That you may know there is a Prophet

Introduction

Stop me if you have heard this one before…

One day, a devastating hurricane was set to come through a small coastal town in the gulf of Mexico. Citizens were asked to evacuate and most did. However, there was one man, who had great faith that God was going to save him from any harm. So he stayed behind and waited. The wind and the rains came and the waters slowly began to rise as waters began to move inland and combine with the torrential downpour. The national guard would conduct small rescue operations for those who were not able to get out and they came across this man’s home and urged him to get in the boat with them. He refused saying, “My God is going to rescue me!” Rain persisted and the waters kept rising eventually forcing the man out of his home and onto his roof. This time the Coast Guard was making passes with their helicopters to survey damage and check for any stranded people. They saw the man and began lowing the harness so that he could get on and get to safety. He refused and waved them off saying, “My God is going to rescue me!” Eventually the waters overcame the foundation of the house and swept it away. The man lost his life as he drowned in the waters and shattering debris from his own home.

When the man got to heaven, he was furious! He looked at Jesus and said, “Lord! I trusted you to save me! How you could you just let me die like that?” To which Jesus responded, “Look buddy, I sent you a boat and a helicopter and you didn’t want to get on any of them!”

Although story is tragic at some level, there is a deep irony in it that illustrates the social and historical conditions of the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the 9thcentury B.C.: they had access to the means that God sent to save them but they refused. They refused the word of God through his servants the prophets. They had stopped believing that Yahweh was the only God and decided there were many other gods to worship and could rely on those just as much, if not more, than Yahweh.

The situation in 2 Kings 5 is that Israel is subservient to Syria. They are probably a vassal state under Ben-Hadad I, the king of Syria, who reigned from 885-865 BC. This meant that they had to pay tribute to Syria which meant the economy of Israel would not be so hot. No food. No wealth or prosperity. To add to this, there was a famine. Yet, there is rampant idolatry as people are praying to any god who would provide food for them. Some of you recall Elijah’s battle with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. It was believed that Baal controlled the storms that brought rain to crops that provided for the people. And it was Yahweh, the LORD, who proved to be the Lord of the storms and provided for his people. But they did not repent. Instead, they continued to persecute Elijah, the prophet of the Lord. They refused the Word of God.

Like Israel of old, God has given people access to his will and his means of salvation. God has spoken. God’s word is accessible. God’s word was accessible to Israel through the prophets. For us, it is accessible through the recorded words of the prophets in the Bible.

The plight of Israel was that they had access to everything that they needed through the Lord, but they refused to worship him and obey his word through his prophets, especially Elijah and Elisha. They refused to know the Lord despite having access to the covenant blessings that other nations had no rights to. Like Israel, many people today who have access to the blessings of God chose to ignore the means that God has ordained. God wants his people to know that he is real and present, especially through his word. The bottom line: Israel is living like there is no God and as if God has not been speaking through his prophets.

The challenge for us today is to recognize that God has indeed spoken and made his will known. The point of this story is that God was conducting an apologetic drill for his people and the nations that they might know that the God of Israel is the true God and that he has spoken through his prophets.

Let’s look at three parts of this story and make some applications. First, we’ll look at “A willing enemy vs an unbelieving nation.” Second, “a transformed enemy.” Third, “the new enemy of an unbelieving nation.” A willing enemy, a transformed enemy and a new enemy.

A Willing Enemy and an Unbelieving Nation

Our story begins by introducing an enemy of Israel: Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria. Right away, God’s people would be “booing” this man because he is an oppressor of God’s people. However, the reader is also told that it was “by him the LORD had given victory to Syria.” Just like in the time of the Judges, God will give his people over to oppressors when they do not live according to his will. Israel has a covenant relationship with God which means that they have an agreement that if they want to experience God’s blessings on a national level, they must obey God’s law as revealed through Moses or else they will experience the curses of God on a national level (see Deut. 28). At this point, they are under the curses and have been “handed over” to their enemies by God so that the Lord is using the Syrians as his instrument of discipline.

Among the Syrians, Naaman was “a great man with his master and in high favor…” Of course, this was because the Lord exalted him among his own nation. But make no mistake, his “greatness” is not because he is of superior character. Rather, he is a brutal military leader. I Kings 20:1-4 gives an idea of how Syria conquered their opponents. Essentially, he would gather all those nations he had under him already and go and “bully” another country to submit their resources including “your best wives and children…” It is presumably under these terms that we read about how the events of verse 2 came about: “Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel…”

Let’s not mince words: Naaman is a warlord and human-trafficker. And he is a national hero for doing so! He is Israel’s bane! For Israel, he is the “boogie man” whom they fear coming into their towns to take their women and children. For Syria, his exploits were possibly legendary bringing the best of other nations to their own. “He was a mighty man of valor BUT he was a leper.”

