Welcome! Today we continue our series on the prophet Elisha. Last week, John Bullard told us about the events that could be named “Death in the Pot” – about how in the middle of a gathering of faithful believers in God, someone threw food into their communal pot of stew or soup or whatever they were making that made them sick. But as they cried out in fear and in pain, God brought them healing through Elisha. Also in last week’s passage, God had a person come seemingly out of the blue with some bread. It was not enough to feed the large group, but God, again through Elisha, miraculously multiplied the food so as to adequately feed everyone.
This latter miracle of course reminds us of how Jesus similarly multiplied food to feed a large crowd – a much larger multitude than the group with Elisha, and Jesus did it from a much smaller starting portion. This is a repeated pattern in Scripture – we see that Jesus’ miracles generally were not just completely new, out-of-the-blue things, but were enhancements and fulfillments of things that happened in the Old Testament. One reason for this is that it helped the people to know that Jesus really was the promised Messiah mentioned again and again in the Old Testament. And the supremacy of His miracles over those that had gone before also meant that the earlier miracles were only hints or shadows of what was to come – that Christ, Son of God, and God Himself, was to come to redeem us and save us from the penalty our sins deserved.
Now we know that Jesus did not only come to the Jews, to Israel, but to the entire world. And even in the days of the Old Testament, God’s heart was for all people to follow Him. It is true that the Israelites where chosen to have a special role in the history of the world – it was through their descendants that Christ would come, and because of this, God was especially involved with them. He promised blessings to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and later, He redeemed their descendants by freeing them from the slavery of Egypt at the time of Moses. Out in the desert He gave them the Law, and more than the Law, a Covenant of relationship between them and Him.
Now God did use His people Israel to defeat and even destroy various nations around them, but God didn’t do this because He only liked the people of Israel and hated all others; He did this because these other groups were doing wicked, detestable things. But God has always welcomed people outside of Israel that truly had hearts to seek the true God, and through history He has repeatedly rewarded their faith.
The prophet Isaiah records God’s heart on this in Isaiah 56. Describing those outside of Israel who nevertheless seek after God as those “bound to the Lord,” Isaiah writes:
Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely exclude me from His people.” … For this is what the Lord says: … [To] foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to My covenant— these I will bring to My holy mountain and give them joy in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” – Isaiah 56:3-7
Now there is a sense in which this is prophetic, speaking of the time of Christ, but there is also a sense in which it has been true throughout Old Testament history. The passage goes on to say that God will go on to gather still others besides those already gathered.
God did not necessarily require that a person be intimately familiar with the Law or even that he or she be necessarily righteous in all areas before “gathering” them. One such example is Rahab, a woman with the disreputable profession of prostitute. As Joshua led the Israelites into taking possession of the promised land, they met Rahab in the city of Jericho. Rahab had heard stories about the history of the Israelites, and through these she came to believe God was real. The New Testament mentions her faith twice:
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. – Hebr. 11:31
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? – James 2:25
And because of her faith in God, not only did God accept her, but He included her in the very genealogy of Jesus, God’s Son! To those who thought God was God of the Jews only, this had to be a very shocking thing!
Another example is Ruth. The story of Ruth starts with Naomi. Naomi was an Israelite who lived with her family in the foreign land of Moab. Eventually Naomi’s husband and her two sons died there. No longer with a person to support her, she decided to go back to the land of Judah even though it had been many, many years since she had left. She told her son’s foreign wives to go back to their mothers; that is, she told them to stay in Moab. The wife of one of her sons decided, reasonably, to do exactly this, but the wife of her other son, Ruth, decided to ignore Naomi’s request and to instead follow Naomi to Judah. As she had come to know Naomi, she had learned of God, and like Rahab, she came to have some measure of faith in Him. As she left behind everything familiar to her, going to an entirely uncertain future, she said to Naomi, "Your people will be my people and your God my God." – Ruth 1:16b
And because of her faith in God, once again, not only did God accept her, but He included her also in the lineage of Jesus. It is hard to imagine a higher honor. Now keeping these things in mind, let’s turn to our main passage today.
Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” – 2 Kings 5:1-3
So the first thing to notice is that Naaman was not an Israelite! He was of the nation of Aram. This nation is mentioned in Judges repeatedly. In Judges 3, as the Israelites turn from God, God hands them over to the king of Aram. The Israelites cry out, and God uses the judge, Othniel, to deliver them. In Judges 10, as God is describing all the detestable practices of the Israelites, who have fallen again back into forsaking God, one of the detestable things mentioned is that the Israelites served a wide variety of gods including the “gods of Aram.” The Arameans fought against David and his army in 2 Samuel 8 and were defeated. They battled again in 2 Samuel 10 and lost again. Samuel had trouble with them for many years – this is mentioned in 1 Kings 10 and 11. Wars between Israel and Aram are the subject of most of 1 Kings 20 and 1 Kings 22; these occur much closer to the events in our passage. The point is that not only is Naaman not an Israelite, he is of a nation that for hundreds of years has been hostile to Israel, seeking to overthrow it and kill its people.
Yet at the time of our passage, things are somewhat different. Israel has become so spiritually weak, worshiping the false gods of the neighboring nations for so long, that at this point in time, Aram and Israel are in some kind of uneasy truce. They are not at war, yet there are people such as this servant of Naaman’s wife who have been taken away as slaves from Israel in past times of war.
But as we have seen with Rahab and Ruth, the stories of individuals do not always match the stories of the nations to which they belong. Naaman, perhaps because of what this girl from Israel has told him about God, may have come to have some measure of faith in God. Whether because of this, or simply because God chooses whom He wills to bless, God has indeed blessed him. God’s blessing has gone so far as to enable Naaman to bring military success to the entire nation of Aram!
And so, Naaman the beloved hero also has leprosy. This was a severe problem. Leprosy was a severe skin disease that eventually led to death after many years of steadily declining health and increasing disfigurement. According to the Law of Moses, lepers were to be isolated – presumably so as to prevent the further spread of the disease. There was a curious rule that if someone leprous was healed by God, they were to present themselves to a priest who would then declare him clean so that he could rejoin the community. Now Naaman was not an Israelite, so we don’t know exactly what practices his nation had – but the severity of the disease and the ultimate prognosis was no different. Law or not, he was probably shunned by those around him; people were probably afraid to go near, and Naaman knew how bleak his future looked.
Now there is this servant girl stolen at one time from Israel, currently serving Naaman’s wife, and apparently she has great regard for Naaman. She feels compassion on him. And she wishes it were possible for him to see Elisha. Whether from personal experience or from hearing other accounts of him, she knows about the prophet Elisha and how God has repeatedly performed miracles through him. And she too seems to understand that God is not a God of the Israelites only – that God rewards all who seek Him.
Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” – 2 Kings 5:4-6
In our units, Bible scholars believe these amount to roughly 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and 10 changes of royal quality apparel or bolts of fine cloth. (Fine clothing, being hand-made, was far more valuable than today.) This was quite a gift – but the king of Aram greatly appreciated the war hero Naaman and he greatly desired that Naaman would somehow be healed.
Now why go to the king? Why not go straight to the prophet? Well, he may have been viewed as an invader in the land. Also he may not have had any idea where to find the prophet. And he may have assumed that the prophet wouldn’t speak to anyone unless the king allowed it. So the plan was in effect to bribe the king to let him go and help him to meet the prophet.
As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” – 2 Kings 5:7
The king of Israel here is Jehoram. I find this a fascinating response. How can we explain it? One thing I see here is fear, maybe even paranoia (although you are not paranoid if people really are out to get you, and Aram had quite a history – although not a recent one – of doing just that). But honestly I find this king fearful, and frankly more than a little embarrassing. But in this fear I must confess I see a little bit of me. If I am not trusting in the Lord, as new conflicts or challenges arise, or sometimes just what should be non-threatening situations, I too can overreact and assume the worst. How about you? I do think some people are more prone to it than others. Some people don’t seem to fear much even though they don’t trust in the Lord.
