Prodical Warrior

Maybe you’ve felt the tension in these verses too.

We’re trying to trust the Lord, and then we stumble on lines that sound like He told somebody to say something that was not the whole story. Or somebody opposed to God grabs a verse and uses it as an excuse to stay opposed. So something in us tightens up. We want to worship the God who is true, He doesn’t play games with words.

So let’s do this the right way. We’ll put the hard texts up front, we’ll put the clear texts up front, and then we’ll let Scripture interpret Scripture.

Passages People Use to Claim God Commands Lying

“And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.” (Exodus 3:18)

“And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.” (1 Samuel 16:2)

Joshua 2 is also brought up, where Rahab hid the spies and misdirected the pursuers.

Passages That Are Clear: God Cannot Lie

We have to begin with what cannot move.

“God is not a man, that he should lie.” – Numbers 23:19

“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” – Titus 1:2

“Let God be true, but every man a liar.” – Romans 3:4

If we interpret any passage in a way that makes God command sin, we are not being bold. We are being careless. God’s character is not up for renegotiation.

The Tension: Questions We All Ask

If God cannot lie, why do these instructions sound like concealment?

Is withholding information the same thing as lying?

Does God expect us to tell the whole story to wicked men who will use truth as a weapon?

When God speaks strategically, is that deception, or is that wisdom?

The Unshakable Foundation

Here is what keeps us steady. God is holy. God is true. God is light. He is not crooked, not double tongued, not shady.

So we need a biblical definition of lying, not a modern assumption.

“Lying lips are abomination to the LORD.” (Proverbs 12:22)

Biblically, lying is not simply, “I did not tell you everything.” Lying is speaking falsehood with intent to deceive when truth is morally owed. That moral duty matters. Scripture does not treat every demand for information as a rightful claim. Some people ask questions to do evil. They do not become righteous because they asked nicely.

And Scripture also says something that modern ears do not expect:

“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” – Proverbs 25:2

God conceals. Not because He is dishonest, but because He is wise. Concealment is not automatically sin. Silence is not automatically sin. Partial disclosure is not automatically sin. Wisdom is not wickedness.

Here is the line we have to keep clear:

Truth is not the same thing as total disclosure.

Exodus 3:18

God tells Moses to speak to Pharaoh and request a three days’ journey to sacrifice. The accusation is simple: God intended permanent deliverance, therefore the request was deceptive.

But the words Moses is told to speak are true. Israel really did need to go sacrifice unto the LORD. No false sentence is spoken. The complaint is not that Moses said something untrue. The complaint is that Moses did not say everything.

That is where the moral confusion lives. Pharaoh did not have a moral right to the full future plans of a people he was enslaving. Tyrants do not become entitled to truth simply because they demand it.

Also notice this. God tells Moses ahead of time that Pharaoh will refuse.

“And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.” – Exodus 3:19

So what is happening? God is confronting Pharaoh with a righteous command, and Pharaoh is revealing his rebellion. The request is true. The sacrifice is real. The refusal is foreknown. No lie is needed.

Conclusion: truthful speech plus withheld information is not lying.

1 Samuel 16:2

Samuel is sent to anoint David. Samuel is afraid, and he says it plainly: Saul will kill me. God tells him to take an heifer and say, “I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.”

The accusation says: Samuel concealed the anointing, therefore God commanded lying.

But Scripture shows Samuel actually did sacrifice.

“And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem… And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.” – 1 Samuel 16:4–5

Samuel did not speak a falsehood. He spoke a true purpose and performed a true act. He also did not deny the anointing. He simply did not broadcast it to a murderous king who would use that knowledge to spill innocent blood.

Conclusion: concealment for protection is not the same thing as falsehood.

Case Study 3: Rahab in Joshua 2

Rahab is different, because she does speak what is factually false to protect the spies. That cannot be brushed aside.

So the objection says: God blessed Rahab, therefore God approved lying.

But Scripture is careful about what it praises.

“By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” – Hebrews 11:31

“Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?” – James 2:25

What is praised? Her faith. Her allegiance. Her costly decision to side with the God of Israel against her own city. Her protection of God’s people.

What is not praised? Her false sentence as a moral ideal.

Scripture often records sin without endorsing it. Scripture also honors real faith even when a person is still learning, still coming out of darkness. Rahab is not presented as a spotless example of speech. She is presented as a sinner who feared the LORD, acted in faith, and was shown mercy.

Conclusion: God redeemed Rahab. He did not redefine lying as righteousness.