There had to be a catch. “The sharp contrast between the greatness of Naaman and his illness is correctly introduced in English by the conjunction “but,” which highlights the difference between his high rank and great reputation on the one hand and his having a disease…” In Biblical law, a leper (which included a wide range of skin diseases all the way to the white, flaky-skin) had to be quarantined and isolated from society for the sake of the rest. In Syrian law, there does not seem to be any such laws as against the leprosy that Naaman had as he remained in command and held in high esteem still. However, the Biblical author contrasts his fame and exploits with his health to reveal to us that Naaman still lacked something. Naaman had power and prestige but he lacked health and maybe appearances to match his military prowess. Perhaps someone here is like that: You have a lot going for you in one area of your life, but there is something about you that is your fatal flaw from considering yourself truly successful. Maybe you have money, but no love life. You have the dream job, but happiness eludes you.

Naaman’s leprosy must not have been severe enough to isolate him but it was enough of a bother to him that when he was told that he could be healed he did not hesitate to make his request known to the king and spare no expense for a chance at treatment.

Who told him that he could be cured? This is interesting: it was a little girl who was ripped apart from her family. Now, I don’t know how you feel about child-separation policies, but here is a little girl who has been ripped apart from her family based upon Syrian policies. She has been trafficked to be a slave. The text does not give her age, but the Hebrew word used ranges in meaning from adolescent to simply meaning “unmarried.” She is contrasted with Naaman in several ways. In Syria, her five social deficiencies include that she is a foreigner, a slave, a youth, a female and she is nameless. Compared to Naaman, however, she knows something he does not and possesses something he does not: she knows that there is a prophet of a God who can heal and she has her health. “She was the lowest person on the social scale” (Ryken) compared to Naaman.

We have to stop to consider her willingness to share the good news of healing. This little girl – despite possible bitterness toward her enemy - desired his restoration and wholeness as a demonstration of the power of God. As much was modern commentators and preachers focus on the “evangelism” of the little girl, her words are focused on the presence of a prophet of God. Listen to her words carefully: “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria…” She is being contrasted with unbelieving Israel who does not recognize the presence of the word of God or the prophets who reveal it. Many modern commentators tend to go off about how she “shared the gospel” with Naaman, but that is not entirely evident from the words we just read. The primary emphasis from the text that she wants her master to know because the rest of her people do not know that there is a prophet of God among them who can heal them of their own oppression if they would just listen to God’s word through his servants. In other words, the point is apologetic and not evangelistic. Nonetheless, this little girl is a reminder that God can use anyone to bring people to himself with even a simple suggestion of where to go and hear the word of God. A simple “come to church with me” can be used by God!

Naaman is convinced immediately and goes to the king to tell him what he has just discovered. The king wastes no time and says, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel” (v4). Naaman spares no expense for what he thinks this healing is going to cost him. Perhaps he has had some experiences with Syrian health insurance already! He takes ten talents of silver (which is 750 pounds), six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothing. Remember, Syrians can afford this because they are taking the wealth of all the other nations. He arrives in Israel, probably unannounced and submits the letter to the king: “Hey, cure my guy from his leprosy. Thanks. Sincerely, Ben Hadad.” Naaman is a willing enemy. He is willing to believe that the God of the lands that he regularly loots and pillages from is able to heal him.

The reaction of the king of Israel is that he things Syria is seeking provocation to war. Israel and Syria must have been having some sort of peace between them but only as that between a vassal and a suzerain king. The king does not believe a cure is possible which is why he believes this must be a provocation to war (v7). The king of the land that was given to a people by divine intervention and great supernatural judgments does not believe that there is a cure for leprosy. He cannot even point Naaman to Elisha because he does not believe that he is a prophet of God. He thinks he is a “troublemaker.” In fact, we read in verse 8 that Elisha had to hear it from the grapevine about the king’s reaction and what provoked it. The king of Israel represents an unbelieving nation.

Elisha is called a “man of God.” As I have been learning in my seminary classes, the phrase “man of God” was a contrasting phrase used to contrast against the backdrop of a godless society. Elisha sends word to the king essentially saying, “Look, I know you don’t believe in this stuff, but send him to me that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel…” Again, here is the apologetic point that the little girl is also trying to make. “I know you don’t believe in Yahweh as the covenant Lord, but send him my way so that – if you won’t believe it – at least he will believe that God’s word and servants are among you.” Elisha wants Naaman sent to him to indict the unbelief of the king of Israel and the rest of Israel with him. “…Let him now come to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel” (v8). Basically, “If you do not believe that God is present through his word among us, then let me show this outsider that there is a God and I am his prophet so that you may believe what I say is true and how to heal the land and return to blessing.”

