Bread obtained by falsehood is sweet to a man, But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel. Proverbs 20:17

Imagine chewing on bread and having it slowly turn from a warm, soft, wonderful taste to cold, hard gravel in your mouth.  This is the picture that the Lord wants to give us concerning the con-man's game - or any way that we seek financial gain through deceiving others.  This proverb centers around the word "falsehood."  This is the Hebrew word "sheqer" and it means a lie, a deception, or a treacherous statement.  The word has the idea of a liar and his lying statements.  Yet here there is an end that is sought - and that is obtaining bread.  There is a financial gain sought in the lie - which is the sweet taste of bread obtained through the false dealing and lying of the con-man.

Once again though, the Bible points us to a long-term view of things.  The fleshly view is that of getting the bread and enjoying it.  This is the short-term, ends-justify-the-means mindset that prevails in too many parts of the world around us.  Who cares how you got the bread - you've got it and it tastes wonderful.  The problem comes in that there will be a price to pay - even if you cheated someone out of the bread for free.  The price is a mouth filled with gravel.  There is a slight Hebraism in this idea of a mouth filled with gravel.  The idea is that though bread tastes sweet at first - the bread obtained by ungodly means will weigh down the one who deceived in the end.  Though sweet at first, the bread will break the teeth of the deceiver - and the bread will weigh like stone in his stomach. 

This takes into account God's moral law.  That law teaches us two things we should consider when deceiving others.  First, God's moral law says, "You shall not steal."  When we deceive others about what we are offering to them, we are thieves - taking their goods without a fair exchange of goods or money in return.  Second, we are told by God's moral law that we are not to bear false witness - which basically means, "do not lie."  No matter how sweet the bread may taste initially - it will be like teeth-breaking rocks on the day that we answer to God for our deceit and con-game.  The wisdom offered to us here is to make decisions based not on our immediate pleasure in the flesh.  We should make decisions based on God's moral law and upon principles of righteousness.  Though we may not gain as much quickly and unrighteously at the beginning, the blessing in the end is worth it.

The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, But He overthrows the words of the treacherous man. Proverbs 22:12

When you consider what kind of opposition the Bible has had throughout history, it is a wonder that any of it has been preserved to our day.  Yet just as this proverb says, God had preserved His knowledge - as well as the writings of many other godly men - even though it has often been attempted to be destroyed by evil men.

What is often lost to us are the words of the treacherous men who have lived throughout history.  But even more than that we see that their very words themselves have been overthrown.  The "who's who" list of evil men who have predicted the demise of God and His Word is so long that I would not have room to list them all in a post here - yet all their words have been overthrown.  They have risen to predict that God would be destroyed - only to see Him remain and continue to change history through His Word and His church. 

How frustrating it has to be to see generation after generation continuing to be transformed by the gospel.  How frustrating to see the very same gospel that they've hated for generations stand in another generation as their wicked philosophies were thrown on the trash heap of history. 

It is wonderful to see the stories of men like John Hus and John Wycliffe and how God preserved their works - especially their translations of the Bible.  Both men saw the false church react strongly to their translation of the Scriptures - especially since their translations were trying to put God's Word into the language of the people.  The false church killed John Hus - and were so disgusted with Wycliffe that over 40 years after his death dug up his bones and burned them and condemned him.  But God preserved the writings and knowledge that these men gave to us - eventually using both of them as precursors to the Reformation.  Rather than destroy the knowledge that they brought to us - God preserved it and used it to overthrow all the treacherous words and actions of the godless church that tried to overthrow the Word of God. 

Here is wisdom . . . realizing that God's Word will stand when everything else has faded away.  As Peter said, 'All flesh is like grass, and all its flory like the flower of the grass.  The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever." (1 Peter 1:24-25, NASB)