Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Biblical Liars

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV)

When God uses men to accomplish His purpose, He can only use sinful men. Among the sins that sinful men commit is lying.

Shiphrah and Puah
So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this, and let the male children live?" The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them." (Exodus 1:18-19 ESV)

Rahab
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, "True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them." (Joshua 2:4-5 ESV)

Joshua
And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. (Joshua 8:15 ESV)

Samuel
The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.' (1 Samuel 16:1-2 ESV)

David
So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. (1 Samuel 21:13 ESV)
When Achish asked, "Where have you made a raid today?" David would say, "Against the Negeb of Judah," or, "Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites," or, "Against the Negeb of the Kenites." (1 Samuel 27:10 ESV)

Elisha
And Elisha said to him, "Go, say to him, 'You shall certainly recover,' but the LORD has shown me that he shall certainly die." (2 Kings 8:10 ESV)

Jeremiah
Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Don't tell anyone you told me this, or you will die! My officials may hear that I spoke to you, and they may say, ‘Tell us what you and the king were talking about. If you don't tell us, we will kill you.' If this happens, just tell them you begged me not to send you back to Jonathan's dungeon, for fear you would die there."
Sure enough, it wasn't long before the king's officials came to Jeremiah and asked him why the king had called for him. But Jeremiah followed the king's instructions, and they left without finding out the truth. No one had overheard the conversation between Jeremiah and the king.
(Jeremiah 38:24-27 NLT)

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