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NASB | Exodus 3:18 "They will pay heed to what you say; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and you will say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.' |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Exodus 3:18 "The elders [of the tribes] will listen and pay attention to what you say; and you, with the elders of Israel, shall go to the king of Egypt and you shall say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; so now, please, [we ask and plead with you,] let us go on a three days' journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.' |
Bible Question:
Is this an example of a half-truth or a ruse intended to deceive Pharaoh? In other words, is Israel's request for a three-day wilder-ness trip to sacrifice to God only an excuse to leave Egypt in order to make a break for Palestine before Pharaoh's troops could easily follow? One further question might be posed here: Did not Moses, under the instigation of Yahweh, deliberately mislead Pharaoh when he concealed his real intention? If Moses ultimately intended to ask Pharaoh to release the Israelites, did not this concealment constitute a half-truth? Did God authorize deception, here or in 1 Samuel 16:1-3? In Exodus 1:15-21, did the midwives have the right to lie? In 2 Kings 6:19, did Elisha lie to the Syrians? |
Bible Answer: Yes!! But I need to qualify what I mean. On one hand, Scripture forbids lying (Ex. 20:16). Lying is viewed as a sin (Psalm 59:12) and is an abomination to God (Proverbs 12:22). God never lies (Numbers 23:19). Righteous men hate lying (Proverbs 13:5). On the other hand, there are Scriptures which indicate that under certain circumstances, lying is not condemned. For example, though the Hebrew midwives were commanded by the Egyptian Pharaoh to let newborn baby boys die, the midwives disobeyed the Pharaoh and lied to him when questioned about it (Exodus 1:15-19). To the Hebrew midwives, lifesaving was higher on the ethical scale than truthtelling. God not only did not condemn the midwives for lying, He was kind to them for their merciful act (see verse 20). A more recent example would be the numerous Christians who lied to the Nazis in order to protect Jews from being captured and exterminated. In such cases lying is permissible because lifesaving is a higher ethic than truthtelling. |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Ex 3:18 | Author | ||
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Searcher56 | ||
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Makarios |