John Trapp on Proverbs 20:17

Verſ. 17. Bread of deceit is ſweet to a man] Sins murthering-morſels will deceive thoſe that devour them. There is a deceitfulneſſe in all ſin, Heb. 3.13. a lye in all vanity, Jer. 2.8. The ſtollen waters of adultery are ſweet, Prov. 9.17. but bitterneſſe in the end: ſuch ſweet meat hath ſowre ſauce. Commodities craftily or cruelly compaſſed, yeeld a great deal of content for preſent. But when the unconſcionable Cormorant hath ſwallowed down ſuch riches, he ſhall vomit them up again; God ſhall caſt them out of his belly, Joh. 20.15. Either by remorſe and reſtitution in the mean time, or with deſpair and impenitent horrour hereafter.

His mouth ſhall be filled with gravel] Pane lapidoſo, as Seneca hath it, with grit and gravel, to the torment of the teeth, that is, terrour of the Conſcience, and torture of the whole man. Such a bitter-ſweet was Adams Apple, Eſaus meſs, the Iſraelites Quails, Jonathans Hony, the Amalekites Cates after the ſack of Ziklag, 1 Sam. 30.16. Adonijahs Dainties, 1 King. 1. which ended in horrour; ever after the meal is ended, comes the reckoning. Men muſt not think to dine with the Devil, and then to ſup with Abraham, Iſaac, and Jacob in the Kingdome of Heaven: to feed upon the poyſon of Aſps, and yet that the Vipers tongue ſhall not ſlay them, Job 20.16. When the Aſpe ſtings a man, it doth firſt tickle him, ſo as it makes him laugh, till the poyſon by little and little gets to the heart,Speed in Q. Elizah. and then it pains him more than ever it delighted him. So doth ſin. At Alvolana in Portugal three miles from Lisbon, many of our Engliſh Souldiers under the Earl of Eſſex periſhed, by eating of Honey, purpoſely left in the houſes, and ſpiced with poyſon, as it was thought. And how the treacherous Greeks deſtroyed many of the Weſtern Chriſtians, French and Engliſh, marching toward the Holy-land, by ſelling them meal mingled with Lime, is well known out of the Turkiſh Hiſtory.