part0163

Key Verse : "Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, 'My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.'"

Ill-gotten gain does not profit any individual, even if the person making the gain is a servant of the Lord. In II Kings 5:9-15, God had healed a commander in the army of Aram, named Naaman, of leprosy, and He had done so through His prophet, Elisha. When Naaman later tried to compensate Elisha for having shown him how to be cured, Elisha would not take anything. Thus, II Kings 5:16 says, "The prophet answered, 'As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.' And even though Naaman urged him, he refused."

Elisha lived by strong godly principles, and he would not allow himself to become a prophet for hire. He had once requested and received a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, and in his mind, that was good enough payment for him. But his servant, Gehazi, was an opportunist, and when he saw a chance to make money off of what Elisha had done, he jumped at it. In II Kings 5:20-26, he chased down Naaman as he was traveling back to Aram. He concocted a ridiculous story about two young men from the company of the prophets that had come to visit Elisha, and then, he extorted some silver and sets of clothing from Naaman.

Elisha was innocent of the wrongdoing because he did not know what Gehazi was doing, and Naaman was innocent because he was not trying to overturn Elisha’s wishes. Instead, Gehazi was the greedy servant that had told the lie to get goods from Naaman, and the guilt for what he had done was on him alone. When he returned to Elisha, the Lord had already revealed to His prophet what had happened. So, Elisha confronted Gehazi and told him that his descendants and he would always be afflicted with the same leprosy that Naaman had had.