From: burgytwo@juno.com
Date: Thu Dec 05 2002 - 11:22:16 EST
Bob observed that "it is certainly clear from his tragic and unhappy
story that Jacob paid plenty for his trickery, which suggests to me
that cunning is not favored in God's eyes."
This appears to me to be a reasonable argument, at least concerning
this passage. But other passages might also be cited. I am thinking
of the many instances where God told Moses to tell Pharoah a partial
truth, meant to mislead, when Moses was commanded to tell Moses that
the Hebrews "wanted to go into the desert to worship" when the plan
was for a total escape. That this is "cunning" seems evident. Tha it
is a lie, in the sense of a partial truth meant to mislead seems also
evident. That it is ethically a moral act also seems evident -- for
it is in the same sense as a lie to the Gestapo in 1938 about the
Jewish friends one has hiding in the basement. I.e. -- "cunning"
does not equate with an immoral action.
Burgy
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