When a Lie Becomes True:
Truthfulness as Covenant Loyalty
Joshua 2:1-7
Good morning! If you would, please turn with me in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 2. We started into this thrilling book last week and I really enjoyed diving in. It was a great study dealing with hope and the encouragement we can have as kingdom dominators. As we turn to chapter 2, we are not going to be disappointed here either. In chapter 2 we are going to be reading and meditating on the story which has to do with Rahab.
Rahab is a Canaanite prostitute that converts and joins herself to the covenant people. And this story is a good one for so many reasons. It is a reminder that God is not just conquering the world, but he’s also subduing souls. What we find in Rahab is that a woman with a provocative background gets to enjoy a place in God’s family. She comes to partake of God’s grace.
So we see that the promises to Abraham are coming to pass. Those who bless you (i.e. Abraham and Israel) will be blessed. God shows favor to those who favor him. And that’s a testimony to what’s going on in the world today. Those promises are still alive and well.
And we’re going to see a lot more as we go through this passage. And with that let’s get into it. Let’s read together Joshua 2....
Introduction
The story of the siege of Jericho is going to cover the next 5 chapters. This first battle is given the most in depth coverage of all the battles in the Canaan conquest. But here in this chapter we see that Joshua, as a good general, starts with some reconnaissance. His first step in taking the city is to gather some intelligence. And that’s what these spies are charged with doing.
And this mission leads them to hide out at Rahab’s bed and breakfast. Now, a lot of people speculate about why these guys ended up at a brothel. Some say, “Hey, this is obvious that these spies had other intentions and were joining the Canaanites in their revelry. Others say, “If you need cover, one of the best places you can go is to the house of prostitution because people keep a lot of secrets there.” Others say that it was ingenious because no one would ever look for a good Christian person there.
But let’s face it, Scripture doesn’t tell us why they were there or how they came to be there. Maybe they were chased down the streets and they jumped in through the first open door they saw. We don’t know. All we know is that God led them right to where he wanted them to be.
The story doesn’t tell us all the details we might like. And we should remember that we shouldn’t ever go beyond what is stated. The point of this passage is about how God invaded a Canaanite woman’s house. There's a subduing of a heart that takes place before the city was subdued.
And that’s the beauty of this passage. The Lord’s grace is on full display. Jericho may be a place of God’s wrath. We’re going to read about how God lays siege to this place and completely levels it. But before we ever hear about that, we get to see a glorious testimony to the far reaches of His mercy.
Rahab is a brand plucked from the fire. And she’s referred to 3 different places in the NT. She’s something of a trophy of God’s mercy; she’s put on a pedestal in the NT as a real testimony to God’s kindness. And ultimately she’s a reminder that Godis taking people from every tribe, tongue and nation. She’s a testimony that God saves Gentiles, heathens, sinners. She’s a woman, a Canaanite pagan, and a prostitute. So she’s a testimony to the fact that God saves sinners.
And we’re going to see a lot about God’s covenant mercy as we go through this passage. And we’re going to be studying her life for at least two weeks, if not three.
This chapter divides into three basic sections. As it tells us the story of Rahab, we find that there are three basic divisions to her story. In the first 7 verses, we see her concealing the spies. In verses 8-11 we see her confessing the Lord. Then in the last portion we see her covenanting. She enters into a pact or a covenant with the spies and the people of Israel.
This morning, I want to deal just with those first seven verses. I want to talk about her concealment of the spies. There’s a lot to digest here. I want us to mull over the ethics of what she does. That is to say, I want us to meditate on Rahab’s lie.
Part of her concealing of the spies involves her deceiving the Jericho police force. And I want us to spend some time mulling this over and understanding how it comports with the 9th commandment and what it means to “bear false witness.”