A mature Christian does not overreact, but remains calm even in trying situations. I think of the fruit of the spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) which includes forbearance, gentleness, and self-control. So how do we grow in this area? As with many things, it is a result that grows day by day with spending time with God, seeking Him, praying, reading your Bible, thinking about Him, seeking to obey Him as He shows you little steps to obey Him in, and so on.
The king also seems to be quite self-centered, as he says, “Why does this fellow send someone to ME?” Well, he didn’t exactly send someone to him, but to the prophet Elisha. This is another sign of immaturity. I think of the Carly Simon song, “You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you…” The verse that comes to mind for me is Matt. 13:39 which says that whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for Christ’s sake finds it. To me, the quest to “find your life” is the ultimate exercise in self-centeredness. What a contrast is this person who sees their life as of no account, whose quest is to know Christ more and serve Him however he can! I think we can also say that the more we love Him, the less we fixate on ourselves.
When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” – 2 Kings 5:8-10
I love the contrast between this visit to Elisha and many of those we have read in the past weeks by people who are poor. Naaman comes with a full entourage – horses and chariots and servants and so on. He comes to the very door of Elisha’s house, but Elisha does not meet this important person, this hero of Aram. Instead he has a messenger give him a short message. Elisha will not even personally meet with Naaman at all!
In this I see a picture of how one must come to Christ. Christ is no respecter of persons; certainly He is no respecter of stuff. He did not come for healthy (actually nobody is healthy; everyone is sick, whether they know it or not), but for the sick. Naaman is actually physically sick as well. In fact he is sick with an incurable disease. There is nothing Naaman can do in his own strength to make himself get over his disease. Again this is a great picture for a sinner coming to Christ. What is the proper way to come to Christ? Saying “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Naaman has been told what to do. He should simply go do it.
But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. – 2 Kings 5:11-12
God has used this illness to draw Naaman to Him. God has had Elisha deal with Naaman in this seemingly rude way to likewise prepare Naaman. Naaman has been tested, and he has failed the test spectacularly.
We never do that, do we? Again, I don’t know about you, but I do, sometimes. I have prayed for someone to get saved only to hear that still small voice – not audible – but still a voice, nevertheless, ask, “So what are you doing to share your faith with this person?” Actually, sometimes this voice is audible, as it comes from the mouth of my daughter whom God has used on more than one occasion to speak the Spirit’s words into my life. What is my response? Well, on more than one occasion I have been briefly tempted to storm off, wanting to say, “Well, that’s not what I want,” but, really, what can you say? Or maybe there have been times when you have prayed, “Lord, get me out of this mess,” and that still small voice asks, “Have you repented yet for getting into this mess?” It’s a fair question, even if we don’t like it.
Naaman’s response is clearly anger; he feels insulted. But beyond this, his response reveals that he seems to think that for God to work, He has to work through the prophet. He seems to think that if the prophet is not there, then he is simply trusting in a “magic river.” And from what he thinks he knows, the rivers of his home nation are more “magic” than this one in Israel. This is a misunderstanding about both God and about “magic rivers.” First of all, there aren’t any “magic rivers.” Second, God is not limited by people or by time or space. Nothing is impossible for God.
Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, 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’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. – 2 Kings 5:13-14
Naaman’s servant is very wise! Naaman is fortunate to have him. Actually Naaman is the recipient of undeserved grace all over the place in this account. He didn’t deserve the tip from the girl either. She may have come to care for her “owners,” but she really doesn’t owe them anything. Many others in her place would probably rejoice that their master – the one who holds her and keeps her from being with her people, who perhaps killed many others of her people – was sick with leprosy or some other serious disease.
So does Naaman take his servant’s advice to heart? Well, he does go to the Jordan, and he does jump in and out 7 times. I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt foolish, especially on that 6th dip, when still nothing had happened. Anyone standing by watching would have said he looked foolish! On the seventh dip, however, he was suddenly completely healed!
