Talmud zu Könige II 5:32

Rebbi Abuna asked before Rebbi Ammi: Are Gentiles required to sanctify the Name²⁹“To sanctify the Name” means to suffer martyrdom for one’s faith (under the conditions spelled out before.)? He said to him (Lev. 22:32): “I shall be sanctified in the midst of the Children of Israel.” Israel are required to sanctify the Name; the Gentiles are not required to sanctify the Name. Rebbi Nasa in the name of Rebbi Lazar understood it from the following (2K. 5:18): “May the Eternal forgive His servant for this³⁰Elisha permitted Naaman to accompany his king to a pagan temple and to bow down there; for a Jew that would be unthinkable. Same argument in Babli Sanhedrin 74b, in the name of the school of Rav., etc.” Israel are required to sanctify the Name; the Gentiles are not required to sanctify the Name.

You find [written] when Naˋaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, came to him with his horses and his chariot. Rebbi Joḥanan said, it is written with his horse²⁷⁵The actual Ketib in all sources of 2K.5:9.. He wanted to give him gold and silver, stolas and garments, precious stones and pearls, but he did not accept. That is what is written²⁷⁶2K. 5:16.: He insisted that he take, but he refused. Geḥazi came and said, by the living Eternal, if I would run after him and take anything from him²⁷⁷2K.5:20; Num. rabba 7(6). The invocation of the Name in a dishonest enterprise is blasphemy.. “A defect” is written²⁷⁸A Ketib מומה “its defect” for Qereמְאוּמָה “anything” is not in Eastern (Aleppo and Peterburg) codices but it is an old Ashkenazic (Rashi ad loc.) and Provençal [Num. rabba 7(6)] tradition; cf. Y.S.R. Norzi, מנחת שי ad loc.. He went, met him, took what he took, and hid it in his upper storey. He came to Elisha, who asked him, from where to where, Geḥazi? You refused the reward of the just²⁷⁹He lost his reward in the Future World.! He answered²⁸⁰2K.5:23–24. In v. 24, Gehazi’s skin disease is declared hereditary., your servant did not go here or there. But he said, did not my thoughts go when a man turned from his carriage towards you; is it time to take silver and gold; is it time to take precious stones and pearls? Therefore, Naˋaman’s skin disease shall cling to you. It is written²⁸¹2K.7:3.: Four men afflicted with skin disease were at the door of the gate. Who were they? Rebbi²⁸²Read: Rav Jehudah. In the Babli (107b): R. Johanan. Jehudah in the name of Rav: They were Geḥazi and his three sons.

[With the following] it is the reverse;⁶²Of those mentioned in the preceding Rule. The former are to be read but are not written; the latter are written but are not to be read. they are written [in the text] but are not to be read: Amnon;⁶³In 2 Sam. 13, 33 the word ’im is written but not to be read. as he shall say;⁶⁴In Jer. 39, 12 where similarly, ’im is written but not read. V incorrectly indicates the verse with ba’asher for ka’asher. in (what) place;⁶⁵In 2 Sam. 15, 21 the word אם is written but not read. kinsman;⁶⁶In Ruth 3, 12, the word ’im is written but not read. let … bend;⁶⁷In Jer. 51, 3 the verb is repeated in the text. five.⁶⁸In Ezek. 48, 16 the south side … five hundred the number five is written twice but read only once. [H adds two further instances: נא in 2 Kings 5, 18 and ’eth in Jer. 38, 16.]

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar would say: Afflictions come upon those who speak slanderously. This is what you see with Gehazi, who slandered his teacher and was afflicted with a skin disease that clung to him until the day he died, as it says (II Kings 5:27), “May the skin disease of Na’aman cling to you…and he left him, and he was flaky like the snow.”
He would also say: Afflictions come upon the arrogant. This is what we find with Uzziah, as it says (II Chronicles 26:16–19), “And when [King Uzziah] became strong, his heart became so proud that he became corrupt, and trespassed against the Eternal [his God by entering the Temple of the Eternal to offer incense on the altar. And after him came] the priest Azariah, with eighty other brave priests of the Eternal. They stood up against King Uzziahand said to him: It is not for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the Eternal, but for the priests, who are the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated, to offer incense. Get out of the Sanctuary, for you have trespassed, and there will no glory for you from the Eternal God. Uzziah, holding the incense lighter, became angry; but as he became angry with the priests, a skin disease broke out on his forehead.” At that moment, the Temple split apart into two halves, twelve miles apart. The priests, panicking, rushed to get out, “and he, too, rushed to get out, for the Eternal had afflicted him. And he was a leper until the day he died. He stayed in isolated quarters, as a leper, and he was cut off from the House of the Eternal, while Jotham his son was put in charge of the king’s house, and governed the people of the land” (II Chronicles 26:20–21).