Has that one ever happened to you? You decide not to obey God in something because you just want to do your own thing but you keep hearing how God blesses obedience and you see other people around living out God’s word and their lives are blessed because of it and it just angers you more into unbelief and jealousy? That’s God provoking your to repent.

Naaman gets word of where to go and shows up with all his military prowess and pomp of horses and chariots. We aren’t exactly sure where Elisha lived, but he was not in the 90210 sectors of Samaria. For all we know, he could have lived somewhere in the outskirts of the city or some small village. He shows up with the entourage probably expecting one back. Instead, he gets a messenger with a Post-it note: “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.”

“But Naaman was angry.” Now that says it all. Naaman the great expected great treatment. People with power, wealth and prestige usually do. They expect the best efforts to be made for them because they have social influence and money. That’s our society as well. It is the rich who expect the best treatment. That’s how our society is built. “If you work hard you can get anything you want” is what we are fed as the “American dream.” Let’s illustrate this.

Imagine the Surgeon General of the United States coming down with cancer and is sent to Reynosa, Tamaulipas! He would probably expect not only the finest tests and the best doctors to attend to him, but he would also expect to get moved to the “front of the line” because of his prominence. Now imagine the cancer treatment center sending out a fresh intern with a couple of pills and saying, “The doc said to take these and you will be cured.” It already sounds ridiculous! “Why he hasn’t even tested me to see what I have! I’m not trusting this ‘miracle cure’ that hasn’t even been tested by the FDA!”

As ridiculous as the situation seemed to Naaman, Israel was in the same predicament. If they would but listen to the word of the Lord through the prophets they too would be restored. Instead, Israel was in rebellious unbelief and steeped in idolatry. The foil for Israel is that now an outsider – someone who has no right to the blessings of the covenant under Moses – has received instruction from the Lord for healing and cleansing. An enemy of the commonwealth of Israel is given an opportunity to use Israel’s greatest resources that Israel neglects. Naaman is given an opportunity to believe the words of Yahweh, the God of Israel. To illustrate this, imagine Vladamir Putin being sent to the Ukraine for treatment of a medical emergency because some private the captured told him which hospital in Ukraine can cure him! That’s crazy talk!

In Naaman’s anger, he starts to use his reason: “The Jordan? A simple bath? How many other places have I already bathed in? I came all the way here to use their water when I have better water supplies in my own nation? This is ridiculous!”

Naaman almost lets his own reasoning get the best of him. He almost lets his own reason get in the way of the word of God. In this respect, Naaman is no different than many of us here and even many of our friends and family. “Just believe in Jesus? That’s it? But surely there has got to be something more to salvation than that? What a bunch of gobbledygook! I’ve seen what some of you people who “just believe in Jesus” live like so you’re not going to tell me its just that easy! Look, aren’t there better religions that promote a real justice and real change out there in the world?”

Something interesting in the instructions to “wash…and be clean” is that the word used for “clean” here is a Hebrew word that is used to mean ritually clean. Naaman was being told, in a way, that he was unfit with his money and power and prestige to receive the healing he was looking for. He did not just need another bath like the ones that he had probably taken in the waters that he mentioned, rather he needed to be spiritually cleansed in order to receive what he was looking for. This is a small glimpse, already of the gospel ministry of Jesus Christ and the cleansing power of the Spirit of God!

Like Naaman, we often misdiagnose our problems as well. We only see the surface. We see the “skin” problem and forget that there is an underlying spiritual problem that prevents us from being healed as well. For Israel, they needed to be cleansed from their idols and submit themselves to God once again. They needed to “wash…and be clean” just as much as Naaman, a rank idolater, needed to be. The point I want to get across is that the beginning of the our restoration is a deeper sin problem that we all have: namely, that we are all worshiping something else besides God. Whatever that thing is, it is keeping you from obeying God and submitting to him and the cleansing power that he alone has.

“Oh that you would know that there is a prophet!” The problem today is that many of us like to solve our problems by looking into ourselves. This is not to say that all our problems in life caused by us entirely. But our culture and society tells us to look within ourselves to know who we are and to fulfill our deepest desires that will make us happy. We are bombarded with that message in movie, music and other media outlets.

