Tag Archives: Gehazi

Great but Dented Series Ten

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One would have thought that anointed people of God are above being dented. Our Lord Jesus Christ was greater than the greatest of all men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the young Prophet from Judah on a missionary journey to Bethel 1 King 13: 1-25, Elijah, Elisha and many more. Zacharia was great in anointing as High Priest. He had been serving God relentlessly and successfully throughout. In spite of his selfless  service, Elizabeth his wife remained barren and advanced in age. They have both been praying for others to be blessed as desired with continued success. Delayed response to their prayer tended to weaken Zachariah’s faith in God. In spite of his wife’s barrenness, he continued serving God faithfully before his age-long prayer was hearkened to. Angel Gabriel encountered Zachariah in the Holy of Holies while making various sacrifices for the people.

When the Angel broke the news to him Luke 1: 10-20, Zachariah reacted with doubts rather than busting into instant joy. The Angel had to identify himself as an Angel of God as a means of assuring the High Priest. As God had spoken, His word cannot return to Him void. The Angel did make a pronouncement saying that Zechariah would remain deaf and dumb until the child was born. It came true in that it was on th eighth day at the naming ceremony that he pronounced the name John (John the Baptist). It was like he was tongued-tied  and what tied it just broke loose as pronounced by the Angel.

To say that Prophet Samuel was not able to raise credible children to succeed him is unimaginable. It constituted a dent on his greatness. So it happened to his boss, Prophet Eli whose two sons, Hophni and Phinehas were a great shame to the greatness of their father, Prophet Elisha received double portion of Elijah’s anointing but was unable to replicate his anointing as did Elijah to him. The irony of the situation remained such that one can force a horse to the river but can’t force it to drink. Elisha’s double portion of his mentor’s anointing was a result of his avid interest and attention with unalloyed devotion to the cause for which he was called. He had no ulterior motive as did his own servant Gehazi. The sin of his greed and covetousness, to my mind should not be visited on Elisha.

Throughout the history of mankind no one has ever been hundred percent sinless except the Almighty God, Jesus Christ the Son of the most High and of course the Holy Spirit.

Oh! My God!

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Here is an expression, each part of it carries a distinct meaning that ranges from mere idle talk to either serious emerging conditions of fear, failure or expression of faith or of joy. At times it is not expressly said but the non verbal action that could be observed tells the story. The above topic is the title of a poem in ValuPlus Poem: Focus on Behavioral Tendencies” copyright August 2008. It presented many situations one differing from the other. For instance, if a student happened to fail his test, It is either he did not prepare well or did not recall enough of all he had learnt. It, expresses failure. Like the student, if a traveller misses his flight , in exasperation you hear “Oh! My God!” It is either he failed to heed  the stipulated departure time that waits for no man or would have to blame it on unexpected traffic jam on his way to the airport.

Gehazi, Prophet Elisha’s apprentice could have burst into this regretful expression were he to be in our contemporary age, because his greed and dishonesty, even as Elisha’s student prophet-in-training earned him life-long leprosy rather than becoming a celebrated prophet like his spiritual master. 2 King 5: 20-26 (KJV). Judas Iscariot was in a position of uttering “Oh! My God!” when he de-robed himself from being an apostle of Christ the day he mortgaged the life of his master and “Rabbi”. Some people have argued that he served a purpose. By the same token, it is right or proper to enhance the counter argument, should he be the particular person who would not allow all the teaching of his master to have impact on him. “Oh! My God!” would have been the sound of regret from the precocious Peter after he had denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed during Jesus Christ’s trial before the High Priest Luke 22: 54-62 (KJV) Thomas knew that Jesus had died but found it difficult to accept the resurrection story. He quickly cleared his doubt on seeing the scar of the nail on his palm and feet. He was objective and scientific in approach. “Oh! My God!”, he would have said, “My Rabbi is truly not an ordinary mortal” John 20: 24-29 (KJV) Conversely, Zaccheus would have jumped for joy when “The Son of Man” , the expected King of Israel chose to pay him a visit and even dine in his house in spite of his being a Publican a decidely one of those the Jewish tradition regarded as sinners . To Zaccheus it should have been a pleasant surprise Luke 19: 1-10 (KJV)

The day Senator Barak Obama won the Presidential election there we heard the two versions of “Oh! My God!”. To many it was regrettable that he won against their expectation while to others it was a pleasant surprise. They joyfully exclaimed “Oh! My God!”. We saw a national figure shedding tears of joy, because it happened in his life time. (To be continued)