2 Kings 5

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:6

And he brought the letter to the King of Israel, saying. The hostile relations between Syria and Israel would not interfere with the coming and going of a messenger from either king to the other, who would be invested with an ambassadorial character. Now when this letter is come unto thee. We must not suppose that we have here the whole letter, which, no doubt, began with the customary Eastern formalities and elaborate compliments. The historian omits these, and hastens to, communicate to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:7

And it came to pass, when the King of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes. In horror and alarm. He concluded that once more (see 1 Kings 20:7 ) the Syrian monarch was determined to find a ground of quarrel, and had therefore sent to him an impossible request. And said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive? To "kill" and to "make alive" were familiar expressions in the mouth of the Israelites to designate omnipotence (see Deuteronomy 32:39 ; 1 Samuel 2:6 ). Recovering... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:8

And it was so —or, it came to pass— when Elisha the man of God (see 2 Kings 4:7 , 2 Kings 4:16 , etc .) had heard that the King of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? The king's act was public; his complaint was public; he wished his subjects to know the outrageous conduct, as he viewed it, of the Syrian king. Thus the rumor went through the town, and reached the ears of the prophet, who therefore sent a message to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:8-19

The story of Naaman: 2. The suggestive cure. The cure which Naaman came to seek was, nevertheless, obtained by him. We have here— I. THE INTERPOSITION OF ELISHA . Naaman was on the point of being sent away, when Elisha interposed. God's prophet vindicates God's honor. 1. Elisha sends to the king . " He sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes?" etc; His words were: 2. Naaman comes to Elisha . His horses and chariot drive up to Elisha's... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:9

So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot. The Syrians had had chariots, and used horses to draw them, from a remote date. The Hyksos, who introduced horses and chariots into Egypt, though not exactly a Syrian people, entered Egypt from Syria; and in all the Syrian wars of the Egyptians, which began about B.C. 1600, we find their adversaries employing a chariot force. In one representation of a fight between the Egyptians and a people invading Egypt from' Syria, the war-chariots of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:10

And Elisha sent a messenger unto him. Elisha asserted the dignity of his office. Naaman was "a great man" ( 2 Kings 5:1 ), with a high sense of his own importance, and regarded the prophet as very much inferior to himself. He expected to be waited on, courted, to receive every possible attention. Elisha no doubt intended very pointedly to rebuke him by remaining in his house, and communicating with the great man by a messenger. But there is no ground for taxing him with "priestly pride,"... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:11

But Naaman was wroth … and said. Not unnaturally. As a "great man," the lord on whose arm the king leant, and the captain of the host of Syria, Naaman was accustomed to extreme deference, and all the outward tokens of respect and reverence. He had, moreover, come with a goodly train, carrying gold and silver and rich stuffs, manifestly prepared to pay largely for whatever benefit he might receive. To be curtly told, "Go, wash in Jordan," by the prophet's servant, without the prophet himself... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:12

Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? The "rivers of Damascus" are streams of great freshness and beauty. The principal one is the Barada, probably the Abaua of the present passage, which, rising in the Antilibanus range, and flowing through a series of romantic glens, bursts finally from the mountains through a deep gorge and scatters itself over the plain. One branch passes right through the city of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:13

And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father. Naaman's attendants did not share his indignation, or, if they did, since servants in the East are apt to be jealous of their masters' honor, had their feelings more under control; and they therefore inter-feted with mild words, anxious to pacify him, and persuade him to follow the prophet's advice. "My father" is a deferential and, at the same time, an affectionate address, not unnatural in the mouth of a confidential... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:14

Then went he down ; i.e. descended into the deep Jordan valley from the highland of Samaria—a descent of above a thousand feet. The nearest route would involve a journey of about twenty-five miles. And dipped himself seven times in Jordan — i.e. followed exactly the prophet's directions in 2 Kings 5:10 — according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child —literally, of a little lad — and he was clean. Not only was the leprosy... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:6

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:7

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:8

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:8-19

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:9

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:10

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:11

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:12

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:13

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 5:14

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