מלכים ב, פרק ה׳, פסוק כ״ב

Gehazi spins a carefully calculated and entirely fabricated story to extract wealth from Naaman, needing to provide a logical explanation for why Elisha would suddenly change his mind after absolutely refusing a reward earlier.

Approaching Naaman, Gehazi begins with a calming greeting of peace to set him at ease. He then declares that his master sent him, completely inventing a request in the prophet's name [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. To make his lie convincing and prevent Naaman from questioning the sudden change of heart, Gehazi builds his excuse on two clever points [מלבי״ם].

First, he claims that a new and unexpected situation has just unfolded. By stating that guests have suddenly arrived, he creates a scenario that did not exist when Elisha originally refused the wealth. Second, he emphasizes that the requested items are specifically for these visitors. He makes it clear that the prophet is not asking for riches for his personal use, something he had sworn to reject. Instead, the request is framed as an act of charity for these newly arrived young prophets, as Elisha supposedly lacks the resources to care for them [מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

Under the guise of this charitable plea, Gehazi demands a talent of silver. This is a massive fortune, estimated at roughly thirty kilograms of silver [ביאור שטיינזלץ].