And Jacob said unto his father, I [am] Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
Ver. 19. I am Esau thy firstborn, &c.] Here he utters three lies in a breath: besides his ascribing to God that he did, Gen 27:20 so taking that reverend name in vain. This was his sin, and he smarted for it to his dying day: for he had scarcely a merry hour after this; but God followed him with one sorrow upon another, to teach him and us what an "evil and bitter thing sin is," Jer 2:19 and how it ensnares and ensnarls us. Aristotle could say, that a lie is in itself evil and wicked. a The Hebrews call it Aven, a great iniquity. And the Scripture reckons it among monstrous sins, Rev 21:8 and condemns it to hell, - whether it be the officious, merry, or pernicious lie. Indeed, every lie is pernicious to ourselves or others, or both; because flatly forbidden of God, and because it is against the order of nature, and for that "no lie is of the truth," as St John hath it, 1Jn 2:21 but of the devil, who began, and still upholds his kingdom by lies. Joh 8:44 Contrarily, God is truth, and his children are all such as will not lie, Isa 63:8 Rev 14:5 at least, not get a haunt and a habit of lying, which David calls "a way of lying": "Remove from me the way of lying," saith he, Psa 119:29 that I make not a trade or common practice of it. We find that 1Sa 21:2 he very roundly telleth two or three lies together, as Jacob here did; and all deliberate. So that tale he told Achish of invading the south of Judah, when he had been upon the Geshurites and Gerarites. 1Sa 27:8-11 I know not how it can be excused. But this was not David's "way," his common course; pity it should. Honest heathens condemned lying; the Persians punished it severely in their children. b Homer censures it in Dolon, Ulysses, and others, c Clitarchi historici, saith Quintilian, ingenium probatur, fides infamatur. Nepos reporteth of Epaminondas, d that he so loved truth that he would not once lie, no, not in jest. A shame to many Christians, who think the officious and sporting lie to be nothing. Whereas Gal 1:10 we must not speak the truth to please men, much less lie. And for saving ourselves, we must rather die then lie; else Peter had not sinned in denying his Master. As for profiting others, we may not lie, though it were to save a soul. Rom 3:7 We may as well commit fornication with the Moabites, to draw them to our religion, or steal from rich men to give to the poor, as lie to do another man a good turn. See Job 13:7,9 .
a Arist. Ethic., lib. iv. cap. 7.
b Xenoph., Cyrop., lib. i.
c Iσκε ψευδεα πολλα λεγειν ετυμοισιν ομοια. - Hom.
d Cor. Nepos in Vita Epam.