The Lie
Now you heard what happened. You understand all of what took place. The spies somehow come to be in her house and the Jericho police department come a knocking on her door. And it tells us that she hid the two spies in her house and then straight up lied to the Gestapo. She told them that, yeah, they were here but I didn’t know who they were, and they ran out of here hours ago. She even hastens them along by saying, “If you hurry, you can probably catch them. They went that-a-way.”
So, she’s not just hid the men who came to her house. She told a bold faced lie to these soldiers.
You could also include verse 16 in this because in that verse she tells the two men to go the hills to the west and remain there three days. She had sent the sheriff’s deputies to the east, towards the Jordan River. The spies, she sends to in the complete opposite direction. So she’s really concealed them all that much more and not giving them up to the king.
Understanding Disagreement
Now, before I develop this point, I do want to give a quick disclaimer. We’re going to talk about this lie that Rahab told and I’m going to give you a certain take on it; on what has been called in ethics the “lie of necessity.” But I want to peel back and say you can disagree with me on this and we can still be friends.
Some of you may have heard me talk about this before. But about 15 years ago I was leading a small church plant here in Ashland called Covenant Reformed Fellowship. And on Sunday evenings we had a Bible study where we were going through the 10 commandments. And we looked at the 9th commandment and were discussing what it means when it says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” And part of that study focused on this passage right here. When you are trying to understand what the Bible says about lying, you have to consider what Rahab does and how that fits into the whole idea of truth telling.
Now, there was a couple in the church at that time that objected to what I said. And we had from what I could tell, a cordial discussion about it. A week later they emailed me a 10 page paper on their view. And I read it and thought, that’s a good defense of their position (a position that many good Christian people have held, mind you). And I thanked them for the information and said I was glad for their depth of study. I can’t quite remember, but I probably said something that I appreciate them passing it along and being open for discussion.
Well, unbeknownst to me this couple was hot about the issue. They were not in any way satisfied with my response. And they ended up leaving the church quite abruptly and they took another family with them. Now when a church only has 6 families, that’s a pretty big blow. The church struggled on for a while, but it eventually closed down.
Now you understand what I’m a little gun shy when it comes to Rahab and her concealment of these spies. I get a little nervous every time I come to this passage. I don’t in anyway equate any of you with those families in that church. I just like to take this opportunity to say, that there’s a greater lie that we can believe if we’re not careful.
Somehow, Christians can come to believe that there is no room for disagreement in the church of Christ. But that’s not true. There’s always room for disagreement. Not about the gospel. We should be in agreement when it comes to those things. But there’s always room for growth, and there’s always room for disagreement. And it’s always good to weigh how substantive our disagreements are.
We are called to bear with one another and support one another. Love is supposed to “bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things.” That’s part of our membership vows. That we will support the worship and work of the church. We’re pledging to not let our disagreements over certain issues divide us. We’re swallowing a lie that says the church has to conform to my specific interpretation on every little iota.
We have a confession of faith. These documents provide pretty good parameters of when it comes to the core of what we are to believe. We can stand strong on these things. Anything outside those bounds we can have good conversations about, disagree, and still maintain good fellowship with one another.
Now, again, I’m glad that I have good confidence when it comes to this group. I think our crew does a great job. And that gives me some hope as we turn to consider Rahab and her concealment of these spies.
Now, before I get to what I believe, I’m going to give you the other side. Alright? So no one can accuse me of being unbalanced. There are some who say that Rahab is never commended for her lies. Some people say that it was wrong for Rahab to have lied to the soldiers and the Bible never allows us in any circumstance to say something that is untrue. When the Bible says, “Do not bear false witness” it means that under no circumstances whatsoever are you ever to tell anyone anything that may be in the slightest bit wrong.
And people who believe that would support their position by looking at the New Testament.
Now there are two passages in the NT which talk about Rahab and her dealings with the spies. The first is…
Now people who believe that it’s always wrong to lie look at this verse and say, “See, it does not commend her for her lying. It commends her because she welcomed the spies.” Welcoming the spies and lying to the soldiers (they would say) are two different things. To offer shelter and give them a soda is a lot different than saying to the guys with the spears that they were not there.
