“Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.” – Proverbs 9:17-18
History has it on her records that humans mostly learn nothing from her.
Otherwise, how else do we explain the insatiable appetite of the sons and daughters of men for that which deceptively consumes its consumers?
Of stolen waters and bread eaten in secret – Oh! How sweet and pleasant the tastes thereof.
However, a rundown of the past guests’ lists at this infamous banquet leaves one bewildered at its collection of both the simple and the sovereign.
From the bread crusts of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, forcefully munched in secret by Shechem, son of Hamor (Genesis 34:1-2); to the crumbs of Tamar deceitfully stolen by Amnon, her half-brother, both of them offsprings of King David (2 Samuel 13:1-15); right down to the sweet waters of Bathsheba, stolen off Uriah the Hittite and ingested by King David (2 Samuel 11:1-5); these all seemed pleasant and appealing in taste at the initial stage of indulgence.
Nevertheless, how quickly the banquet table turned against them all, presenting every antagonist involved with their one-way ticket to the depths below (Genesis 34:13-27; 2 Samuel 13:23-33; 2 Samuel 12:1-12), with the exception of that highly favoured one called David, the man after God’s heart that could seemingly do no wrong.
It took the sure mercies of God for this King David not to have his fate sealed up like the others before him, or even after.
As it was in the days of the patriarchs, it abides until this day.
The appeal of stolen waters and forbidden bread constitute irresistible diets to the unwary at heart and the reckless in action.
A combination of the ensamples highlighted, and the strong words of admonition from the scriptural reference, both above, should make for compelling disincentives enough to dissuade anyone with a discerning heart and a sound mind from falling into the same pit as many that have trodden this path but this has proven not to be the case in more than a handful of situations.
In today’s world, sexual immorality continues to top the list of transgressions that make up this delicacy of death.
A tight contender for that spot would be financial impropriety of all sorts.
Then come the lies, oftentimes an offshoot of the other two vices intended to cover up the inglorious footprint on the path already trodden by the transgressor.
A cash cow milked in secret, or a revenue pipeline busted and breached under the radar; sweetness. sweetness, oh, how sweet the taste.
An illicit affair behind closed doors and far from prying eyes, or an ambush of the naïve and unsuspecting at their unguarded moment; can the word “pleasant” find a more befitting definition than this?
But hold on a moment, for here comes the verdict.
While the earth remains, the covenant of seedtime and harvest must speak (Genesis 8:22).
Every act of man must be accompanied by a reaction.
The seed sown, be it good or bad, always results in a yield.
Time, it is, that makes the difference.
Can a mortal being outsmart the Immortal, Invisible God only wise that is his Maker?
Moreover, where can we go in hiding from the presence of He, who even in the most entire glare of light remains inaccessible and hidden from our very own eyes?
Long before we came into existence, our Lawgiver governed.
He set the bounds for all affairs of the created, that all of creation should fear before Him (1 Chronicles 16:30) and that it may go well with us.
Beyond this and now, as always, are the choices we must make on the go within the confines of our God-given free will.
To conform to or reject that which has been placed before us as the acceptable rules of life, and this from the scriptures for believers, or multiple other sources, including the earth’s natural laws, for all classes of people.
Break the hedge and get bitten (Ecclesiastes 10:8) or remain in line and stay safe – the choice is everyone’s to make.
Whichever you decide to settle for, make good to avoid the ensnaring recipes of death, so that your life may be prolonged upon the earth.
