Have you
come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master? (2 Kings 9:31)
Jehu was
purging the house of Omri from the nation of Israel, and Jezebel was next. Some
manuscripts state Jezebel’s question like this: Did Zimri have peace who murdered his master?
However
Jezebel originally framed her question, her intent was the same. She was
reminding Jehu that many years earlier a similar coup had been engineered by a
man named Zimri. Once the gate was cracked open, no one could hold back the
floodwaters of rebellion. Zimri sat on the throne only seven days before lighting
his own palace on fire – committing suicide to save himself from death at
Omri’s hand.
If Jezebel
was going to die, she would at least do what she could to curse her killer. She
attempted to sow doubt in Jehu’s mind: Zimri
only lived seven days after he seized the throne. How long do you think you’ll
last? Watch your back. Recipe for paranoia.
Even when we’re
confident our mission is from God (it was Elisha who ordered that Jehu be
anointed as king) enemies will do their best to fill our heads with fear. But
when God is on our side, though our foes taunt us with songs of destruction, we
can know peace. Despite Jezebel’s warning, Jehu’s purge was effective and his
son succeeded him as king of Israel when Jehu died in his sleep 28 years later.
Is
your enemy taunting you with thoughts of failure?
The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.”
ReplyDeleteGehazi had been stricken with leprosy, but now he is talking to the king. Weren't people with leprosy forbidden to be around other people?
For that matter, when Naaman came to see Elisha, it sounds like he did not come alone either. It sounds like he interacted with a number of people (his wife, the servant girl, his own servant, being sent to the king, etc) as well even though he was stricken with leprosy. Had the laws of leprosy changed so that people could now be around others? It defintely does not sound like Naaman or Gehazi were in quarantine or were outcasts from the city.
The word "leprosy" is kind of a catch-all for carious skin conditions. Can't really answer your question, but perhaps this was a condition that was determined to be not as contagious or as dangerous. Most kinds (if not all - I'm not up to date on contagious diseases) of leprosy were later found out to not be contagious.
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