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Ärende: LESSON 12-Gehazi: Missing the Mark
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LESSON 12
*December 11 - 17


Gehazi: Missing the Mark

SABBATH AFTERNOON

Read for This Week's Study:

Gen. 39:4-6; 2 Kings 4; 5; 8:1-6; Jer. 9:23, 24; John 13:1-17; 1 Tim. 6:10.

Memory Text:

"It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his
commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him" (Deuteronomy 13:4, NIV).
 Gehazi was a servant. Not just any servant, but the servant of one of the
greatest prophets in Israel's history: Elisha. Elisha had been called by the
Lord to minister to the prophet Elijah, in preparation for Elisha's own
prophetic ministry (1 Kings 19:16). For many years Elisha served Elijah and
listened, observed, and thus understood what it meant to be a prophet. When
Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind of fire (2 Kings 2:11), Elisha's
time had come. His ministry was not as fiery and glamorous as Elijah's, but he
exerted a far-reaching influence.

Thus, Gehazi had a wonderful opportunity to be closely associated with someone
as blessed of God as Elisha. It's hard to imagine all that he could have
learned and seen in the years that he worked with the prophet.

Yet, as we will see this week, despite so much potential and many great
opportunities, Gehazi became a miserable failure. His story serves as an
example of someone who gets sidetracked and becomes unable to distinguish the
important from the peripheral. How crucial it is for us to learn from his
mistakes!

*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 18.
SUNDAY
December 12

Servanthood

Write brief job description of a servant based on the following verses: Gen.
24:2-4; 39:4-6; Luke 14:17; 17:7, 8; Acts 2:18.

Being a servant means primarily that one puts aside one's own wants, wishes,
and comfort and involves oneself totally in someone else's life. A servant is
there to assist the master in carrying out the master's plans, wishes, and
activities. Sometimes being a servant involves carrying messages, accompanying
someone, acting for the person, and doing menial jobs that needed to be done.
At other times it involves managing finances and households, but always the
servant acts not to further his own ends but to further his master's.

Gehazi was the servant of prophet Elisha. Being a servant to a prophet was a
unique privilege. It involved more than menial labor. It was a type of
apprenticeship. Elisha himself had served as Elijah's servant (1 Kings
19:19-21). Although the job of prophet depended on a divine call, it would seem
that this special time of serving together helped the would-be prophet develop
his faith and trust in God. By serving his master Elijah, Elisha would be
learning to put himself aside and serve others. This would prove to be the best
qualification for any future ministry. We have no record of Gehazi's calling,
but we will see the opportunities that he was given.

This servant idea is by no means restricted to Old Testament times. Jesus said
that the willingness to be a servant was a prerequisite for any leadership
position in the church (Mark 9:35).

Read John 13:1-17. How does this passage show the link between leadership and
servanthood?

The disciples have been with Jesus for three years. They have learned from His
teachings, they have even shared in His healing ministry, and yet they are not
ready to go out as God's ambassadors. They were ready to learn in theory and
enjoyed the association with Jesus, but they still were not prepared to put
themselves aside and humbly serve one another.
How do we get the humility and the death-to-self needed in order to serve
others? How do we learn to serve others with an attitude of seeking nothing
back for ourselves? 
MONDAY
December 13

Learning Firsthand

A good teacher teaches by example and gives plenty of opportunities for the
student to apply what he or she is learning. Elisha was this type of teacher.

Read 2 Kings 4:8-17. What is Gehazi's role in the narration? What opportunities
is Elisha giving Gehazi?

The story of the woman of Shunem follows another miracle involving a woman. In
2 Kings 4:1-7, Elisha helps a widow clear her debts and keep her two sons from
being sold into slavery. And now Elisha is on his way to Shunem. Given the
general status of women in biblical times, it is strange that the narrator
gives a married woman such status. Her husband's name is not given. All we know
is that he is consulted about the building of the guest room and that he is
old, even though he still seems to be fit enough to supervise the harvesting of
his fields. In the first part of the story Elisha actively involves Gehazi. He
sends him to call the woman and includes Gehazi in his expression of thanks. He
asks Gehazi's opinion and acts on Gehazi's suggestion. Gehazi rises to the
occasion by being observant and showing sensitivity to the woman's real needs.
Elisha  gives Gehazi the opportunity to initiate a miracle. Within a year, the
miracle-child is born.

Read 2 Kings 4:18-31. What change in attitude do we see here in Gehazi as
compared to what we saw in the previous story?

The miracle-child is now a young boy. Gehazi is still Elisha's servant, but
something of the sensitivity he once had seems to be gone. When the woman
arrives and brushes past him to grab hold of the feet of Elisha, Gehazi tries
to push her away. He sees only the "rudeness" of the Shunammite woman, who
oversteps any type of social convention in her action (vss. 25-27). He does not
seem to be able to see her deep distress as does Elisha.
It sometimes is easy to be so self-centered and self-absorbed that we become
insensitive to the feelings and needs of others. Who hasn't been on both ends
of that equation? How can you learn to be more sensitive to the feelings and
needs of others? Also, how can you learn to bear gracefully the insensitivity
of others toward you? 
TUESDAY
December 14

A Question of Faith

Read 2 Kings 5:1-19 and answer the following questions: 
1) Why did the king of Israel react as he did? Was his reaction reasonable or
unreasonable? What did he really fear was going on?

2) Why did Naaman react as he did to Elisha's command to him? What good reasons
did he have for his reaction? In what ways did his reaction reflect the king of
Israel's toward the letter?

3) Read verse 12. What kind of logic is the captain using there? What mistake
is he making?

4) How does Naaman refer to himself before Elisha after the miracle happened?
What does that say about him?

