Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 5:20
But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, [as] the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.
20 27. Gehazi’s lies and their punishment (Not in Chronicles)
20. hath spared Naaman this Syrian ] R.V. this Naaman the Syrian. The pronoun qualifies the whole expression. Gehazi had been in attendance on Elisha, and heard the whole conversation. There seems to have been no need for an interpreter. The dialects of the whole country were no doubt much akin, and the people could readily understand each other.
as the Lord liveth ] How little the words meant for Gehazi we can see, when they come to his lips amid his thoughts of the deceit he is meditating. They had a different force when Elisha used them, in verse 16.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This Syrian – The words are emphatic. Gehazi persuades himself that it is right to spoil a Syrian – that is, a Gentile, and an enemy of Israel.
As the Lord liveth – These words are here a profane oath. Gehazi, anxious to make himself believe that he is acting in a proper, and, even, in a religions spirit, does not scruple to introduce one of the most solemn of religious phrases.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ki 5:20-27
Gehazi, the servant of Elisha.
Gehazi
The name Gehazi means valley of vision, and is appropriate enough if we think of what Gehazi saw as to the nature of wickedness when the prophet opened his eyes.
1. Gehazi was the servant of Elisha, the man of God. Surely then he would be a good man? Can a good man have a bad servant? Can the man of prayer, whose life is a continual breathing unto God of supreme desires after holiness, have a man in his company, looking on and watching him, and studying his character, who denies his very altar, and blasphemes against his God? Is it possible to live in a Christian house and yet not to be a Christian? Cause and effect would seem to be upset by such contradictions. There is a metaphysical question here, as well as a question of fact. A good tree must bring forth good fruit; good men must have good children; good masters must have good servants; association in life must go for something. So we would say–emphatically, because we think reasonably. But facts are against such a fancy. What is possible in this human life? It is possible that a man may spend his days in building a church, and yet denying God. Does not the very touch of the stones help him to pray? No. He touches them roughly, he lays them mechanically, and he desecrates each of them with an oath. Is it possible that a man can be a builder of churches, and yet a destroyer of Christian doctrine and teaching generally? Gehazi did not understand the spirit of his master. He did not know what his master was doing. How is it that men can be so far seperated from one another? How is it that a man cannot be understood in his own house, but be thought fanciful, fanatical, eccentric, phenomenally peculiar? Gehazi had a method in his reasoning. Said he in effect: To spare a stranger, a man who may never be seen again; to spare a beneficiary, a man who has taken away benefits in the right hand and in the left; to spare a wealthy visitor, a man who could have given much without feeling he had given anything; to spare a willing giver, a man who actually offered to give something, and who was surprised, if not offended, because his gift was declined! there is no reason in my masters policy. It never occurred to Gehazi that a man could have bread to eat that the world knew not of. It never occurs to some men that others can live by faith, and work miracles of faith by the grace of God.
2. Gehazi prostituted an inventive and energetic mind. He had his plan (v. 22). The case was admirably stated. We have no hesitation in saying that the men of the world in most cases overmatch the men of the Church in matters of strong thinking regarding practical subjects and practical ministries and uses. We who are in the Church are afraid: we want to be let alone; not for the world would we be suspected of even dreaming of anything unusual; we would have our very dreams patterns of neatness, things that might be published in the shop windows, and looked upon without affronting the faintest sensibility on the part of the beholders. But the Gehazis, if they were converted, they would be men of energy, dash, courage, fire; we should hear of them and of their work.
3. But Gehazi was successful. Now all is well: lust is satisfied, wealth is laid up; now the fitness of things has been consulted, and harmony has been established between debtor and creditor, and Justice nods because Justice has been appeased. Were the test to end with the twenty-fourth verse we should describe Gehazi as a man who had set an example to all coming after him who wished to turn life into a success. Who had been wronged? Naaman pursues his journey all the happier for thinking he has done something in return for the great benefit which has been conferred upon him. He is certainly more pleased than otherwise. The man of God has at last been turned, he thinks, into directions indicated by common sense. All that has happened is in the way of business; nothing that is not customary has been done. Gehazi is satisfied, and Elisha knows nothing about it. The servant should have something even if the master would take nothing. It is the trick of our own day! The servant is always at the door with his rheumatic hand ready to take anything that may be put into it. We leave nothing with the master; it would be an insult to him. So far the case looks natural, simple, and complete; and we have said Elisha knows nothing about it. Look at Elisha: fixing his eyes calmly upon Gehazi, Went not mine heart with thee? Oh that heart! The good man knows when wickedness has been done: the Christ knows when He enters into the congregation whether there is a man in it with a withered hand; He says, There is a cripple somewhere in this audience. He feels it. Went not mine heart with thee? Was I not present at the interview? Did I not hear every syllable that was said on the one side and on the other?
4. Then the infliction of the judgment: The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever (v. 27). Thou hast touched the silver, thou didst not know that it was contagious and held the leprosy; thou didst bring in the two changes of garments, not knowing that the germs of the disease were folded up with the cloth: put on the coat–it will scorch thee! He went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. A splendid conception is this silent departure. Not a word said, not a protest uttered; the judgment was felt to be just. Men should consider the price they really pay for their success. Do not imagine that men can do whatever they please, and nothing come of it. Every action we perform takes out of us part of ourselves. Some actions take our whole soul with them, and leave us poor indeed. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Defilement of Gods work by covetous men
It is at once most surprising and most saddening to know that some of the best works that have been done on earth for God, and some of Gods most eminent workers, have been defamed and lowered, if their influence has not been actually counteracted and nullified, by inferior workers and by unworthy men. This defiling of Gods work has generally come from one source, and is the result of one vile lust or passion, covetousness–the desire for the means of gaining power or wealth, or place, or self-indulgence; the desire for dominion or money as the means of self-exaltation and aggrandisement. As illustrating this I need only mention the repulsive histories of Balaam, of Achan, of Davids impious numbering of Israel, the story of Gehazi now before us, and the dark atrocity of the life and death of Judas Iscariot.
1. The action and duplicity of Gehazi are of singular unworthiness. Like so many other histories they show that intercourse with good men and association with God-like work may become only the occasion of worse vileness in a man. The followers of Luther were seldom worthy of him. The followers of Calvin have not been true to their master. The adherents of the hallowed Wesleys did not take their sacred work only. The converts of Paul almost broke his heart. And the followers and servants of Jesus–where is there one of us who is worthy of his Master? Too often has it been found that one of the most repressive influences about the work of great men and good servants of Jesus Christ is in the fact that some of their nearest followers have had unworthy souls; and could turn their Masters greatness into the service of their own inferior aims and into the means of advance in this world. Do not many of us come to Christ with selfish feelings and serve our God for hire? Being with the good and great will not necessarily make us similar; otherwise Gehazi would have been a better man.
2. Gehazis covetousness was of a gross, material kind–the love of money; and the miserable influence of it upon him is seen in this: that it produced inability to appreciate Elishas spiritual motives. All that Gehazi let himself see was, that with the departing Naaman so much money went away too. More especially, however, notice that, as with Gehazi, so, generally, the covetous and unprincipled man lowers himself to a level on which he is unable, in daily life and business, to appreciate other motives than those of getting gain; or to measure anything in lifes movements and enterprises by any other gauge than that of the money that can be gained or must be lost. Because of this abasing and prostituting of nature, Paul earnestly declares covetousness to be practically idolatry, and has its legitimate consequences on mans inner life, in antipathy to Jesus, and self-mutilation, with much sorrow. Gehazi could not feel the power of Elishas spiritual motives in sparing Naaman and letting him go free of payment. He rather thought–why should my master not have taken the money? What good was it to let the talents of silver and gold and the beautiful Syrian robes go? The fair damask raiment of Damascus–why should it be lost? Naaman could afford it; and it would be far less than the equivalent of what he had received from Elisha. Look which way he would, the money that had been lost, the gain that had not been made, was ever alluring his debased soul Elishas noble determination that the mercy of his God should, in Naamans case, be had literally for the asking: his resolve that the goodness of God should be then, as we say now, of grace, and not of buying or deserving, either before or after it had been obtained,–this to such a soul as Gehazis was useless, fanciful, intangible.
3. In several other ways Gehazis covetousness involved him in sin, and further defiled the good work that had been wrought by Elisha. To notice these is to see a testimony to a law of God that the young cannot heed too much–the law that forbids the possibility of solitary sins, isolated transgressions. There are no lonely, single sins. Sin needs sin to help it along, to buttress it, to back it, and give it success. One deception leads to another, and needs it. One lie begets another, and requires it to succeed. And it may be well for us all to remember that all the good and gains of this grand world are not worth one little lie.
4. Now we come, as men say they have so often in daily life and business, to face this misery–the success of the lie. The falsehood has thriven; to deceive has been found to be the short road to wealth; to insult God, to defame His work, to misrepresent Elisha and plunder Naaman, these things have paid, as men say. (G. B. Ryley.)
A voice of warning
I. Let us note the danger of unimproved and abused spiritual privileges. Gehazis religious advantages, in all probability, began at a date anterior to the time and mission of Elisha. One tradition speaks of him as the boy who sped at the bidding of the Tishbite to the top of Carmel, to watch the rising of the expected cloud over the Mediterranean, precursive of the longed-for rain. This, at all events, we know, that seven years previous to Naamans pilgrimage, he was the witness of Elishas greatest miracle, when he brought back the Shunammites son to life. Doubtless, during these intermediate years, he had seen many other signs and wonders authenticating his masters Divine call He had mingled with the youths–his own contemporaries and fellow-students–in the college of the prophets: and, above all, in common with them, and more than them, he had been the privileged eye-witness of the pure, exalted character and consistent walk of his honoured superior. Alas! that no fall is so low and so fearful as the fall of a man once enlightened, and who has tasted of the heavenly gift. No recoil to sin is so terrible as the recoil on the part of one who has tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come. The religious training and pious fellowship which softens and ameliorates the docile, teachable heart; if abused and rejected, will only serve to stir up the natural, innate tendencies of evil. Let us write Beware on our seasons of loftiest privilege, and on our moments of highest inspiration. Beware of a spirit of indifference to Divine things, harbouring aught that would blunt the fine edge of conscience, and grieve the Holy Spirit of God; allowing religion to become a weariness; outwardly professing godliness, while inwardly in league with the world, the flesh, and the devil.
