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Elisha began as a servant to Elijah and later took his place as prophet after Elijah was taken up to heaven. He had a servant named Gehazi. It is possible that he was preparing Gehazi to eventually be his successor just as he had been Elijah’s successor.
Unfortunately Gehazi made a disastrous mistake which destroyed any hope he had of taking Elisha’s place. The story of his failure is found in 2 Kings chapter 5. After Elisha had cleansed Naaman’s leprosy and turned down the reward Naaman offered Gehazi decided that he would obtain part of this reward for himself.
As a result he found himself inflicted with the leprosy which had formerly been Naaman’s. This was a tragedy not merely for him but for the whole nation of Israel, because it was deprived of the good Gehazi could have done for them if he had become a prophet of God.
But this isn’t the end of Gehazi’s story. In 2 Kings 8 we find him telling the king about the things Elisha had done. As he was doing this the woman whose son Elijah had raised from the dead came to the king asking for the return of her land.
Because of Gehazi’s intercession with the king her request was granted.
Under the Mosaic law lepers were to be kept away from other people and not allowed to associate with them. The fact that Gehazi was talking to the king seems to indicate that he was no longer a leper. If this was the case then he must have repented of his previous sin and been forgiven. He wasn’t restored to his former position as servant of Elisha but he was able to do some good by helping the woman regain her land.
There are two lessons to be learned from the life of Gehazi. The first is that even if it looks as if we are successfully serving God we can always fail if we allow ourselves to be controlled by sin. The second is that after we have failed and are suffering the consequences we can still repent and be restored to a position of service for God.
Unfortunately Gehazi made a disastrous mistake which destroyed any hope he had of taking Elisha’s place. The story of his failure is found in 2 Kings chapter 5. After Elisha had cleansed Naaman’s leprosy and turned down the reward Naaman offered Gehazi decided that he would obtain part of this reward for himself.
As a result he found himself inflicted with the leprosy which had formerly been Naaman’s. This was a tragedy not merely for him but for the whole nation of Israel, because it was deprived of the good Gehazi could have done for them if he had become a prophet of God.
But this isn’t the end of Gehazi’s story. In 2 Kings 8 we find him telling the king about the things Elisha had done. As he was doing this the woman whose son Elijah had raised from the dead came to the king asking for the return of her land.
Because of Gehazi’s intercession with the king her request was granted.
Under the Mosaic law lepers were to be kept away from other people and not allowed to associate with them. The fact that Gehazi was talking to the king seems to indicate that he was no longer a leper. If this was the case then he must have repented of his previous sin and been forgiven. He wasn’t restored to his former position as servant of Elisha but he was able to do some good by helping the woman regain her land.
There are two lessons to be learned from the life of Gehazi. The first is that even if it looks as if we are successfully serving God we can always fail if we allow ourselves to be controlled by sin. The second is that after we have failed and are suffering the consequences we can still repent and be restored to a position of service for God.
