Man living at the time of Divided Monarchy
Gehazi, the servant of the prophet Elisha, was punished with leprosy for his greed and deceit in the matter of Naaman's healing.
🗺 Places mentioned alongside Gehazi on the map →
Gehazi was the servant of the prophet Elisha, as recorded in 2Kings 4-5 and 8. He first appears in the story of the Shunammite woman, where he is sent by Elisha to lay the prophet's staff on the face of the woman's dead son (2Ki.4.29-31). Later, when Naaman, a Syrian commander, comes to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy, Gehazi witnesses the miracle and Naaman's offer of a reward, which Elisha refuses (2Ki.5.15-16). However, Gehazi, driven by greed, pursues Naaman and deceitfully asks for a talent of silver and two changes of clothing, claiming that Elisha had sent him (2Ki.5.20-24). When confronted by Elisha, Gehazi lies about his actions (2Ki.5.25). As a consequence of his greed and deceit, Elisha declares that Naaman's leprosy will cling to Gehazi and his descendants forever (2Ki.5.26-27). In 2Ki.8.4-5, Gehazi is seen recounting Elisha's great deeds to the king of Israel, suggesting that he may have later repented and served as a witness to Elisha's ministry, despite his past failings.
Part of: Kings, prophets and the house of David
Elisha healed the Aramean commander Naaman and refused payment. His servant Gehazi secretly took gifts by deceit and received Naaman's skin disease.
Sources: 2 Kgs 5:9-14 · 2 Kgs 5:20-27
More background: search Wikipedia ↗
Valley of vision, Elisha’s trusted servant (2 Kings 4:31; 5:25; 8:4, 5). He appears in connection with the history of the Shunammite (2 Kings 4:14, 31) and of Naaman the Syrian. On this latter occasion he was guilty of duplicity and dishonesty of conduct, causing Elisha to denounce his crime with righteous sternness, and pass on him the terrible doom that the leprosy of Naaman would cleave to him and his for ever (5:20-27). He afterwards appeared before king Joram, to whom he recounted the great deeds of his master (2 Kings 8:1-6).
(valley of vision), the servant or boy of Elisha. He was sent as the prophet’s messenger on two occasions to the good Shunammite, (2 Kings 4:1) ... (B.C. 889-887); obtained fraudulently money and garments from Naaman, was miraculously smitten with incurable leprosy, and was dismissed from the prophet’s service. (2 Kings 5:1) ... Later in the history he is mentioned as being engaged in relating to King Joram all the great things which Elisha had done. (2 Kings 8:4,5)
GEHA'ZI (valley of vision), the servant and constant attendant of Elisha. On three occasions he comes into prominence in connection with the Shunammite, 2 Kgs 4:12-37;2 Kgs 8:4, and later he was guilty of deception in the matter of Naaman the Syrian, and in punishment was made a leper. 2 Kgs 5:20-27. See Elisha.
GEHA'ZI (valley of vision), the servant and constant attendant of Elisha. On three occasions he comes into prominence in connection with the Shunammite, 2 Kgs 4:12-37;2 Kgs 8:4, and later he was guilty of deception in the matter of Naaman the Syrian, and in punishment was made a leper. 2 Kgs 5:20-27. See Elisha.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
12 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H1522
And he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call the Shunammite woman.” And when he had called her, she stood before him,
So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?” “Well, she has no son,” Gehazi replied, “and her husband is old.”
So she set out and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman.
When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boyʼs face.”
Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boyʼs face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she came. Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.”
Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared this Aramean, Naaman, while not accepting what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”
So Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?”
When Gehazi went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Gehazi, where have you been?” “Your servant did not go anywhere,” he replied.
Now the king had been speaking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please relate to me all the great things Elisha has done.”
And Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life. Just then the woman whose son Elisha had revived came to appeal to the king for her house and her land. So Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is the son Elisha restored to life.”
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.