Lying

The umbrella is narrow. Where deceit is treated as an ethical failure or a habit of speech, the relevant material lives under Falsehood and Hypocrisy. What the present entry collects is one specific motif: a "lying spirit" sent out from before Yahweh's throne, told twice in nearly identical words.

A Lying Spirit From God

The scene is Micaiah's vision of the heavenly court. A spirit volunteers to deceive Ahab into the battle that will kill him: "And there came forth a spirit, and stood before Yahweh, and said, I will entice him. And Yahweh said to him, How? And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, You will entice him, and will prevail also: go forth, and do so. Now therefore, look, Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours; and Yahweh has spoken evil concerning you" (1Ki 22:21-23).

The Chronicler retells the same court scene with only minor variation: "And there came forth a spirit, and stood before Yahweh, and said, I will entice him. And Yahweh said to him, How? And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, You will entice him, and will prevail also: go forth, and do so. Now therefore, look, Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours; and Yahweh has spoken evil concerning you" (2Ch 18:20-22). [ABSOLUTE]

The motif is striking: the deceit that fills Ahab's prophets is not portrayed as an act those prophets initiate against Yahweh's purpose, but as a commissioned errand within his court. The "lying spirit" is sent — and Micaiah names that sending out loud, in advance, as the very judgment Ahab will not hear.