Remembering a sermon by Pastor MacArthur, "A Conquering, Courageous Faith, Part 1" Code 90-388, where he spoke of Rahab lying to savee the spies.
"Was that the truth? No, it was a lie. Was it necessary? No, it’s never necessary. Would God have protected the spies if she had told the truth? Absolutely. We would have just had a different story of how God protected the spies. This doesn’t justify the lie, but we can commend her for her courage in the case of hiding them."