The other passage is …
Now those who advocate this position look at this verse and say, “See again, there is no mention of her lying.” She was proved her justification by receiving the spies and sending them back out. There’s no mention of her deceiving the soldiers.
So they would say that the NT does not in any way countenance her lying. She’s applauded for her hospitality, not her deception.
They would go on to say that Rahab was a pagan. She’s just been converted, and her lying is part of her old pagan ways. She didn’t know any better because she hadn’t been discipled and taught what the 9th commandment requires.
Now, if you believe that, I am perfectly fine with that. There have been many people (many good Christian people) who have believed that throughout the ages. I want you to know that I have no beef with that whatsoever. If ever I’m on the run from the Gestapo, I’m just not going to come to your house.
A Different Take
I’d like to give a different look at it though. Let’s start with the Hebrews passage. It says, “She gave a friendly welcome to the spies.” It’s my opinion that her lying was part of her friendly welcome. I mean, it wouldn’t be a friendly welcome to say, “Hey hide here,” then say to the soldiers, “They are over there.” I believe that her hospitality was demonstrated not just in hiding the spies, but also ensuring their welfare by pointing the soldiers in the opposite direction.
Let’s think about the James passage too. It says, “She justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?” Now, think about that last part. She sent them out another way. Wasn’t that part of the deception?
I’d also say that James is talking about all what Rahab did. He says she welcomed them and sent them out. I personally believe he’s saying that everything she did from the time these guys entered her house to the time they left, was proof that she was justified before God.
Those are just some thoughts on those two passages. Maybe another way to read them. Now let me circle back and give you a fuller understanding of what is involved in the 9th commandment.
Understanding the Exceptions
First, I want you to remember that there are some exceptions that God makes to a number of the commandments.
For instance, God tells us to not murder. We can all agree that murder is not a good thing. God forbids all unjust killing. But the key word there is “unjust,” isn’t it? Because we know that God does allow us to take another person’s life if it be for a just cause. For instance, the death penalty is commanded by God. When someone commits murder, God commands the civil magistrate to put him to death. That’s a just taking of life. And we know here in the book of Joshua, it is a book that is filled with lots of killing. People are dying all over the place because they are in a war. In times of war, it’s necessary to kill. I’m not going to go into all the aspects of just war and just killing in war, but you get the picture. The Lord makes certain exceptions to the 6th commandment.
The same can be said for the command to honor your father and mother. Are you to always obey those in authority over you? What if they tell you to go rob a bank or stop preaching the gospel? Should you do those things? Of course not. The Bible tells us that the Apostles directly disobeyed the religious leaders of their time and they said, “We must obey God rather than men.” So when we are ordered to disobey God, we need to disobey those authorities.
Even though we are commanded to honor authorities and obey them, we recognize that there are some exceptions to the rule.
The same is true when it comes to the 9th commandment. There are times when it is permissible to lie. For instance, in times of war (like what we have here in Joshua 2). Someone’s life is in danger. It’s not wrong to lie to protect them.
You may even say that the spies themselves were lying. Espionage by nature is a type of deception because it involves sneaking around and going incognito.
Later on in chapter 8 we’ll talk about the battle of Ai. And the victory of Ai revolves around deception. If you know the story, you know that Joshua sets up an ambush. He has one group of men run away while the other comes in and sacs the city. The whole thing was a set up; a sham. His aim was to deceive the people of Ai so that he might gain the upper hand.
So we see that the 9th commandment does have some caveats to it, just like the other commands. There are what we may call, extenuating circumstances, that will be exceptions to the rule.
Now, there are two other examples that I want you to consider.
Two other examples
First, think about the Egyptian midwives. Back in the book of Exodus we are told the story of the growing number of Israelites. They were having babies and they would be assisted by Egyptian midwives. And the Pharaoh at that time told the midwives to kill the male babies that were born to the Jewish women. He felt threatened by the growing number of Jews and he wanted to control the population and he wanted to prevent the coming of the messiah. So he gave the order to these women that they needed to commit infanticide.
