For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.
Introduction
- Gehazi is the third leper in the Bible.
- He appears in 2 Kings 4, 5, 8.
- Chapter 4 gives us insight into the kind of person Gehazi was: not as spiritually aware as Naaman.
Scriptural study: 2 Kings 5:15-27
- Elisha will not be enriched by a Gentile (although now Naaman is within the covenant). Similar to Abraham’s stance in Gen 14.
- Notice how he is critical of Elisha, his master.
- In running after Naaman, Gehazi isn't seeking something for Elisha, but for himself alone.
- A total lie (v.22)! Knowing Naaman’s new-found respect for Yahweh and his prophets, this particular lie was intended to manipulate.
- He asks for just a small fraction of what Naaman has (only 10% of the silver). This is probably intended to trigger a more generous counteroffer. And it does (v.23).
- Gehazi secretes his loot on the back side of a hill, out of the line of sight of Elisha.
- His actions should make us all think: What behaviors do we conceal?
- What things do we do only when there is no one around to see us? (Forbidden fruit? Sneaking food… or something else that we would be ashamed of reaching for were there witnesses?)
- Or, on the other side, do we act like Christians only when there are witnesses to our behavior (like praying only when someone is watching)?
- And he tells another lie (v.25).
- But Elisha is God’s man, a prophet, and has supernatural insight (v.26).
- He knows the things Gehazi plans to purchase with his ill-gotten gain (v.27). His materialism is redolent of Ecc 2.
- And so Gehazi becomes a leper, a divine punishment.
- This will affect his descendants. (“Forever” normally means without cessation within a particular frame of reference. No lepers today are descended from Gehazi, as far as we know.)
Challenges
- Am I behaving furtively or sneakily? Is there something I'm hiding?
- Similar to Miriam and Aaron vis-a-vis Moses, Gehazi has a critical spirit towards his master. Am I harboring a critical spirit?
- Are there traces of materialism or envy in my heart? (Ecclesiastes 4:4)
- Is there any deceit in my life? Am I living a double-life in any sense at all?
- Consider the long-term, lifelong consequences of my actions!
- Fortunately, it wasn’t the end for Gehazi.
- We encounter him one last time in the OT in 2 Kings 8.
- So perhaps, like Naaman’s leprosy, his affliction was lighter than full-blown leprosy; he could still go about his daily work.
- But that’s not a rationalization for his sin, only recognition that the Lord tempered his punishment of Gehazi, the Bible’s third leper.
For more on Gehazi, listen to OT Character Podcast 36.