When Appearances Deceive

Absalom, the Gibeonites, and America’s Crisis of Discernment

By David Lane

First and Second Samuel were originally one continuous book in the Hebrew Bible, known simply as Sefer Shmuel—the Book of Samuel. They remained undivided in the Masoretic manuscript tradition but were separated into two books when translated into Greek as part of the Septuagint, most likely during the second century B.C.

Although the human authorship of 2 Samuel remains unknown, its vivid portrayal of Absalom may preserve the testimony of someone intimately familiar with David’s royal court—perhaps a prophet such as Nathan or Gad, or a royal chronicler whose records were later incorporated into the biblical account.

Second Samuel 14:25 records Absalom’s extraordinary physical beauty:

“But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.”

Yet the following chapter reveals how Absalom converted physical appearance, feigned concern, and calculated flattery into political loyalty. He positioned himself near the city gate, intercepted those seeking justice from the king, sympathized with their grievances, and insinuated that he alone would give them the hearing they deserved.

Second Samuel 15:6 delivers the chilling conclusion:

“So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.”

In his classic The Life of David, written in the 1930s, A.W. Pink observed that Israel’s admiration for Absalom revealed the nation’s low spiritual condition. Absalom possessed neither piety, wisdom, justice, nor moral character. Nevertheless, the people were captivated by his appearance. His wickedness was overlooked while his physical beauty was celebrated, feeding the arrogance that eventually brought about his ruin.

Pink recognized the same spiritual disorder in his own generation. Physical beauty, outward prowess, and public appeal were valued more highly than moral virtue and spiritual grace. He argued that Christendom had fallen into decline because it had become increasingly attracted to whatever appealed to the flesh.

Churches wanted full pews and full treasuries. Preachers wanted to retain the young. Evangelists wanted visible results. Consequently, worldly attractions, emotional manipulation, and high-pressure methods were employed to manufacture the appearance of spiritual success.

Such appears to be the spiritual condition of twenty-first-century America: a mile wide and an inch deep.

Our culture has become captivated by appearances, titles, credentials, celebrity, institutional prestige, and carefully constructed public images. We have confused expertise with infallibility, authority with integrity, and visibility with truth.

That brings us to the Gibeonite-like deception that came to surround COVID-19, Anthony Fauci, and the American people’s profound lack of spiritual discernment. The prevailing narrative was advanced by a decadent secular culture and reinforced by cultural Marxists deeply entrenched across America’s spiritual, intellectual, educational, economic, technological, and vocational centers of influence and power.

Yet the deception surrounding COVID-19 reveals an even deeper failure.

Joshua 9 recounts how the Gibeonites, fearing Israel, devised an elaborate ruse. They dressed themselves in worn garments, carried patched wineskins, put old shoes on their feet, and brought dry, moldy bread. Every detail was carefully arranged to create the appearance that they had traveled from a distant country.

The evidence appeared convincing.

Joshua 9:14 records Israel’s fatal mistake:

“The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD.”

Israel examined what the Gibeonites presented but failed to consult the One who could expose what appearances concealed. They inspected the evidence with their natural senses but neglected the counsel of God.

In Gleanings in Joshua, A.W. Pink explains that Satan opposes the people of God in two distinct forms: openly, as a roaring lion seeking to devour, and covertly, as a subtle serpent practicing deceit.

Scripture and Church history demonstrate that deception is often far more dangerous—and far more successful—than open persecution. When force cannot exterminate, intimidate, or silence the faithful, Satan turns to concealment, manipulation, and secret schemes.

The roaring lion is easily recognized. The subtle serpent seldom is.

Open persecution may awaken the Church. Deception enters quietly. It comes clothed in authority, credentialed by experts, amplified by institutions, repeated by the media, and presented as unquestionable truth.

That is the great warning running from Joshua through the books of Samuel and into twenty-first-century America: God’s people are rarely defeated by superior strength alone. More often, they are defeated when they fail to seek the Lord’s counsel, mistake appearance for character, and surrender spiritual discernment to the prevailing authorities of the age.

The COVID-19 crisis was therefore more than medical or political. It was spiritual. It tested whether the American Church could distinguish the voice of truth from the whispers of the guileful serpent.

The postgame accounting must now be lawful, factual, public, and unsparing.

Every relevant document should be released. Every financial interest should be disclosed. Every materially misleading statement should be examined. Every abuse of governmental authority should be exposed.

The actions of Dr. Fauci, officials at the National Institutes of Health, pharmaceutical companies, media organizations, government agencies, and communications platforms should be subjected to rigorous public examination. Wherever the evidence establishes deliberate deception, concealment, censorship, collusion, or unlawful conduct, those responsible must answer for it—not as an act of vengeance, but as a vindication of truth and a warning against repetition.

Century-old family businesses were bankrupted. Employees and military personnel lost their livelihoods under mask and vaccination mandates. Churches were shuttered, and in places such as California, congregational singing was prohibited. Loved ones died alone in sterile hospital rooms, separated from the families who desperately wanted to be beside them.

These were not abstractions.

They were grievous harms inflicted upon real people, real families, real churches, and the nation itself.

Yet the deepest scandal of COVID-19 was not merely that powerful institutions may have misled the American people. It was that a spiritually undiscerning nation had become so enamored with titles, appearances, credentials, and institutional power that it no longer knew whom—or what—to believe.

Absalom stood before Israel in all his external splendor, handsome and without visible blemish. The Gibeonites stood before Joshua wearing old garments and carrying moldy bread.

In both instances, appearance concealed reality.

And therein lies the warning to America: the serpent seldom announces himself with a roar. He comes handsomely dressed, impressively credentialed, officially approved, and carrying precisely the evidence he wants us to see.

The question now is not merely whether America was deceived.

The greater question is whether the Church has recovered enough spiritual discernment to seek the counsel of the Lord, test every spirit, examine every claim, and prevent such deception from prevailing again.

The hour calls for Christians who cannot be seduced by appearances, intimidated by credentials, or silenced by institutional power. It calls for men and women who fear God more than man, love truth more than acceptance, and possess the courage to stand when standing comes at a cost.

Across America,the Gibeons and Rahabs are taking their stands.