And what did the midwives do? They disobeyed Pharaoh’s command and they showed their devotion to the Lord. And when Pharaoh confronted them about it, do you remember what they said? They lied to him. They said that these Hebrew women were vigorous and they gave birth before the midwives could get there. The Bible tells us in Ex. 1:20 that God dealt well with the midwives. He blessed them. He showed them favor because they were more devoted to Him than to Pharaoh. Why were the blessed? Because they practiced civil disobedience and what I want to call covenantal truthfulness. They were truthful to God. They may have lied to Pharaoh, but their lips were faithful to the Lord and to His people.
That’s exactly what Rahab was doing. Rahab may have lied to the FBI, but she demonstrated covenantal honesty in that she was devoted to God and His people. And that’s what Joshua was doing in his battle against Ai. He deceived that town, but he was demonstrating devotion to the Lord’s will.
Now, let me give you one more example. This one comes from the New Testament. It is 2 Thess. 1:11. 2 Thess. Is talking about how God deals with the man of lawlessness and the unbelieving who are in the world. And in verse 11 he says, “God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth.”
What do we find here? God is sending strong delusions. He is causing them to believe a lie. That’s what this says. God deliberately, self consciously, sovereignly, deceives them and sets them up so that they will believe what is false. This is what God does to his enemies so that they may come to ruin.
You see, God is at war. And God’s war involves deception. And Rahab and Joshua and the Egyptian Midwives all were doing just as God did. They were demonstrating faithfulness to God by aligning themselves with God against His enemies. They were acting in covenant with God by preserving the lives of the innocent and subverting the Satanic plans of those who were against God.
Truth is Covenantal
So you might say this: Truth is that which is constructive; lies are that which are destructive. Truth (i.e. God’s truth) builds God’s kingdom, protects the life of the innocent and the lives of God’s people, truth promotes what is right in God’s eyes. Truth is only destructive when it comes to the forces of evil. Falsehood is destructive. It’s design is to destroy that which is good and godly.
Biblical truth is that which is in alignment with God himself.
Now, again, don’t get me wrong. This is not a license to lie all the time. Satan is the father of lies. Let’s not forget that. God demands truthfulness. God is truth and his people must speak the truth.
But I want us to understand that truth is that which is in accord with God. If you are aligning yourself with God’s enemies in your behavior, then you are acting against God. If those midwives would have obeyed Pharaoh, they would have been demonstrating loyalty to the gods of Egypt and to Pharaoh (not to God).
That’s the way we need to think about truth and truthfulness. Truth is that which conforms to the bible. It is that which demonstrates loyalty to God. Truth, you may say, is covenantal. Speaking truth is not just speaking bare facts. There is a difference between speaking the truth and speaking bare facts. Rahab could have told the soldiers that the spies were in her closet and she’d be speaking bare facts. But it would have been loyalty to another god. She’d be acting in covenant relation to the gods of Jericho and the Canaanites.
That she protected these men showed that she was speaking the language of faithfulness. It was covenant loyalty to the one true God, YHWH.
In telling this “lie” she was breaking away from the satanic powers that surrounded her. In telling this lie she perjured herself. When it came to Jericho’s king and Jericho’s religion she was going against them and aligning herself with the God of these Jews.
Do you understand what I’m saying? Truth is not just bare facts. Truth is always covenantal.
And the question is, “To whom are you loyal?” With whom are you living in covenant relation?
That’s what makes this story so great. Rahab may not be telling the truth when it comes to bare facts. But she’s showing loyalty to the God who rules on high. Her speech may appear to our minds to be defective, but what she’s really doing is defecting to Jesus Christ and declaring Him to be the God who is to be feared.
So, to put it another way, in concealing these men, she’s revealing her heart. She’s revealing that she has devoted herself to the God who Lives and to the one who will have ultimate dominion.
