{"id":63528,"date":"2019-09-25T16:57:43","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T13:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=63528"},"modified":"2023-04-23T13:28:47","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T10:28:47","slug":"lepers-at-the-gate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/lepers-at-the-gate\/","title":{"rendered":"Lepers At The Gate"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[931,755,363],"acf":{"old_id":"63528","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"316","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Some clear hints as to their surprising identity","content":"

There is a mathematical theorem that postulates that \u201cthings equal to the same thing are equal to each other.\u201d In alphabetical terms, if A=B and B=C, then A=C. According to rabbinic and medieval exegesis, there is an instance of this equivalence in this chapter.<\/span><\/p>\n

The discovery that the Aramean army had miraculously fled in the middle of the night was made by \u201cfour men, lepers, outside the gate\u201d of Samaria (3). Rashi, relaying a Talmudic tradition (Sotah 47a), identified them as \u201cGehazi and his sons.\u201d Since Gehazi and his sons were lepers and the men who made the salvific discovery were lepers, the axiom would have us identify them with one another.<\/span><\/p>\n

We recall that Gehazi had disobeyed Elisha and, by ruse, had extracted a gift from Naaman for the curing of his leprosy (2 Kings 5:20 ff.), earning the prophet\u2019s curse: \u201cSurely, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever\u201d (there, v. 27). They were sited outside the city gate in accordance with the Torah law that confines a leper to \u201cthe outskirts of the camp\u201d (Leviticus 13:46) and consistent with the Mishnaic stipulation that \u201cwalled cities are of a higher sanctity; therefore, lepers are evicted from them\u201d (Kelim 1:7).<\/span><\/p>\n

A close reading indicates that these four harbingers of salvation decided, on the one hand, to share the news with their brethren in the city lest they incur \u201cguilt\u201d (9, arguably by prolonging the famine), and yet, on the other hand, still took the time not only to slake their own thirst and hunger but to carry off silver and gold and clothing from there and bury it (8) for later retrieval. Who would be better suited for this role than Gehazi whose take from Naaman consisted of silver and clothing?<\/span><\/p>\n

It is ironic, of course, that Elisha, who had the well-deserved reputation of curing lepers (5:3), inflicted it on his own assistant. In any case, it appears that Gehazi\u2019s role in hastening the end to the siege was redemptive since in the very next chapter we find him in direct conversation with no less than the king himself (8:4), something that clearly implies a resolution of his leprosy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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