“But a boy saw them and told Avshalom; so both of them took off quickly and came to the house of a man in Bachurim who had a cistern in his courtyard, and they went down into it. His wife spread a covering over the cistern’s opening and scattered drying grain on it, so that nothing showed.“-2 Samuel 17:18-19
Alrighty, let’s get our bearings on where we’re at.
When we last left off, Hushai had just commissioned the two high priests, Zadok and Evyatar, to tell their sons, Y’honatan and Achima‘atz, the two plans Absalom might implement.
The two boys departed immediately to pass that information on to David.
But while they were leaving, a boy whom Absalom had assigned to be on the lookout for such a thing saw what they were up to.
Knowing they’d been discovered, the boys sought the help of a woman who lived in Bachurim.
The chase was on!
They darted to the woman’s house, where they were promptly shoved into an old, empty water pit in her yard.
The woman covered the pit with a heavy cloth and sprinkled grain on top so no one would be the wiser.
Her timing was impeccable because immediately afterward, Absalom’s soldiers rolled in and began sweeping the area.
The soldiers barked…
“Where are the two homies that just ran over here?”
The woman played it cool and lied.
She told the soldiers that Y’honatan and Achima’atz had gone across the water.
The soldiers searched everywhere, but found nothing.
Frustrated, they stomped off, leaving the men safely hidden in the pit.
Now I dunno about you, but this story smacks of what the prostitute Rahab did at Jericho when she hid the two spies.
Recall she outright lied to the government authorities at Jericho.
Now this is one of those areas where I butt heads with a lot of goody two-shoe Christians.
They get all huffy and puffy when they read about Bible characters lying.
“It’s one of the 10 Commandments, you know”…they’ll argue.
I can’t believe I have to justify the actions of Rahab or the woman here in 2 Samuel chapter 17, but sometimes I have no choice.
So let’s face this question head-on.
“Is it okay to tell a lie for a godly cause?”
Or…
“Or if one tells a lie for a good cause, does that lie become the ‘truth’?”
The answer to the first question is YES.
And the answer to the second question is NO.
Look, a lie is always a lie, even if told for a good cause.
It doesn’t somehow transform into the truth…
Nor does the Lord view it that way.
And yes, the Ten Commandments do prohibit lying.
However, here’s what we gotta come to terms with.
We live in a fallen universe, man.
This means we’re gonna find ourselves in situations where obeying one command may lead to breaking another, and there ain’t nothing we can do about it.
We have to choose the more important commandment that prioritizes the saving of life.
Ya feel me here?
There is even a Rabbinic principle that speaks to this.
It’s called KAL V’HOMER.
It means “light and heavy.”
The idea is you have to exercise wisdom and obey the commandment that is “heavier,” or carries more weight.
Should an ambulance driver refuse to work if a person suddenly has a stroke on Shabbat and needs to be transported to the hospital immediately?
Or does he decide that obeying the Shabbat, one of God’s most important commands, is more important and not work even if it results in loss of life?
See what I mean?
Of course, life always takes priority in any situation.
That’s why those Germans who lied to the Nazi officers about hiding Jews in their homes did an absolutely righteous thing.
Hope this makes sense.
If it doesn’t make sense to you, then I think your grasp of Biblical morality is seriously skewed.
You’re like those idiotic Christians who side with the “Free Palestine” crowd.
They know neither Scripture nor God’s position on the matter.
See ya all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Then he asked them,
‘If one of you has a child or an ox
that falls into a well on the Sabbath day,
will you not immediately pull it out?‘”
-Luke 14:5
The Bible does not forbid “lying”, it forbids bearing false witness. Bearing false witness is always the same as lying, but lying is not always bearing false witness. It depends on the motive. A lie told to protect an innocent person from unjust harm is not a sin. The idea that “lying”, of and by itself, is a sin is one of the most common biblical misconceptions, and as you said, a favorite of self righteous goody two shoes Christians. That said it’s always best to avoid lying if possible, and lying for no good reason should be avoided.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing your insight.
I agree with the comment from Cory that lying is not the exact same thing as false witnessing, but giving false witness is lying.
There are many times in the Bible where people have lied- not just some little white fib, but a blatant lie.
How about when Abraham “pimped” Sarah just to save his own skin?
And, like father-like son, so did Isaac.
Lying is sometimes necessary to acieve a goal, but it isn’t something that anyone should do unless absolutely necessary.
“No, Dear, you look great in those jeans!” is not so much a lie, but a form of self-defence.
God also hates uneven weights, which is a business lie.
We are told, more than once, that God knows our hearts and minds, and I believe the real difference between a lie being a sinful one or a lie to do something to help or prevent harm to others is what is really important to God.
Agreed.