This is a major miracle! The Law did have the provision for how priests should inspect someone who had been cured of leprosy, but it wasn’t something they did on a regular basis or even at all. It was unheard of! And how fascinating that it happened to someone with anger issues, someone who thought too highly of himself, someone who wasn’t even an Israelite!
The phrase “as the man of God had told him” is more literally “according to the word.” Naaman was cleansed according to the word. In the same way our salvation, our cleansing from sin, is according to the Word.
Naaman’s pride very nearly prevented him from obeying God to obtain his healing. And our pride can similarly thwart God’s work of healing in our lives. I’m not necessarily talking about physical healing, but healing from addictions, healing from past hurts, healing from whatever holds us back from really following God with an undivided heart. I think of the verse that says to confess your sins to one another (and pray for one another) so that you may be healed (James 5:16). Do you have an area in your life in which you seek healing? Have you applied this verse? If you haven’t thought about applying this verse before now, are you willing to try? Don’t let your pride keep you from God’s healing!
Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.” The prophet answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused. – 2 Kings 5:15-16
What is the principle here? I think of Matthew 6:19-21, part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
We don’t want our reward to only be here in this short life, do we? As the Matthew passage says, we may not even get to enjoy that. In the time of Elisha and in every time since, there have been plenty of false prophets doing things in the name of God for personal gain. The true prophet does not seek personal gain; he has the correct understanding that he didn’t really do anything – God did!
Now in the church age, it is not inappropriate for a pastor to receive a salary from the church if his responsibilities to the church demand a lot of time. And certainly support can be appropriate for missionaries. But it is not a requirement. As most of you know, Fred, John, and I do not take any salary from the church. We do not think it is appropriate for us because we are able to support ourselves in other ways and we do not wish to burden the church.
In the case of Elisha, I think his motivation may have been along the lines of Paul to the Thessalonians. Of this, Paul wrote, “We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.” – 2 Thess. 3:7-8. I think Elisha was being an example or more specifically, a counterexample to the widespread corruption of the false prophets in it for the money in Elisha’s day.
“If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord. But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.” “Go in peace,” Elisha said. – 2 Kings 5:17-19
It’s not entirely clear why Naaman wanted the soil – perhaps it was so that when his knee would bow, he would know that he really only bent his knee to the true God. Elisha’s response indicated that God accepted this. What is important here is that it is clear that Naaman has had a complete change in heart. He knows God is real and He has saved him. His pride is gone. His indignation is gone. He is a changed man because he has been healed by God’s grace.
Jesus spoke of this account of Naaman. It is recorded in Luke 4. Jesus went to his hometown, Nazareth, and on the Sabbath went into the synagogue, read from Isaiah, stated that the passage was “fulfilled in their hearing,” meaning that the passage was really about Him, and then said people would surely ask for miracles here in His hometown. “Truly I tell you,” (verse 24), he said, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” He went on to talk about how Elijah was only sent to the widow in Sidon (not Israel). And then He said, “And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” – Luke 4:27 It then says the people were furious and tried to throw Him off a nearby cliff, but He got away.
What was Jesus’ point? I believe Jesus was drawing a parallel between the spiritual state of Israel at the time of Elijah and Elisha and the spiritual state of Israel at the time of Christ. In both cases, there were countless “religious” people who in reality were quite closed to God. They didn’t seek a relationship; they only wanted to look righteous, to play the part. As a result, in the times of Elijah and Elisha, God displayed His mercy and power on people who weren’t even Israelites. Similarly, Jesus was implying that so few had faith in His hometown that miracles would not occur there either. This explains the people’s anger but does not justify it. What should have happened? They should have repented, confessing their wicked hearts and asking Jesus to teach them how to genuinely have faith and connect with God.
God healed Naaman because He knew the effect it would have – it would turn Naaman to have genuine faith in God.
My message title is “Being Used by God to Heal.” Who was used by God to heal? Obviously Elisha, but also the servant girl and even Naaman’s servant who told him to reconsider his angry response. We too can be used by God to heal. Just as these three people in the story didn’t do any actual healing, neither do we normally heal directly. Yet we can be used by God powerfully as a part of the healing process. Like the servant girl, we can tell people about the “prophet” we follow, the One who has the power to heal and forgive and rescue. And like the servant of Naaman, we can gently guide people who are blinded by pride to reconsider and instead “taste and see that the Lord is good.”
