Naaman
2 Kings 5:1 “Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.”
Leprosy in scripture is a type of the deep depravity of sin in someone’s life….it is contagious to others (how many times bad friends influence thoughts?)…and
…how quickly it spreads to other parts of the body.
It strikes the rich and poor, and the strong and the weak….beginning like a small sore ( it seems nothing)….yet it grows, widening it’s influence…till fingers fall off and the body is destroyed.
Like sin, it “eats” away at you, until you are consumed.
(Now there is a medical treatment for leprosy…but not then. Only God could cure from it.)
Naaman was a leper. Still he was a “mighty man of valor”, and head of the army of Syria.
God had purposed to use this army upon Israel…to show them their sin.
(I want to mention the reason for Naaman coming to Israel, to seek cleansing in a land that was an enemy.
A captive Israelite girl, and her testimony.
She was taken away in a raid on Israel…taken from her family, alone in a foreign land…yet we see her belief in God ….and she testifies of His power and His prophet, Elisha.
2 Kings 5:2-3)
So Naaman comes, with gold, silver and expensive clothes. All, what the world would consider wealth…to Elisha’s door.
2 Kings 5:9-10 “So Naaman came with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.”
And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.”
Here is this important person….waiting at the door of Elisha’s house. Waiting…waiting…
…then a someone comes out and simply gives him a message…
“Go wash in the Jordan seven times and you will be cleansed.”
(Very simple directions…amazingly simple. So is the gospel: “Whosoever believes on Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
“Confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God and you will be saved.” Romans 10:9-10)
2 Kings 5:11-12 “But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
Are not…rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.”
How often we are the same!?
God’s way of doing things is so different than what we are expecting….or planned.
“Behold I thought that he would surely come out and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place…”
When you look at what Naaman thought….it seems almost funny. He wanted a show as well as healing!
But Elisha was not the miracle worker…..God was.
It was God’s Word, obeyed,…alone that would give the cure….and Elisha was making that perfectly clear.
Naaman would have to submit to the Word of the Lord to be cleansed.
So Naaman “turned”…and went away in a rage.
To turn from the Way…is dangerous…
…thankfully this man had kind servants.
2 Kings 5:13 “And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather than, when he said unto thee, Wash, and be clean?”
I rejoice in these servants!
How this shows the impact of…a word in due season!
They showed respect… “my father”…when speaking to him.
But they reminded him of what should be most important to him….his cleansing from leprosy…
…not his pride!
(Pride is a fearful thing. It can keep us from God’s Word and Will. For it places what we want…or the way we want things for ourselves or others, before anything else.
Many people are kept from salvation….because they do not want to submit to the Word of God. Even when their need is great…pride can push in, and “turn” them from the Truth.
How precious is a friend or a word to remind them of what is really important…the salvation of their souls.)
2 Kings 5:14 “Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”
(“Then he went down”…a very telling word. He humbled himself..he went down…that God could raise him up. James 4:10)
Amazing miracle! A leper cured when he simply followed the Word of God.
How grateful he was!
Clean! Free from the terrible disease and wasting death, he would have had.
(And so is the freedom from sin by Christ’s salvation.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”)
2 Kings 5:15-16 “And he (Naaman) returned to the man of God,….and came and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
But he (Elisha) said, As the Lord liveth, before Whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.”
Notice the difference in attitude. “thy servant “….Naaman was not there as one in charge, or as someone important, but as a servant.
Though he wanted to give a gift…
…yet he was not angry about Elisha refusing it. There was no pride….simply submission to God’s Will.
2 Kings 5:17-19a “And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? For thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord.
In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself…the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing.
And he (Elisha) said unto him, Go in peace….”
Here is the desire to worship only the Lord. Truly there was a cleansing of his heart was well as his disease.
Notice: “…the Lord pardon your servant..”. Twice.
Once, before he explained that as the king’s servant he would have to bow before the kings god, because he would be with the king.
And once at the end.
He then waited…
…and Elisha said….”Go in peace”. There was peace between Naaman and the Lord…amazing mercy and grace.
Salvation from a rebel against God and His Word and Will….to one who bows before the Lord Christ, and loves Him, is true salvation by grace.
And now the sad part of this (2Kings 5:20-27)….a servant of Elisha’s…Gehazi, felt that Naaman had gotten off without cost!
With greed in his heart, he seeks some of the wealth that Naaman had brought…a talent of silver and two changes of clothes.
And he uses Elisha’s name to get it!
As a servant of Elisha, and the Lord…he should have known the magnanimous provision of the Lord…but greed (like all sin) swells with in his heart and mind…and he runs after it, instead of turning to the Lord…or even to Elisha.
Nothing changes for Naaman, he is glad to help….not to buy his cleansing, as he thought to do…but as a fellow servant of the Lord.
Returning to the house, Gehazi tries to hide his sin….lying about it…but is first rebuked:
“Is it time to accept money and garments…and the things that they can buy? We will be at war…there will be famine….now is a time for prayer and preparing the hearts of our people…not for greedily seeking things for ourselves.”
Then the leprosy of Naaman is given to him.
For some, who submit to God’s Word….there is cleansing, mercy and peace…
…no matter what the background.
For others, who refuse God’s Will and Word…
…for jealousy, greed, or pride…sin will ultimately eat them up…unless they turn and repent.
Let us rejoice in the simplicity of the gospel message:
Jesus Christ came to seek and to save
all who will come to Him.
Romans 10:9-10 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 