And that is what is necessary in our day. That’s the question: to whom are we devoted? Are we devoted to the Lord? Or are we devoted to those who are God’s enemies?
Rahab is a Canaanite prostitute that converts and joins herself to the covenant people. And this story is a good one for so many reasons. It is a reminder that God is not just conquering the world, but he’s also subduing souls. What we find in Rahab is that a woman with a provocative background gets to enjoy a place in God’s family. She comes to partake of God’s grace.
So we see that the promises to Abraham are coming to pass. Those who bless you (i.e. Abraham and Israel) will be blessed. God shows favor to those who favor him. And that’s a testimony to what’s going on in the world today. Those promises are still alive and well.
And we’re going to see a lot more as we go through this passage. And with that let’s get into it. Let’s read together Joshua 2....
Introduction
The story of the siege of Jericho is going to cover the next 5 chapters. This first battle is given the most in depth coverage of all the battles in the Canaan conquest. But here in this chapter we see that Joshua, as a good general, starts with some reconnaissance. His first step in taking the city is to gather some intelligence. And that’s what these spies are charged with doing.
And this mission leads them to hide out at Rahab’s bed and breakfast. Now, a lot of people speculate about why these guys ended up at a brothel. Some say, “Hey, this is obvious that these spies had other intentions and were joining the Canaanites in their revelry. Others say, “If you need cover, one of the best places you can go is to the house of prostitution because people keep a lot of secrets there.” Others say that it was ingenious because no one would ever look for a good Christian person there.
But let’s face it, Scripture doesn’t tell us why they were there or how they came to be there. Maybe they were chased down the streets and they jumped in through the first open door they saw. We don’t know. All we know is that God led them right to where he wanted them to be.
The story doesn’t tell us all the details we might like. And we should remember that we shouldn’t ever go beyond what is stated. The point of this passage is about how God invaded a Canaanite woman’s house. There's a subduing of a heart that takes place before the city was subdued.
And that’s the beauty of this passage. The Lord’s grace is on full display. Jericho may be a place of God’s wrath. We’re going to read about how God lays siege to this place and completely levels it. But before we ever hear about that, we get to see a glorious testimony to the far reaches of His mercy.
Rahab is a brand plucked from the fire. And she’s referred to 3 different places in the NT. She’s something of a trophy of God’s mercy; she’s put on a pedestal in the NT as a real testimony to God’s kindness. And ultimately she’s a reminder that Godis taking people from every tribe, tongue and nation. She’s a testimony that God saves Gentiles, heathens, sinners. She’s a woman, a Canaanite pagan, and a prostitute. So she’s a testimony to the fact that God saves sinners.
And we’re going to see a lot about God’s covenant mercy as we go through this passage. And we’re going to be studying her life for at least two weeks, if not three.
This chapter divides into three basic sections. As it tells us the story of Rahab, we find that there are three basic divisions to her story. In the first 7 verses, we see her concealing the spies. In verses 8-11 we see her confessing the Lord. Then in the last portion we see her covenanting. She enters into a pact or a covenant with the spies and the people of Israel.
This morning, I want to deal just with those first seven verses. I want to talk about her concealment of the spies. There’s a lot to digest here. I want us to mull over the ethics of what she does. That is to say, I want us to meditate on Rahab’s lie.
Part of her concealing of the spies involves her deceiving the Jericho police force. And I want us to spend some time mulling this over and understanding how it comports with the 9th commandment and what it means to “bear false witness.”
The Lie
Now you heard what happened. You understand all of what took place. The spies somehow come to be in her house and the Jericho police department come a knocking on her door. And it tells us that she hid the two spies in her house and then straight up lied to the Gestapo. She told them that, yeah, they were here but I didn’t know who they were, and they ran out of here hours ago. She even hastens them along by saying, “If you hurry, you can probably catch them. They went that-a-way.”
So, she’s not just hid the men who came to her house. She told a bold faced lie to these soldiers.