II. A second lesson we may learn from the story of Gehazi, is the certainty of sins detection. It was a boldly conceived and a boldly executed scheme of the audacious criminal. Such were the air-castles which Gehazi, in common with thousands of accomplished graduates in crime, have reared for themselves. But he forgot, or tried at least to bury from remembrance, the truth which he had embodied in his own thoughtless imprecation, that Jehovah liveth. It is true that sentence against an evil work is not always (indeed, is seldom) executed speedily. God many times seems to keep silence–to be like the Baal of Carmel, asleep. The daring and presumptuous venture their own sceptic conclusions on this forbearance of the Most High, in thinking Him altogether such an one as themselves–The Lord doth not see, neither doth the God of Jacob regard (Psa 94:7). If, however, there be in the present state, exceptions to this great retributive law in Gods moral economy, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And as the detection will be sure, so also will the punishment be commensurate with the crime. In the case of Gehazi, most meet and befitting was the nature of the retribution. He would rob the restored Commander of his festal garment; a white garment, too, he shall have in return, but very different truly from the one he has avariciously appropriated:–a garment of terrible import, which in a terrible sense shall wax not old, for it shall go down a frightful heirloom to his childrens children. It is a robe of leprosy, white as snow. Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap!
III. A third lesson we may draw from the narrative is, the tendency of one sin to generate another. When the moral sense becomes weakened, and moral restraints are withdrawn, the horde of demons gather strength;–the avalanche of depravity acquires bulk as well as velocity, in its downward course of havoc and ruin. These wild beasts–the wolves of the soul–may hunt at first singly, but afterwards they go in packs, and the number increaseth the voraciousness thereof. When the citadel of the heart is carried by assault, one bastion after another is dismantled, and its treasure abandoned to the enemy. The Reaper angels, in the final harvest of wrath, are pictured as gathering, not single stalks, or even sheaves, but bundles to be burnt. Mark the sad experience of Gehazi:–
1. Note his covetousness. Avarice was the besetting sin of his nature–the prolific parent of all the others.
2. But the motive-power of covetousness roused into action other depraved, and, till now, slumbering forces. We have to note next, his untruthfulness. Isaac Watts child-hymn, in simplest child-language, expresses in brief the sad experience of this covetous attendant–
For he who does one fault at first,
And lies to hide it, makes it two.
3. Scarcely distinguishable from Gehazis sin of falsehood–akin to it, and a part of it–(a sister-spirit of evil)–let us note his hypocrisy. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
Gehazi
I. That the highest religious advantages, unless duly improved, will fail to produce any saving results.
II. That where unholy dispositions are cherished in the heart, they will break forth, when a favourable opportunity presents itself, in corresponding action.
III. That while we proceed in a course of iniquity, it is in vain for us to expect either concealment or impunity.
1. All your sin is known to God. Man cannot read the heart of his fellow-man without a special revelation from heaven; but though man can only judge from outward appearances, and is consequently incapable of forming a right estimate, all things are known to God. I, the Lord, search the heart and try the reins of the children of men.
2. All sin thus beheld is abhorred by God. The Lord is a God of infinite purity and righteousness. There is no object we can contemplate or conceive, that is half so offensive to the most delicate eye as sin is to God.
3. God, in His infinite wisdom, has a thousand means which we cannot conceive, of bringing to light the hidden works of darkness. Gehazi thought that his secret wickedness would never be discovered; but the whole scene passed, as it were, in panoramic view before his master. The Lord can suggest a single thought to the mind of a person acquainted with us, that may lead to a train of reflections, observations, and inquiries which will discover our secret iniquities. (T. Jackson.)
Gehazi
Let us derive a few general and useful reflections from the whole narrative.
I. Persons may be very wicked under religious advantages. The means of grace and the grace of the means are very distinguishable from each other, and are frequently found separate.
II. Here is a warning against the love of money. Take heed, and beware of covetousness.
III. See the encroachments and progress of sin; and learn how dangerous it is to give way to any evil propensity.
IV. How absurd it is to sin with an expectation of secrecy! There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity can hide themselves.
V. Abhor and forsake lying. It is in common peculiarly easy to detect falsehood. Hence it is said that every liar should have a good memory. And what an odious character is a liar! How shunned and detested when discovered! To every mortal upon earth, the appellation of a liar is the most detestable. A liar is the emblem of the devil, who was a liar from the beginning, and abode not in the truth. (W. Jay.)
Gehazi
In dwelling on our subject we have suggested:–
I. Gehazis inestimable privileges. He held no ordinary position. He was servant to the greatest of prophets, and lived in an atmosphere of the most exalted purity and the highest piety. He had an example to contemplate which few others have been favoured with. Hence he could not excuse himself by the plea of ignorance. He had the means of knowing what was right. He was in constant contact with Gods Divine word, and knew well the Divine law. He saw and probably enjoyed the ministrations of his master. Yet notwithstanding all this he sinned in a notable and presumptuous manner.
II. Gehazis complicated sin. How one crime is tied to another! They follow like children of a family. They are like the birds that collect after carrion. We seldom see one prominent sin hovering in the moral atmosphere unaccompanied by others. Bad men consort together. Bad spirits seek congenial company.
III. Gehazis exemplary punishment. We may imagine the radiant glee of Elishas servant as he returned home well satisfied with his days work on his own behalf. He was proud at the success of his well-contrived and ably executed stratagem. With these self-complaisant thoughts he went in and stood before his master, and glibly covered his sin with the lie. As if he could deceive God! He went out! In one moment he was transformed, both body and soul. We sometimes come upon these sudden revulsions of feeling, when in a single instant the whole current of a mans life is changed at once and for ever. The lessons which this subject has for ourselves are manifest:–
1. We see the danger of a covetous spirit. It is the mainspring of half the sins of the present day, as it has been the exciting cause of half the wars and crimes of the world.
2. We see in Gehazi the type of all sin. All sin is like his in its method. It never remains stationary. It grows and stretches from one thing to another. All sin is like Gehazis in its selfishness. Surely he might have respected his masters honour and position in the sight of the foreign prince. Sin is selfishness. It is placing personal interests and ease and aggrandisement before the interest of others. And the simile is continued in the last point. All sin is alike in the certainty of its punishment. The wicked may persuade themselves that their wickedness is unobserved, but it will soon be manifest that every thought is known and that the day of reckoning must arrive. (Homilist.)
One mans blessing another mans curse
Judging only as we are able to do of one another now, Gehazis plan had succeeded, and he had done well for himself. But he had left out of his scheme the remembrance that God had something to do with it.
I. Lying and false ways of earthly prosperity always leave out God. Liars and deceivers ignore Gods interest in their life, Gods knowledge of their plans and schemes and the execution of them. And in their apparently untroubled doing without God these men and their actions become most hurtful stumbling-blocks to many tender souls, such as that most pure and deep thinker Asaph–or the man who wrote psalms for his use, who mourned over the wicked that they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Such sin is either a practical ignoring of God altogether, atheism in daily action and business (which is much more pernicious than atheism of intellect), or it is a defaming and insulting of Gods omniscience.
II. One sin, one lie, makes others easier and worse. The lie came from him easily and readily: for he had prepared himself beforehand, and the lie he had told to Naaman trained him to insult, by deceiving, his master. The way to perdition is downhill, on a slippery way, with a descent that is ever quickening.
III. Gehazis exposure and shame come now before us. How soon the scheme came to an end, and such an end! How soon the bubble burst! Gehazi had deceived Naaman and had gotten his money, but he had misled himself much more.
IV. Elishas patriotism cried out against Gehazis sin.
V. Gehazi pierced through with many sorrows. He had sought his good here; but with Naamans money he got his leprosy, too. The blessing of the Syrian became the curse of the servant of the man of God. (G. B. Ryley.)
The covetousness of Gehazi
I. We have here covetousness seeking to make gain of a connection with goodness. Gehazi was the servant of Elisha. It was surely no small privilege to be an attendant upon the prophet of God,–to be brought into such close connection with a man so good and holy. One might have supposed that he could scarcely help feeling the influence of Elisha. Now, covetousness of any kind is bad enough; but covetousness hanging on the skirts of goodness,–covetousness taking advantage of some outward connection with religion, and even with unselfishness,–this is surely one of the lowest forms of vice. Oh, it is a fearful thing when a man comes to value his religious reputation chiefly as a portion of his stock-in-trade.
II. We have here covetousness leading on to falsehood and theft.
III. We have here covetousness hindering the progress of the divine kingdom. Like a true prophet as he was, Elisha was seeking to advance the kingdom of God. He cared far more for the extension of Jehovahs name and the promotion of Jehovahs glory than for his own advantage. If he magnified his prophetic office and stood on his honour, it was that, through him, Jehovah might be honoured. This was no doubt the secret of his treatment of Naaman. (T. J. Finlayson.)
Deception detected and punished
I. The deception practised. Naaman was proceeding on his way, thoughtful, grateful, prayerful, hopeful, joyful. He is overtaken by Gehazi, who, unknown to his master, asks a gift of him. After all Gehazis profession and all his religious opportunities, who would have expected such action? Influences of pious homes, etc., are sometimes all lost. The secret of Gehazis action was covetousness. This is a rock on which many split. Gehazi thinks of all Naaman is taking back, and of his willingness to make the prophet a present. He regrets the loss of an opportunity of gain. He longs for the silver, etc. He resolves to seek for it. It is dangerous to parley with temptation. Unobserved, as he supposes, by the prophet, he pursues after Naaman. Unheard, as he supposes, by the prophet, he tells his story.
II. The deception succeeding; that is, for the time, and so far as regards the obtaining of that for which he asked, and more than he asked for. Naaman pauses, descends from his chariot, kindly inquires after the prophets welfare, listens to Gehazis application, grants all he sought and more. Note the confidence, the artlessness, the unsuspiciousness of a young convert to the faith of the God of Israel. He cannot suppose a prophets servant could be guilty of a falsehood. Men expect much of those who profess godliness; guilty indeed are they who, by disappointing such expectations, cast a stumbling-block in the way of young believers (Mat 18:6). Gehazi obtains his desire; but how does he feel as he returns to his master?
III. The deception detected. Verse 24, When he came to the tower. In the Revised Version that reads–When he came to the hill; probably the hill brow from which he could see his masters house, and where his master, therefore, might possibly see him, he then hid his ill-got treasure. He did not think of that eye that over sees (Psa 139:1-12; Jer 23:24). Could he think to hide from the prophet, of the Lord that which he had done? He did so think; but it was not hidden (verses 25, 26). He thought he had managed all very cleverly! . . . Deception led to falsehood; it often does. Yet only ultimately to increase the shame of detection. Be sure thy sin will find thee out.
IV. The deception punished. Shortlived is the prosperity of the wicked. If Gehazi will have Naamans treasure, he shall have Naamans leprosy. (Homiletic Magazine.)
