Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 57:4 (Dec 2014)
Article: Reconsidering The Role Of Deception In Solomon’s Ascent To The Throne
Author: Matthew Newkirk

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JETS 57:4 (December 2014) p. 703

Reconsidering The Role Of Deception In Solomon’s Ascent To The Throne

Matthew Newkirk*

* Matthew Newkirk resides at 8813 Deerland Grove Dr., Raleigh, NC 27615.

I. Introduction

1. Defining deception. The study of deception in the Bible has become increasingly popular in recent years.1 Simply defined, “to deceive” means intentionally to cause someone to believe something one knows to be false. Deception is thus distinct from, though related to, lying. “To lie” means to communicate intentionally and explicitly that something is true when one believes it to be false.2 Therefore a person may deceive someone by means of a lie, by less overt means such as ambiguous statements or actions, or even by a true statement. To illustrate deception by true and false statements, philosopher Thomas Carson gives the hypothetical example of trying to sell a car that routinely overheats.3 One the one hand, if a potential

JETS 57:4 (December 2014) p. 704

buyer asks whether or not the car overheats and the seller says, “No,” the seller has lied. On the other hand, if asked about the car overheating and the seller responds, “I drove this car across the Mojave Desert on a very hot day and had no problems,” he would be making a true statement (if in fact he had once done so). In both cases, however, if the buyer concludes falsely that the car does not routinely overheat, the seller has deceived him.

Inversely, one may lie, yet fail to deceive by making a false statement that does not successfully convince one’s audience. For example, if I were to tell my neighbor that I can bench-press four hundred pounds, I would be lying. Yet if my neighbor does not believe my lie (and he probably would not!), I would not have succeeded in deceiving him. For these reasons, deception and lying should be distinguished from each other. To state it in terms of speech act theory: deception is classified as a perlocutionary act, while lying falls under the illocutionary category of assertion.4

2. The question of deception in 1 Kings 1. While the Bible is replete with examples of people engaging in deception, perhaps one of the most surprising instances where many see this phenomenon is during the first transition of royal leadership in Israel. In 1 Kings 1, David, who had received YHWH’s covenant promise of an everlasting dynasty, passed his rule over Israel to his son Solomo...

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