2 Kings 5:5

THE KING OF ISRAEL WAS UPSET BY THE SYRIAN'S REQUEST

"And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, And now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? but consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me."

"He took with him ten talents of silver, ..." (2 Kings 5:5). It does not appear that this was intended as a present for the king of Israel, because he is addressed here by the king of Syria as a vassal.

"He seeketh a quarrel against me" (2 Kings 5:7). The time of this miracle seems to have been rather late in the career of Elisha, because Gehazi's leprosy would have terminated that servant's association with the prophet. We cannot agree with the suggestion of Montgomery that, "The afflicted Gehazi was still a member of society in a later story (2 Kings 8:4ff)."[5] We have already determined that the stories of this section of 2Kings are not recorded in any chronological sequence.

On this account, we cannot plead any ignorance on the part of Joram regarding the great miracles wrought by Elisha. Joram's failure to think of Elisha in this situation was not due to his ignorance but to his unbelief and his unwillingness to accept the authenticity of Elisha's prophetic ministry.

Joram's mistaken notion that Benhadad (the probable king of Syria) who sent Naaman to Samaria sought a quarrel with him, was not altogether unreasonable. "It will be remembered that Benhadad, seeking the subjugation of Ahab, had made unreasonable demands of Joram's father (1 Kings 20:3-6)."[6]