Naaman was a great man, honored by his master, the king of Syria, and a mighty man of valor, to whom his country owed its high position, "but he was a leper." (2 Kings 5:1)
All the outward dignity and honor counted for nothing beside this. Thousands of soldiers obeyed the lightest word of Naaman, but he himself was in the grip of a foul disease, that was slowly but surely consuming his life.
In his household was a little maid, taken by force from her home in Israel during some Syrian raid. She, although a captive and with sorrows enough of her own, was touched with the sight of Naaman's misery, and felt the gloom of the shadow that it cast over his home. "She said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for He would recover him of his leprosy." (2 Kings 5:3)
Revealed to Babes
Was not this a marvelous knowledge of the Lord? To this child were revealed the things that were hidden from the wise and prudent, so that she had a truer conception of God than many who boasted of knowing Him.
Naaman was an enemy of Israel; his military skill and prowess had been directed against their nation. Surely it was a matter of rejoicing that so formidable a foe was rendered powerless by his leprosy. Who would think of recommending his case to the favorable consideration of the God of Israel? Yet the little maid was sure that God so pitied the suffering, was so truly a God of love, that if this enemy of Israel should go before Him in his need, relying on the Divine mercy, he would not be sent away disappointed.
No one could be so well acquainted with the Lord as this little child without revealing in her life the power and goodness of God, for it is "through the knowledge of Him [that there come to us] all the things that pertain to life and godliness." (2 Peter 1:3)
Therefore it was that the utterance of her faith carried conviction to the heart of Naaman. He realized that this was not some childish tale of wonder, but that there was the power of God in it, and he determined to obtain the healing so confidently promised to him.
Weak Things
There is to be a great work done in the world in these last days. The Gospel of the kingdom is to be preached in all the world for a witness before the end come, and is to be carried before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. Who is sufficient for so great a work? "God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." (1 Corinthians 1:27)
He is able to use children in His work, and through them, He can do great things, even making them His witnesses before kings, as the little Israelitish maiden was used to make known the true God to the famous Naaman.
Only let the children receive and treasure the knowledge of God, and let all receive the kingdom of God as little children, and through them God will reveal himself to many who, surrounded by earthly pomp and grandeur, and counted fortunate and happy by their friends, yet mourn in secret over the plague of their own hearts, and long for deliverance from the leprosy of sin.
A Fatal Disease
For sin is the loathsome disease that has fastened itself upon the lives of all. We may try to forget it, and persuade ourselves that we shall grow out of it, but all the while it is tightening its hold upon us, it is eating away our life, marring and disfiguring us.
In spite of our efforts to overcome it we find that we cannot shake it off, it has become a part of us, and as the horror of its continual presence overwhelms us, we feel that we too have become like the lepers of old, unclean. Our cry is, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24)
But Naaman was made free from his leprosy. So there is hope that we may be made whole. How was he cleansed?
Wash and Be Clean
First of all, Naaman went to the King of Israel with great sums of money, and changes of raiment, and with a letter of introduction from the King of Syria to the King of Israel. But none of this did him any good. Wealth and splendor and kingly rank were of no avail against the leprosy. Elisha heard that Naaman was come to the king seeking to be cured, and he sent word, "Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha." (2 Kings 5:8-9)
And the prophet sent out a messenger to him to tell him to wash in Jordan seven times, and he should be clean. Then Naaman did just what we would have done in his place. He got offended because things did not happen according to the way he had arranged in his own mind as he came along in his chariot. It was to be something like this:
The prophet would come out of his dwelling a venerable and majestic figure, raise his eyes to heaven, and solemnly call upon the name of his God, then pass his hand over the leprous places, and Naaman would find himself suddenly healed. Then Naaman would say graciously, "Don't go yet, behold here are ten magnificent suits of raiment, ten talents of silver, and no less than six thousand pieces of gold. I give them to you. You can do as you like with them."
Then while the prophet would stand open-mouthed at this exhibition of princely generosity, Naaman would mount and drive off, well pleased with himself and satisfied that he had done the thing handsomely.
But now this exasperating old man had not even come outside the door. It was outrageous treatment for one in his position. Naaman was not going to stand it. He should go back to Syria at once. The idea of telling him to bathe in the muddy Jordan! Weren't Abana and Pharpar just as good, and a great deal cleaner, too? Why not wash in them and be clean? "So he turned and went away in a rage." (2 Kings 5:12)
Good Counsel
It was well for Naaman then that he was not one of those haughty characters that it is unsafe to speak to when they are offended. He had listened to the story of his wife's little slave-girl, and had come all this way on the strength of it. His servants must have loved him and earnestly desired his recovery, for they ventured to reason with his fuming indignation. Said they, "If the prophet had bid you do some great thing, would you not have done it? how much rather then, when he says to you, Wash, and be clean?" (2 Kings 5:13)
The reasoning was sound, and Naaman saw the force of it. In a humbled frame of mind he set himself to carry out the simple conditions on which his healing was promised. "Then he went 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." (2 Kings 5:14)
He returned to Elisha converted from his idolatry, a sincere worshiper of the true God, and doubtless recognizing that Elisha's seemingly abrupt treatment of him in the first place had been directed by Divine wisdom, and had taught him the needed lesson.
Whiter Than Show
What God did for Naaman He does for those who are afflicted with the leprosy of sin. He gives a new life, which is free from sin. "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) "For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. ... Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21,17-18)
He whose sins are borne by "the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world," (John 1:29) is made whiter than snow, (Psalm 51:7) and his flesh becomes like the flesh of a little child, for he is born again.
Why Are Not All Healed?
But, "Many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian." (Luke 4:27)
Why was this? Was not God able or willing to heal more than one leper, and if not, why did He not choose to heal one of the lepers of Israel?
Remember that Naaman was not compelled to be healed. He went to Israel to find healing, and went on to the Jordan, because he desired the healing so much, and believed the word that was spoken to him. Any other leper in Israel or Syria might have been healed in the same way.
Today God's arm is not shortened, and His mercy and salvation are free. You, who read these lines, are you cleansed from the leprosy of sin, so that your flesh has come again as the flesh of a little child? If not, why not?
Others have found healing and cleansing from sin in receiving the life of God. Will you be among them, or among the many who, like the lepers in Israel in Elisha's day, were not healed, although the living God was among them to heal and save, so that even heathen, like Naaman, found Him and proved His power. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases." (Psalm 103:2-3)--Present Truth, August 11, 1898--Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons--2 Kings 5:1-14
E.J. Waggoner