Deceit מִרְמָה

As we move into chapter 27 of Genesis, we find our word for today is also used for the first time in the Bible. מִרְמָה trick, fraud, deceit, treachery, disillusionment, betrayal. It is used 39 times in the Old Testament. God makes it clear that deception is something that He hates. Psalm 5:6 You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and מִרְמָה deceitful man. God equates it with evil. Psalm 50:19 You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames מִרְמָה deceit. Psalm 55:23 But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and מִרְמָה treachery shall not live out half their days. Not only will God destroy those who practice deceit He also identifies it as the opposite of knowing Him. Jeremiah 9:6 Heaping oppression upon oppression, and מִרְמָה deceit upon מִרְמָה deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the Lord. And the reason why God hates deception is described well in verse 8. Jeremiah 9:8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks מִרְמָה deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him. God loves everyone and he hates it when people build relationships with others not to share God’s love with them but to instead harm them for their own benefit. How does God respond to deceivers? We see the answer in the next verse. Jeremiah 9:9 Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? What I find interesting is that God goes out of his way to take a stand against deception and yet we see Him use it to carry out his ultimate will in our chapter today. We saw yesterday that Isaac trembles very violently, I think in fear, when he realized that his plan to go against God failed and he blessed the one that God wanted blessed from the beginning. Here is how Isaac responds. Genesis 27:35 But he said, “Your brother came מִרְמָה deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” This is an accurate word to describe what Rachel and Jacob did to Esau and Isaac. We will look at Jacob’s name tomorrow. But for today let’s close with this idea of God taking sinful people, like us, and working his will out ultimately for the benefit of all of us. The passage in Romans 12 reminds me that God knows what he is doing in this messed up fallen corrupted world we live in. Romans 12:2 God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. It doesn’t always seem like God’s will is good, pleasing and perfect but it really is. As we will see in the chapters to come that Esau certainly didn’t think so. Probably the best way this is stated is when Joseph replies to his brothers who wanted to kill him but sold him into slavery instead. This brought a lot of hardship on Joseph for many years. But God specializes in brining good out of evil. Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.