Is Lying a Sin?

 

Thoughts on Genesis 12

By the word of Sarai. What a strange thing to say.

KJV in vs 17 says, “But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.” The ARTB (Ancient Roots Translinear Bible), a word for word translation from the original Aramaic fleshes this out a bit. It says, “Yahweh touched Pharaoh and his house with great plagues by the word of Sarai the woman of Abram.”

“By the word of Sarai”. She must have said something. So, either she cursed Egypt, or let the cat out of the bag by rejecting Pharaoh when he tried to sleep with her… probably both. The plagues would take time for Pharaoh to recognize, so he was probably a persistent fellow, used to getting his way, and would not leave her alone. When he did finally recognize and fear Yahweh as the One God sending the plagues, Pharaoh was serious about getting them out of Egypt. He didn’t take any of the gifts to Abram back.

Abraham asked his wife to lie and God did not punish him, but instead sent plagues on Egypt because Sarai’s word. I don’t know why God did not punish what we now would call a sin, but remember, Moses had not come along yet, and the 10 Commandments had not been given yet. Let’s explore it.

Digging into that further, Exodus 20:16 is the verse that deals with what we call lying, but if you read your Bible closely, it doesn’t say that. Every version I have checked says we must not, “Bear false witness against your neighbor”. So did Abram bear false witness? I don’t think so.

Now I don’t think it’s a good practice to lie, and I don’t recommend it. We should NOT be subtle like the serpent by obscuring the truth, but we should, “… let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” Jesus said that in Matthew 5:37. We ARE also to be, “Wise as serpents, and harmless as doves”. Matthew 10:16

Acts 5:3 talks about lying. Ananias and Sapphira, “Lied” and were struck dead. The word, “Lying” is used both in the KJV and ESV. In the ARTB, the words are, “being-phony” with the Holy Spirit-Wind. It seems that lying to God is different than lying to man.

In addition, lying is talked about in Proverbs 12:22 “ Lips of falsehood are- an abomination to Yahweh, but he accepts doers of faith.” and Proverbs 6:17 “… a tongue of falsehood;…”. So, even though Genesis 12 doesn’t come out straight and say lying was a sin, other references in the Bible do, because lying is something God hates. I do like the continuation of 12:22 because it says, “But he accepts doers of faith”. Abram definitely was a man of faith.

After further searching, I realized Abram did it again, this time in Genesis 20 instead of Genesis 12. Evidently, Sarai must have been very beautiful, because Abimelech was the 2nd king that took her. Here we also find out that Sarai was actually Abram’s step sister. They had the same father, but different mothers. Although what Abram said was technically true, the guile made it difficult for all those around and harmed the relationship with his neighbors.

Abram’s journey through Canaan is a precursor to the experiences of the Children of Israel much later in history. Egypt wanted them to leave so bad because of the plagues, that they gave them everything they would possibly need to get them through the dry land (Desert) and in Abram’s case, famine (which is also dry), on their way back to the Promised Land. Egypt enriched them in both cases. They became rich in livestock, silver and gold.