Avarice a fatal vice
Andrew Fuller one day went into a bullion merchants, and was shown a mass of gold. Taking it into his hand, he very suggestively remarked, How much better it is to hold it in your hand than to have it in your heart. Goods m the hand will not hurt you, but the goods in the heart will destroy you. Not long ago, a burglar, as you will remember, escaping from a policeman, leaped into the Regents Canal, and was drowned–drowned by the weight of the silver which he had plundered. How many there are who have made a god of their wealth, and in hasting after riches have been drowned by the weight of their worldly substance! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
When disguises are removed
A large lake in a noblemans park was a little time ago drained off for repairing purposes. During the day it had shone under the sunlight like a sheet of gold, and at night a silver sheen from the moon turned it into poetic beauty. It looked an emblem of purity and peace. But when the water was drawn away what an awful contrast! Down in the oozy slime at the bottom of the lake were thousands of crawling and wriggling abominations of reptile and parasitic order. The waters, so fair in outward seeming, were a very haunt of evil squirming horrors. What a terrible revealing will the withdrawing of life make to many a Christless soul. When all disguises, veils, and falsities are taken away, and the horrors of cherished sin are all laid bare. (H. O. Mackey.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 20. My master hath spared – this Syrian] He has neither taken any thing from him for himself, nor permitted him to give any thing to me.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Naaman this Syrian; a stranger, and one of that nation who are the implacable enemies of Gods people; whom therefore my master should not have had so much regard to as to the Lords prophets, who before deserved and more needed the money which he offered than Naaman himself did.
As the Lord liveth; he swears, that he might have some pretence for the action to which he had bound himself by his oath, not considering that to swear to do any wicked action is so far from excusing it, that it makes it much worse.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20-25. I will run after him, andtake somewhat of himThe respectful courtesy to Elisha, shownin the person of his servant, and the open-handed liberality of hisgifts, attest the fulness of Naaman’s gratitude; while the lietheartful management is dismissing the bearers of the treasure, and thedeceitful appearance before his master, as if he had not left thehousegive a most unfavorable impression of Gehazi’s character.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God said,…. Within himself, observing what had passed:
behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: he speaks contemptibly of Naaman, as an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, and reproaches his master for letting him go free, without paying for his cure; when he thought he should have taken what he brought and offered, and given it to needy Israelites, and especially to the sons of the prophets, that wanted it; and perhaps it mostly disturbed him, that he had no share of it himself:
but, as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him; the word for “somewhat”, wanting a letter usually in it, is what is sometimes used for a blot; and Jarchi observes, that Gehazi taking something from Naaman, was a blot unto him, and indeed such an one that he could not wipe off.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Punishment of Gehazi. – 2Ki 5:20-22. When Naaman had gone a stretch of the way ( , 2Ki 5:19; see at Gen 35:16), there arose in Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the desire for a portion of the presents of the Syrian which his master had refused ( , as truly as Jehovah liveth, assuredly I run after him; as in 1Sa 25:34). He therefore hastened after him; and as Naaman no sooner saw Gehazi running after him than he sprang quickly down from his chariot in reverential gratitude to the prophet ( as in Gen 24:64), he asked in the name of Elisha for a talent of silver and two changes of raiment, professedly for two poor pupils of the prophets, who had come to the prophet from Mount Ephraim.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Naaman’s Gratitude. | B. C. 894. |
20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him. 21 So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? 22 And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments. 23 And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him. 24 And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. 25 But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither. 26 And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? 27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.
Naaman, a Syrian, a courtier, a soldier, had many servants, and we read how wise and good they were, v. 13. Elisha, a holy prophet, a man of God, has but one servant, and he proves a base, lying, naughty fellow. Those that heard of Elisha at a distance honoured him, and got good by what they heard; but he that stood continually before him, to hear his wisdom, had no good impressions made upon him either by his doctrine or miracles. One would have expected that Elisha’s servant should be a saint (even Ahab’s servant, Obadiah, was), but even Christ himself had a Judas among his followers. The means of grace cannot give grace. The best men, the best ministers have often had those about them that have been their grief and shame. The nearer the church the further from God. Many come from the east and west to sit down with Abraham when the children of the kingdom shall be cast out. Here is,
I. Gehazi’s sin. It was a complicated sin. 1. The love of money, that root of all evil, was at the bottom of it. His master contemned Naaman’s treasures, but he coveted them, v. 20. His heart (says bishop Hall) was packed up in Naaman’s chests, and he must run after him to fetch it. Multitudes, by coveting worldly wealth, have erred from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. 2. He blamed his master for refusing Naaman’s present, condemned him as foolish in not taking gold when he might have it, envied and grudged his kindness and generosity to this stranger, though it was for the good of his soul. In short, he thought himself wiser than his master. 3. When Naaman, like a person of accomplished manners, alighted from his chariot to meet him (v. 21), he told him a deliberate lie, that his master sent him to him, and so he received that courtesy to himself that Naaman intended to his master. 4. He abused his master, and basely misrepresented him to Naaman as one that had soon repented of his generosity, that was fickle, and did not know his own mind, that would say and unsay, swear and unswear, that would not do an honourable thing but he must presently undo it again. his story of the two sons of the prophets was as silly as it was false; if he would have begged a token for two young scholars, surely less than a talent of silver might serve them. 5. There was danger of his alienating Naaman from that holy religion which he had espoused, and lessening his good opinion of it. he would be ready to say, as Paul’s enemies suggested concerning him (2Co 12:16; 2Co 12:17), that, though Elisha himself did not burden him, yet being crafty he caught him with guile, sending those that made a gain of him. We hope that he understood afterwards that Elisha’s hand was not in it, and that Gehazi was forced to restore what he had unjustly got, else it might have driven him to his idols again. 6. His seeking to conceal what he had unjustly got added much to his sin. (1.) He hid it, as Achan did his gain, by sacrilege, in the tower, a secret place, a strong place, till he should have an opportunity of laying it out, v. 24. Now he thought himself sure of it, and applauded his own management of a fraud by which he had imposed, not only upon the prudence of Naaman, but upon Elisha’s spirit of discerning, as Ananias and Sapphira upon the apostles. (2.) He denied it: He went in, and stood before his master, ready to receive his orders. None looked more observant of his master, though really none more injurious to him; he thought, as Ephraim, I have become rich, but they shall find no iniquity in me, Hos. xii. 8. His master asked him where he had been, “Nowhere, sir” (said he), “out of the house.” Note, One lie commonly begets another: the way of that sin is down-hill; therefore dare to be true.
II. The punishment of this sin. Elisha immediately called him to an account for it; and observe,
1. How he was convicted. He thought to impose upon the prophet, but was soon given to understand that the Spirit of prophecy could not be deceived, and that it was in vain to lie to the Holy Ghost. Elisha could tell him, (1.) What he had done, though he had denied it. “Thou sayest thou wentest nowhere, but went not my heart with thee?” v. 26. Had Gehazi yet to learn that prophets had spiritual eyes? or could he think to hide any thing from a seer, from him with whom the secret of the Lord was? Note, It is folly to presume upon sin in hopes of secresy. When thou goest aside into any by-path does not thy own conscience go with thee? Does not the eye of God go with thee? He that covers his sin shall not prosper, particularly a lying tongue is but for a moment, Prov. xii. 19. Truth will transpire, and often comes to light strangely, to the confusion of those that make lies their refuge. (2.) What he designed, though he kept that in his own breast. He could tell him the very thoughts and intents of his heart, that he was projecting, now that he had got these two talents, to purchase ground and cattle, to leave Elisha’s service, and to set up for himself. Note, All the foolish hopes and contrivances of carnal worldlings are open before God. And he tells him also the evil of it: “Is it a time to receive money? Is this an opportunity of enriching thyself? Couldst thou find no better way of getting money than by belying thy master and laying a stumbling-block before a young convert?” Note, Those that are for getting wealth at any time, and by any ways and means whatsoever, right or wrong, lay themselves open to a great deal of temptation. Those that will be rich (per fas, per nefas; rem, rem, quocunque modo rem–by fair means, by foul means; careless of principle, intent only on money) drown themselves in destruction and perdition, 1 Tim. vi. 9. War, and fire, and plague, and shipwreck, are not, as many make them, things to get money by. It is not a time to increase our wealth when we cannot do it but in such ways as are dishonourable to God and religion or injurious to our brethren or the public.
2. How he was punished for it: The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to thee, v. 27. If he will have his money, he shall take his disease with it, Transit cum onere–It passes with this incumbrance. He was contriving to entail lands upon his posterity; but, instead of them, he entails a loathsome disease on the heirs of his body, from generation to generation. The sentence was immediately executed on himself; no sooner said than done: He went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. Thus he is stigmatized and made infamous, and carries the mark of his shame wherever he goes: thus he loads himself and family with a curse, which shall not only for the present proclaim his villany, but for ever perpetuate the remembrance of it. Note, The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of those that seek death, Prov. xxi. 6. Those who get wealth by fraud and injustice cannot expect either the comfort or the continuance of it. What was Gehazi profited, though he gained his two talents, when thereby he lost his health, his honour, his peace, his service, and, if repentance prevented not, his soul for ever? See Job xx. 12, &c.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
2Ki. 5:21. He lighted down from the chariotNot merely dismounted, but quickly did so sprang out of the chariot, , to cast oneself, to throw oneself, to rush. It indicates Naamans anxiety.
2Ki. 5:24. Came to the towerthe hill, i.e., a hill well understood in the locality of Elishas house.
2Ki. 5:26. Went not mine heartIn contrast with Gehazis words, Thy servant went no whither. My hearti.e., in spirit, discerning the entire transaction. Is it a time to receive money, &c.i.e., in any other case rather than this thou mightest have gratified thine avarice, but now, with so many hypocritical prophets abroad, this is no time for bringing the true prophetic office into disrepute by an act which seems to imply that the servant of the High God is only intent on selfish aggrandisement in his sacred and supernatural work.W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki. 5:20-27
THE CURSE OF AVARICE
I. That a spirit of avarice loses no opportunity to gratify its greed. Gehazi was the Judas Iscariot of the Old Testament. Covetousness was his besetment. He was doubtless in many ways valuable to Elisha, and perhaps was at first a sincere enquirer after truth. But the spirit of avarice gained the mastery over what was good in him, and ultimately wrought his ruin. The wealth of Naaman was too great a temptation to him, and he could not forego the prospect of benefiting by the lavish generosity of the grateful Syrian. As the Lord liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat of him (2Ki. 5:20). Gehazi acts under the guise of religion while disregarding its teaching of disinterestedness, which it was particularly needful to make evident in those days of worldliness and time-serving among the national priesthoodthe sycophantic Baalites. He showed contempt for the judgment of his master in the matter of receiving gifts, end cared not how far he disparaged the prophet in the eyes of his new convert. He mainly misrepresented Elisha by making him ask for what Naaman had just heard him most positively refuse. Avarice knows no scruples; is reckless of results; it sees only what is to be gained, and cannot relinquish the slightest hope of securing it.