The world is a desperately broken place, filled with hurting and broken people. I encourage you to make friends with some of them. Tell them that “you know a prophet,” and gently guide them on as they stumble while taking first steps towards the only One that will bring them genuine healing. And may we be humble and allow God to enter every area of our lives, to heal even the most broken, most “unfixable” parts of our lives, because there is nothing He cannot heal!
Now we know that Jesus did not only come to the Jews, to Israel, but to the entire world. And even in the days of the Old Testament, God’s heart was for all people to follow Him. It is true that the Israelites where chosen to have a special role in the history of the world – it was through their descendants that Christ would come, and because of this, God was especially involved with them. He promised blessings to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and later, He redeemed their descendants by freeing them from the slavery of Egypt at the time of Moses. Out in the desert He gave them the Law, and more than the Law, a Covenant of relationship between them and Him.
Now God did use His people Israel to defeat and even destroy various nations around them, but God didn’t do this because He only liked the people of Israel and hated all others; He did this because these other groups were doing wicked, detestable things. But God has always welcomed people outside of Israel that truly had hearts to seek the true God, and through history He has repeatedly rewarded their faith.
The prophet Isaiah records God’s heart on this in Isaiah 56. Describing those outside of Israel who nevertheless seek after God as those “bound to the Lord,” Isaiah writes:
Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely exclude me from His people.” … For this is what the Lord says: … [To] foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to My covenant— these I will bring to My holy mountain and give them joy in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” – Isaiah 56:3-7
Now there is a sense in which this is prophetic, speaking of the time of Christ, but there is also a sense in which it has been true throughout Old Testament history. The passage goes on to say that God will go on to gather still others besides those already gathered.
God did not necessarily require that a person be intimately familiar with the Law or even that he or she be necessarily righteous in all areas before “gathering” them. One such example is Rahab, a woman with the disreputable profession of prostitute. As Joshua led the Israelites into taking possession of the promised land, they met Rahab in the city of Jericho. Rahab had heard stories about the history of the Israelites, and through these she came to believe God was real. The New Testament mentions her faith twice:
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. – Hebr. 11:31
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? – James 2:25
And because of her faith in God, not only did God accept her, but He included her in the very genealogy of Jesus, God’s Son! To those who thought God was God of the Jews only, this had to be a very shocking thing!
Another example is Ruth. The story of Ruth starts with Naomi. Naomi was an Israelite who lived with her family in the foreign land of Moab. Eventually Naomi’s husband and her two sons died there. No longer with a person to support her, she decided to go back to the land of Judah even though it had been many, many years since she had left. She told her son’s foreign wives to go back to their mothers; that is, she told them to stay in Moab. The wife of one of her sons decided, reasonably, to do exactly this, but the wife of her other son, Ruth, decided to ignore Naomi’s request and to instead follow Naomi to Judah. As she had come to know Naomi, she had learned of God, and like Rahab, she came to have some measure of faith in Him. As she left behind everything familiar to her, going to an entirely uncertain future, she said to Naomi, "Your people will be my people and your God my God." – Ruth 1:16b
And because of her faith in God, once again, not only did God accept her, but He included her also in the lineage of Jesus. It is hard to imagine a higher honor. Now keeping these things in mind, let’s turn to our main passage today.
Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” – 2 Kings 5:1-3
So the first thing to notice is that Naaman was not an Israelite! He was of the nation of Aram. This nation is mentioned in Judges repeatedly. In Judges 3, as the Israelites turn from God, God hands them over to the king of Aram. The Israelites cry out, and God uses the judge, Othniel, to deliver them. In Judges 10, as God is describing all the detestable practices of the Israelites, who have fallen again back into forsaking God, one of the detestable things mentioned is that the Israelites served a wide variety of gods including the “gods of Aram.” The Arameans fought against David and his army in 2 Samuel 8 and were defeated. They battled again in 2 Samuel 10 and lost again. Samuel had trouble with them for many years – this is mentioned in 1 Kings 10 and 11. Wars between Israel and Aram are the subject of most of 1 Kings 20 and 1 Kings 22; these occur much closer to the events in our passage. The point is that not only is Naaman not an Israelite, he is of a nation that for hundreds of years has been hostile to Israel, seeking to overthrow it and kill its people.
