True prophets use God’s same tactic which is similar to Jesus’ technique to employ parables to weed out the dishonest evil heart. Some authors have explained Genesis 2:17 as a lie. No clear ambiguity or deception is involved in God’s warning that “as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.” The two had not experienced death in any application — physical or spiritual. They only experienced life and fellowship with God. The death that they did experience as soon as they disobeyed was an immediate consequence of having sinned. They were put out of the garden and the sweet fellowship with God and away from the tree of life where they had the blessing to eat and live forever. Both physical and spiritual death was the result of their sin, but the one that they experienced on the day they ate was spiritual death. I see no deception here.
The text in Exodus 3:22 finds God instructing the Hebrew women to “borrow from her neighbor and the lodger in her house objects of silver and gold and clothing, and you shall put these on your sons and
daughters, thus stripping the Egyptians.” The Hebrew word translated as “borrow” does carry the thought of taking possession temporarily. Another possible meaning is “to request.” Still, the implication of the request is that the Egyptian women were lending their things, expecting to have them returned (Exodus 12:36). The Israelites would “go free with great wealth” (Gn. 14:15). In addition, a law requiring a gratuity be paid to a bondservant for his or her service is described in Deuteronomy 15:12–14. Morally, it would seem fair, just as it was fair that Jacob receives recompense for his hard work for Laban, that the slaves of Egypt be recompensed for their service, even if it was secured through deception.
We have noticed in these recent posts that the prophets used ambiguity or half-truths without censure and that God’s own actions in times of war and dealing with evil people, uses deceptive measures to influence a certain action.