II. That a spirit of avarice hesitates not to employ falsehood in attaining its purpose. Covetousness and lyiug go together; they are twin-vices. The burning desire for gain suggested to Gehazi the fabrication of a plausible story which would easily deceive the unsuspecting and generous Naaman (2Ki. 5:21-23). What a round tale hath the craft of Gehazi devised of the number, the place, the quality, the age, of his masters guests, that he might set a fair colour upon that pretended request, so proportioning the value of his demand as might both enrich himself, and yet well stand with the moderation of his master! Love of money can never keep good quarter with honesty, with innocence. Covetousness never lodged in the heart alone; if it find not, it will breed wickedness. What a mint of fraud there is in a worldly breast! How readily can it coin subtle falsehood for an advantage! To find out the covetous, go round with a subscription book. It is perfectly appalling what lies you will hear told to evade giving.
III. That a spirit of avarice finds its pleasure in secretly storing its gains (2Ki. 5:24). Gehazi carefully stowed away the goods with which the liberality of Naaman had supplied him, and began already to indulge in dreams of increased possessions and of the pleasures his wealth might purchase. The miser wastes his best powers in the fond idolatry of his money, and gloats in secret over the piles of treasure which he counts with trembling joy. Avarice, says Channing, is a passion full of paradox, a madness full of method; for although the miser is the most mercenary of all beings, yet he serves the worst master more faithfully than some Christians do the best, and will take nothing for it. He falls down and worships the God of this world, but will have neither its pomps, vanities, nor its pleasures for his trouble He begins to accumulate treasure as a means to happiness, and by a common but morbid association he continues to accumulate it as an end. He lives poor to die rich, and is the mere jailer of his house and the turnkey of his wealth. Impoverished by his gold, he slaves harder to imprison it in his chest, than his brother slave to liberate it from the mine. The avarice of the miser may be termed the grand sepulchre of all his other passions, as they successively decay. But, unlike other tombs, it is enlarged by repletion and strengthened by age.
IV. That a spirit of avarice is unexpectedly exposed and faithfully warned (2Ki. 5:25-26). Little did Gehazi think that the whole transaction which had been carried out with such consummate craft and privacy was already known to his Master. He seeks still further to hide his duplicity by further lying. He who tells a lie, says Pope, is not sensible how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain one. The wickedness of his servant was discovered by the prophetic insight of Elisha, and, to the utter confusion of the culprit, he is addressed in words of severe and faithful remonstranceIs it a time to receive money, &c? Miserable Gehazi! how didst thou stand pale and trembling before the dreadful tribunal of thy severe master, looking for the woful sentence of some grievous judgment for so heinous an offence! It is well when the money-loving worldling has a faithful monitor at hand to warn him of his danger and reprove him for his sin: it is better still when warning and reproof lead to reformation.
V. That a spirit of avarice is cursed with a terrible doom (2Ki. 5:27). Swift upon the heels of the transgression came the punishment, and that a punishment most loathsome and abhorrent: it was like a living death!He went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. O heavy talents of Gehazi! O the horror of this one unchangeable suit which shall never be but loathsomely white, noisomely unclean! How much better had been a light purse and a homely coat with a sound body, a clear soul! Too late doth that wretched man now find that he hath loaded himself with a curse, that he hath clad himself with shame. His sin shall be read ever in his face, in his seed. All passengers, all posterities, shall now sayBehold the characters of Gehazis covetousness, fraud, sacrilege!Bp. Hall. Perhaps the punishment cured the sin, and led to repentance. Gehazi the leper had more hope of salvation than Gehazi the miser. Gain got by a lie will burn your fingers, burn in your purses, rot your estates, and root out your posterity.
LESSONS:
1. The love of money is the root of all evil.
2. The avaricious spirit is ever ready to take advantage of the generous.
3. Covet earnestly the best gifts.
DEFILEMENT OF GODS WORK BY COVETOUS MEN (2Ki. 5:20-24)
It is saddening to know that some of the best works, nd some of Gods most eminent workers, have been defamed and lowered, if their influence has not been actually counteracted and nullified, by inferior workers and by unworthy men. This defiling of Gods work has generally come from one source, and is the result of one vile lust or passioncovetousness. As illustrating this, read the repulsive histories of Balaam, of Achan, of Davids impious numbering of Israel, the story of Gehazi now before us, and the dark atrocity of the life and death of Judas Iscariot.
I. The action and duplicity of Gehazi are of singular unworthiness. Like so many other histories, they show that intercourse with good men and association with God-like work may become only the occasion of more vileness in a man. To the influence of his noble-minded master, to the refining and elevating power of such a character as Elisha, to the special needs of his fatherland and day, Gehazi seems to have been insensible, or, if not insensible, yet, which is worse, inclined to undervalue them, and to use the privileges and opportunities of his position for the gain of money. Nor is Gehazi lonely in this. On every side evidence of the like iniquity accumulates when we look into Scripture or other history. Few followers of great men have any of their real greatness, though they may share their honour. Few imitators of great teachers catch sight of anything but their own false exaggeration of their masters position, and the opportunities thereby given of personal advance. The followers of Luther were seldom worthy of him. The followers of Calvin have not been true to their master. The adherents of the hallowed Wesleys did not take their sacred work only. The converts of Paul almost broke his heart. And the followers and servants of Jesuswhere is there one of us who is worthy of his master? Do not many of us come to Christ with selfish feelings and serve our God for hire? We may find it helpful against this danger ever to remember that Gods gift of salvation was both undeserved and unsolicited. Being with the good and great will not necessarily make us similar; otherwise Gehazi would have been a better man, and it would not have been Christs sorrowful experience that he who had eaten bread with Him lifted up his heel against Him.
II. Gehazis covetousness was of a gross material kindthe love of money; and the miserable influence of it upon him is seen in thisthat it produced inability to appreciate Elishas spiritual motives. Ali that Gehazi let himself see was that with the departing Naaman so much money went away too. As with Gehazi, so generally the covetous and unprincipled man lowers himself to a level on which he is unable, in daily life and business, to appreciate other motives than those of getting gain, or measure anything in lifes movements and enterprises by any other gauge than that of the money that can be gained or must be lost. Gehazi could not feel the power of Elishas spiritual motives in sparing Naaman and letting him go free of payment. Elishas noble determination that the mercy of his God should, in Naamans case, be had literally for the asking; his resolve that the goodness of God should be then, as we say now, of grace, and not of buying or sellingthis, to such a soul as Gehazis, was useless, fanciful, intangible. He was, evidently, a practical vigorous man, who had not much room for fancies, whether religious or any other. Covetous men in the world, and Gehazis in the Church, are too many and too influential. Too many of us have this coarse grain in us, and when there is ever any beauty or tenderness of feeling in us, we get into the habit of hiding it from what we think would be the rude looks and unappreciating touch of others.
III. In several other ways Gehazis covetousness involved him in sin, and further defiled the good work that had been wrought by Elisha. These are no lonely, single sins. Sin needs sin to help it along, to buttress it, to back it, and give it success. One deception leads to another, and needs it, and each becomes a pledge of worse. Gehazi had to lie to Naaman; and it speaks of the power of greed and covetousness, to see this man telling the lie so plainly and confidently, misrepresenting his master, and dishonoring Gods work as done by his master. All the food and fame of this grand world are not worth one little lie. Let us he careful not to want anything beyond the reach of honesty, nor to go where we need lies and double-dealing for advancement. To be simple-minded, with Christ, is better than all the successes of duplicity. Gezahis lie deceived a trusting man, and made the liar take still greater and more ungenerous advantage of Naamans goodness, in doubling the amount of silver. The covetous liar has no room for generosity.
IV. The success of the lie. The falsehood has thriven; to deceive has been found to be the short road to wealth; to insult God, to defame his work, to misrepresent Elisha, and to plunder Naaman. These things have paid, as men say. It is this kind of thing that is enough to shake a feeble faith, to see the wicked in great power. Gehazi had gotten his wealth, but what could he do with it? He hid it, hoarded it up for a few hours, and then the judgment came. He got his money like Achan, he hid it like Achan, and God troubled him as he troubled Achan. This is the life of those who are greedy of gain. It is like sowing the barren sea. We can only hoard earths gain, or hide it away, or spend it on the world that passes away, for a few hours, and then God must come, and judgment must begin.C. W. P.