5) Why do you think Elisha refused to take any money from the captain? Why
would it be important that he not take any?

6) Read carefully verses 17-19. What is going on here? How do we understand
Naamam's request and Elisha's response to it?



WEDNESDAY
December 15

Gehazi's Fall

It's hard, at least from our perspective today, to understand why characters in
the Bible did what they did at times, especially in the face of so many
miraculous events. The incredible healing of Naaman happened right before
Gehazi. He saw not only the power of God but the actions of his master, who
refused to take any money from the captain. One would think that would have
been more than enough to humble him before God and man, but apparently it
didn't.

Read 2 Kings 5:20-27. How did Gehazi, at least at first, rationalize his
actions? What little bit of nationalism, or ethnic prejudice, is hinted at in
Gehazi's thoughts?


The Bible is full of warnings against the love of money and the dangers of
earthly possessions. These warnings are directed not only toward the wealthy.
It is not the amount of material possessions that we have that is the problem
but rather our attitude toward what we have. The battle against greed requires
constant attention. We continually have to adjust our thoughts toward our
possessions and surrender them to God. We can keep our perspective by
consistently giving not only material possessions but also time. The love of
material things blinds us to our true mission and purpose in life and in the
end can cause our eternal ruin, if we are not careful.

It is strange that Gehazi swears to himself by the living God and then goes off
to deceive. Does he think that the living God does not see him? What a powerful
testimony to the power of our own corrupt hearts to deceive us!

Naaman, meanwhile, is very generous about giving Gehazi the gifts, but he
probably goes away with some questions, especially when his two servants return
and report Gehazi's strange behavior. Gehazi has let his greed interfere with
the witness that Elisha wants to give to this new convert.

Of course, in the end, the same God who performed miracles revealed the truth
to Elisha about what Gehazi did, and, just like that, his ministry and life
were ruined.
It's very easy to underestimate the incredible hold that the love of money (1
Tim. 6:10) can have on us. What examples, from either biblical or nonbiblical
history, can you think of where money led to someone's ruin? How can we learn
to protect ourselves from what can be a very dangerous temptation? 
THURSDAY
December 16

Living on Leftovers

We last hear of Gehazi in 2 Kings 8:1-6. What do we find the ex-servant of
Elisha doing?

Many years have passed since the great miracle of the raising of the
Shunammite's son. Gehazi's skin disease must not be too disfiguring, for we now
find him in the royal court. Gehazi, Elisha's "ex-servant," is talking about
what has been. He is bragging about Elisha and his miracles, and in doing so he
is most likely reflecting on his own importance by his connection to Elisha.

We never may have heard of this storytelling session had it not been for the
timing of this event. The biblical author tells us that at the precise time
that Gehazi was telling about the miracle of the Shunammite's son being brought
back to life, the Shunammite appears before the king. God in His providence
uses Gehazi's bragging to help the woman of Shunem. The woman of Shunem is by
now most probably a widow, as no mention is made of her husband, and it is
unusual that a woman would appear before the king on such business instead of
her husband. She is most likely in charge of her family until her son becomes
of age. She has been out of the country for seven years during a severe
drought. Having the right relationships and knowing the right people may be
important and seen as advantageous from a human point of view, but God views
things differently.

What relationship really counts, and why? See Jer. 9:23, 24.

And so Gehazi fades from history. The sad part of the story is the fact that
Gehazi could have been doing God's work. He could have learned from Elisha. He
could have been the next major prophet or perhaps a leader and teacher in the
schools of the prophets. Now all he can do is speak about the good old days
when he worked with the prophet. Gehazi could have been making history; now all
he can do is live in the past.
We need to recount and remember God's dealing with us in the past. But at the
same time, we need to be careful about dwelling on what happened in the past,
at the expense of living correctly in the present. How do we strike a right
balance here? How can dwelling too much on the past negatively influence our
walk with the Lord today? 
FRIDAY
December 17

Further Study:


"Solemn are the lessons taught by this experience of one to whom had been given
high and holy privileges. The course of Gehazi was such as to place a stumbling
block in the pathway of Naaman, upon whose mind had broken a wonderful light,
and who was favorably disposed toward the service of the living God. For the
deception practiced by Gehazi there could be pleaded no excuse. To the day of
his death he remained a leper, cursed of God and shunned by his fellow men.

" 'A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not
escape.' Proverbs 19:5. Men may think to hide their evil deeds from human eyes,
but they cannot deceive God. 'All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of
Him with whom we have to do.' Heb. 4:13. Gehazi thought to deceive Elisha, but
God revealed to His prophet the words that Gehazi had spoken to Naaman, and
every detail of the scene between the two men."--Ellen G. White, Prophets and
Kings, p. 252. 
Discussion Questions:


  What are some of the warning signs that money or the pursuit of it is taking
the place of God in our lives? How can we learn to use money and not let it use
us? What role do tithing and giving offerings play in connection with the whole
question of the influence and power of money over our lives? 
  As a class, go over your response to Thursday's question. What are the things
that really matter in life, and why is it so easy to lose track of what really
matters?

  What reasons might have led Gehazi to think that he could get away with his
deception? He knew God existed; he had seen miracles take place, some quite
incredible, in fact. Yet, despite all this, he tried to deceive his master.
Perhaps he had done similar things before and gotten away with it. Perhaps in
his own mind he truly rationalized his actions. We don't know. What we do know,
however, is that it's not that hard to deceive ourselves. What are ways we can
learn to protect ourselves from falling into the same self-deception?

  Go back to 2 Kings 5:17-19. What lessons should or should we not draw from
Naaman's request to Elisha about bowing down in the house of Rimmon?

  What are some practical ways you can serve others?

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