Divine dissimulation

The subterfuge here authorized by the Lord [1 Sam 16:2-3] has often been brought into discussions of whether or not there are ever situations in which it is ethically permissible, according to biblical standards, to lie to or deceive another person. Some have argued that this is never permissible, without exception. Others have said that in certain extreme situations a person is not required to speak the truth because there may be a higher obligation, usually that of protecting innocent life.

This argument is based to a large extent on the ninth commandment, in which the prohibition against bearing false witness against one’s neighbor is not formulated as an impersonal prohibition (not lying) but as a prohibition in which another person is involved. You may not damage your neighbor with your words. But this sometimes leads to a conflict: Are there cases in which one must consider his obligation to his neighbor as a higher obligation than his witness concerning reality (e.g. a formal statement of truth)? The answer would be yes, because to formally speak the truth in such situations would in reality violate the spirit and intent of the ninth commandment (i.e., to protect our neighbor with our words).

Those who say that deception or lying is never permissible usually deal with the Lord’s instruction to Samuel in 16:2 by making a distinction between concealing and lying…One may wonder, however, whether this line of argument really resolves the problem. Samuel was instructed not just to “conceal” his intentions from Saul, but to deceive Saul concerning the real purpose for his trip to Bethlehem, should that become necessary. It would seem to be difficult to defend the proposition that this is telling the truth in the sense that Scripture elsewhere requires. How much difference is there between deliberately misleading another person and lying to that person? Would it not be better in cases such as this to accept the fact that the Lord has told Samuel to deceive Saul, and therefore to conclude that here we find an example of a situation in which there is no obligation to tell the truth…In that case this situation is similar to that of the midwives in Exod 1:17-21, Rahab in Josh 2:1-14, and “the woman” in 2 Sam 17:18-21), J. R. Vannoy, 1-2 Samuel (Tyndale 2009), 158-59.

To protect his prophet, the Lord tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem under the pretense of offering a sacrifice. This half-truth will serve to protect Samuel and to veil the Lord’s intentions. God is not above using deception when he judges rebels (e.g. 1 Kgs 22:19-22; Jer 4:10; Ezk 14:9). The Lord is a God of truth, whose word is reliable, but he may very well deceive his enemies when they have, by their actions, forfeited their right to know the truth (see 2 Sam 22:26-27; 2 Thes 2:11-12). R. Chisholm, 1 & 2 Samuel (Baker 2013), 113.