ONE MANS BLESSING ANOTHER MANS CURSE (2Ki. 5:25-27)
Gehazi has to face that from which a liar never escaped, and a false tongue never was deliveredeven detection, exposure, shame, and everlasting contempt. The whole transaction had been decided on so quickly, and carried out so easily, that the probabilities were all in his favour, and warranted his hope that having gained his wealth by a bold stroke he would be able to keep it by effrontery. I. Lying and false ways of earthly prosperity always leave out God. Liars and deceivers ignore Gods interest in their life, Gods knowledge of their plans and schemes, and the execution of them. And in their apparently untroubled doing without God these men and their actions become most hurtful stumbling-blocks to many tender souls. Oh, guard in your daily actions against this perilous thought, this most hurtful habit of ignoring God, and his knowledge of your ways! Let us take the word of God as a wholesome blame to ourselves, and as a wise correction of many shameful things in our daily life. Let us really and solemnly believe in Gods omnisicence, not as a theological article only, but as a matter for daily life and care; and let us try to cultivate the ever-present sense that God knows all our ways, and understands our hearts with their pitiful vileness. Yea, let not this beget terror and horror, like that of the prisoner in his cell, who, having been condemned to have some one day and night watching him through a hole in the prison door, became haunted and horrified by the eye that was ever looking at him; but, rather, let us gladly believe that the Lord has searched us, and known us; that He understands our thoughts afar off; and let us bare and open ourselves to the Infinite Searcher of hearts. II. They who will not do this, will have to prove the experience of Gehazi, that one sin, one lie, makes others easier and worse. Gehazi presumed that Elisha was ignorant of his doings, and when he went in and was asked, Whence comest thou? he had his answer ready, Thy servant went nowhither. The lie came from him easily and readily, for he had prepared himself beforehand; and the lie he had told to Naaman trained him to insult, by deceiving, his master. The way to perdition is downhill, on a slippery way, with a descent that is ever quickening. The first step down gives us impetus, and every after step is easier to the soul that is going down away from the light. One act of lying or deceiving needs another, and begets its own kind until the liar deceives himself, imagining himself to be secure, when he is on, the edge of perdition, and thinking his schemes are all doing well, when He that sitteth in the heavens laughs at them, and the Lord has them in derision. In thus leading to a vile, false security of self-deception, lying becomes its own enemy and judgment. Though others may be hoodwinked, and conscience may be blindfolded, so that right and wrong are not clearly discernible, yet deception must end somewhere. Somewhere, and with some one, a lie must be of no use, be wasted breath and ruinous sin. It is of no use with God; it stops at the throne of God; there it must stand revealed; and we have yet to see whether the boldness of earths deceptions will be continued there. Who shall be bold in the day of God? Certainly not the false man. III. Gehazis exposure and shame come now before us. How soon the scheme came to an end, and such an end! How soon the bubble burst! Gehazi had deceived Naaman and had gotten his money, but he had misled himself much more. For Elishas spirit had been with him, and it is notable that Elisha says, that from the moment in which Gehazi began to deceive Naaman, he knew the whole. It is not a light thing to God when we allow ourselves to glide into an iniquity, but it must be and is before God a much viler thing when, in addition to wronging our own souls, we hurt and sin against others. Sin has been vile enough when, in cases that have come before our law courts, men have lied, and forged, and perjured themselves; the outrage on truth has been bad, but when widows and orphans and others have been ruined by trusting their money to such men, has there not risen a cry to God, a cry clamorous as that of Abels unexpiated blood? Samuel Rutherford spoke tenderly yet terribly when he said, I find it would be no art, as I see now, to make hypocrisy a goodly web, and to go through the market as a saint among men, and yet steal quietly to hell without observation, so easy it is to deceive men. Men see but as men, but to be approved of God (may I add in business?) is no ordinary mercy. Gehazi got Naamans money; would that we all in our trading and toil had the spirit that would lay all gains before God, saying, Lord, whose money have I? IV. Elishas patriotism cried out against Gehazis sin. Is it a time to receive money and garments and oliveyards, and vineyards and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? This protest is based not only on Elishas desire that Naamans cure should be from beginning to end the evident work of the free grace and mercy of the God of Israel, but rises also from the condition of Israel as a nation at that time. It was a time of strife and care, of war and rumour of war, in which everyone ought to have been ready for the call of self-sacrifice, and for the encouragement of self-denying motives for the sake of the time and the fatherland. During all the period of war and siege and famine of which you may read in the next chapter, Elisha was the leader of the patriotic and no-surrender party in Samaria. He it was who encouraged the people to resist even to the uttermost; and even when the city was so reduced that women ate their own children, and the king sent a man to strike off Elishas head as the leader of the resisting party, Elisha still kept the gates of the city shut against a surrender. Knowing the vigorous patriotism of this man of God, his readiness for self-devotion, we may well and easily understand Elishas detestation of Gehazis conduct when all that he seemed to wish for was the increase of his money and the accumulation of hoarded wealth. It was not a time to receive money, and pander by false ways to the lust for gain, though there are men who, in any crisis of a nation or society or religion, will put the claims of self-interest in the foreground, and judge only under the impulse of insatiable appetite for wealth. The patriot as well as the prophet speaks to us here, and his word declares that a man is required by the condition of his country and the state of the times in which he lives to forbid himself any gain, to deny himself any advance, that may involve him in meanness and sinfulness. With broader meaning also, out of which all other special applications come, we must learn from this that the Christian man is required to govern all his life by such a feeling as this of Elisha, that time on earth is to be passed in the actual subordination of earthly gains of money, or rich dress, or property, or social status. The present time is a time for honest toil and labour in the fear of God and the love of Jesus; but not for aiming at the miscalled goods of this world. V. Now, coming to the last of this history, we see Gehazi pierced through with many sorrows. He had sought his good here, but with Naamans money he got his leprosy too. The blessing of the Syrian became the curse of the servant of the man of God. Let us get this matter close to ourselves. The day of God, we may fear, will show many who have blighted themselves, marked themselves with a curse by their part in connection with Gods word; many who have helped to do good, but therein doomed themselves by the spirit that they have allowed to grow on the work. It is not a light thing to assume leadership in the Lord, or eldership in His work, for if we are hurtful in these things, who shall heal the hurt?
For what shall heal, when holy service banes?
Or who may guide
Oer desert plains
Thy lovd, yet sinful people wandering wide,
If Aarons hand, unshrinking, mould
An idol form of earthly gold?
What shall save when being an instrument of good is made its own curse by any soul? This doom of Gehazi is prophetic of all uncleansed sin and its miserable end. Any unrepented wrong against man or God must come back to the wrongdoer. Sin that we will not let Christ wash away must find us out, for it is our sin, our own ghastly belonging for ever and ever. We are its author, owner, and home for ever. We raise a demon that we cannot lay but by taking it home to ourselves. Unpardonedthat is, unrepentedsin is as the unclean spirit of which the Lord spake: it has no end till it returns whence it set out. We began with honour and degradation in Naaman; and it all ends in this dishonour and degradation in Gehazi. He went out a leperthe curse of God had fallen on him by the word of the gentle master whose work he had defiled. Elishas kindliness gave place to the word of vengeance. Oh, remember that there is such a thing as the wrath of the Lamb, and that when the gentleness of God, the Lamb in the midst of the throne, gives way to judgment, there shall be found no place for the liar, the covetous, or any impenitent. In the free grace and love by which Naaman was washed and purified we have our hope; and in the outraged love by which Gehazi was blighted we have our warning. Take both the hope and the warning.C. W. P.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki. 5:20-24. A sordid spirit. I. Remains unchanged, though in daily intercourse with the most unselfish nobleness. II. Cannot appreciate the motive that relinquishes a single opportunity of getting gain. III. Deludes itself in assuming a religious guise for its basest acts (2Ki. 5:20). IV. Displays unseemly haste in getting possession of coveted treasure (2Ki. 5:21). V. Is facile in manufacturing falsehood (2Ki. 5:22). VI. Does not scruple to take every advantage of the generosity of others (2Ki. 5:23). VII. Is careful to conceal the extent of its hoardings (2Ki. 5:24).
2Ki. 5:20. How mighty are the evil inborn lusts of the human heart! Even in the case of those who have for years enjoyed the society of the noblest and most pious men, who have heard and read the Word of God daily, and who have had the example of holy conduct daily before their eyes, lusts arise, take possession of them, and carry them captive (Jas. 1:13-15).
2Ki. 5:23. He who himself thinketh no evil, and is sincere, does not suspect cunning and deceit in others. Good-hearted, noble men, to whom it is moro lessed to give than to receive, are easily deceived, and they follow the inclination of their hearts instead of examining carefully to whom they are giving their benefactions.
2Ki. 5:24. That which we must conceal brings no blessing.
2Ki. 5:25-27. The audacity of a liar. I. Stands unabashed in the holiest presence. II. Under the necessity of adding lie to lie. III. Unexpectedly exposed. IV. Does not escape signal punishment.
2Ki. 5:25 compared with 2Ki. 5:27. But he went in and stood before his master. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. A never-to-be forgotten interview. I. He went in guilty, yet little dreaming of detection; he came out baffled, exposed, humbled. II. He went in hardened, impenitent, and prepared with excuses; he came out smitten with a punishment as little expected as it was terrible. III. A single interview may wither the happiness of a lifetime; judgment, though unanticipated, is swift and sure. IV. The way in which we shall come out of the last judgment will depend upon the character with which we go in.
2Ki. 5:26. It is folly to presume upon sin in hopes of secrecy. When thou goest aside into any bye-path, does not thy own conscience go with thee? Does not the eye of God go with thee?
Giving is kind, and taking is courteous, and both may at times and in some cases be done without sin. There is much use of godly discretion, doubtless, in directing us when to open, when to shut our hands.Trapp.
2Ki. 5:27. It is a woful exchange that Gehazi hath made with Naaman; Naaman came a leper, returned a disciple. Gehazi came a disciple, returned a leper. Naaman left behind both his disease and his money; Gehazi takes up both his money and his disease. Now shall Gehazi neverlook upon himself but he shall think of Naaman, whose skin is transferred upon him with those talents, and shall wear out the rest of his days in shame, in pain, and sorrow. His tears may wash off the guilt of his sin, but shall not, like another Jordan, wash off his leprosy; that shall ever remain as a hereditary monument of Divine severity. Happy was it for him if, while his skin was snow white with leprosy, his humbled soul was washed white as snow with the water of true repentance.Bp. Hall.
The leprosy of riches. Gold is tainted. Strength required to use it aright. A curse cleaves to it when it is ill-gotten or ill-used. This curse crops out most frequently in the children. A father absorbed in the pursuit of wealth, and mother absorbed in fashion, will bring up corrupt and neglected children. Parents who love gold, fashion, and display, train their children to hold these the chief things in life.
As Naaman was a living monument of the saving might and grace of Jehovah, so Gehazi was a monument of the retributive justice of the Holy One in Israel; a living warning and threat for the entire people. By his conversion Naaman was taken up into Gods community of redemption in Israel; by his unfaithfulness and denial of this God, Gehazi brings down upon himself the punishment which excludes him from the society of the prophet-disciples and of the entire covenant people. As Naamans cure and conversion was a physical prophecy that God will have pity upon the heathen also, and will receive him into His covenant of grace, so Gehazis leprosy prophesied the rejection of the people of Israel who should abandon the covenant of grace and persevere in apostasy (Mat. 8:11-12; Mat. 21:43).Lange.
Let not the punishment of Gehazi be thought too severe. Important principles were involved in his conduct, for it was a time when the representatives of the sacred office needed to observe the greatest caution against the spirit of worldliness. Gehazis acts on this occasion were a complication of wickedness. He showed contempt for the judgment of his master in the matter of receiving gifts; he meanly misrepresented the prophet by making him ask for what Naaman had just heard him most positively refuse; he invented a false story to blind the eyes of Naaman; and, finally, told a miserable lie in the hope of escaping detection from Elisha. Add to all this the foul spirit of covetousness that actuated him through all this evil course, and his curse will not appear too great. The extending of his curse to his children after him is but another exhibition of the terrible consequences of human sinfulness. Gehazis posterity, innocent of their fathers sins, but, like many others, they were compelled to bear the consequences of ancestral crimes. That thousands of innocents are subjected to suffering because of the sins of others is a fact which none can deny. Why this is permitted under the government of an all-wise God is a question which He has not seen fit fully to answer.Whedon.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
IV. A JUDICIAL MIRACLE 5:2027
TRANSLATION
(20) But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, Behold my master has spared Naaman this Aramean by not taking from his hand that which he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him, and take from him something. (21) And Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? (22) And he said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Behold now this: Two young men of the sons of the prophets have come unto me from Mt. Ephraim. Give, I pray you, to them a talent of silver, and two changes of garments. (23) And Naaman said, Consent to take two talents. And he implored him, and he bound two talents of silver in two bags, and two changes of garments, and put them upon two of his servants; and they bore them before him. (24) And he came unto the hill, and he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house. And he sent the men away, and they departed. (25) And he came and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Where are you coming from Gehazi? And he said, Your servant did not go anywhere. (26) And he said unto him, Did not my heart go with you when a man turned again from upon his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive silver and to receive garments, and oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep and cattle, and servants and handmaids? (27) The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your seed forever. And he went out from before him a leper as white as snow.
COMMENTS
Gehazi could not bear the thought of the Aramean going home with all his treasure. He convinced himself that this foreigner deserved to be spoiled because he was an enemy of Israel. He swore an oath that he would run after the general and take something of him (2Ki. 5:20). As the Lord lives are strange words in the mouth of one who has set his mind on a course of lying and stealing. Often solemn religious formulas, rendered meaningless by frequent repetition, drop from the lips of those who engage in the most indefensible conduct.
