This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Life of Elisha” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 29, 1989.

Tonight we are in 2 Kings 5, and we are reading from the 20th verse through the 27th. Dr. Hazar, a servant of Elisha, the man of God, doth thought, Behold, my master hath spared this Naaman, a Syrian, And after receiving from his hands what he brought, as the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.

So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him and said, Is all well? And he said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Behold, just now Two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a pallet of silver and two changes of clothes.” And Naaman said, “‘Be pleased to take two pallets,’ and he urged him, and bound two pallets of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them before him. When he came to the hill, or to Ophel, he took them from their hand and deposited them in the house, and he sent the men away, and they departed.

But he went in, and he stood before his master, and Elisha said to him, Where have you been, Gehazi? And he said, Your servant went nowhere. Then he said to him, Did not my heart go with you? when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and a time to receive clothes and olive yards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants? Therefore the leprosy of men shall cleave to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence, a leper, as white as snow.

Let’s pray again. Lord, you, by the sentence of your son to your servants, have said that we are to pray the Lord of the harvest that he might send forth laborers for the harvest, and may we commit ourselves, our God, to do just that. In this day, Lord, there have been your servants working hard, and in their labors presenting the word to the world. You have been faithful in raising up those in response to the prayers of your people who would go forth and sow the seed of the kingdom. We ask you, our Father, that we may see that harvest and that we might be assured that the word in the world is being proclaimed truly and faithfully.

We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. So we come to the end of the story of Elisha and Nahum. And we have taken it piece by piece, and each part of the story has added to our appreciation of the interaction between this prophet of the Lord and this Syrian, this Gentile. this warrior from amongst the tribes of the earth.

But tonight we come to the conclusion of the story as if this is where we were headed all along. As if the intention was by God’s Spirit in the presentation of this story to get us to this point. where we might consider the figure Gehazi, servant of Elisha, the man of God.

Tonight, the question is, who is Gehazi? Who is Gehazi? And to this end, we want to look at these verses, dividing them into three parts. First of all, we want to look at Gehazi as he reveals himself in verse 20. Secondly, we want to look at Gehazi as he is presented to us in contrast with Naomi. When the two of them meet in verses 21 through 23. And finally, we want to see get his eye and that most clearly. In the confrontation between him and Elisha, the man of God in verses 24 through 27. First of all then, verse 20, Gehazi reveals himself in part, and we gain in part an understanding of him from verse 20.

Gehazi is the servant of Elisha. He has been already introduced to us in the story that was presented for us in the fourth chapter of Second Kings. You remember the story of the Shunammite woman and the kindness that Gehazi pleaded for on her behalf when she was cursed with barrenness and then by the intercession of the Prophet, she is given a child. Gehazi was instrumental in that wonderful occurrence and miracle by which that woman was blessed. Gehazi has been introduced to us the servant of Elisha.

His name means the Valley of Vision. And with that, there could be associated all kinds of prophetic overtones, the valley of vision. And it will become apparent to us by the end of this story of Gehazi in 2 Kings 5, just how much he contradicts, confuses, confounds his own name. How separate he is from the whole enterprise of the prophets. a servant of the Prophet, a man whose name brings before us the significance of prophecy. Moving in those circles, he is one who is particularly associated with the prophetic movement and servanthood generally.

As a rule of thumb, for the understanding of Gehazi, it might be well to say this much at this time. Gehazi bears a special relationship to Elisha as a servant of that prophet, but you’ll remember that Elisha himself bore a relationship to someone who stood before him, and that was Elijah. So if we’re going to understand Gehazi, we might put it along these lines. In terms of his relationship to the Prophet, and in terms of his servanthood, Elijah is to Elisha as Elisha is to Gehazi. So Gehazi should become all that Elisha is, or he should serve in the spirit of that one to whom he is bound. Now, also accenting all of this business about servanthood is the fact that as you move through this fifth chapter of 2 Kings, it seems that all along it has been about servants, has it not?

From the very outset, who was it that told Naaman that he should find a cure in Israel? It was a little slave girl, a servant in Naaman’s house, a servant to Naaman’s wife. Servanthood emphasized there. Naaman himself is a servant. He has a master, the king of Syria.

Elisha’s servant, namely Gehazi, is mentioned in verse 10. When the servant is sent out, Gehazi, to communicate the message of the prophet to Gehazi concerning the cure that is being offered by God. Then we have Naaman’s servants, those servants that plead with him. Go wash yourself in the Jordan, they plead. Even though there were rivers in Damascus, in Syria, the prophet here has given you something which you obviously can perform, and he’s asking you to submit. And in that submission, Naaman himself is submitting to the servants that are under him.