Naaman came for healing but was told he was impure and needed a ritual cleansing, something his own culture had not told him before. Again, we do not get any sense from the text that Syria had laws in place that would have restricted Naaman from community and service that God’s law had in place to teach his people about the spreading effects of sin through the teaching medium of the contagiousness of skin diseases. Naaman and his society are fine with contaminating others and making each other “unclean” before a Holy God. Their gods did not take offense to the things that the God of Israel did.

Many people come to Christianity, or they “try it out,” to see if the waters of the Jordan are better than the waters of-wherever-they-are-from. Are these waters better than Buddhism? Are these waters better than my own sexual desires? Are these waters better than American politics? Are these waters better than my own political party and its vision for my life? Sadly, many answer no because they refuse to submit to the idea that they are ritually unclean before the God of the universe. And so they persist with their sin disease walking around with their leprosy in a society that refuses to tell them that they are unclean before the God of Israel.

Naaman throws a fit” But his servants begin to reason with him: “Ok, so you basically came expecting to submit yourself to whatever this guy would have said to do and when he tells you to do something, you object?” Naaman is probably not sure what to say because his own desires and expectations that he brought with him are being pressed up against him! If he persists in not obeying, he would reveal that he had another agenda that was not his healing all along. But he truly desired to be healed and submitted himself to the words of the prophet. Naaman’s desperation outweighs his reasoning here. Naaman had to come to an end of himself and decide if he really wanted to be healed or try to be smarter than the guy who was giving him a simple solution.

We read in verse 14, “So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”

When Naaman believed and demonstrated his belief through obedience to the words of the prophet, he was healed. The Syrian General, who terrorized God’s people was healed.

The grace shown to this outsider cannot be overemphasized. It does not matter who you are, or what you have done, the cleansing power of God is available for all who submit to the words of the final Prophet, the very Word of God Himself, Jesus Christ and to believe upon him and his work on the Cross.

Why is that you ask? You see, in the end, it cost Jesus his life to heal Naaman. Naaman owed a sin-debt to God that no amount of silver and gold or nice clothing could have paid (which is the point that Elisha will try to make in a moment). In the end, the salvation of Naaman would point forward to and rest upon the cleansing work of Jesus Christ, the great prophet, and high priests who alone cleanses by his word those whom he calls to himself. Isaiah 54:5 describes the healing work of Jesus, the Suffering Servant, in this way: “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Don’t you see what is going on here? Jesus got all the treatment what we deserved for our sin, for our transgressions and iniquities. On the cross, Jesus was being crushed in our place. He got everything that we deserve from God for being enemies of God. Jesus Christ took the worst of what we are all sick with including sin and our bodily infirmities and he was crushing them so that we can be healed. Naaman’s healing and ours ultimately came at a price that none of us can ever pay: the death of the Son of God. That’s what the cleansing waters of the Jordan were ultimately pointing to; those waters did not have any inherent power. Plenty of other people had bathed in that water and were never healed from any diseases. It was when Naaman’s faith united him through the word of God to God that he experienced God’s cleansing and healing power.

What is keeping your from believing in Jesus? What “waters” do you still think are better? Do you believe that the healing words of the prophet are recorded for us in the Bible? I know everybody wants a “miracle” and for God to do the flashy thing of “ending evil” or some other superficial requirement. But like the account here, God is not required to submit to the demands of the spectacular. As a caveat for the nameless little girl, the flesh of Naaman is restored “like the flesh of a little child,” which is the same Hebrew word that described the “little girl” who told Naaman’s wife about the prophet.

A Transformed Enemy

So Naaman returns to Elisha and makes his confession of faith, albeit it is a growing faith: “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel….” Again, the apologetic point and the irony should not be missed. The healing was to make a point: that there is only one God and he speaks through his servants the prophets. Naaman would learn the lesson that God’s people still needed to learn as demonstrated in the words of the King of Israel who did not believe there was a prophet in the land or that God could heal the disease of his enemies. Naaman is a transformed enemy.

Perhaps Naaman was shocked that the King did not even know about God’s power to cleanse and heal when he is obeyed. Israel refused to believe in a God who had their own best interests in mind and insisted on living for themselves and the good of their own nation. But now Naaman, an outsider, has become a “gospel insider” by professing Yahweh and the only true God. He renounces his own idolatry! Something Israel has been unwilling to do!

Naaman tries to offer a payment after the fact, but Elisha refuses (v15). Elisha refuses because he has not done a thing! He didn’t even go into the waters to bathe Naaman. He simply gave him instruction from the Lord. He refuses in the strongest possible terms too, taking a vow: “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” In other words, there was no “quid pro quo” going on here. There was no “bait and switch” happening. God said Naaman would be healed if he submitted to his terms and he did. No other terms are added. Faith alone!

