Always Tell The Truth
“And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, They servant went no whither.” II Kings 5:24-25
Continuing with the blog from December 29, Naaman, the military commander of the Syrian army had been healed of leprosy by God through Elisha, the prophet of God. He had brought gifts of silver, gold, and articles of clothing to give to the prophet as a gesture of gratitude for the miracle of his healing. This reminds me of my mother-in-law and others, too, who could not let you go home without giving you something, usually something from the garden, a mark of hospitality which is not so much in practice anymore. But back to the story. Elisha did not serve God for money. He depended on God to provide for all of his needs. He had a job teaching in the school of the prophets in Israel and, as far as we know, was not doing without the essentials of life, but, of course, he wasn’t wealthy nor was wealth a goal of his.
Since he was not in the service of God for money, Elisha refused all of the gifts that Naaman had brought even after Naaman urged him to take the gifts. Naaman saw that Elisha was firm in his refusal, thus he set out for Syria. However, Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, was not as firm in his commitment to live without the finer things of life. One would think that after associating with Elisha for a good while, some of Elisha’s words of wisdom would have made quite an impression upon Gehazi, giving him a desire to live righteously before God. But that was not to be the case at this point in Gehazi’s life. The influence of a righteous man or woman doesn’t guarantee that those influenced will “walk the straight and narrow”.
Gehazi thought that Elisha had made a big mistake in not accepting the generous gifts of Naaman. I suppose Gehazi began to think what it would be like to have some extra money and clothing, and then greed took over, and he came up with a plan. He followed and caught up with Naaman who saw him running toward his chariot. Naaman called for the driver to stop the chariot, and he stepped down to meet Gehazi. His first thought, as many of us have when we get an unexpected visitor or a phone call in the middle of the night, was “Is all well?” Gehazi answered that everything was OK and then began to lie to Naaman. He said that Elisha had sent him to ask for some silver and two sets of clothes because two new students had arrived at the school and were in need of funds and clothing. Naaman was glad to give him more silver than he asked for and two sets of clothes along with two of his servants to help carry the items back to the school. Naaman didn’t realize that Gehazi wanted these gifts for himself.
When they reached home, Gehazi took the items, sent the two servants on their way, and hid the items in his room in the tower of the school. He then went to report to Elisha who asked him where he had been. Gehazi did not know if Elisha had called for him or not while he was away so it would be pretty risky to lie but he did anyway. He told Elisha that he had not gone anywhere. Gehazi was apparently forgetting to whom he was lying–a prophet, a seer, and a man of God to whom God made known what was happening all around him. No one can deceive the LORD nor those to whom the LORD reveals any information He deems relevant. Sometimes greed and selfishness can blind us to the truth, and apparently they blinded Gehazi, who, along with his family, was punished severely with the leprosy of which Naaman was healed.
The thing about lying is that one lie begets another lie. They say that if you always tell the truth, you don’t have to remember what you say. Let me add, if you lie, you’d better not forget one word that you spoke. The truth is always made evident, if not now, then sometime down the road after the lie has left its path of destruction, pain, and broken relationships. Scripture says that the truth sets us free (John 8:32), but “lying lips are abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 12:22a).