Elisha refusing Naaman’s gift
2 Kings 5:15-27
In our last sermon we heard of Naaman, a proud commander of the Syrian army who was healed of his leprosy when he humbled himself and washed in the river Jordan. Today we shall see the continuation of the story – and what a contrast! The story moves from the nobility and faith of Naaman to the grasping and money-grubbing of Gehazi the servant of Elisha.
Gratitude
It starts, however, with gratitude. As soon as Naaman realised he had been cured of his leprosy, he went back to Elisha and said:
Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant. 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. ( 2 Kings 5:15b-16)
Now this seems churlish of Elisha . Why couldn’t he accept the gift with good grace and then give the money to the poor? (In fact, you might think that Elisha behaves churlishly all through this story.) But there is a reason for his refusing the silver and fine garments. True, Elisha was a poor man and he could have lived much more comfortably if he had accepted Naaman’s gift, but Elisha’s poverty was voluntary. He had no desire for gold and silver, fine clothes and a comfortable life-style. What Elisha wanted to do was to convey a message – that Gods blessings were gifts of grace. You can’t buy them. He wanted Naaman to realise this fact. He didn’t want Naaman to think that he had paid for God’s favour with his money – it was a free gift.
It appears that Naaman was not offended by Elisha’s refusal. He was so thankful that he resolved only to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. Never again would he offer sacrifices to any other God.
Please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD. (2 Kings 5:17)
So what did he want this soil for? It wasn’t for his garden! No, he wanted to worship the God of Israel upon the soil of the Holy Land. In his way of thinking, you worshipped a god on his own turf. Each god was restricted to a particular area or nation. So if he wished to worship the God of Israel, then he would need some of the Land of Israel on which to stand while he worshipped. Naaman had not yet come to the realisation that there was only one true God, and that he could be worshipped anywhere.
We might be amused at Naaman’s simplicity – our conception of God is so much more sophisticated. But then, we have the revelation of the whole Bible, Old Testament and New. We have the words of Jesus telling us that God is spirit and that he is to be worshipped in spirit an in truth. He can be worshipped anywhere. Any land can be the Holy Land, any ground is holy ground to the child of God. Naaman did not realise this – his conception of God was more primitive. He wanted to take his mule-loads of soil home so that he could spread it out on the floor in his private chapel. And there he could worship the God of Israel upon the soil of Israel.
Elisha is not averse to this plan. No doubt he hopes that Naaman will find true salvation in worshipping the God of Israel in his own way. But then, Naaman says something which sounds suspect:
But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also— when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this. (2 Kings 5:8)
“Go in peace,” says Elisha. He does not condemn Naaman for what would seem to us to be a total compromise of his faith. To go into a pagan temple and to bow down to the idol there! How can this be countenanced? But then Elisha knew the situation better than we do. Naaman was chief military man of the King of Syria. He had important official and ceremonial duties. One of these was that the had to accompany his master into the Temple of Rimmon. His master leant on his arm and, together, they were supposed to bow to the statue of the god Rimmon. How could Naaman avoid doing this? How could he remain upright while the King bowed? How could he refuse to go into the Temple? How could he fail in his ceremonial duties? To do so would anger the King and possibly result in Naaman’s death. At the very least he would lose his position. I think Elisha saw how important it was for a man like Naaman to retain his official position. So he refrained from judging him.
We must realise that at this stage Naaman is not a strong believer in the God of Israel. He knows very little about his new God except that he had been healed through his power. In time, perhaps, he will come to a deeper understanding of discipleship. So he sets off in peace.
Greed
But all this was too much for Gehazi, the servant of Elisha . He couldn’t bear to see all that lovely money disappearing.
Gehazi, 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. ( 2 Kings 5:20)
“My master’s a fool. This man wants to give us money and he refuses it! At the very least I’ll get some for myself.” To those of a worldly frame of mind Gehazi’s way of thinking seems quite justifiable. Why not make a quick buck while you can? I can’t help thinking that it is that kind of attitude on the part of certain people in the world of high finance that has got us to our present economic crisis.