The Core Moral Principle: Truth Is Owed in Righteousness

God never commands sin.

“God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” (James 1:13)

So what do we do with truth telling in a world where evil men ask questions?

Here is the biblical shape of it. Truth is owed to God always. Truth is owed to our neighbour in love. Truth is owed in courts of justice where righteous judgment is required. But Scripture does not teach that truth is owed to tyrants and murderers who demand information in order to do harm.

And this is where a real-life example helps, because it strips away the word games.

A woman is trying to escape a man who has historically brutally beaten her. She finally gets out, she gets somewhere safe, and then he starts calling, texting, asking questions, demanding to know where she is. In that moment, the issue is not whether he has a right to the truth. The issue is whether she will be protected. That man has morally relinquished his right to truth by his actions. He is not seeking truth to do good. He is seeking information to do harm. Scripture does not call the vulnerable to cooperate with violence just because the violent ask questions.

This is where we remember something we forget too easily. Truth is not just a fact. Truth is a stewardship. Discernment is needed to steward truth well. Jesus taught the weight of this when religious men tried to trap Him while neglecting compassion. He answered them with their own Scriptures: “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice” – Matthew 9:13 He was not weakening righteousness. He was showing the heart of God’s law rightly applied.

So no, we do not learn to lie. We do not become double tongued. “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD” – Proverbs 12:22 But we also refuse to pretend that evil men have a moral claim on every detail of someone’s life. There is a difference between speaking a falsehood and refusing to hand a violent man the information he will use to crush somebody.

Truth is holy. And holy things are not handled carelessly.

A Necessary Guardrail

One caution must be stated clearly, not because the argument is unsound, but because sinful hearts are always looking for excuses.

The principle that “truth is not owed to evil men” must never be detached from God’s holiness. Scripture does not permit believers to redefine convenience, self-interest, embarrassment, or conflict-avoidance as “wisdom.” Concealment is righteous only when it serves obedience to God, love of neighbor, or protection from unjust harm. It is never a license for manipulation, self-protection from consequences, or double-dealing.

The Bible does not replace lying with cleverness. It replaces lying with discernment.

This is why Scripture consistently condemns:

• “A lying tongue” (Proverbs 6:17)
• “A false witness that speaketh lies” (Proverbs 6:19)
• “The double minded man” (James 1:8)

Any appeal to concealment that excuses selfishness, cowardice, or deception is a corruption of biblical wisdom, not an application of it.

At the same time, refusing to acknowledge righteous restraint creates a different error, one that Scripture itself does not support. If every demand for information is treated as morally binding, then the Bible’s own examples of silence, concealment, and strategic truth-telling must be condemned. That would force us to accuse prophets, apostles, and even the Lord Himself of sin.

So the guardrail works both ways.

We must not:

• Call lying wisdom
• Or call wisdom lying

The difference is not subtle, and Scripture does not blur it.

Truth is always holy.

But holiness includes judgment, timing, and stewardship, not reckless disclosure.

Jesus and Apostolic Precedent

Jesus Himself shows that refusing to answer is not lying.

“But Jesus yet answered nothing.” – Mark 15:5

Silence under injustice is not sin.

And the apostles used wise, strategic speech in hostile settings. Paul, standing before a divided council, said: 

“Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.” – Acts 23:6 That was true, and it was wise. He did not owe corrupt men a full briefing to help them harm him.

Why the Modern Charge Breaks Down

The modern charge usually runs on one assumption: “If you do not disclose everything, you are lying.”

Scripture never teaches that.

Scripture condemns false witness, corrupt speech, and lying lips. But Scripture does not demand total disclosure to evil men. It actually praises wisdom, restraint, and concealment in the right place. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing” – Proverbs 25:2

If we confuse concealment with lying, we will end up accusing God of sin, and we will train our conscience to call wisdom wicked.

That is not maturity. That is confusion dressed up as righteousness.

So, Does God Command Lying?

No. God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:2). God does not command sin (James 1:13). In Exodus 3 and 1 Samuel 16, no false statement is commanded. In Rahab’s case, Scripture praises her faith and allegiance, not the falsehood itself.

Here is the steady conclusion.

Truth is not the same thing as total disclosure. Concealment can be righteous. God remains holy and true.

And here is the line I will leave with you.

If we treat total disclosure as righteousness, we will end up serving evil with our mouths.

But if we love truth as God defines it, God will teach us wisdom, and we will stop accusing a holy God of crookedness.