There is Naaman also to Elisha, where Naaman calls Elisha his master, his lord. He, proving himself servant to the prophet of God. And Gehazi, Gehazi as well, a servant. So the passage is about servanthood, what it means to be a servant, and that servanthood specifically coming to expression now in the figure of Gehazi. But we are considering here how Gephesai opens up himself by the thoughts of his heart recorded for us in verse 20.

This is what he thinks. Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian. The comment is contentious. It is contemptuous of Elisha, his master, suggesting that there is something wrong with what his master Elisha has done, and it is contemptuous of Naaman also. The implication is that Elisha has been needlessly gracious, and maybe even unlawfully gracious, Or should he not secure payment from this Gentile for the act which has been performed? Would not even the law extract from Naaman some sort of offering or payment in light of what has been done? But even more, focusing yet the contempt of Gehazi is the racial overtones of the comment he makes. Behold, my master has spared this Naaman, the Syrian. Naaman is a Gentile and is such especially unworthy.

And in Gehazi’s estimation, while clean from his leprosy, he is still an unclean Gentile. Worthy of his contempt, this Nehemiah, or this Syria. In his attitude, Gehazi compares with Nehemen, as Nehemen expressed himself before he was converted. Do you remember the arrogance expressed by Nehemen?

He’s come into the territory of Israel. It isn’t that he especially wants to be there, and he’s told about the rivers of Israel, the Jordan. Contemptuously, he looks upon this prescription that is laid out before him by the prophet as if it is demeaning to him, while in fact he has rivers at home that are better than all the rivers of Israel put together. It is that racial contempt that Naaman is exhibiting in his attitude towards Israel and whatever Israel might extend to him.

But now, you see, the situation is reversed. It is no longer Naaman that is expressing this contempt, rather it is Gehazi, the servant of the Prophet. But setting himself in such a posture, Gehazi has now starkly set himself in contrast to the attitude and operations of the prophet, and in contrast to the ends and desires and aims of heaven. In thinking about Gehazi in this, we are struck with how In other portions of scripture, a similar attitude is exhibited.

Do you remember the prophet Jonah, who draws back when in fact God is being gracious to Gentiles? How he cannot stand the thought that God would be so kind to those that he hates, those he considers to be unclean. And yes, isn’t it precisely that attitude which is exhibited by the Jews in Nazareth, when Jesus preaches to them, an event that is recorded for us in Luke chapter 4. Jesus makes mention of the fact that there were many, many lepers in Israel during the days of Elisha the prophet, but the ministry of mercy was extended but to one, and that one was a Gentile, namely Nahum. And at that, the Jews picked up stones and were ready to stone him and to destroy him.

So strong, that spirit. The contentiousness then, exhibited by Gehazi, seems to be that racial bigotry that is bound up in the heart of man, from which even the Jew is not immune. The racial thing is not all that we find here, however. There is also the mercenary, economic, monetary dimension, as the succeeding verses prove. First of all, then, we have seen this revelation, Gehazi makes of himself, and in that we gain a partial understanding of the man. But now we go on to verses 21 through 23, and Gehazi’s identity for us is opened up further when he meets with man.

Note man. The man has been converted. The man has been completely changed. He is a new creation. and look at the way in which he behaves. He sees Gephasi running after him, and in a genuine humbleness, a genuine humility, he gets down from his chariot, and he, in effect, greets the man not as an equal, but as a servant himself.

The presentation of man in here, although it’s not extensive, is one that places before us a man who is positive in his outlook and open. He is a man, truly, who fulfills his name. Do you remember what his name means? It means pleasantness. This man is indeed pleasant. What a gracious individual. he has become in fulfillment of the very name he bears.

And in keeping with his loving disposition, which indeed thinks no evil, he does not even suspect that he is about to be the dupe of deception from this servant of the man of God. He believes all things. the incredible trusting character of the man, and the openness of him. The thought that he is about to be deceived never enters his mind.

I’m a cynic, I always think I’m going to be deceived. even from those who are claiming to be religious. I think I’m about to be had, so I ought to have my guard up. Here’s Naomi, this man who’s been transformed in the openness of the man. Maybe he might say, well, he’s a bit naive yet, he’s still young, he says. Wait till he finds out a day by election, we’ll see what he says then. Wait till the report comes back to him that he’s been taken in. Then we’ll find out what he’s made out of. All right.

