2dly, When he says, This is not the way; neither is this the city; he does not say, this is not the way to Dothan; neither is this the city so called; for then they would have been able to have convicted him of a lie; for they knew that they were at Dothan before they were struck with blindness: But the plain meaning of his words is, that this is not your way to find him; since the men of this city will not deliver him to you; but I will lead you to the place where you shall see him; and so he led them to Samaria, upon which their eyes were opened, and they saw him: So that this was not a lie. And the reason of his management was, that the king of Israel, and the Syrian host, might be convinced, that they were poor creatures in God’s hand, and that he could easily turn their counsels into foolishness, and cause their attempts to miscarry with shame, as well as disappointment.
(5.) It may be farther enquired, whether the apostle Paul was guilty of a lie; when, being charged, in Acts xxiii. 4, 5. with reviling God’s high priest, he says, I wist not that he was the high priest? How was it possible that he should entertain any doubt concerning his being the high priest; which none, who were present, could, in the least, question?
Answ. We may suppose, that the apostle, when he says, I wist not that he was the high priest, intends nothing else, but I do not own him to be the high priest, as you call him; for he is not an high priest of God’s appointing or approving; which, had he been, he would have acted more becoming that character; and then I should have had no occasion to have told him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall; for that would have been a reviling him; since I know that scripture very well, that says, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people; therefore he intimates, that, though he was an high priest of man’s making, he was not one of God’s approving; and accordingly he was to be treated with contempt, instead of that regard which was formerly paid to the high priests, when they were better men, and acted more agreeable to their character. No one, that deserves to be called God’s high priest, would have ordered a prisoner, who came to be tried for his life, instead of making his defence, to be smitten on the mouth.
But, suppose we render the words agreeably to our translation, I did not understand that he was the high priest, he may be vindicated from the charge of telling a lie, if we consider,
1st, That this was a confused assembly, and not a regular court of judicature, in which the judge, or chief magistrate, is known to all, by the place in which he sits, or the part he acts in trying causes.
2dly, The high priest, in courts of judicature, was not known by any robe or distinct habit that he wore, as judges now are; for he never wore any other but his common garments, which were the same that other people wore, except when he ministered in offering gifts and sacrifices in the temple. Therefore the apostle could not know him by any distinct garment that he wore.
3dly, Through the corruption of the times, the high priest was changed almost every year, according to the will of the chief governor, who advanced his own friends to that dignity, and oftentimes sold it for money; it is therefore probable, that Ananias had not been long high-priest; and Paul was now a stranger at Jerusalem, and so might not know that he was high priest. Thus, if we take the words in this sense, in which they are commonly understood, the apostle may be sufficiently vindicated from the charge of telling a lie.
(6.) It may be farther enquired, what judgment we may pass concerning David’s pretence, when he came to Abimelech, in 1 Sam. xxi. 2. that the king commanded him a business, which no one was to know any thing of; and that he had appointed his servants to such and such a place; and also of his feigning himself mad, before the king of Gath, ver. 13. which dissimulation can be reckoned no other than a practical lie.
Answ. In both these instances he must be allowed to have sinned, and therefore not proposed as a pattern to us; and all that can be inferred from it is, that there is a great deal of the corruption of nature remaining in the best of God’s people. What he told Abimelech was certainly a lye; and all that he expected to gain by it, was only a supply of his present necessities; the consequence whereof was, the poor man’s losing his life, together with all the priests’, except Abiathar, by Saul’s inhumanity. And David seems to be truly sensible of this sin, as appears from Psal. xxxiv. which, as is intimated in the title thereof, was penned on this occasion; in which he arms others against it, in ver. 13. Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile: And in ver. 18. he seems to relate his own experience, when he says, The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
As to his behaviour before the king of Gath, which was a visible lie, discovered in his actions; it can, by no means, be excused from being a breach of this Commandment. It is, indeed, alleged by some, to extenuate his fault; that he was afraid that his having killed Goliah, would have induced Achish to take away his life; as appears from what is said in ver. 11, 12. Nevertheless, it may be considered as an aggravation of his sin,