Deception in Genesis: An Investigation into the Morality of a Unique Biblical Phenomenon (review)

Both the contents and the concerns addressed by this study go well beyond those mentioned in the title. Its focus is on fifteen incidents of deception that the author has identified in the book of Genesis. These provide the structure for the entire work: He first lists their common features, then examines how each was treated in post-biblical Jewish tradition, after which he contrasts them with other biblical accounts of deception before looking at various parallels from the ancient Near East and then folk traditions. From this, he is able to conclude that the book of Genesis views deception positively when it “is perpetrated by someone who has been wronged by another, so that the previous status quo, or shalom, is reachieved (without, therefore, causing harm to the deceived)” (p. 56). By way of contrast, other parts of the Bible are found to view deception positively only when it results in the removal of a threat to the perpetrator’s well-being (p. 74). Not surprisingly, post-biblical interpreters have an even more negative view of deception, which leads them to minimize such behavior (p. 137). Elsewhere in the ancient Near East, deception is treated positively only when it takes place among the gods.

Besides extending well beyond what the book’s title would suggest, these conclu sions are far more insightful and important than the heavily apologetic and theological tone of its introduction and more far-reaching than one would expect in a work that is so methodically presented, a characteristic that is no doubt the result of its origin as a dissertation (from the University of Pennsylvania). In this, it serves as an outstanding argument for following the lead of those disciplines which require dissertations to be thoroughly reworked before they are published. Indeed, the only area where the book delivers less than it promises is in the survey of post-biblical exegesis, where midrashic interpretations are largely restricted to those found in Genesis Rabbah, albeit with some citations from Louis Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews, and the Dead Sea Scrolls are not mentioned at all.

To be sure, one might raise a variety of questions about the execution of this project. For example, its collection of “deception events” is not always convincing. It includes some incidents that do not really involve deception. For example, Eve’s claim to have been deceived (hissî ‘anî, Gen 3:13) is not supported by what the snake actually said, which turns out to be entirely true, whatever its intended purpose. Nor do Rachel or Samson’s wife lie when stealing Laban’s teraphim (Gen 31:19) and extricating the answer to the riddle (Judg 14:15–17), respectively. Finally, the statement that Sarah actually was Abraham’s (half-) sister in Gen 20:12 removes the element of deception from the way he presented her to Abimelech, thus setting this account apart from the two other wife-sister stories.

On the other hand, both Genesis and other biblical books contain incidents that might be considered deceptive but are not treated here. For example, Abraham assures his servants that “I and the boy will return” (Gen 22:5), even though he is supposedly on his way to kill Isaac; and Isaiah reports God’s wish that Israel be misled (6:9–10).

Another set of problems is raised by the author’s decision to include legal and wisdom literature in his survey of biblical treatments of deception. It is hardly surprising to find that deception is treated quite differently in these moralistic genres than in the stories of Genesis.

Finally, one wonders whether it is really necessary to worry about the “Old Testament’s uniqueness” in a study like this (p. 173). As intriguing as it may be to consider the author’s observation that the Bible’s interest in the interaction among different national groups sets it apart...