Rois 2 5:23 Midrash : Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael & Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition)

R. Elazar Homadai says: in a land of foreign (gods, i.e., idolatry). Moses said: Since the whole world serves idolatry, I will serve Him who spoke and brought the (whole) world into being. For when Moses said to Yithro, Give me your daughter Tzipporah as a wife, Yithro answered, If you do what I ask of you, I will give her to you as a wife. Moses: What do you ask? Yithro: Your first son must serve idolatry. Thenceforward, they may serve (G–d) in heaven. Moses accepted. Yithro: Swear. And he swore, as it is written (Exodus 2:21) "Vayoel Moses, etc.", this being an expression for swearing, as in (I Samuel 14:24) "Vayoel Saul the people" (in context: "And Saul beswore the people.") And it is written (II Kings 5:3) "Hoel (in context: "Swear") and take two talents, etc." Therefore, the angel came forward to kill Moses (viz. Exodus 4:24), whereupon (Ibid. 25) "Tzipporah took a flint and cut off the foreskin of her son … (26) "And he (the angel) let go of him."

Our Rabbis were taught: Always let the left hand repel (those deserving it), and the right hand shall invite. And not as Elisha has done with Gechazi, who he rejected with both hands, as it is written (II Kings, 5, 23-27) And Naaman said, Give thy assent, take two talents. And he urged him… . Whence comest thou, Gechazi? And he said. Thy servant went not hither or thither. And he said unto him. My mind was not gone when the man turned around from his chariot to meet thee. Is it time to take money, and to take garments, and olive-yards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and man-servants, and maid-servants? Hath then Gechazi taken all this? Behold he took only silver and garments? R. Isaac said: At that time Elisha was occupied with the study of the chapter of eight reptiles (of Tract Sabbath). (Naaman, the captain of the King of Syria, was afflicted with leprosy, and his servant girl, who was captured from Israel, told him that if he would go to Elisha he would be cured. And when he came to him and was told to dip himself in the Jordan, he said: "They make sport of me." But the men with him said: "Go and try it, since it cannot hurt you." Whereupon he went and he bathed himself in the Jordan and was cured. And he brought all what he had with him to Elisha, but Elisha did not want to accept it from him. Gechazi, however, departed from Elisha, and hid what he took, and when he came before Elisha again he saw that the leprosy sprouted over his head). Then he said to him: You wished the time has come that you should be rewarded for [my studying of the chapter of] eight reptiles, [as you took from him the value of the eight things mentioned in this passage] May there the leprosy of Na'aman cleave unto thee, and thy seed forever, and he went out of his presence a leper (as white) as snow." It reads (ib. 7, 3) And there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. R. Jochanan said: "These were Gechazi and his three sons. There is a Baraitha: The impulse of man, a child and a woman, should always the left hand repel and the right hand invite."

Our Rabbis were taught: Always let the left hand repel (those deserving it), and the right hand shall invite. And not as Elisha has done with Gechazi, who he rejected with both hands, as it is written (II Kings, 5, 23-27) And Naaman said, Give thy assent, take two talents. And he urged him… . Whence comest thou, Gechazi? And he said. Thy servant went not hither or thither. And he said unto him. My mind was not gone when the man turned around from his chariot to meet thee. Is it time to take money, and to take garments, and olive-yards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and man-servants, and maid-servants? Hath then Gechazi taken all this? Behold he took only silver and garments? R. Isaac said: At that time Elisha was occupied with the study of the chapter of eight reptiles (of Tract Sabbath). (Naaman, the captain of the King of Syria, was afflicted with leprosy, and his servant girl, who was captured from Israel, told him that if he would go to Elisha he would be cured. And when he came to him and was told to dip himself in the Jordan, he said: "They make sport of me." But the men with him said: "Go and try it, since it cannot hurt you." Whereupon he went and he bathed himself in the Jordan and was cured. And he brought all what he had with him to Elisha, but Elisha did not want to accept it from him. Gechazi, however, departed from Elisha, and hid what he took, and when he came before Elisha again he saw that the leprosy sprouted over his head). Then he said to him: You wished the time has come that you should be rewarded for [my studying of the chapter of] eight reptiles, [as you took from him the value of the eight things mentioned in this passage] May there the leprosy of Na'aman cleave unto thee, and thy seed forever, and he went out of his presence a leper (as white) as snow." It reads (ib. 7, 3) And there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. R. Jochanan said: "These were Gechazi and his three sons. There is a Baraitha: The impulse of man, a child and a woman, should always the left hand repel and the right hand invite."