Elisha heals Naaman of Leprosy & punishes Gehazi for lying
2 Kings 5
re-told by Debbie Dunn
Story highlights:
* Leprosy is highly contagious disease that sometimes rots away skin
* Prophet Elisha healed military commander Naaman of leprosy
* Elisha punishes his servant Gehazi for his lies and greed
Bible tale begins:
Get ready to
hear a Prophet Elisha miracle tale.
In the
country of Syria, there was a popular guy with an unusual name. His name was
Naaman [naa-muhn].
RINGLEADER: Naaman's name was Naaman!
[Group repeats]
RINGLEADER: What made Naaman so popular?
[Group repeats]
Naaman was a
military commander whom God had blessed by allowing him to win many
victories for the king of Syria. Until a bad thing happened.
RINGLEADER: What bad thing happened?
[Group repeats]
Even though
he was mighty warrior, Naaman came down with leprosy,
RINGLEADER: What’s leprosy?
[Group repeats]
Leprosy is
highly contagious. It can even sometimes rot away the skin.
RINGLEADER: Yikes to scary skin rot!!!
[Group repeats]
Today,
leprosy is curable with medicine and prayer. Back in those days, some people
isolated briefly, while others suffered lifelong skin rot.
RINGLEADER: Did Naaman have the bad kind of leprosy?
[Group repeats]
He sure did!
He went from being the kind of guy everybody wanted to be around to the man
they were now too scared to be around. His own wife even had to keep her
distance. One day, her young Hebrew servant girl said:
HEBREW
SERVANT GIRL: If my master would travel to Samaria, the Prophet Elisha could
heal him of his leprosy.
Perhaps the
wife sent a message to the King of Syria, because the Bible states he
urged Naaman to visit that Hebrew man of God.
To pay the
prophet, Naaman loaded his horse-drawn chariot with gifts.
RINGLEADER: What gifts did he bring?
[Group repeats]
He brought
750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and 10 clothing sets.
His soldiers
likely rode in a separate chariot so they didn’t catch his disease.
RINGLEADER: How far did they have to travel?
[Group repeats]
100 miles. They
traveled from Damascus, the capital of Syria, to Samaria, the capital of the
northern kingdom of Israel. Elisha then sent him this message:
ELISHA: To
be cured of your leprosy, go to the Jordan River, and dunk yourself under the
water 7 times.
Naaman was so
offended! As he stormed off, he snapped:
NAAMAN:
There’s no way I am going to dip myself in that dirty river!
One of his
officers gently pointed out:
OFFICER:
Uh, ..., sir, with respect, even though he asked you to do something simple
instead of heroic, shouldn’t you try to do it anyway?
Swallowing
his pride, Naaman traveled the 10 to 20 miles to the Jordan River, waded into
the water, and dunked himself 7 times.
In the Bible,
the number 7 is very special. And those 7 times were all it took for Naaman’s
skin to go from open sores to smooth and healthy.
RINGLEADER: Hooray! His leprosy was cured!
[Group repeats]
Naaman was so
excited that he rushed back to Elisha to thank him.
NAAMAN:
Prophet Elisha! Now I know that there is no God in all the world except here in
Israel. Please accept the gifts that I have brought.
ELISHA: Naaman,
I cannot accept payment for what only God could do. Thanks anyway, and go in
peace.
Naaman
gratefully started for home. Did he picture himself hugging his wife? Did he
plan to thank her little Hebrew servant girl? Was he eager to tell the King of
Syria he could once again report for duty?
In any case,
he had no clue that Elisha's greedy servant, named Gehazi [gi-HAY-zy], was
running to catch up to him as fast as he could.
RINGLEADER: What did Elisha's servant want?
[Group repeats]
Greedy Gehazi
intended to tell Naaman a whopper of a lie that led to him handing over 2 new
outfits of clothes and 2 big bags of shiny silver.
As Gehazi
sneaked his treasure home, he was shocked to discover God had given
Elisha a vision of everything he had said and did. Elisha said:
ELISHA:
Gehazi, the consequence for your lies and greed is that you will suffer from
Naaman's leprosy forever.
To his
dismay, Gehazi realized that he now had leprosy all over his face and body. His
skin was white as snow.
RINGLEADER:
Yikes! Telling lies and being greedy sure doesn't pay!
[Group repeats]
And that is
the end of today's Bible tale!
Any questions or comments?
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