After Elijah didn’t die (but went to heaven all the same), God raised up a new prophet to walk in Elijah’s shoes. His name was Elisha and he didn’t literally walk in Elijah’s shoes, but he did literally wear Elijah’s cloak and was blessed with a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. He was the next great prophet to speak God’s message and wield God’s power.

And Elisha did a lot of both. As a messenger, he instructed kings, rebuked enemies, and promised food for hungry people. And as a miracle worker he multiplied cooking supplies, purified deadly stew, made an axe head float, and brought the dead back to life.

In those days, Syria was often at war with Israel, and on one of their raids they stole a little Israelite girl who would play a big part in God’s plan. The little girl worked for the wife of Naaman, a commander in the Syrian army. Naaman was a mighty man of valor, but he also had a serious skin disease called leprosy. When the little girl learned of Naaman’s disease she spoke up: “You need to see the prophet from Israel!”

So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stood at the door to Elisha’s house. “Go wash in the Jordan River seven times,” Elisha told him, “and you shall be clean.” You might think this would be good news to Naaman, but it made him furious. “The Jordan River!” he said. “We have better rivers in Syria.
I thought this prophet was going to help me!”

As Naaman was leaving, one of his servants urged him to listen to Elisha. So Naaman humbled himself, went down, and dipped himself in the Jordan River seven times. And wouldn’t you know it, the leprosy was gone. Naaman was clean.

Being a rich man, Naaman was prepared to pay for such a miracle, but Elisha refused. He would not take anything from Naaman. The grace God gave Naaman was to be a gift.

But one of Elisha’s servants, a man named Gehazi, thought differently. “I bet I can still get something for this miracle,” Gehazi figured. So he ran after Naaman and took from him two bags of silver and two changes of clothes.

When Gehazi returned, Elisha knew something was not right. “Where have you been?” Elisha asked. “Nowhere,” Gehazi replied. But Elisha saw through the lie. He knew that Gehazi had chased after Naaman. “Because you sought to get rich from God’s grace,” Elisha said, “the leprosy that left Naaman will now stick to you.” Gehazi learned the hard way: there are some gifts money can’t buy, and some money we shouldn’t accept.