Articles
Lessons Taught to Naaman - 3.17.2024 Bulletin
Lessons Taught to Naaman
(2 Kings 5.1-14)
One of the great things about the Bible is how God uses people from all walks of life to convey His message. In 2 Kings 5.1-14 we learn about Naaman the commander of the army of the king of Syria, who is described as “a great man… a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper” (v. 1). This section of scripture reveals how Naaman was miraculously cured of his leprosy. There were three people who played a role that led to his healing that taught Naaman, and by extension us some valuable lessons.
The first person is the “little girl” or “young girl” (NKJV) who worked for Naaman’s wife. She is not a native Syrian but from Israel, who wound up in Naaman’s house after being taken captive in a Syrian raid. In terms of her background, this is all we know. But we learn a lot about her from just a few verses. She, knowing Naaman’s leprous condition had compassion on her master, said “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy” (v. 3). This girl did not let her youth, or her position deter her from proclaiming the power of God to heal Naaman of his condition. While text says she spoke this to Naaman’s wife and not Naaman directly, it takes boldness to say what she did, especially among foreign people in a foreign land. An intimidating situation to say the least. We need to have the same boldness this young girl had to proclaim the power of God. We can find it intimidating to talk to people, especially strangers, about the Gospel. But it needs to be done. It takes boldness to live a life as a disciple of Christ in a world that walks in the other direction. But it may be the example that we set that leads a person to Christ.
The next person is Elisha, the man of God (v. 8). In contrast to the young girl, Elisha is a well know figure of the Old Testament. It’s what Elisha does that serves as a lesson. When Naaman traveled to Israel he did so in grand fashion with horses and chariots (v. 9) and taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothes (v. 5). Naaman wanted it to be known that he was a “commander of the army of the king of Syria” (v. 1). When Naaman and the people with him arrive to Elisha’s house, Elisha doesn’t even come out to greet Naaman. He instead sends a messenger to tell Naaman “Go wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean” (v. 10). This made Naaman angry, and he likely felt insulted. In his mind he’s thinking, “I’ve come all this way only to be told by a messenger what to do, does he not know who I am?” Verse 11 record Naaman as saying “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.” Naaman because of his status expected some great show to cure him. What Naaman needed to learn is God is not bound by man’s expectation. Naaman said “Behold, I thought”, that’s where he went wrong. Naaman went on to say if I must wash in a river, why can’t it be the nicer rivers In Damascus, and not waters of Israel. It’s not about what we think is best, or how we think things should be done, it’s about what God wants and expects. How often do we think like Naaman, trying to place expectations on God because we want something done our way? We should never think we are owed something by God for who we are.
Our third person is a group of people, the servants of Naaman. We know even less about them than the young girl from earlier. It was this group of servants who came to Naaman and said, “My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?” (v. 13 ASV). It is as if these servants talked some sense into Naaman. They said to Naaman, if the man of God told you do something great you would have done it, why not do this simple thing. Naaman listened and went into the Jordan and dipped seven times as instructed and was healed. This reminds us of the simplicity of God’s word. 2 Corinthians 11.3 says, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ” (ASV). The message of the gospel is a simple message that mankind has overcomplicated. If men and women just took the gospel at face value, doing as God has instructed, instead of trying to find loopholes to make the Bible fit their lives, then this world would be a much better place. Instead the deceitfulness of the devil has enter the minds of mankind, and many are led away from God. Many have become too caught up in looking for the grand display like Naaman rather than obeying the simplicity of God’s message.
DS
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