2 Kings 5:1

ELISHA HEALED THE LEPROSY OF NAAMAN; THE GREAT GENERAL

This is one of the most popular stories of the O.T., and it has the distinction of being specifically mentioned by our Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 4:27). It is difficult to find fault with Matthew Henry's observation that Jesus Christ by that reference made the episode, "Typical of the calling of the Gentiles; and therefore Gehazi's stroke may be looked upon as typical of the blinding and rejecting of the Jews, who envied God's grace to the Gentiles, as Gehazi envied Elisha's favor to Naaman."[1]

A CAPTIVE MAIDEN SPOKE OF GOD'S PROPHET

"Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Jehovah had given victory unto Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! then would he recover him of his leprosy. And he went in and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maiden that is of the land of Israel."

The unsung heroine of this whole narrative is this precious little girl who had been captured by the Syrians and made a slave to the house of Naaman. Instead of becoming bitter against her exploiters and harboring an undying hatred of them, she accepted her fate with meekness and exhibited deep friendship and sympathy with her mistress and her husband, Naaman.

It was this captive maiden who enlightened the great lord of the Syrian armies of the existence of a true prophet of God in Samaria and of his ability to cure leprosy.

What an exhortation is this for everyone to seize all opportunities to speak of God and His great power to benefit sinful and suffering humanity! Through the word of this servant girl, the king of Syria received the knowledge of a true prophet of God in Samaria, information which was not even known (because of his own fault) by the king of Israel (Joram).

"By him Jehovah had given the victory unto Syria" (2 Kings 5:1). Some scholars have marveled that Jehovah in this expression is accredited with the victory of Syria, but this is in full keeping with Daniel 4:25c. As for which victory is spoken of here, Hammond thought it was probably a victory over an army of Shalmanezer II that had threatened the independence of Syria.[2]

"But he was a leper" (2 Kings 5:1). It is rather annoying that a number of commentators go out of the way to tell us that the word "leper" in this passage came from a Hebrew term, "covering a large variety of scabious diseases, being used even of mould in houses."[3] Such a comment has no utility except that of DOWNGRADING this miracle. One writer even mentioned that Hansen's disease (the modern name of true leprosy) was rare in those times. However, the king of Israel rated the king of Syria's request for the healing of Naaman's disease as the equivalent of God's ability to "kill and to make alive" (2 Kings 5:7); and that states in tones of thunder that Naaman was truly a leper in the current sense of the word.

The absence of any statement indicating that Naaman had become a social outcast because of his leprosy (as would certainly have been the case in Israel) does not mean that his disease was anything different from leprosy, but that the pagan reaction to it was different from that in Israel.

"Would that my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria" (2 Kings 5:3). It is sometimes insinuated that this contradicts other Biblical passages. Montgomery wrote that, "The prophet is presented as having a house in Samaria, and yet he was last seen in Shunem."[4] So what! Elisha never lived in Shunem, but only stopped overnight there on his occasional passing through the place. Besides that, 2 Kings 6:32 indicates clearly that Elisha had a house in Samaria, a fact strongly supported by the offer of the prophet to speak to the king on behalf of the Shunammite woman. Elisha doubtless had access to the presence of the kings both of Israel and of Judah.