That’s verse 21. Verse 22. the nature of the things like consider himself an irreligious man. Did he consider himself as a man devoid of the Lord, not what he said in verse twenty says, As the Lord lives, he’s even invoking the Lord as he goes off to perform this deed.

He seems to think he’s doing the Lord of service. His master might be blinded, but he’s not. He’s certainly going to take advantage of the situation and that to the glory He thinks, maybe, I don’t know, the glory of the God that he serves. Gehazi’s deceit is overlaid with religious pretense. As the Lord lives, he says in verse 20, and now the deliberate premeditated use of a religious ploy. He asked but for a tenth, a tithe of Naaman’s silver. There it is. He asked for the tenth. How many talents of silver did Naaman bring with him? Ten. Gehazi says, give me a tenth. Give me the tie. Two changes of clothes.

He’s going to receive them for the purpose of caring for these unsuspected guests, these two sons of the prophets who’ve come from the hill country of Ephraim. It’s all done under the guise of religion. Gehazi, in the name of religion, exploits the common grace of the ancient Middle East and the special grace of God. that has been the province of the people of Israel.

Laman, an Easterner, can be counted on for his hospitable spirit. Strangers, guests coming, Elisha without provision, sure I’ll provide. The hospitable spirit, but also the time that shall be given. and used in the Lord’s name. But note the magnanimity, verse twenty-three, of Naaman. He doubles the time. I’ll give you twenty percent. I’ll give you two talents of silver.

His sincere innocence here exhibited. The man is fresh. He is vibrant in his newfound faith. His concern, in fact, is hardly for the things of this world. What does he care about another child? It might be just as well to give him all ten. And you get the impression that Naaman wouldn’t have cared if all ten had been asked for. He was prepared to give it initially anyway. And so he is prepared now.

His concern is hardly for the things of this world. But as such, he has become vulnerable. He has become vulnerable to the deceitful worldliness of those religious types who are akin to Gehazi. Here you are, a sincere Bible-believing individual. Here you are devout, your eyes focused upon the Kingdom of Heaven. You don’t care about prosperity in the world. You don’t care about amassing for yourself a fortune here.

If someone comes to you and asks for your money, yes, you give it. But you, in your sincerity and in your simplicity, are so utterly vulnerable, are you not? You don’t care about the things of this world, but there are some parading a religious road who care for those things and care for them because they’re the most important things to them. And they come and they take advantage of your simplicity and your devotedness. Well, is it a strike against you because you give graciously and lovingly and openly? It hasn’t hurt you, but it certainly hurt me. Your treasure was elsewhere. So, Naaman the Magnificent. Naaman the Magnificent. Greater this servant in the army of God than the captain of the armies of sin. Note in this verse, Naaman is urging again, he had already urged Elisha.

Back in verse 16, he said, Takeeth Elisha, Elisha refused, when Elisha refused, Gehazi now grabs Can’t you just hear him? Oh, no, not, not, not two pounds. In fact, I don’t, I don’t even think I can carry two pounds. Just, I’ll give you two of my servants. They’ll carry the silver. Listen to this man. What if he knew he was being taken and he just goes the second mile anyway? There’s too much dirt in this. Take them. They’ll carry the silver for you. How tragic. How tragic, then, the conclusion of this 23rd verse. Oh, it’s a glorious moment for Gehazi, isn’t it? But how tragic it is when you see it for what it is.

This one who is a servant, I don’t think that I can get everything that needs to be gotten out of this man. I’ll say that to you. This verse is so rich, it is so complex, it is so deep. You’re going to have to think about it, yourselves, for a long time. Try to penetrate it. The tragedy, however, how sizeable How monumental that tragedy is. You see what’s happening here in that 23rd verse as you come to the end.

Elisha’s servant, this man who is the servant of the prophet of God, the servant of God’s prophet or God’s spokesman, the servant of God’s Messiah. Let’s put it straight out. Let’s take back the veil. Elisha is like unto the Messiah, or he is like unto the Holy Spirit who comes through the ministry of the Son.

This one who is a servant of Elisha now literally turns himself into a king. Look at the imagery. Lamb and servants are made part of a royal procession. That’s what’s going on as they go before King Gehazi with the testimony of his glory. Precede. The imagery is fraught full of all kinds of political overtones. in which this servant of the man of God has literally made himself into a ruler. A king. A political ruler and king. Who is Gehazi? Who is Gehazi?