You could also include verse 16 in this because in that verse she tells the two men to go the hills to the west and remain there three days. She had sent the sheriff’s deputies to the east, towards the Jordan River. The spies, she sends to in the complete opposite direction. So she’s really concealed them all that much more and not giving them up to the king.
Understanding Disagreement
Now, before I develop this point, I do want to give a quick disclaimer. We’re going to talk about this lie that Rahab told and I’m going to give you a certain take on it; on what has been called in ethics the “lie of necessity.” But I want to peel back and say you can disagree with me on this and we can still be friends.
Some of you may have heard me talk about this before. But about 15 years ago I was leading a small church plant here in Ashland called Covenant Reformed Fellowship. And on Sunday evenings we had a Bible study where we were going through the 10 commandments. And we looked at the 9th commandment and were discussing what it means when it says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” And part of that study focused on this passage right here. When you are trying to understand what the Bible says about lying, you have to consider what Rahab does and how that fits into the whole idea of truth telling.
Now, there was a couple in the church at that time that objected to what I said. And we had from what I could tell, a cordial discussion about it. A week later they emailed me a 10 page paper on their view. And I read it and thought, that’s a good defense of their position (a position that many good Christian people have held, mind you). And I thanked them for the information and said I was glad for their depth of study. I can’t quite remember, but I probably said something that I appreciate them passing it along and being open for discussion.
Well, unbeknownst to me this couple was hot about the issue. They were not in any way satisfied with my response. And they ended up leaving the church quite abruptly and they took another family with them. Now when a church only has 6 families, that’s a pretty big blow. The church struggled on for a while, but it eventually closed down.
Now you understand what I’m a little gun shy when it comes to Rahab and her concealment of these spies. I get a little nervous every time I come to this passage. I don’t in anyway equate any of you with those families in that church. I just like to take this opportunity to say, that there’s a greater lie that we can believe if we’re not careful.
Somehow, Christians can come to believe that there is no room for disagreement in the church of Christ. But that’s not true. There’s always room for disagreement. Not about the gospel. We should be in agreement when it comes to those things. But there’s always room for growth, and there’s always room for disagreement. And it’s always good to weigh how substantive our disagreements are.
We are called to bear with one another and support one another. Love is supposed to “bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things.” That’s part of our membership vows. That we will support the worship and work of the church. We’re pledging to not let our disagreements over certain issues divide us. We’re swallowing a lie that says the church has to conform to my specific interpretation on every little iota.
We have a confession of faith. These documents provide pretty good parameters of when it comes to the core of what we are to believe. We can stand strong on these things. Anything outside those bounds we can have good conversations about, disagree, and still maintain good fellowship with one another.
Now, again, I’m glad that I have good confidence when it comes to this group. I think our crew does a great job. And that gives me some hope as we turn to consider Rahab and her concealment of these spies.
Now, before I get to what I believe, I’m going to give you the other side. Alright? So no one can accuse me of being unbalanced. There are some who say that Rahab is never commended for her lies. Some people say that it was wrong for Rahab to have lied to the soldiers and the Bible never allows us in any circumstance to say something that is untrue. When the Bible says, “Do not bear false witness” it means that under no circumstances whatsoever are you ever to tell anyone anything that may be in the slightest bit wrong.
And people who believe that would support their position by looking at the New Testament.
Now there are two passages in the NT which talk about Rahab and her dealings with the spies. The first is…
- Hebrews 11:31 - By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
Now people who believe that it’s always wrong to lie look at this verse and say, “See, it does not commend her for her lying. It commends her because she welcomed the spies.” Welcoming the spies and lying to the soldiers (they would say) are two different things. To offer shelter and give them a soda is a lot different than saying to the guys with the spears that they were not there.
The other passage is …
- James 2:25 - And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
Now those who advocate this position look at this verse and say, “See again, there is no mention of her lying.” She was proved her justification by receiving the spies and sending them back out. There’s no mention of her deceiving the soldiers.
