the desire for a portion of the presents of the Syrian which his master had refused (אם כּי יי חי, as truly as Jehovah liveth, assuredly I run after him; אם כּי as in 1Sa 25:34). He therefore hastened after him; and as Naaman no sooner saw Gehazi running after him than he sprang quickly down from his chariot in reverential gratitude to the prophet (יפּל as in Gen 24:64), he asked in the name of Elisha for a talent of silver and two changes of raiment, professedly for two poor pupils of the prophets, who had come to the prophet from Mount Ephraim.
Verse 23
But Naaman forced him to accept two talents (קח הואל, be pleased to take; and כּכּרים, with the dual ending, ne pereat indicium numeri - Winer) in two purses, and two changes of raiment, and out of politeness had these presents carried by two of his servants before Gehazi.
Verse 24
When Gehazi came to the hill (העפל, the well-known hill before the city) he took the presents from the bearers, and dismissing the men, laid them up in the house. בּ פּקד, to bring into safe custody.
Verses 25-26
But when he entered his master’s presence again, he asked him, “Whence (comest thou), Gehazi?” and on his returning the lying answer that he had not been anywhere, charged him with all that he had done. הלך לבּי לא, “had not my heart gone, when the man turned from his chariot to meet thee?” This is the simplest and the only correct interpretation of these difficult words, which have been explained in very different ways. Theodoret (οὐχὶ ἡ καρδία μου ἦ μετὰ σοῦ) and the Vulgate (nonne cor meum in praesenti erat, quando, etc.) have already given the same explanation, and so far as the sense is concerned it agrees with that adopted by Thenius: was I not (in spirit) away (from here) and present (there)? הלך stands in a distinct relation to the הלך לא of Gehazi. - וגו האת: “is it time to take silver, and clothes, and olive-trees, and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, and servants and maidens?” i.e., is this the time, when so many hypocrites pretend to be prophets from selfishness and avarice, and bring the prophetic office into contempt with unbelievers, for a servant of the true God to take money and goods from a non-Israelite for that which God has done through him, that he may acquire property and luxury for himself?
Verse 27
2Ki 5:27 “And let the leprosy of Naaman cleave to thee and to thy seed for ever.” This punishment took effect immediately. Gehazi went out from Elisha covered with leprosy as if with snow (cf. ex. 2Ki 4:6; Num 12:10). It was not too harsh a punishment that the
