I noticed that among all these exciting events that we read about today, the actual name of the king of Israel wasn’t mentioned. So I looked up who was running the kingdom when Elisha was prophesying…
I wonder why the author didn’t mention the king’s name? Maybe it was an intentional slight, since king Joram was an evil king. Joram took over the kingdom when his brother Ahaziah fell through some lattice work and received injuries that eventually killed him. In any case, the whole reading today is about how God anointed Elisha’s ministry, so details about other events that happened at the same time are scarce.
Let’s take a look at a few things we might learn, or apply to our everyday lives.
When I read about the miracles of Elisha I am noticing who benefited from them. I don’t know why I haven’t seen this before, but this time through I am moved that God allowed Elisha to retrieve an axe head. Axe heads don’t float…hence the miracle. And then there is warning from Elisha to the Shunemite woman to take her child and leave the land for 7 years because a famine is coming. I don’t think that counts as a miracle, but God allowed Elisha to use advance knowledge of events to help a woman take care of her family. There are others, but you get the point. God cares about us, and about the little things as well as the big things. When I think about how God performed miracles just to help a guy return a borrowed axe, I am moved to deeper love for Christ.
At the same time, Elisha is informing the king of Israel about military strategy. This amazes me, because the king is evil and doesn’t deserve to be helped…but God is assisting him anyway. I suppose that’s because He loves the people, and doesn’t want them to suffer needlessly. Although the king was greatly assisted by Elisha, and at one point calls him “my father” out of respect….he later vows to kill Elisha and no longer listen to God because the famine has become so severe. Thinking of that, Elisha sent the Shumenite woman away…but he stayed, even though he knew there was going to be a famine. And remember the miracle of the bread and grain that fed 100 people with some left over? (yesterday’s devotion?) That was even more significant because there was a famine. Hey, here’s a thought: how about the guy that brought the food and gave it to Elisha even in the middle of a famine? I’ll bet he could have used that food himself, but he gave it away and God blessed it to feed many more people….and to foreshadow what Christ would do. That’s amazing.
Speaking of amazing,how about this Shumenite woman walking into the palace at the very moment the king is wanting to hear stories about the things Elisha has done? This must have been before Gehazi had leprosy? I don’t think he would be in the king’s presence with leprosy.
Naaman has a slave girl who seems to care enough about him that she suggests he go to Israel and be healed by Elisha. I wonder why the girl thought Elisha would heal him? Elisha wasn’t healing everyone like Jesus did, and Naaman was a commander in the military of an enemy state. It would seem to me that it would be better if he were out of the picture, not healed. Why would a slave care so much about her master? Naaman must have been a good guy, caring for his people. It seems odd to me that Naaman would offer a great deal of silver and clothing, but there is no mention of giving the slave girl her freedom because of her good advice. I hope she at least got a promotion out of it. Women weren’t esteemed in her culture, so she actually might have received nothing. How sad.
There are many lessons here: Naaman needed to humble himself in order to be healed, Gehazi was greedy and was punished for it, God uses Elisha to heal the enemy, (God loves everyone) the servant of the house is the one with the wisdom and insight. (everyone is important and valuable in Gods sight. “the eye cannot say to the hand ‘I don’t need you”‘)
Elisha asked Gehazi “is this the time to receive money and clothing, etc.?” I wonder why the time wasn’t right…was there ever a “right” time?
Maybe Elisha wasn’t to receive anything because it was a work of God, not Elisha. You wouldn’t want to reward the wrong person…that would distract praise from God (perhaps). Maybe it was because they were from different cultures, or religions. Maybe it was because the prophet wasn’t to have all the money and property that others acquired. Too many things acquired begin to weigh you down and hold you back.
When Ben-Hadad besieged Samaria several things are recorded that are significant to me:
1. Disobedience (false worship) results in hardship. This famine and the siege are both consequences of Joram not obeying the Lord and sacrificing to idols.
2. God can turn a desperate situation into a time to plenty and celebration overnight.
3. Sometimes the good news comes from the people you don’t expect.
4. In this story, we are the lepers…people who have experienced God’s bounty and are sharing the good news with others who are still starving. Sadly,many of them will die still suspicious that something deceptive is occurring.
5. If Gehazi was leprous, could he have been outside the camp with the other lepers? I don’t think he was though, because the Shunamite woman returns after the famine, and Gehazi is in the kings chamber talking to him….doubtful that he had leprosy at that point.
6. This passage about the lepers sharing good news is exactly what we as Christians are supposed to do. Share the good news.
Faithfully,
PR