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The Ethics of Deception: Rahab and the Spies
Does the Bible teach that it’s always wrong to lie or deceive?
Approximately 1400 years before the time of Christ, two Israelite spies huddled in the home of a prostitute. Sent by Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, these spies (unnamed in Scripture but identified as Joshua and Phinehas in Jewish tradition) sought sanctuary with the “harlot” Rahab after being hunted by Jericho’s king.
We read the story in the second chapter of the Book of Joshua:
Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.” So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.” Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” (But she had brought them up to the roof…