Verses 24 through 27 will finish out the matter. His identity now most clearly seen for us in the confrontation between him and Elisha. Behezai with his entourage come to the hill and the house. Verse 24, the language about the hill and the house is not accidental. In fact, the word there that is translated hill is actually Ophel. Ophel is one of the hills, the pinnacles, in the territory of Jerusalem, in the territory of Zion.

There’s a transformation of the scene as Gehazi makes his approach with his entourage. That transformation of the scene literally transports you to the environment of Jerusalem, and the house is not to be understood innocently. This house is to be understood under the imagery of the palace, the throne room, the sanctuary that oversees the affairs of the king.

So here he comes. To his I cannot bring his worldly gain into the presence of the Lord’s spokesman. He must sneak it in. He is a man of duplicity. He must live in two worlds because, you see, he serves two masters. He serves God and mammon, or at least he tries. But he can’t tell God he serves men. But he’s always telling them that he serves God. This man serves two masters.

Verses 25 and 26 When Gehazi goes in to stand before Elisha, the scene that we’ve already depicted is heightened immensely with the tones and hues of the sanctuary of God, and more than that, it is heightened with the tones and hues of the coming day of judgment, when all the thoughts of men will be exposed. The truth about their hearts will be made known. The Hesai walks into the presence of Elisha as one walks into the presence of God, into the presence of the Lord’s Messiah. And notice then how this one, Elisha, here is portrayed for you. He displays divine characteristics. He displays omniscience and he displays omnipresence. I know what you were doing. I know where you went because I went with you.

As strange as it seems… the whole is transformed, the man is brought into the presence of God, and through Elisha we see here the very characteristics, the attributes of divinity, omniscience, omnipresence, and the reality of the covenantal union that exists between God and his servants.

Yahazi attempts to cover his tracks with a lie. I didn’t go anywhere. But how can one hide anything from God? How can anyone hide anything from Christ? And you see, it’s not just the deeds. Those concrete sins that have been dogging your step. It’s the condition of the heart that it affirms in the presence of the Word of God. What is it that you want? What is it that you want? What is it that Gehazi wants? He wants the world. He wants the world. He wants position and power and prominence in the world.

But now we come to verse 26. And after that incriminating interrogation by the initial question from Elisha, we get the concluding and most devastating of all, the one that really places things well in perspective. You see, there was a day in which those who were servants of the Lord could in fact amass for themselves money, and a cattle, and olive gardens, and vineyards, and cattle, and horses, and millions and millions of servants, and God even smiling, But the one who speaks here, the righteous, is speaking of a circumstance in which that is no longer important as the mode of operation for the people of heaven. Now it’s all plain and clear, is it not? When we see Elisha working with Naaman, it is the drawing of the nations by the gospel into fellowship with God. The gospel has been proclaimed, and now in the power of the Spirit, that message is going forth, and the nations themselves are being cleansed and brought up into Zion.

But that’s not the end of the story. For the age in which all of that is true and appropriate is the age of the Spirit and the age of the Church. And now Gehazi is the servant of the Spirit, or the servant of the Messiah Spirit, is the embodiment himself of the Church in that age. And the liability, you see, is that the Church may set itself in this time in which it lives, between Christ’s first coming and his second coming, to a maximum self. Silver and gold. Decorative apparel and robes. Power and prestige. Political might. cattle and oxen, a mode of life that demonstrates them to be the masses, accumulating for themselves, nailed into the earthlings.

Is this the time? Is this the time, asks the Lord? No. And as Elisha says and speaks those words, he is giving to the Church this charter until the age of the Spirit is completed. It will never be completed until Christ comes again to act in the way in which the Holy God has done.

Who is Gehazi? Truly Gehazi is, yes, an expression of that bigotry that was found even in this room of old. We see in Gehazi that spirit of duplicity and strung out between God and man, but most specifically we see in Gehazi that one in whom the very deceit that accompanies the probing of God for this day is met. the church living in terms of power, in terms of property, in terms of wealth and prestige.

He isn’t learning. Is he not, verse 27? Is he the iron in verse 27? No one really wants the world. So why should we be in the world? And what comes with the world? Lessons. Lessons. And what does lessons to me mean? Firmly and firmly separated from God. If you choose the world, you shall have the world. And you shall have the world certainly. If you choose it, you’ll have it. And you’ll have it for sure. that choose God, choose his Christ, choose against the world, and eternal blessedness, Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.