Yet at the time of our passage, things are somewhat different. Israel has become so spiritually weak, worshiping the false gods of the neighboring nations for so long, that at this point in time, Aram and Israel are in some kind of uneasy truce. They are not at war, yet there are people such as this servant of Naaman’s wife who have been taken away as slaves from Israel in past times of war.
But as we have seen with Rahab and Ruth, the stories of individuals do not always match the stories of the nations to which they belong. Naaman, perhaps because of what this girl from Israel has told him about God, may have come to have some measure of faith in God. Whether because of this, or simply because God chooses whom He wills to bless, God has indeed blessed him. God’s blessing has gone so far as to enable Naaman to bring military success to the entire nation of Aram!
And so, Naaman the beloved hero also has leprosy. This was a severe problem. Leprosy was a severe skin disease that eventually led to death after many years of steadily declining health and increasing disfigurement. According to the Law of Moses, lepers were to be isolated – presumably so as to prevent the further spread of the disease. There was a curious rule that if someone leprous was healed by God, they were to present themselves to a priest who would then declare him clean so that he could rejoin the community. Now Naaman was not an Israelite, so we don’t know exactly what practices his nation had – but the severity of the disease and the ultimate prognosis was no different. Law or not, he was probably shunned by those around him; people were probably afraid to go near, and Naaman knew how bleak his future looked.
Now there is this servant girl stolen at one time from Israel, currently serving Naaman’s wife, and apparently she has great regard for Naaman. She feels compassion on him. And she wishes it were possible for him to see Elisha. Whether from personal experience or from hearing other accounts of him, she knows about the prophet Elisha and how God has repeatedly performed miracles through him. And she too seems to understand that God is not a God of the Israelites only – that God rewards all who seek Him.
Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” – 2 Kings 5:4-6
In our units, Bible scholars believe these amount to roughly 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and 10 changes of royal quality apparel or bolts of fine cloth. (Fine clothing, being hand-made, was far more valuable than today.) This was quite a gift – but the king of Aram greatly appreciated the war hero Naaman and he greatly desired that Naaman would somehow be healed.
Now why go to the king? Why not go straight to the prophet? Well, he may have been viewed as an invader in the land. Also he may not have had any idea where to find the prophet. And he may have assumed that the prophet wouldn’t speak to anyone unless the king allowed it. So the plan was in effect to bribe the king to let him go and help him to meet the prophet.
As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” – 2 Kings 5:7
The king of Israel here is Jehoram. I find this a fascinating response. How can we explain it? One thing I see here is fear, maybe even paranoia (although you are not paranoid if people really are out to get you, and Aram had quite a history – although not a recent one – of doing just that). But honestly I find this king fearful, and frankly more than a little embarrassing. But in this fear I must confess I see a little bit of me. If I am not trusting in the Lord, as new conflicts or challenges arise, or sometimes just what should be non-threatening situations, I too can overreact and assume the worst. How about you? I do think some people are more prone to it than others. Some people don’t seem to fear much even though they don’t trust in the Lord.
A mature Christian does not overreact, but remains calm even in trying situations. I think of the fruit of the spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) which includes forbearance, gentleness, and self-control. So how do we grow in this area? As with many things, it is a result that grows day by day with spending time with God, seeking Him, praying, reading your Bible, thinking about Him, seeking to obey Him as He shows you little steps to obey Him in, and so on.