I read recently about an evangelist in South America who held a huge evangelistic campaign in a certain town. Thousands of people came, hundreds were converted and many were healed or delivered of evil powers. But the local pastors criticised the evangelist for not taking up a collection at these meetings. He was, they thought, missing a God-given opportunity. The people were really grateful, they were willing to give. It would be criminal not to take money. But the evangelist had the same kind of attitude as Elisha. He didn’t want to charge people for God’s grace. It was a free gift.
Gehazi might have thought he was being reasonable but by his actions next he jeopardised the good name of his master Elisha and even brought the name of the Lord into disrepute. So Gehazi hurried after Naaman.
When Naaman saw him running towards him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. Is everything all right? he asked. Everything is all right, Gehazi answered. My master sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.’ By all means, take two talents, said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. ( 2 Kings 5:21-23)
Naaman is still grateful – he offer two talents of silver (about 150 pounds weight of silver). This was quite a sum of money – enough to buy a house or an olive grove. But Naaman is only to glad to pay for his healing. Imagine now, some of Naaman’s servants going back home and being asked, “How much did your master pay for his cure?” “Two talents of silver”, they would say. “That seems very reasonable,” the other servants would say – thinking that Elisha had charged for God’s gift. That was exactly what Elisha had wanted to avoid.
Notice also how Gehazi compounds his sin by lying. He makes up some story about two needy servants of God from the back country who need financial help. He plays on Naaman’s generous nature. And that’s what happens today sometimes. It’s not unknown for missionaries to exaggerate the need so they can get more money for their mission. Sometimes the whole thing is a scam, a made up story to get money. How such scams dishonour God. And this is just what Gehazi was doing – he was scamming. He didn’t intent to give any of this wealth to any other person. It was pure greed.
And now we have an anomaly. As far as we know, Gehazi had been an exemplary servant before this time. He served is master well and did everything he was supposed to do. But his heart was not right with God. He lived in the household of a man of God but he himself was not converted. He had even had a part to play in the performance of a mighty miracle when Elisha had raised a boy from the dead. Gehazi had seen God’s power at work but his heart had not been changed. It’s a solemn thought that you can see God’s power at work in people’s lives and not be moved. You can hear the gospel and not respond to it. You can be a member of a church, or even a church officer or minister, and still not be truly converted. You can grow up in a godly household and still not be a child of God. Gehazi was that kind of person – an unspiritual man.
Punishment
Gehazi accepted the silver and then took steps to hide it away. And then he went and stood before his master, as if nothing had happened.
Then he went in and stood before his master Elisha. Where have you been, Gehazi? Elisha asked. Your servant didn’t go anywhere, Gehazi answered. But Elisha said to him, Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants for ever. Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and he was leprous, as white as snow. (2 Kings 5:25-27)
Gehazi thought he was so clever, and his master was so stupid. So heavenly minded he was no earthly good. But Elisha could see, he was no fool. He had the gift of knowledge from God. He was far more wise and discerning and shrewd than Gehazi. He knew what his servant had been up to and pronounced God’s judgement on him.
We might think Gehazi’s punishment was severe but it seems to have only been a mild form of leprosy. (In later chapters he is at he court of the King of Israel recounting the mighty deeds Elisha had done. So the punishment could not have been that severe.) It probably had a salutary effect on his spiritual state. (It might not have even been leprosy as we know it today. In Hebrew the word for leprosy was used for a variety of skin diseases which made people ritually unclean.)
A lesson
Surely, the main lesson from this sorry incident is that it’s all to easy for us to be worldly-minded. The worldly individual always thinks he is wiser than the spiritual person. Just as Gehazi thought his master was stupid. But in the end it was Gehazi who was the fool. In the end it will be the spiritually minded people who will inherit eternal life. As the Apostle Paul writes in Romans:
To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6 (AV)
Or in a modern version: The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; (NIV)
And as the hymnwriter John Newton puts it:
Fading is the worldling’s pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show; solid joys and lasting treasure, none but Zion’s children know.
Greed and the love of money can cause great spiritual harm, as Paul tells us:
People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:9-11)
