Teaching To Deceive

Teaching to Deceive

Rebekah

Read: Genesis 27:1-29

“Mom, phone’s for you! It sounds like Helen!” called Tim. Suzanne rolled her eyes. Oh no, not again. Helen was an old friend, but Suzanne dreaded her phone calls. They typically came close to dinnertime and dragged on and on and on. It was hard to end the conversation politely.

“Tell her I just left for the grocery store,” Suzanne whispered.

“But, Mom . . .”

“Just do it!” snapped Suzanne. It’s better this way, she assured herself. At least I won’t have to be rude to her.

Suzanne didn’t realize it, but she was training her son to be deceptive. In Genesis 27, we see another mother very deliberately teaching her son to deceive. God had already declared that Jacob would be the family leader instead of his older brother, but Rebekah decided to help Jacob get the blessing that Isaac had just promised to Esau. Using Esau’s clothes and covering Jacob’s smooth arms with goatskins, she instructed Jacob to trick Isaac into thinking that he was his brother. Focused only on her goal, Rebekah ignored the possible consequences of her actions as she carried out this ancient case of identity theft.

Few of us will ever devise such a detailed plan to trick someone, but if we examine our behavior, we may find subtle habits of deception—little white lies to avoid someone we don’t want to see or phony excuses to get out of doing something we don’t have time for. Or we may fudge the facts a bit just to make ourselves look better. These things don’t seem so bad until we remember that others are watching our behavior. More important, God sees us. He desires that we be honest and truthful all the time—and goatskins don’t deceive him.

You desire truth in the innermost being.

Psalm 51:6 (NASB)