quietthinker
Well-Known Member
The recommendation Rahab got was for hiding the spies not for lying. There are other ways of dealing with the situation. Take for instance the situation with Lot. The towns folk were determined to get Lot's visitors (the angels) but they were struck with blindness....they couldn't find the door. So, what does blindness mean? Does it mean their eyesight went black or does it mean they couldn't identify where the door was?I don't remember. I know one that we're all probably guilty of is "I'm okay" or "I'm fine" when we're really not. I downplay things at times. I think lying is not okay, and we usually consider that to be scripturally correct and limit it to that. However, I think in the instance of protecting life, acting in accordance with faith in God to protect his purpose, then it is acceptable.
We see this in Joshua 2. The two spies sent by Joshua attend the house of a prostitute named Rahab. In faith and fear of God, she takes them under her wing and hides the men at her home. The king says basically, these spies are there, go get them. Rahab is questioned about the men.
This is her response:
Verse 4.“Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)
Rahab is later mentioned as an example her faith in Hebrews 11 and how it saved her life. "By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient."
Here's another one; they took Jesus to the brow of the cliff to throw him over but he walked through them. What happened here? Was he that deft at kung fu he managed to negotiate a path out between each individual? ...did he just vanish?....have a think about it.
I recall the story of a Christian family hiding some Jews during the Second World War. The Nazis knocked on their door and asked if they were hiding anybody.....they said, come and look for your self and although those hidden were in the area searched they were not found. Could it be that God hid them from the eyes of the soldiers?....I think it's possible.
God worked in spite of Rahab's lie, not because of it. Did that justify the lie?....we better not believe that! Had she taken an approach with integrity re this matter the outcome would probably have been the same.
The record of God's people, whether it be Rahab or Abraham or Samson or many others, reveals their failings as well as their victories. Does that mean we are justified in our failings because we read of theirs. I don't think so.
The bar according to Jesus is set at perfection. How can we who have died to sin live any longer there in?...Paul. Note, he is not saying we will get away with justifying our sin or making excuses for it.