Originally Posted by
Smitty
Thank you Troy for this OP. My question is did God put leprosy on Gehazi (2 Kings 5:27) and Miriam (Num 12:10) because of divine or righteous judgment? I agree that God is healer because I've been a recipient of His healing power. Paul also mentioned the judgment of God that fell upon the Israelites were written as examples for our admonition (1 Cor 10:7-11). I think some believers underestimate the holiness of God, and there are consequences (reap what you sow) to sin if there is no repentance.
Thank you for your questions Smitty
There certainly are consequences to sin. They are built into the system of sin. Sin pays its own wages (Rom. 6:23; James 1:12-14).
I covered the subject of Miriam in my book, "Does God Send Sickness" (pages 119-120). In a nutshell, Numbers 12:9-10 says, "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous."
God exercises His anger, not by personally inflicting an individual with sickness, but by removing His protection and leaving them to the consequences of the rebellion. Note how Moses explains this in Deut. 31:17:
Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
The VOICE translation renders this, "When they do, I’ll be furious with them and abandon them. I won’t look on them when they pray. I won’t protect them, and they’ll be eaten alive."
This is exactly what happened to Miriam. We can assume that, based on this Biblical pattern, that the same thing happened to Gehazi.
1 Cor. 10 has been covered in several of my books (some of them available on our web page for free). But the key verse for 1 Cor. 10 is found in verse 10, "We must not complain, as some of them did—and they were destroyed by the Angel of Death" (Good News Translation). Satan is the angel of death (Heb. 2:14-15). If we remove ourselves from God's protection, we put ourselves in the place where Satan can destroy us (see 1 Cor. 5:5). Hope that this helps.