Finding Consequentialism in the Bible

I think that consequentialist ethics is an interesting topic to read about in the Bible. One particular passage in the Bible can be viewed in a consequentialist ethics point of view. It is in Exodus 1:8-22 when the midwives lie to Pharaoh about the Hebrew baby boys. They don’t tell Pharaoh the truth because they want to save the Hebrew babies. I find this passage interesting because we know there is not a grey area for lying in the Bible. In the Ten Commandments, it is written clearly to not lie. In fact, in Proverbs 12:22, it says that, “The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in men who are truthful”. This is interesting because if we go back to Exodus 1:2-21, it says that, “God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.” God ended up blessing the midwives for their lie, and he blessed the whole population of Israel along with it. For a lot of people who first read this passage, it may be a little confusing. I know I was because it has been so engrained in me that it is wrong to tell any kind of lie. This is when the process of moral decision making involving consequentialism comes to play. The benefit of lying to the Pharaoh was that the midwives would save and not kill hundreds of God’s people. I think lying in this case, made it possible for these women not to commit even more sins by helping cause the deaths of thousands of innocent children. In fact, if we look at it in retrospect, if the Hebrew population died off due to the fact that there wasn’t enough males, then ultimately Jesus wouldn’t come as promised. I think there is a lot to do with the fact that we have to look at this passage with the context of its time. Yes, it’s bad to lie to Pharaoh, but I would choose to lie than to kill many, many children. I think God would have a rougher time dealing with midwives who killed His people off than to midwives who lied to a pagan king in attempt to save His people.