So they would say that the NT does not in any way countenance her lying. She’s applauded for her hospitality, not her deception.
They would go on to say that Rahab was a pagan. She’s just been converted, and her lying is part of her old pagan ways. She didn’t know any better because she hadn’t been discipled and taught what the 9th commandment requires.
Now, if you believe that, I am perfectly fine with that. There have been many people (many good Christian people) who have believed that throughout the ages. I want you to know that I have no beef with that whatsoever. If ever I’m on the run from the Gestapo, I’m just not going to come to your house.
A Different Take
I’d like to give a different look at it though. Let’s start with the Hebrews passage. It says, “She gave a friendly welcome to the spies.” It’s my opinion that her lying was part of her friendly welcome. I mean, it wouldn’t be a friendly welcome to say, “Hey hide here,” then say to the soldiers, “They are over there.” I believe that her hospitality was demonstrated not just in hiding the spies, but also ensuring their welfare by pointing the soldiers in the opposite direction.
Let’s think about the James passage too. It says, “She justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?” Now, think about that last part. She sent them out another way. Wasn’t that part of the deception?
I’d also say that James is talking about all what Rahab did. He says she welcomed them and sent them out. I personally believe he’s saying that everything she did from the time these guys entered her house to the time they left, was proof that she was justified before God.
Those are just some thoughts on those two passages. Maybe another way to read them. Now let me circle back and give you a fuller understanding of what is involved in the 9th commandment.
Understanding the Exceptions
First, I want you to remember that there are some exceptions that God makes to a number of the commandments.
For instance, God tells us to not murder. We can all agree that murder is not a good thing. God forbids all unjust killing. But the key word there is “unjust,” isn’t it? Because we know that God does allow us to take another person’s life if it be for a just cause. For instance, the death penalty is commanded by God. When someone commits murder, God commands the civil magistrate to put him to death. That’s a just taking of life. And we know here in the book of Joshua, it is a book that is filled with lots of killing. People are dying all over the place because they are in a war. In times of war, it’s necessary to kill. I’m not going to go into all the aspects of just war and just killing in war, but you get the picture. The Lord makes certain exceptions to the 6th commandment.
The same can be said for the command to honor your father and mother. Are you to always obey those in authority over you? What if they tell you to go rob a bank or stop preaching the gospel? Should you do those things? Of course not. The Bible tells us that the Apostles directly disobeyed the religious leaders of their time and they said, “We must obey God rather than men.” So when we are ordered to disobey God, we need to disobey those authorities.
Even though we are commanded to honor authorities and obey them, we recognize that there are some exceptions to the rule.
The same is true when it comes to the 9th commandment. There are times when it is permissible to lie. For instance, in times of war (like what we have here in Joshua 2). Someone’s life is in danger. It’s not wrong to lie to protect them.
You may even say that the spies themselves were lying. Espionage by nature is a type of deception because it involves sneaking around and going incognito.
Later on in chapter 8 we’ll talk about the battle of Ai. And the victory of Ai revolves around deception. If you know the story, you know that Joshua sets up an ambush. He has one group of men run away while the other comes in and sacs the city. The whole thing was a set up; a sham. His aim was to deceive the people of Ai so that he might gain the upper hand.
So we see that the 9th commandment does have some caveats to it, just like the other commands. There are what we may call, extenuating circumstances, that will be exceptions to the rule.
Now, there are two other examples that I want you to consider.
Two other examples
First, think about the Egyptian midwives. Back in the book of Exodus we are told the story of the growing number of Israelites. They were having babies and they would be assisted by Egyptian midwives. And the Pharaoh at that time told the midwives to kill the male babies that were born to the Jewish women. He felt threatened by the growing number of Jews and he wanted to control the population and he wanted to prevent the coming of the messiah. So he gave the order to these women that they needed to commit infanticide.
