Scripture Sanctioning Lying

Scriptural Principle for lying to Magistrates seeking to harm you.

Some of the examples we find of lying in Scripture,

A.) Hebrew Midwives lying to Pharaoh

Exodus 1:¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶ and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”¹⁹ And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.” ²⁰ Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. ²¹ And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.

B.) Abe lying to Potentates about Sarah being his sister (not wife)

Genesis 12:¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹ And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. ¹² Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that ^[e]I may live because of you.”

Genesis 20:1 And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. ² Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

C.) Isaac lying for the same reason about Rebecca

Genesis 26:⁶ So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. ⁷ And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.”

D.) Rahab being commended for lying to her city officials about the spies.

James 2:²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?

Hebrews 11:³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

Many commentators note that Abraham and Isaac were dead meat if they had admitted that their wives were their wives. The Kings would have just killed them and taken their wives. However if their wives were thought to be their sisters then Abraham and later Isaac would be plied and wooed with gifts in order to convince the brothers to give their sisters in marriage.

We must conclude that the principle that justifies lying in these cases in Scripture is that we do not owe the truth and so are not obligated to tell the truth to anyone who intends to unjustly harm either us or loved ones were we to tell the truth. Lying in order to protect God’s people, it seems, is warranted in the Scripture.

It should be noted that nowhere in Scripture does the Holy Spirit condemn Abraham and Isaac for being in sin for lying to the potentates. We can only conclude then that Abraham and Isaac were righteous in what they did in these cases.

Indeed if we look at other cases of deception as practiced in Scripture by God’s people (Ehud with Eglon, David feigning madness with the Philistines, Tamar with Judah, etc.) there seems to be a principle that deception is allowed to protect the people of God and / or to advance the Kingdom against enemies of God.

Now applying to this principle to our current situation we would note that many of the State Governors as well as many of the agency of either the FEDS or the United Nations intend to harm us by their order for us to mask up when masks do nothing to stop the Chinese communist virus. The harm is found in their intent to fill us with fear so that they can control us and others to do their bidding once vaccines come out. There is also the issue that wearing the masks is a violation of not only the 9th commandment but the 6th commandment as well as masks work to the end of self infecting. This is why lying about having a medical condition to those who ask and so refusing to wear a mask is pleasing to God while damning the State for insisting that we live by lies by wearing the mask is proper is also pleasing to God.