Bible Synapse
Does the Bible ever approve of lying?
Hard question · The law of Moses · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
The ninth commandment forbids bearing false witness against a neighbour.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
The Hebrew midwives fear God and refuse to kill the baby boys; they give Pharaoh an excuse, and God deals well with them.
But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.
Rahab hides the Israelite spies on her roof and tells the king’s men they have already gone.
And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were: And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.
By faith Rahab did not perish, because she had received the spies with peace.
By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
Rahab was justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way.
Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
The objection
The ninth commandment forbids false witness, and Proverbs calls lying lips an abomination to the Lord. Yet the Hebrew midwives deceived Pharaoh and “God dealt well with the midwives”, and Rahab misled the king of Jericho’s men and is praised in Hebrews and James. Does the Bible approve of deception when it saves lives?
The answer
Scripture records many things it does not approve, and in both stories it says plainly what God rewarded. The midwives were blessed because they “feared God” (Exodus 1:17, 21): they refused Pharaoh’s order to murder the Hebrew boys. Their answer to Pharaoh may even have been partly true, since Hebrew mothers sometimes gave birth before a midwife arrived; but the text credits their fear of God, not their words. Rahab is praised for the same kind of thing. Hebrews says, “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace” (11:31), and James points to what she did: she “received the messengers, and had sent them out another way” (2:25). The deed commended is sheltering God’s people at the risk of her life, out of her new faith that “the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath” (Joshua 2:11).
Neither text praises the falsehood. Both also call her ‘the harlot’, and no one takes that as approval of her former life. God blessed imperfect people for their faith, as he still does. The classic commentators mostly agree: Matthew Henry says that whatever excuses are offered for Rahab’s falsehood, it is best to admit nothing that explains it away, and Augustine held that God bore patiently with these women’s weakness while rewarding their kindness. So the commandment stands, and the stories show God honouring faith and mercy in people whose understanding was still imperfect.
Other answers Christians give
Murderers are not owed the truth
Some Christian writers argue that misleading people who are hunting innocent lives is not the “false witness against thy neighbour” that the commandment forbids, because they have no right to the truth they would misuse. On this view the midwives and Rahab did right.
Every lie is sin
Augustine, and many after him, held that it is never right to lie, even to save a life; God pardoned and rewarded these women for their kindness and faith, not for their words.
Still open
Whether it is ever right to deceive in order to save a life is still debated among Christians. The lists also cite 1 Kings 22, where a spirit deceives Ahab’s prophets; that belongs to the separate question whether God ever deceives.
From the classic commentators
Though excuses may be offered for the guilt of Rahab's falsehood, it seems best to admit nothing which tends to explain it away.Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary: Joshua 2, at Bible Hub
the patience of God did bear withal: Who yet, for their human kindness which they had shown to His servants, rendered unto them rewards of an earthly sort, albeit signifying somewhat of an heavenly.Augustine, Against Lying (c. 420), §33, at New Advent
Sources
- Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary: Joshua 2, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Joshua 2, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Exodus 1, at Bible Hub
- Augustine, Against Lying, at New Advent