Naamans entourage, traveling at a leisurely pace so as not to exhaust those servants who might have been on foot, was easily overtaken by the fleet-footed Gehazi. Naaman spotted the runner, recognized him, and paid him a supreme honor by descending from his chariot, a sign of respect in the East of an inferior for a superior. By so honoring the servant of the prophet, he was showing honor for the prophet himself. Seeing Gehazis haste and anxious looks, Naaman suspected that something had gone wrong in the brief time since he had left Samaria, and he therefore anxiously inquired of Gehazi, Is all well? (2Ki. 5:21). The servant replied that all was well, i.e., there had been no accident or calamity. But nonetheless, a circumstance had arisen which had caused Elisha to change his mind with regard to the gifts which Naaman had offered. Two needy sons of the prophets from Mt. Ephraim had happened along, and Elisha would like Naaman to donate to them a talent of silver ($2,000) and two changes of garments. Gehazis story sounded plausible, and the amount for which he asked, while rather large for the pretended occasion, was but a trifle compared with the amount which Naaman had expected to expend. Though greedy, Gehazi did not wish to ask for so much as to arouse suspicion. Gehazi (whose name means avaricious) is the prototype of modern religious charlatans who exploit unsuspecting persons on the pretext of giving aid to needy religious causes.
Naaman believed the story of Gehazi and wanted to do even more than the servant had requested. He suggested that two talents ($4,000) be taken, probably because the strangers who had arrived were two. Following the conventions of the Near East, Gehazi pretended to decline the more generous offer. Naaman took the two talents and put them in bags and, along with the changes of garments, put them upon the shoulders of two of his servants. These servants carried the two heavy bags of silver and garments for Gehazi (2Ki. 5:23). At a hill just outside Samaria, Gehazi took the money from Naamans slaves, and dismissed them. He could not run the risk of having these foreigners seen entering Samaria again. Too many questions might be asked. Gehazi took the bags of money and hid them in the house of his master, probably in the courtyard thereof (2Ki. 5:24).
As soon as he had hidden the things Naaman had given him, Gehazi entered the room where Elisha was sitting as casually as he could, as if he had been busy in another part of the house. He was met, however, with a plain and stern question from his master which literally in the Hebrew is Whence, Gehazi? Gehazi probably had not regarded the deception and spoiling of a foreigner as a very grievous wrong; but now his path of chicanery is about to force him to lie to his master: Your servant went nowhere! (2Ki. 5:25). Then came the bombshell: Did not my heart go with you (i.e., was I not with you in prophetic spirit) when the man turned again from his chariot to meet you? This was enough to prove to the sheepish servant that Elisha knew what had just transpired. But then the prophet went a step further and reflected back to Gehazi his own inner thoughts about what he would do with the newly acquired wealth: purchase oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep and oxen. Was this the time for such worldly ambitions? When Baalism held such a grip on the nation and when so many who claimed to represent Yahweh were hypocritical and mercenarywas this the time to think of acquiring property and luxury for himself? Such actions could bring the prophetic office into contempt with unbelievers and undermine the credibility of Elishas ministry! (2Ki. 5:26). Therefore, since Gehazi had taken of Naamans goods, he would also take of his leprosy. And should this servant decide to marry and father children, they too would be lepers. In that instant the plague fell on Gehazi, his skin turned white as snow, and he departed from the presence of his master to spend his remaining days with the outcast lepers (2Ki. 5:27).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(20) Saidi.e., thought.
This Syrian.He justifies his purpose on the principle of spoiling the Egyptians.
But, as the Lord liveth, I will run.Rather, by the life of Jehovah, but I will run. (Comp. Note on 2Ki. 4:30.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
GEHAZI’S CURSE, 2Ki 5:20-27.
20. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God This individual has been introduced to us before, in the previous chapter, and once, at least, not to advantage, when he attempted to thrust away the weeping Shunammite from the feet of Elisha. 2Ki 4:27. The stately and solemn style in which he is here mentioned the servant of Elisha the man of God is in fearful contrast with the covetousness and falsehoods which are immediately to be told. Gehazi has well been called the Judas Iscariot of the Old Testament.
This Syrian These words breathe a spirit of contempt; as if a Syrian, a Gentile, ought to have been taxed.
As the Lord liveth By this solemn oath he makes his course a matter of conscience and religion. For a perverse heart, stubbornly bent on sinning, may even presume to swear its darling sin into a virtue.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gehazi’s Covetousness
v. 19. v. 20. But Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, said, v. 21. So Gehazi followed after Naaman, v. 22. And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from Mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets, v. 23. And Naaman said, Be content, v. 24. And when he came to the tower, v. 25. But he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, v. 26. And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, v. 27. The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
I cannot pass over the review of these verses, without desiring the Reader to stop and remark with me, one or two circumstances which deserve our observation. What an awful character was this Gehazi! Though he had been so long with his master, had seen his miracles, heard his discourses, and was fully convinced that Elisha’s God could and would supply all their need; yet he covets the pitiful things of silver and gold Naaman had brought with him! And, Reader! do not fail to observe, for it is a point of the greatest importance; that being in the prophet’s service, seeing his miracles, and hearing his sermons, conveyed no grace to the heart of Gehazi. Naaman’s servants, though idolators, were faithful. Elisha’s, though worshipping the true God, was base and unworthy. Oh! what lessons do such things teach us! And note, in this lying conduct of Gehazi, how daringly he called upon the Lord’s name in the deed: As the Lord liveth, was his expression. If I mistake not, the Holy Ghost hath marked the self-existence, sovereignty, and supremacy of the Lord Jehovah, under this phrase in scripture, in many parts where we meet with it. But then it is always spoken either by the Lord himself, or in the most reverential manner by his servants, in reference to him. And it implies that, strictly and properly speaking, none but God himself can be said to live. All other existence is derived from him. If this be the real state of the case, I pray the Reader to remark with me, what an awful profanation that must be of this distinguishing perfection of Jehovah, when light minds, and which is very common in the world, in their trifling conversation, by way of confirming what they say, assume this language, and cry out; as I live; Isa 49:18 ; Jer 22:24 ; Eze 14:16 ; 1Ki 18:15 , etc.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ki 5:20-27
20. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said [thought], Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the Lord liveth, I will run [by the life of Jehovah, but I will run] after him, and take somewhat of him.
21. So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him [an oriental mark of respect, literally, fell from off the chariot: denoting haste ( Gen 24:64 )], and said, Is all well?
22. And he said, All is well My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now [this moment] there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.
23. And Naaman said, Be content [Be willing, consent to take], take two talents. And he urged him, and bound [ Deu 14:25 ] two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants [gave them to two of his (Naaman’s) young men]; and they bare them before him [Gehazi].
24. And when he came to the tower [perhaps a fortified hill, like the Ophel at Jerusalem, is to be understood (comp. 2Ch 27:3 )], he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house [laid them up carefully in the prophet’s house]: and he let the men go, and they departed.
25. But he went in, and stood before [came forward to ( 2Ch 6:12 )] his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither [literally, Thy servant went not away hither or thither].
26. And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee [thus paraphrased in the Targum: “By the spirit of prophecy I was informed when the man turned”], when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive [comp. Ecc 3:2 ] money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and maidservants?
27. The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave [or, cleave, i.e. let it cleave: imperative] unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. [If it be thought that the sentence is too strong, it should be remembered that the prophet is pronouncing the judgment of God (comp. Act 5 )]. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow [(comp. Exo 4:6 ; Num 12:10 ). An outbreak of leprosy may follow upon extreme fright or mortification],
Gehazi
The name Gehazi means “valley of vision,” and is appropriate enough if we think of what Gehazi saw as to the nature of wickedness when the prophet opened his eyes. Let us note what points there are in this case which illustrate human life as we now know it. In this way we shall test the moral accuracy of the story, and that is all we are now principally concerned about.
Gehazi was “the servant of Elisha the man of God.” Surely then he would be a good man? Can a good man have a bad servant? Can the man of prayer, whose life is a continual breathing unto God of supreme desires after holiness, have a man in his company, looking on and watching him, and studying his character, who denies his very altar, and blasphemes against his God? Is it possible to live in a Christian house and yet not to be a Christian? Can we come so near as that, and yet be at an infinite distance from all that is pure and beautiful and true? If so, then we must look at appearances more carefully than we have been wont to do, for they may have been deceiving us all the time. Surely every good man’s children must be good; for they have had great spiritual advantages; they have indeed had some hereditary benefits denied to many others; their house has been a home, their home has been a church, and surely they must show by their whole spirit and tone of life that they are as their father as to alb spiritual aspiration and positive excellence. Is it not so? If facts contradict that theory, then we must look at the theory again more carefully, or we must examine the facts more closely, because the whole science of Cause and Effect would seem to be upset by such contradictions. There is a metaphysical question here, as well as a question of fact. A good tree must bring forth good fruit; good men must have good children; good masters must have good servants; association in life must go for something. So we would say emphatically, because we think reasonably. But facts are against such a fancy. What is possible in this human life? It is possible that a man may spend his days in building a church, and yet denying God. Does not the very touch of the stones help him to pray? No. He touches them roughly, he lays them mechanically, and he desecrates each of them with an oath. Is it possible that a man can be a builder of churches, and yet a destroyer of Christian doctrine and teaching generally? Yes. Let us come closer still, for the question is intensely interesting and may touch many: it is possible for a man to print the Bible and yet not believe a word of it! On first hearing this shocking statement we revolt from it. We say it is possible for a man to handle type that is meant to represent the greatest revelation ever made to the human mind, without feeling that the very handling of the type is itself a kind of religious exercise. Yet men can debauch themselves in the act of printing the Bible; can use profane language whilst putting the Lord’s Prayer in type; can set up the whole Gospel of John, without knowing that they are putting into visible representation the highest metaphysics, the finest spiritual thinking, the tenderest religious instruction. Let us come even closer: a man can preach the gospel and be a servant of the devil! Who, then, can be saved? It is well to ask the question. It is a burning inquiry; it is a spear-like interrogation. We would put it away from us if we dare. Now let this stand as our first lesson in the study of this remarkable incident, that Gehazi was the servant of Elisha the man of God, and was at the same time the servant of the devil. He was receiving wages from both masters. He was a living contradiction; and in being such he was most broadly human. He was not a monster; he was not a natural curiosity; he is not to be accounted for by quietly saying that he was an eccentric person: he represents the human heart, and by so much he brings against ourselves an infinite impeachment. It is in vain that we shake our skirts as if throwing off this man and all association with him and responsibility for him; this cannot be done: he anticipated ourselves; we repeat his wickedness. The iniquity is not in the accident, in the mere circumstances, or in the particular form; the iniquity is in the heart, yea, is the very heart itself. Marvel not that Christ said, “Ye must be born again.”
