Gehazi
Gehazi is the personal attendant of the prophet Elisha, named in three episodes of 2 Kings: the Shunammite woman's hospitality and the raising of her son, the failed pursuit of Naaman's gift, and a palace audience before King Jehoram years later. The arc moves from trusted prophet-servant to covetous schemer struck with leprosy, then closes with him still recounting his master's miracles in the king's hearing.
Elisha's Attendant in the Shunem Cycle
Gehazi enters the narrative as the prophet's go-between with the great woman of Shunem. When Elisha wishes to speak with his hostess, the order runs through his servant: "And he said to Gehazi his attendant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him" (2Ki 4:12). The relational tag "Gehazi his attendant" identifies him as Elisha's personal servant on the road, and the summons "Call this Shunammite" gives him the messenger role between the prophet and the household.
When the woman's son later dies and she returns to Mount Carmel, Elisha dispatches Gehazi ahead with the staff of the man of God: "Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go your way: if you meet any man, don't greet him; and if any greets you, don't answer him again: and lay my staff on the face of the child" (2Ki 4:29). The errand is carried out exactly as instructed and yet produces nothing: "And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, saying, The child did not awaken" (2Ki 4:31). The prophet-staff in the servant's hand cannot itself raise the child; the master must follow in person to the upper chamber.
Covetousness After Naaman
The second episode opens in the wake of Elisha's refusal to take any payment from Naaman the Syrian for his cleansing. Gehazi mutters to himself as the caravan departs: "But Gehazi the attendant of Elisha the man of God, said, Look, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: as Yahweh lives, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him" (2Ki 5:20). The complaint recasts the prophet's oath-refusal as imprudent leniency toward a foreigner, the oath formula "as Yahweh lives" parodies Elisha's own oath in the opposite direction, and the resolve commits the servant to a covert chase after Naaman's chariots.
The pursuit overtakes the convoy and Gehazi lies for his prize: "So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw one running after him, he dismounted from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? And he said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Look, even now there have come to me from the hill-country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets; give them, I pray you, a talent of silver, and two changes of raiment" (2Ki 5:21-22). Naaman doubles the request: "And Naaman said, Be pleased to take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of raiment, and laid them on two of his attendants; and they bore them before him" (2Ki 5:23). Gehazi conceals the haul before returning home: "And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house; and he let the men go, and they departed" (2Ki 5:24).
The cover collapses on entry to the prophet's presence. "But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, Where did you come from, Gehazi? And he said, Your slave went no where" (2Ki 5:25). Elisha answers with prophetic sight and a verdict tying the gift, the lie, and the disease together: "Didn't my heart go [with you], when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive silver, and to receive garments, and oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, and male slaves and female slaves? The leprosy therefore of Naaman will stick to you, and to your seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper [as white] as snow" (2Ki 5:26-27). The disease Naaman left behind in the Jordan settles on the servant who chased after Naaman's payment.
In the King's Hearing
The closing notice puts Gehazi in front of King Jehoram, still recounting Elisha's deeds: "Now the king was talking with Gehazi the attendant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray you, all the great things that Elisha has done" (2Ki 8:4). The descriptor "the attendant of the man of God" keeps his prophet-service identity in view alongside his later history, and the king's request turns him into the royal informant on the prophet-miracles.
The audience converges with the Shunammite's land claim at the moment of his telling: "And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life him who was dead, that, look, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life" (2Ki 8:5). The servant who once carried the staff to the dead child now identifies that very child in the royal court, sealing the woman's petition by personal testimony to the miracle.