2 Kings 5 is a study in which one man gets rid of his leprosy, and another man contracts it.  Naaman was a great man in the world’s eyes. He was a valiant soldier and highly regarded.  However, he had leprosy (or a skin disease). He was sent to the king of Israel to have his leprosy cured.  When the king was unable to cure Naaman, he sent him to Elisha, the man of God. Elisha gave him instructions to go wash in the river Jordan seven times. Namaan thought Elisha’s instructions were ridiculous, so he refused and went away.  But, Naaman’s servants were evidently smarter than he, for they counseled him to go ahead and wash seven times. Naaman did, and he was cleansed.
When Naaman wanted to repay Elisha for his healing, Elisha refused, because he wanted Naaman to know that the gift of God is free.  However, Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, said to himself, “I can take advantage of this situation”. He went after Naaman, lied, and was able to procure two talents of silver for himself.  When Gehazi returned, Elisha knew by God’s Spirit that his servant had sinned. Elisha pronounced a curse of leprosy on Gehazi and his descendants forever.
There is a lot in this passage that I can learn. But, what I primarily see is that Naaman got rid of his leprosy in spite of his stupidity, because he had wise counsel.  I also see that Gehazi was cursed because he did not have wise counsel. Instead, he listened to his own desires for things of this world, and ended up with the same disease that Naaman had, only it was going to last forever. It seems good, then, in light of our imperfection, to surround ourselves with people of wisdom, who can discern the Lord’s heart.  In that way, we can avoid getting leprosy or something worse, (like a prideful heart) and we can hopefully enjoy the abundant life that God promises for those of us who know Him.
I thought of James 4:19-20 when I read today’s passage. It says, ”My brothers, if any one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”

This entry was posted on Monday, July 24th, 2006 at 5:00 am and is filed under Daily Readings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.