Proverbs 20:17 - Meaning and Application

Sin can be pleasant at the moment it is committed. “Bread of deceit,” that is, wealth gained by fraud, lying, or oppression, may taste sweet to a person. In fact, sinful people often enjoy success in their wicked plans all the more because the gain is wrong. All the pleasures and profits of sin are like bread that deceives. They are stolen, because they come from what God forbids, and they deceive people because they are never as good as they first seem.

For a while, the sinner may roll that sweet morsel under the tongue and feel satisfied. He may even congratulate himself on his gain. But afterward it turns bitter in his thoughts. “His mouth shall be filled with gravel” means that, when conscience wakes up and he sees how he has been cheated, and when he fears God’s anger over his sin, the pleasure is gone and pain remains. The pleasures of sin last only for a season, and sorrow follows them. Some nations have punished criminals by mixing gravel with their bread, which gives a picture of how bitter sinful gain will finally feel.