Proverbs 20:17

Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. BREAD OF DECEIT - bread obtained by deceit (; ). If the Qeri' reading, as in the English version, , be taken, "bread of deceit" will mean secret adultery, sweet at the time, but deadly in the end: 'Nocet empta dolore voluptas'-Fatal is the pleasure bought with pain (Job 20:12). BUT AFTERWARD HIS MOUTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH GRAVEL. Grit often mixes with bread baked in the ashes, according to the eastern custom ()....

Verse Proverbs 20:17. _BREAD OF DECEIT_ IS _SWEET_] Property acquired by _falsehood, speculation_, c., without labour, is pleasant to the unprincipled, slothful man but there is a _curse_ in it, and the issue will prove it....

“To eat gravel” was a Hebrew Lamentations 3:16, and is an Arabic, phrase for getting into trouble. So “bread,” got by deceit, tastes sweet at first, but ends by leaving the hunger of the soul unsatisfied. There is a pleasure in the sense of cleverness felt after a hard bargain or a successful fraud, which must be met by bidding men look on the after consequences....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 20:1 WINE IS A MOCKER; or, scorner, the word (_luts_) being taken up from the last chapter. The liquor is, as it were, personified, as doing what men do under its influence. Thus inebriated persons scoff at what is holy, reject reproof, ridicule all that is serious. Septuagint, Ἀκόλαστον οἶνος, "Wine is an undisciplined thing;" Vulgate, _Luxuriosa res, vinum. _STRONG DRINK IS RAGING; a brawler, Revised Version. _Shekar, _σίκερα (Luke 1:15), is most frequently employed of any intoxicating drink not made from grapes, _e.g. _palm wine, mead, etc. The inordinate use of this renders men noisy and boisterous, no longer masters of themselves or restrained by the laws of morality or decency. Septu

BREAD OF DECEIT [IS] SWEET TO A MAN,.... Which may be understood of sin in general, which is bread to the sinner, he eats it: it is called "the bread of wickedness", Proverbs 4:17; but it is but poor bread, no other than ashes Isaiah 44:20; it is "bread of deceit"; there is a deceitfulness in all sin; it is in appearance fair and pleasant to the eye, like the fruit our first parents ate of; or like the apples of Sodom, of which it is reported that they are very beautiful to look at, but when touched drop into ashes; sin promises pleasure, profit, honour, liberty, peace, and impunity, yet gives neither; but the reverse, pain, loss, shame, servitude distress, and destruction; and yet it is sweet to an unregenerate man, one of a vicious taste, or whose taste remains unchanged; it is natural to him and he take

CHAPTER 20 PROVERBS AS TO PERSONAL CONDUCT Proverbs of warning and instructions as to personal conduct are found mostly in this chapter; a number of them are of special interest if applied to Solomon. The first one is concerning wine and strong drink. As the use of wine among the people of Israel was legitimate the warning is against intemperance Deuteronomy 14:26). The Bible gives many illustrations of the truth of this proverb-warning. We may think of Noah, Lot, Nabal, Ben-hadad, Belshazzar and others. From all the good things we select the following. In Proverbs 20:3 is instruction which makes for peace. It is the fool who meddles and thus produces strife, but it is an honor for man to cease from strife. In...

PROVERBS 20. We have still further traces in Proverbs 20:9; Proverbs 20:24 of the sceptical spirit and the obstinate questionings of self characteristic of the later Greek period of Jewish thought. PROVERBS 20:6 A. RV is strained and the Heb. is difficult. Read (_cf._ Syr. and Lat.) Many a man is called kind. Proverbs 20:8. winnoweth (_mg._) is more literal than RV, and conveys better the idea of personal scrutiny (_cf._ the ideal king in Psalms 72 and Isaiah 11). Proverbs 20:9. For the growi

BREAD OF DECEIT. Bread gained by deceit. Genitive of Origin. See App-17 (2). BREAD. Put by Figure of speech _Synecdoche_ (of Part), for all kinds of food. DECEIT. lying. Hebrew. _sheker._ See note on Proverbs 11:18. FILLED WITH GRAVEL: or grit. See note on Genesis 3:14, implying utmost disappointment. See App-19....

_Bread of deceit_ or _of falsehood_, R.V., i.e. bread (or whatever else that word represents) gotten by dishonest and deceitful methods. with _gravel_ Comp. Lamentations 3:16....

BREAD OF DECEIT— _Bread gained by fraud._ Houbigant....