And God’s grace was even extended to a Syrian General, by the name of Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-27)…
God’s compassion flows to those who follow His Word, but He resists those who disrespect it.
In the first seven verses of chapter 5, the scene shifts from Israel to Syria, and from Israelites to a Syrian general.
Everything about Naaman indicates that he was an exceptional person.
His name, which means “pleasantness,” suggests that he had a pleasant personality.
As commander of the army of the king of Aram (Syria), he carried a heavy responsibility.
The terms used about him indicate that his reputation was impeccable: a great man… highly regarded … a valiant soldier.
He was a pagan, yet even his relation to the Lord is unusual: through him the LORD had given victory to Aram.
The specific victory intended is not indicated, but God is the Lord of the nations, not just Israel.
In spite of all these attributes, Naaman had leprosy.
Although the term was used for a variety of illnesses and does not correspond to a modern clinical term, leprosy was an extremely serious condition.
The disease was progressive, and Naaman was clearly in the early stages, since he could still move about in public.
It was, however, terminal, with no known cure.
Most of all, this disease was isolating. It bore a stigma and aroused fear, as AIDS does in many places today.
Serving in the home of Naaman was a young girl from Israel, the victim of one of Syria’s raiding parties into Israel.
She was everything Naaman wasn’t: a slave, a girl, a Hebrew, and a believer in God.
She was probably in her early teens.
Learning of her master’s illness, she responded with compassion for him and with confidence in God’s prophet: If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.
Desperately ill people are willing to do desperate things.
On the basis of a foreign girl’s wish, Naaman was willing to approach the king, who apparently already knew of his condition.
The king valued Naaman enough to approve and authorize the expedition, going so far as to write a letter to the king of Israel.
So Naaman set out, equipped with two things that would assure him of healing.
First, he would buy what he wanted from Israel’s God, with his gift of ten talents of silver (about 750 pounds), six thousand shekels of gold (about 150 pounds), and ten sets of clothing.
This was a huge amount of money. Naaman could hire the prophet to do what he wanted.
His second resource was power and position, in the form of a letter from the king.
Kings generally got what they wanted.
The king of Syria made his desires clear: I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.
In the presence of such a demand, the unnamed king of Israel came unglued.
The last thing he would think of was to call upon the Lord or his prophet.
All he could read in the letter was a pretense for war:
See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me. He was totally out of touch with what was happening and was blind to the hand of God.
Elisha, on the other hand, knew God and His purposes.
What the king could not do, He could.
He told the king of Israel to send Naaman to him, and Naaman came, with his horses and chariots.
Samaria was not a large city; a retinue like this would stand out like a presidential motorcade in a middle-class neighborhood.
But Naaman did not get down from his chariot.
He stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.
A great man like him deserved respect and deference.
But Elisha sent a messenger to tell him,
Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored.
Naaman was enraged by such treatment.
He pulled away from the prophet’s home, only to pour out his anger to his men:
I thought that he would surely come out to me.
Naaman was actually saying, “Doesn’t this guy know who I am?”
He also betrayed his expectation that healing was all about a prophet’s special technique, not his God:
I thought that he would… wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.
And there was also a matter of national pride:
Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel?
Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?
It would have been hard to argue with Naaman. The Jordan River was muddy and unimpressive.
Naaman was the epitome of a man who knew what he wanted from God, but he thought it was a business arrangement that could be purchased or a mechanical arrangement that could be manipulated.
The thought that his healing involved humble submission to God, on His terms alone, did not occur to him.
The way of God was too simple and too silly: “dip seven times in the Jordan.”
Fortunately, Naaman’s men read him like a book.
They challenged his foolish response.
Their appeal cut through his bluster:
if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?
How much more, then, when he tells you, “Wash and be cleansed!”
They were telling him, “What have you got to lose, except a little pride?”
Their words pierced the general’s armor. He made the twenty-five-mile journey to the river and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times.
The effect was instantaneous. His flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
Following the word of God’s prophet brought the healing he had longed for.
Naaman did not return directly to Damascus to display his healing but to the prophet in Samaria to confess his faith.
He had a new relation to the Lord, declared in a grand confession of faith:
There is no God in all the world except in Israel.
The miracle, done in Elisha’s absence, had pointed him to Elisha’s God.
Naaman was not just saying the right thing.
A few moments later he would insist on the depth of his transformed view of reality:
Your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD.
This is the language of conversion.
He also had a new relation to God’s prophet.
Earlier he had stormed at Elisha’s failure to defer to him.
Now he called himself, the formerly arrogant general, your servant.
Naaman offered a gift to express his appreciation, but Elisha rejected it.
This was about God and His glory:
As surely as the LORD lives… I will not accept a thing.
Naaman suddenly had a new set of values.
Hours before he had despised the muddy Jordan River. Now the most valuable thing he could imagine was as much earth as a pair of mules can carry.
He apparently intended to build an altar on soil from God’s land, where he would worship the Lord.
His theology was obviously immature, with a faulty understanding of God, the Lord of all nations.
He linked God to the physical land of Israel.
Faulty as his theology was, his desire to honor the Lord was honorable.
Naaman also had a new sensitivity to his responsibilities.
As the right-hand man of the king of Syria, there would be ceremonial occasions when he would be expected to accompany his master into the temple of the god,
Rimmon, the Syrian equivalent of Baal.
He recognized the inappropriateness of such an action (may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing, repeated twice, showing his distress).
He would bow alongside the king, but his heart would be given to God. He would be there out of loyalty to his king, not his king’s god.
Lesson to be learned here is:
Humility and Obedience to God’s Word, not pride, is what God requires; and when we are ready to listen to God’s prescription for healing, trusting Him with all our heart and not leaning on our own understanding, our humility and our obedience is what releases the POWER for God’s Word to accomplish the purpose wherein it was sent (see Isa 55:11).
God already knows everything about each one of us, and He loves us anyway and accepts us, just as we are.
Don’t let your dumb pride interfere with what God is wanting to do in your life.
God’s church is intended to be a hospital, where people come when they recognize they need help. You’ll never go to a hospital and find them saying get yourself well and then come back and see us.
Just humble yourself before Him and He will lift you up.
The invitation is for us to come just as we are, and God’s love and grace (unmerited favor) will take care of the rest.
SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
Come join the Adventure!
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SB SALT AND LIGHT MINISTRIES 