Gehazi did not understand the spirit of his master. He did not know what his master was doing. How is it that men can be so far separated from one another? How is it that a man cannot be understood in his own house, but be thought fanciful, fanatical, eccentric, phenomenally peculiar? How is it that a man may be living amongst men, and yet not be of them; may be in the world and yet above the world; may be speaking the very language of the time, and yet charging it with the meaning of eternity? See here the differences that still exist and must ever exist as between one man and another: Elisha living the great spiritual life the grand prayer-life and faith-life; and Gehazi grubbing in the earth, seeking his contentment in the dust. These contrasts exist through all time, and are full of instruction. Blessed is he who observes the wise man and copies him; looks upon the fool and turns away from him, if not with hatred yet with desire not to know his spirit, Gehazi had a method in his reasoning. Said he in effect: To spare a stranger, a man who may never be seen again; to spare a beneficiary, a man who has taken away benefits in the right hand and in the left; to spare a wealthy visitor, a man who could have given much without feeling he had given anything; to spare a willing giver, a man who actually offered to give something, and who was surprised, if not offended, because his gift was declined! there is no reason in my master’s policy. It never occurred to Gehazi that a man could have bread to eat that the world knew not of. It never occurs to some men that others can live by faith, and work miracles of faith by the grace of God. Are there not minds that never had a noble thought? It is almost impossible to conceive of the existence of such minds, but there they are; they never went beyond their own limited location; they never knew what suffering was on the other side of the wall of their own dwelling-place; they were never eyes to the blind, or ears to the deaf, or feet to the lame; they never surprised themselves by some noble thought of generosity; how, then, can they understand the prophets of the times? Yet how noble a thing it is to have amongst us men who love the upper life, and who look upon the whole world from the very sanctuary of God, and who say, “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth, but a man’s life consists of his faith, and love and charity.” We cannot tell how much the prophets are doing to refine their age, to give a new view to all human duty, to inspire those who otherwise would fail for lack of courage. We cannot tell where the answers to prayer fall, or how those answers are given, but we feel that there is at work in society a mystic influence, a strange, ghostly, spectral action, which keeps things together, and now and again puts Sabbath day right in the midst of the vulgar time. Think of these things: There are facts of a high and special kind, as well as what we commonly call facts, which are often but appearances and dramatic illusions. What about the secret ministry, the unnameable spiritual action, the holy, elevating, restraining influence? What is that hand which will write upon palace walls words of judgment and keep the world from plunging into darkness infinite? Surely God is in this place, and I knew it not: this wherever it be, garden or wilderness is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven.
Gehazi prostituted an inventive and energetic mind. He had his plan: “My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets; give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments” ( 2Ki 5:22 ). The case was admirably stated. It was stated too with just that urgency which increases the likelihood of that which is declared. Elisha spent his time amongst the sons of the prophets; they all looked to him as a father, as he himself had looked to Elijah; he was the young man’s friend, the young minister’s asylum; they all knew gracious, gentle, Christ-like Elisha the anti-type of the Messiah; and what more likely than that two of them in the course of their journeying should have called upon Elisha unexpectedly? It was a free, gracious life the old ministers lived. They seemed to have rights in one another. If any one of them had a loaf, that loaf belonged to the whole fraternity. If one of them, better off than another, had a house or part of a house, any of the sons of the prophets passing by could go and lodge there. It was a gracious masonry; it was a true brotherhood. Then the moderateness of the statement also added to its probability: “Give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments:” they are on the road, they cannot tell what is going to happen; how long the next stage may be they do not yet calculate, and if they could have this contribution all would be well. Do not suppose that wicked men are intellectually fools. They can state a case with great clearness and much graphic force. “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Would God they were children of light! How acute they are! How rapid in thinking power! How inventive and fertile in mind! They would make the Church a success; they would turn it to broader uses; they would rebuke the narrowness of our thinking, yea, they would put us into inferior positions, and taking the natural lead they would conduct the Church to fuller realisations of the Lord’s purpose concerning his dominion over all men. We have no hesitation in saying that the men of the world in most cases overmatch the men of the Church in matters of strong thinking regarding practical subjects and practical ministries and uses. We who are in the Church are afraid: we want to be let alone; not for the world would we be suspected of even dreaming of anything unusual; we would have our very dreams patterns of neatness, things that might be published in the shop windows, and looked upon without affronting the faintest sensibility on the part of the beholders. But the Gehazis, if they were converted, they would be men of energy, dash, courage, fire; we should hear of them and of their work. If one might pray at all regarding others, who would not pray that many who are in the Church might be out of it, so far as activity of leadership, inspiration, and enthusiasm are concerned? What excellent people they might make where there was nothing to do! and how gratefully they would receive wages for doing it! But who would not desire that many a journalist, many a merchant, many a man who is outside the Church might be brought into it, because with his brains, with his mental fire, with his soldier-like audacity and gracious violence, he would make the age know that he was alive? But whilst we thus credit such men with high intellectual sense, we are bound to look at the moral character which they but too frequently represent. Gehazi was no model man in a moral sense. His invention was a lie; his cleverness was but an aspect of depravity; his very genius made him memorable for wickedness.
But Gehazi was successful. He took the two talents of silver in the two bags, with the two changes of garments; he brought them to the tower, and bestowed them in the house; then he sat down a successful man! Now all is well: lust is satisfied, wealth is laid up; now the fitness of things has been consulted, and harmony has been established between debtor and creditor, and Justice nods because Justice has been appeased. Were the test to end with the twenty-fourth verse we should describe Gehazi as a man who had set an example to all coming after him who wished to turn life into a success. Who had been wronged? Naaman pursues his journey all the happier for thinking he has done something in return for the great benefit which has been conferred upon him. He is certainly more pleased than otherwise. The man of God has at last been turned, he thinks, into directions indicated by common-sense. All that has happened is in the way of business; nothing that is not customary has been done. Gehazi is satisfied, and Elisha knows nothing about it. The servant should have something even if the master would take nothing. It is the trick of our own day! The servant is always at the door with his rheumatic hand ready to take anything that may be put into it. We leave nothing with the master; it would be an insult to him. So far the case looks natural, simple, and complete; and we have said Elisha knows nothing about it. Why will men trifle with prophets? Why will men play with fire? When will men know that what is done in secret shall be published on the housetops; when will men know that there can be nothing confidential that is wicked? Observe Gehazi going in to his master as usual, and look at his face: not a sign upon it of anything having been done that is wrong. Look at his hands: large, white, innocent-looking hands that never doubled their fingers upon things that did not belong to them. Look at Elisha: fixing his eyes calmly upon Gehazi, he says, “Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither;” the meaning being that he was on the premises all the time; always within call; the lifting-up of a finger would have brought him. Then came the speech of judgment, delivered in a low tone, but every word was heard the beginning of the word and the end of the word, and the last word was like a sting of righteousness. “Went not mine heart with thee?” Oh that heart! The good man knows when wickedness has been done: the Christ knows when he enters into the congregation whether there is a man in it with a withered hand; he says, There is a cripple somewhere in this audience. He feels it. “Went not mine heart with thee?” Was I not present at the interview? Did I not hear every syllable that was said on the one side and on the other? Did I not look at thee when thou didst tell the black, flat, daring lie? “Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and maidservants?” Has the age come to this? Is this a correct interpretation of the time and of the destiny that is set before men?
Then the infliction of the judgment: “The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever” ( 2Ki 5:27 ). Thou hast touched the silver, thou didst not know that it was contagious and held the leprosy; thou didst bring in the two changes of garments, not knowing that the germs of the disease were folded up with the cloth: put on the coat it will scorch thee: “He went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.” A splendid conception is this silent departure. Not a word said, not a protest uttered; the judgment was felt to be just: “Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness;” “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.” Oh the hush, the solemn silence! The judgment seemed to begin with the sound of trumpets and the rending of things that apparently could not be shaken; at the end there is simply a going away, a silent motion, a conviction that the sentence is right. See Gehazi as he goes out of Elisha’s presence, and regard him as a specimen of those who having been judged on the last day will depart! Men should consider the price they really pay for their success. Do not imagine that men can do whatever they please, and nothing come of it. Every action we perform takes out of us part of ourselves. Some actions take our whole soul with them, and leave us poor indeed. Yes, the house is very large, the garden is very fruitful, the situation is very pleasant, the windows look to the south and to the west, birds are singing on the sunny roof, roses and woodbine are climbing up the south windows, and the bargain was monetarily very cheap; but, oh! it was wrenched from honest hands, it was purloined, it was taken over in the dark; the man who signed it away was half-blinded before he attached his signature to the fatal document. Will the house stand long? Will the sun not be ashamed of it? Will the roses bloom? Will the woodbine curl its long fingers round the window-posts, and feel quite happy there? No! there is a worm at the root, there is a blight on every leaf; no sooner will the roses and the woodbine know that a felon lives there than they will retire from the scene, and the sun which blessed will now blister with judicial fire. “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” If any of us have gotten anything by false accusation, by sharp practice, by infernal skill and energy of mind, better pour it back again, and stand away from it, and say, “God be merciful to me a sinner!” Better for a man that he should cut off his right hand and enter into life maimed than having two hands be cast into outer darkness. Was not the leprosy a severe punishment for such a sin? What do you mean by “such a sin”? What was the sin? Think of it! The prophet was falsified, religion was debased, God’s mercies were turned into merchandise, the Holy Ghost blasphemed, and to all the Gentile world was sent the evil tidings that whatever Israel did it did for gain. The punishment was a great one, but just. At the last the most wicked men amongst us being adjudged to everlasting punishment cannot reply: for a voice within says, The time is not too long!
Selected Note
The grateful Syrian would gladly have pressed upon Elisha gifts of high value, but the holy man resolutely refused to take anything, lest the glory redounding to God from this great act, should in any degree be obscured. His servant Gehazi was less scrupulous, and hastened with a lie in his mouth, to ask in his master’s name, for a portion of that which Elisha had refused. The illustrious Syrian no sooner saw the man running after his chariot, than he alighted to meet him, and happy to relieve himself in some degree under the sense of overwhelming obligation, he sent him back with more than he ventured to ask. Nothing more is known of Naaman.
“We afterwards find Gehazi recounting to King Joram the great deeds of Elisha, and, in the providence of God it so happened that when he was relating the restoration to life of the Shunammite’s son, the very woman with her son appeared before the king to claim her house and lands, which had been usurped, while she had been absent abroad during the recent famine. Struck by the coincidence, the king immediately granted her application ( 2Ki 8:1-6 ). As lepers were compelled to live apart outside the towns, and were not allowed to come too near to uninfected persons, some difficulty has arisen with respect to Gehazi’s interview with the king. Several answers occur. The interview may have taken place outside the town, in a garden or garden-house; and the king may have kept Gehazi at a distance, with the usual precautions which custom dictated. Some even suppose that the incident is misplaced, and actually occurred before Gehazi was smitten with leprosy. Others hasten to the opposite conclusion, and allege the probability that the leper had then repented of his crime, and had been restored to health by his master.