The king also seems to be quite self-centered, as he says, “Why does this fellow send someone to ME?” Well, he didn’t exactly send someone to him, but to the prophet Elisha. This is another sign of immaturity. I think of the Carly Simon song, “You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you…” The verse that comes to mind for me is Matt. 13:39 which says that whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for Christ’s sake finds it. To me, the quest to “find your life” is the ultimate exercise in self-centeredness. What a contrast is this person who sees their life as of no account, whose quest is to know Christ more and serve Him however he can! I think we can also say that the more we love Him, the less we fixate on ourselves.
When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” – 2 Kings 5:8-10
I love the contrast between this visit to Elisha and many of those we have read in the past weeks by people who are poor. Naaman comes with a full entourage – horses and chariots and servants and so on. He comes to the very door of Elisha’s house, but Elisha does not meet this important person, this hero of Aram. Instead he has a messenger give him a short message. Elisha will not even personally meet with Naaman at all!
In this I see a picture of how one must come to Christ. Christ is no respecter of persons; certainly He is no respecter of stuff. He did not come for healthy (actually nobody is healthy; everyone is sick, whether they know it or not), but for the sick. Naaman is actually physically sick as well. In fact he is sick with an incurable disease. There is nothing Naaman can do in his own strength to make himself get over his disease. Again this is a great picture for a sinner coming to Christ. What is the proper way to come to Christ? Saying “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Naaman has been told what to do. He should simply go do it.
But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. – 2 Kings 5:11-12
God has used this illness to draw Naaman to Him. God has had Elisha deal with Naaman in this seemingly rude way to likewise prepare Naaman. Naaman has been tested, and he has failed the test spectacularly.
We never do that, do we? Again, I don’t know about you, but I do, sometimes. I have prayed for someone to get saved only to hear that still small voice – not audible – but still a voice, nevertheless, ask, “So what are you doing to share your faith with this person?” Actually, sometimes this voice is audible, as it comes from the mouth of my daughter whom God has used on more than one occasion to speak the Spirit’s words into my life. What is my response? Well, on more than one occasion I have been briefly tempted to storm off, wanting to say, “Well, that’s not what I want,” but, really, what can you say? Or maybe there have been times when you have prayed, “Lord, get me out of this mess,” and that still small voice asks, “Have you repented yet for getting into this mess?” It’s a fair question, even if we don’t like it.
Naaman’s response is clearly anger; he feels insulted. But beyond this, his response reveals that he seems to think that for God to work, He has to work through the prophet. He seems to think that if the prophet is not there, then he is simply trusting in a “magic river.” And from what he thinks he knows, the rivers of his home nation are more “magic” than this one in Israel. This is a misunderstanding about both God and about “magic rivers.” First of all, there aren’t any “magic rivers.” Second, God is not limited by people or by time or space. Nothing is impossible for God.
Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, 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’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. – 2 Kings 5:13-14
Naaman’s servant is very wise! Naaman is fortunate to have him. Actually Naaman is the recipient of undeserved grace all over the place in this account. He didn’t deserve the tip from the girl either. She may have come to care for her “owners,” but she really doesn’t owe them anything. Many others in her place would probably rejoice that their master – the one who holds her and keeps her from being with her people, who perhaps killed many others of her people – was sick with leprosy or some other serious disease.
So does Naaman take his servant’s advice to heart? Well, he does go to the Jordan, and he does jump in and out 7 times. I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt foolish, especially on that 6th dip, when still nothing had happened. Anyone standing by watching would have said he looked foolish! On the seventh dip, however, he was suddenly completely healed!
This is a major miracle! The Law did have the provision for how priests should inspect someone who had been cured of leprosy, but it wasn’t something they did on a regular basis or even at all. It was unheard of! And how fascinating that it happened to someone with anger issues, someone who thought too highly of himself, someone who wasn’t even an Israelite!
The phrase “as the man of God had told him” is more literally “according to the word.” Naaman was cleansed according to the word. In the same way our salvation, our cleansing from sin, is according to the Word.
