Did Rahab Lie?

Dear Tucker,

Thank you for your question. God has certainly always been displeased with the sin of lying. Proverbs 6:17 says that "the Lord hates…a lying tongue." One of the Ten Commandments was, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Exodus 20:16). In the New Testament, the apostle Paul wrote: "Do not lie to one another" (Colossians 3:9).

Rahab did, indeed, lie about the Israelite spies. But she was not rewarded by God because she lied or because she was a harlot. The Bible records many sinful acts that God's servants committed through the centuries. When the Bible praises these men and women, however, it is not for their evil deeds. Noah was "righteous," not because he got drunk following the Flood (Genesis 9:20-23), but because he obeyed God by building the ark and preached God's message faithfully. Also, David was once called "a man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14), but this was not because he committed adultery and had a man murdered.

Rahab was rewarded for her faith in the one true God, which was shown by the fact that "she received the spies with peace" (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). Scripture nowhere approves of Rahab's sin of lying. Rather, her righteous works are what God commended and approved.

---

Copyright © 2014 Apologetics Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

*Please keep in mind that Discovery articles are written for 3rd-6th graders.

This document may be copied, on the condition that it will not be republished in print unless otherwise stated below, and will not be used for any commercial purpose, as long as the following stipulations are observed: (1) Apologetics Press must be designated as the original publisher; (2) the specific Apologetics Press Web site URL must be noted; (3) any references, footnotes, or endnotes that accompany the article must be included with any written reproduction of the article; (4) textual alterations of any kind are strictly forbidden; (5) Some illustrations (e.g., photographs, charts, graphics, etc.) are not the intellectual property of Apologetics Press and as such cannot be reproduced from our site without consent from the person or organization that maintains those intellectual rights; (6) serialization of written material (e.g., running an article in several parts) is permitted, as long as the whole of the material is made available, without editing, in a reasonable length of time; (7) articles, in whole or in part, may not be offered for sale or included in items offered for sale; and (8) articles may be reproduced in electronic form for posting on Web sites pending they are not edited or altered from their original written content and that credit is given to Apologetics Press, including the web location from which the articles were taken. Further, documents may not be copied without source statements (title, author, journal title), and the address of the publisher and owner of rights, as listed below.

For catalog, samples, or further information, contact:

Apologetics Press
230 Landmark Drive
Montgomery, Alabama 36117
U.S.A.
Phone (334) 272-8558

http://www.apologeticspress.org