to everyone who has heaped coals of fire on his enemys head by feeding him in his hunger, and giving him water when athirst. Say not, “I will do so to him as he has done to me, I will render to the man according to his work.” Love your enemies; pray for them which despitefully use you.