Prayer
Almighty God, thou art doing wonders every day: open our eyes that we may see. The miracles have not ceased, but our power of seeing seems to have expired. Lord, our prayer is that we might receive our sight. We are blind, and cannot see afar off, because of our sin; take thou away our sin, and we shall see. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. We bless thee for the wonders of our life, as well as for things that are usual, coming and going every day, yet all of them speaking of thy care and love and tenderness: but the great event is thine, the special circumstance, the exciting incident, the tumults that rise and fall because of thine influence; behold, all these are signs in the midst of the age, only the age cannot see them or read them aright, because of selfishness and worldly-mindedness and vanity and idolatry, if we loved thee more we should see thee more. If any man love me, I will manifest myself unto him, said the Son of God. Blessed Christ, thou didst come not to our genius and cleverness and learning, but to our love, our simplicity, our need, our brokenheartedness. To this man said the high, the lofty one, that inhabiteth eternity will I look, to the man that is of a humble and contrite heart, and who trembleth at my word. May we be enabled to supply the happy conditions under which thou wilt visit our hearts; then thy coming-in shall be like the dawn of a summer day, and all that is within us will rejoice, as flowers are glad when blessed by the sunlight. We thank thee for thy holy book, thy sacred altar, the place of common and public prayer, and the ground on which the rich and the poor alike can meet to call thee Father, and to lift up their eyes with a common expectation to the all-blessing and all-giving heavens. We will say of such places and such times, These are the miracles of God: these are the creations of love: these are the outcoming of the spirit of the cross of Christ. We would grow in wisdom; in understanding we would be men; in all things evil we would be as children, having no understanding of them or liking for them. We would be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. We pray for solidity of character, massiveness of manhood, the great and complete nature which finds its rest in God’s own peace, and its heaven in God’s continual smile. Help us to live that we may grow, and so to grow that we may come to perfectness of being in Christ Jesus. He died for us. We remember his going unto death; we see him bearing his cross; we watch him as he is nailed to the accursed tree; we see the Son of God in his last agony; we wonder why the uplifted cross, why the cry of pain and orphanhood, why the darkness and all the wonders that accompanied the crucifixion; when, lo! we see written in the darkness, as with stars set in their places by the hand divine: God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This is the explanation of all: it satisfies the imagination; it comforts the heart; it appeases the conscience; it reconciles the whole nature unto God. Now we say, God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we exclaim, We are crucified with him; yet each can say “Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” This is our highest joy; out of this comes the music of light; out of this comes the hope of heaven. We pray for one another. May our hearts be touched by all circumstances that are pathetic; may our hands instantly move to the help of those who have no helper; may it be our joy to add to the joy of others. Inspire all noble men who care for the poor and the lost, the destitute and the lonely; comfort them and sustain them in their ministry of love, and grant them great success. Now let thy word open itself to us, and become an old word yet a new message. May we reverence it as coming up from eternity, and apply it as addressed to our immediate necessities. Take away all prejudice from the mind, all darkness from the understanding, all stubbornness from the heart, and let thy word have free course and be glorified, and as it sounds in our hearing may we say, This is the music of eternity, this is the message of the most high God. And to the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, the one in three, the three in one; the great mystery of being, the great mystery of love, be the praises of all the worlds throughout the universe, throughout unending time. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
2Ki 5:20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, [as] the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.
Ver. 20. But Gehazi said, Behold, my master, &c.] Ubi observa hominis avarissimi. Covetousness is a complexive evil, the root of all evil, saith St Paul. David maketh it a violation of all the commandments. Psa 119:36 See how fast this covetous captive in the text breaketh them: (1.) He accuseth his holy master of prodigality, “Behold, my master hath spared”; (2.) He speaks contemptuously of so noble a convert, calling him “Naaman this Syrian,” this ethnic, this enemy; (3.) He sweareth a great oath, and therewith bindeth his wicked purpose; (4.) He telleth various loud lies – [1.] to Naaman, [2.] to Elisha; (5.) He playeth the thief, hiding the money, and interverting it to his own use. Take heed, therefore, and beware of covetousness:
“ H .”
There is a mint of mischief in a worldly heart.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
servant = young man.
somewhat = a trifle.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Ki 5:20-27
2Ki 5:20-27
GEHAZI’S DISAPPROVAL OF ELISHA’S REFUSAL OF NAAMAN’S GIFT
“But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: as Jehovah liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him. So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And Naaman saw one running after him, and he alighted from his chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there are come to me from the hill-country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets; give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of raiment. And Naaman said, Be pleased to take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of raiment, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him. And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house; and he let them go, and they departed. But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither. And he said unto him, Went not my heart with thee, when the man turned from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive-yards, and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, and menservants and maid-servants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper white as snow.”
This unhappy episode so closely allied with the healing of Naaman, as pointed out by Henry, strongly suggests the envy of racial Israel who rejected the Christ because of his receiving the Gentiles. Gehazi dearly despised and hated “this Syrian” and determined to take from him whatever he could get. There are spiritual overtones here of the very grandest dimensions.
Note this early example of crooked “fund raisers” who base their appeals upon helping others. Gehazi pretended to be seeking help for impoverished sons of the prophets, but he was merely a lying scoundrel seeking to enrich himself. Many “charities” of our own times are of that same character. “To the shame of all, a few continue to exploit unsuspecting persons on the pretext of giving aid to needy religious causes. Religious charlatans of the twentieth century are little different from Gehazi.”
Gehazi was indeed a skillful liar. His trumped up story about those two impoverished sons of the prophets who arrived just after Naaman left must have sounded like the gospel truth to Naaman.
“Is it a time to receive money … garments … oliveyards … vineyards … sheep and oxen … men-servants and maid-servants?” (2Ki 5:26). In these words, the prophet merely pointed out all of those material benefits which would in Gehazi’s mind have resulted from that great gift he had extorted from Naaman.
“This is a constant warning to all who would magnify the externals of life at the expense of spiritual realities.” Did not our Savior ask, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul”?
“Gehazi was like Judas; his concern for money and material things blinded him to the great realities of Elisha’s prophetic mission.”
“It was not merely for his avarice that God punished Gehazi, but for his abuse of the prophet’s name.
Hammond pointed out not merely the severity of God’s punishment of Gehazi, but its immediacy also. “It fell upon him suddenly, as Miriam’s leprosy had fallen upon her (Num 12:10).”
E.M. Zerr:
2Ki 5:20. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, had overheard the conversation between his master and Naaman. Being of covetous mind, he thought he saw an opportunity to get some valuaables for his own possession, and Elisha would not know about it. As the Lord liveth means, “as sure as the Lord lives.”
2Ki 5:21. Naaman had not gone far, which is signified by the words a little way in 2Ki 5:19. He saw Gehazi coming and stopped his travel to greet the approaching servant of his benefactor. Is all well was a courteous expression of good will.
2Ki 5:22. The story that Gehazi told seemed reasonable. There was nothing morally wrong in the proposition to give something to Elisha; he merely was not disposed to accept it for his personal use. But this emergency of the arrival of the student prophets would change the situation; there would be nothing wrong in helping them.
2Ki 5:23. Naaman would be glad for the opportunity to show his appreciation. In asking for only one talent of silver, Gehazi appeared very modest in the estimation of Naaman. That is why he urged him to take more. The amount of the gift called for some help in carrying it back to Elisha, and two servants were sent for that purpose.
2Ki 5:24. Gehazi did not intend for Elisha to know anything about the ill gotten articles. As soon as they reached the tower, which would afford a hiding place for the goods, he took charge of them and dismissed the servants, who returned to resume the homeward journey with their master.
2Ki 5:25. We may wonder that Gehazi ever imagined he could deceive Elisha. He had been his servant and in close touch with him. He knew of his inspiration and other superhuman ability; but covetousness is a strong sentiment. It is so dominating that Paul calls it idolatry; not merely as bad as idolatry. (Col 3:5.) With such an evil desire in his heart, it should be no surprise that he would lie to the prophet.
2Ki 5:26. One definition of heart is “the mind.” Through inspiration, Elisha’s mind was present at the transaction between Naaman and Gehazi. Is it a time, etc. The mere fact of receiving some material gift would not be wrong. But when a serious circumstance had called for a test of the authority of God’s prophet, it was not an appropriate time to be interested in money and clothing. That would be especially true when obtained by fraud, and by playing on the generosity of another.
2Ki 5:27. According to Smith’s Bible Dictionary, the leprosy of the Old Testament was the white variety. It was not fatal at once, and in some cases the leper might live to old age and die of some other disease. But it was a loathsome malady, and subjected the victim to great shame. Leprosy of Naaman does not mean that Gehazi “caught” the disease from Naaman. The expression is figurative, and means that as he was so eager for Naaman’s valuables, he would receive his disease also.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Gehazi: 2Ki 4:12, 2Ki 4:31, 2Ki 4:36, Mat 10:4, Joh 6:70, Joh 12:6, Joh 13:2, Act 8:18, Act 8:19
my master: Pro 26:16, Luk 16:8, Joh 12:5, Joh 12:6, Act 5:2
as the Lord liveth: 2Ki 6:31, Exo 20:7, 1Sa 14:39
and take: Exo 20:17, Psa 10:3, Jer 22:17, Hab 2:9, Luk 12:15, 1Ti 6:9-11, 2Ti 4:10, Tit 1:7, 1Pe 5:2, 2Pe 2:14, 2Pe 2:15
Reciprocal: Gen 14:23 – That I Gen 21:26 – I wot Jos 7:21 – I coveted 1Ki 1:29 – As the 2Ki 5:16 – I will receive 2Ki 6:15 – servant 2Ki 8:4 – Gehazi Pro 1:19 – every Pro 28:20 – but Ecc 1:16 – communed Jer 35:4 – a man Zep 1:9 – which Mat 10:8 – freely ye Mat 13:22 – the care Mat 26:9 – General Luk 7:39 – he spake Act 1:18 – with 2Co 12:17 – General Phi 4:15 – in the 1Ti 3:3 – not covetous 1Ti 6:5 – supposing 1Ti 6:11 – O man Tit 2:10 – purloining 3Jo 1:7 – taking
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 5:20. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha One would have expected that Elishas servant should have been a saint; but we find him far otherwise. The best men, the best ministers, have often had those about them that were their grief and shame. My master hath spared this Syrian A stranger, and one of that nation who are the implacable enemies of Gods people. As the Lord liveth He swears, that he might have some pretence for the action to which he had bound himself by his oath; not considering, that to swear to do any wicked action, is so far from excusing it, that it makes it much worse.