Rev. Don Campbell

THOUGHT FOR TODAY, JANUARY 21. 2019: DUPLICITY [Gen 27-29]

“Duplicity comes from a Latin word meaning “double” or “twofold,” and its original meaning in English has to do with a kind of deception in which you intentionally hide your true feelings or intentions behind false words or actions. If you are being duplicitous there are two yous: the one you’re showing and the one you’re hiding. And—key to the idea of duplicity—you’re hiding that you in order to make people believe something that’s not true” (Meriam-Webster online). There is also duplicity that is more on the corporate level, such as the duplicity at which the spin doctors of the political parties are experts.

We find this word in Proverbs 11:1-3 in the NIV: “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”

Duplicity was carried to an art by Rebekah and Jacob as they tricked Isaac into giving to Jacob the birthright of the firstborn (Gen 27:1-38). Jacob fell victim himself to duplicity when his father-in-law tricked him into marrying Leah, the plain jane older sister (Gen 29:15-30).

The lesson we should learn from the duplicity of the family beginning with Abraham on down to our present narrative is not that God approves of duplicity, but that it is a flaw that is deeply embedded in humanity. “According to a 2002 study conducted by the University of Massachusetts, 60% of adults can’t have a ten-minute conversation without lying at least once. But even that number makes it sound better than it really is; those people in the study who did lie actually told an average of 3 lies during their brief chat.” One might wonder whether the other 40% lied about not lying.

Paul exhorted, “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another” (Eph 4:25). Duplicity is a part of the old self, which we are to put off because we have been recreated: “be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness”(Eph 4:22-24).

CONNECTIONS

1. Do we sometimes feel compelled to be duplicitous in order to avoid hurting people’s feelings or creating conflict?

2. Do we sometimes elicit duplicity by asking loaded questions such as the classic “Honey, does this dress make me look fat?”