Naaman’s pride very nearly prevented him from obeying God to obtain his healing. And our pride can similarly thwart God’s work of healing in our lives. I’m not necessarily talking about physical healing, but healing from addictions, healing from past hurts, healing from whatever holds us back from really following God with an undivided heart. I think of the verse that says to confess your sins to one another (and pray for one another) so that you may be healed (James 5:16). Do you have an area in your life in which you seek healing? Have you applied this verse? If you haven’t thought about applying this verse before now, are you willing to try? Don’t let your pride keep you from God’s healing!
Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.” The prophet answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused. – 2 Kings 5:15-16
What is the principle here? I think of Matthew 6:19-21, part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
We don’t want our reward to only be here in this short life, do we? As the Matthew passage says, we may not even get to enjoy that. In the time of Elisha and in every time since, there have been plenty of false prophets doing things in the name of God for personal gain. The true prophet does not seek personal gain; he has the correct understanding that he didn’t really do anything – God did!
Now in the church age, it is not inappropriate for a pastor to receive a salary from the church if his responsibilities to the church demand a lot of time. And certainly support can be appropriate for missionaries. But it is not a requirement. As most of you know, Fred, John, and I do not take any salary from the church. We do not think it is appropriate for us because we are able to support ourselves in other ways and we do not wish to burden the church.
In the case of Elisha, I think his motivation may have been along the lines of Paul to the Thessalonians. Of this, Paul wrote, “We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.” – 2 Thess. 3:7-8. I think Elisha was being an example or more specifically, a counterexample to the widespread corruption of the false prophets in it for the money in Elisha’s day.
“If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord. But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.” “Go in peace,” Elisha said. – 2 Kings 5:17-19
It’s not entirely clear why Naaman wanted the soil – perhaps it was so that when his knee would bow, he would know that he really only bent his knee to the true God. Elisha’s response indicated that God accepted this. What is important here is that it is clear that Naaman has had a complete change in heart. He knows God is real and He has saved him. His pride is gone. His indignation is gone. He is a changed man because he has been healed by God’s grace.
Jesus spoke of this account of Naaman. It is recorded in Luke 4. Jesus went to his hometown, Nazareth, and on the Sabbath went into the synagogue, read from Isaiah, stated that the passage was “fulfilled in their hearing,” meaning that the passage was really about Him, and then said people would surely ask for miracles here in His hometown. “Truly I tell you,” (verse 24), he said, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” He went on to talk about how Elijah was only sent to the widow in Sidon (not Israel). And then He said, “And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” – Luke 4:27 It then says the people were furious and tried to throw Him off a nearby cliff, but He got away.
What was Jesus’ point? I believe Jesus was drawing a parallel between the spiritual state of Israel at the time of Elijah and Elisha and the spiritual state of Israel at the time of Christ. In both cases, there were countless “religious” people who in reality were quite closed to God. They didn’t seek a relationship; they only wanted to look righteous, to play the part. As a result, in the times of Elijah and Elisha, God displayed His mercy and power on people who weren’t even Israelites. Similarly, Jesus was implying that so few had faith in His hometown that miracles would not occur there either. This explains the people’s anger but does not justify it. What should have happened? They should have repented, confessing their wicked hearts and asking Jesus to teach them how to genuinely have faith and connect with God.
God healed Naaman because He knew the effect it would have – it would turn Naaman to have genuine faith in God.
My message title is “Being Used by God to Heal.” Who was used by God to heal? Obviously Elisha, but also the servant girl and even Naaman’s servant who told him to reconsider his angry response. We too can be used by God to heal. Just as these three people in the story didn’t do any actual healing, neither do we normally heal directly. Yet we can be used by God powerfully as a part of the healing process. Like the servant girl, we can tell people about the “prophet” we follow, the One who has the power to heal and forgive and rescue. And like the servant of Naaman, we can gently guide people who are blinded by pride to reconsider and instead “taste and see that the Lord is good.”
The world is a desperately broken place, filled with hurting and broken people. I encourage you to make friends with some of them. Tell them that “you know a prophet,” and gently guide them on as they stumble while taking first steps towards the only One that will bring them genuine healing. And may we be humble and allow God to enter every area of our lives, to heal even the most broken, most “unfixable” parts of our lives, because there is nothing He cannot heal!
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