And what did the midwives do? They disobeyed Pharaoh’s command and they showed their devotion to the Lord. And when Pharaoh confronted them about it, do you remember what they said? They lied to him. They said that these Hebrew women were vigorous and they gave birth before the midwives could get there. The Bible tells us in Ex. 1:20 that God dealt well with the midwives. He blessed them. He showed them favor because they were more devoted to Him than to Pharaoh. Why were the blessed? Because they practiced civil disobedience and what I want to call covenantal truthfulness. They were truthful to God. They may have lied to Pharaoh, but their lips were faithful to the Lord and to His people.
That’s exactly what Rahab was doing. Rahab may have lied to the FBI, but she demonstrated covenantal honesty in that she was devoted to God and His people. And that’s what Joshua was doing in his battle against Ai. He deceived that town, but he was demonstrating devotion to the Lord’s will.
Now, let me give you one more example. This one comes from the New Testament. It is 2 Thess. 1:11. 2 Thess. Is talking about how God deals with the man of lawlessness and the unbelieving who are in the world. And in verse 11 he says, “God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth.”
What do we find here? God is sending strong delusions. He is causing them to believe a lie. That’s what this says. God deliberately, self consciously, sovereignly, deceives them and sets them up so that they will believe what is false. This is what God does to his enemies so that they may come to ruin.
You see, God is at war. And God’s war involves deception. And Rahab and Joshua and the Egyptian Midwives all were doing just as God did. They were demonstrating faithfulness to God by aligning themselves with God against His enemies. They were acting in covenant with God by preserving the lives of the innocent and subverting the Satanic plans of those who were against God.
Truth is Covenantal
So you might say this: Truth is that which is constructive; lies are that which are destructive. Truth (i.e. God’s truth) builds God’s kingdom, protects the life of the innocent and the lives of God’s people, truth promotes what is right in God’s eyes. Truth is only destructive when it comes to the forces of evil. Falsehood is destructive. It’s design is to destroy that which is good and godly.
Biblical truth is that which is in alignment with God himself.
Now, again, don’t get me wrong. This is not a license to lie all the time. Satan is the father of lies. Let’s not forget that. God demands truthfulness. God is truth and his people must speak the truth.
But I want us to understand that truth is that which is in accord with God. If you are aligning yourself with God’s enemies in your behavior, then you are acting against God. If those midwives would have obeyed Pharaoh, they would have been demonstrating loyalty to the gods of Egypt and to Pharaoh (not to God).
That’s the way we need to think about truth and truthfulness. Truth is that which conforms to the bible. It is that which demonstrates loyalty to God. Truth, you may say, is covenantal. Speaking truth is not just speaking bare facts. There is a difference between speaking the truth and speaking bare facts. Rahab could have told the soldiers that the spies were in her closet and she’d be speaking bare facts. But it would have been loyalty to another god. She’d be acting in covenant relation to the gods of Jericho and the Canaanites.
That she protected these men showed that she was speaking the language of faithfulness. It was covenant loyalty to the one true God, YHWH.
In telling this “lie” she was breaking away from the satanic powers that surrounded her. In telling this lie she perjured herself. When it came to Jericho’s king and Jericho’s religion she was going against them and aligning herself with the God of these Jews.
Do you understand what I’m saying? Truth is not just bare facts. Truth is always covenantal.
And the question is, “To whom are you loyal?” With whom are you living in covenant relation?
That’s what makes this story so great. Rahab may not be telling the truth when it comes to bare facts. But she’s showing loyalty to the God who rules on high. Her speech may appear to our minds to be defective, but what she’s really doing is defecting to Jesus Christ and declaring Him to be the God who is to be feared.
So, to put it another way, in concealing these men, she’s revealing her heart. She’s revealing that she has devoted herself to the God who Lives and to the one who will have ultimate dominion.
And that is what is necessary in our day. That’s the question: to whom are we devoted? Are we devoted to the Lord? Or are we devoted to those who are God’s enemies?