Stolen waters are sweet
Wells and fountains of waters in those hot countries were very
valuable, and were the property of particular persons; about
which there were sometimes great strife and contention; and they
were sometimes sealed and kept from the use of others; see (
Genesis
26:18-22 ) ( Song of Solomon
4:12 ) ; now waters got by stealth from such wells and
fountains were sweeter than their own, or what might be had in
common and without difficulty, to which the proverb alludes. By
which in general is meant, that all prohibited unlawful lusts and
pleasures are desirable to men, and sweet in the enjoyment of
them; and the pleasure promised by them is what makes them so
desirable, and the more so because forbidden: and particularly as
adultery, which is a sort of theft F18, and a drinking water
out of another's cistern, ( Proverbs
5:15 ) ; being forbidden and unlawful, and secretly
committed, is sweeter to an unclean person than a lawful
enjoyment of his own wife; so false worship, superstition, and
idolatry, the inventions of men, and obedience to their commands,
which are no other than spiritual adultery, are more grateful and
pleasing to a corrupt mind than the true and pure worship of God;
and bread [eaten] in secret is pleasant;
or, "bread of secret places" {s}; hidden bread, as the Targum,
Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions; that which is stolen and is
another's F20, and is taken and hid in secret
places, fetched out from thence, or eaten there: the sweet morsel
of sin, rolled in the mouth, and kept under the tongue; secret
lusts, private sins, particularly idolatry, to which men are
secretly enticed, and which they privately commit, ( Deuteronomy
13:6 ) ; the same thing is designed by this clause as the
forager.