If Naaman is not allowed to give payment, he asks for some dirt so that he can stand on in the temple of his boss back home. Naaman is not trying to manipulate God. He is beyond thankful for his healing and isn’t quite sure how to express it. He is also a new believer. He is now referring to himself as a servant of Elisha meaning he is submitting himself to the teachings of the God of Elisha. In fact, he refers to himself to Elisha as “your servant” four times between verses 15-19. Elisha does not want Naaman to confuse thankfulness with payment.

These verses are rather interesting and a lot has been said about them and Naaman’s request for dirt. Some have said that his request is based off many misunderstandings but he is a “baby believer” and does not know any better. Others have said that he is not even really converted because he wants to excuse continued expressions of idolatry. I think he is quite genius. He is a new believer but he already knows more than Israel currently believes: “that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.”

Naaman is still a government official with an oppressive nation to Israel. However, Naaman’s motive for work and the significance of his work is changed. He asks for bags of dirt that he can kneel upon to display that the God of Israel is with him! I tend to think that asking for a piece of the land is like asking to be included into the covenant promises of the land with the people of God. After all, it is a huge request to ask for land from a people who believed that God only promised them. Naaman already knows what Paul teaches the Corinthians that there are no such things as other “gods” that exist alongside of the Lord. They are the “work of men’s hands.” He seeks to be faithful to God even in an unfaithful place. You can almost hear the anxiety in Naaman’s voice with the request because he repeats himself: “when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon…and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon.” Rimmon is the national god of the Syrians and he was a storm god who was responsible for giving rain to grow crops. One commentator writes, “The repetition ensures that his desire to guard himself against any suggestion or possibility of idol worship (even accidentally) stands in stark contrast to the way in which kings of both Israel and Judah have played fast and loose with idolatry.”[1]

Elisha tells him to, “go in peace.” He uses a very particular Hebrew word there: Shalom. This word carries the significance of being in a state of wholeness, with no presence of strife. It is the presence of harmony in relationship. Elisha does not go over the finer points of theology at this point. He does not bust out a “Westminster Confession of Faith” and ask him to read it. “Elisha’s brief response …suggests that he is both commending his concern to take such issues seriously and also reassuring his tender conscience that there is no need to worry.”[2]Another commentator notes that the word shalom here is not simply a “farewell.” Rather, it is “an acknowledgement that the recipient is in covenant relation with the speaker and his God.”

[1]J. Gary Millar, “1-2 Kings,” in 1 Samuel–2 Chronicles, ed. Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar, vol. III, ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), 752. [2]ibid., 752.

Application: How Do We Know There is Only One God?

The little girl at the beginning of the story felt it was important for Naaman to know that there was a prophet. Equally important, it was necessary for Israel to know that there was a prophet of the one true God in Israel. Again, recall that Elisha himself said the point of him calling the Syrian general to himself for healing was so “that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel” (v8). In the same manner, it is important for us to know that there is one true God, that we do not neglect the means by which he speaks to his people and that we obey him. While the Lord does not reveal new words through prophets today, his words have been recorded in Scripture especially the words of the one who is Himself the Word of God and the final prophet, Jesus Christ.

While we do not have the prophetic office today, it the role of elders in the church to proclaim the prophetic words of the Bible plainly and faithfully so that men and women and children can know that there is a God who saves. The salvation that God promises includes the total forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit to sustain, guide and transform us in the spiritually present kingdom of God until the complete restoration of the kingdom when Christ returns.

Christianity is not about God giving us whatever we wish. In fact, one of the ways that you can discern the true proclaimers of God’s word and the fake ones are those who go beyond what God has immediately promised. God has not promised an easier life. In fact, God has promised persecution to those who seek to live godly lives in Christ Jesus. God has not promised “golden years” to “make all your wildest dreams come true.” He has promised forgiveness, a declaration of justification and a lifelong process of addressing our remaining sin and fighting against our own sin, the world and the devil. He has promised his presence in the presence of our enemies, not their immediate removal.

Something else we see about the true preacher is the refusal to take any credit for what God alone does. Salvation is all of God. It is not the work of man plus the work of a priest or a preacher. It is God alone who saves and sanctifies. Elisha refuses to take any credit in the form of accepting payment. This is not an argument for not honoring ministers of the word; it an acknowledgment of God’s grace alone and anybody’s inability to force grace. The prophet Elisha was a servant of the word; not a master of it. Therefore, Elisha had no business profiting from the word of God as if it was under his control.

How will you know that there is a God? Do what he says through his word. I know that such an argument may come across as merely pragmatic and even simplistic. And thats how it came across to Naaman too. Even he did not want to believe that it was that simple. “What must I do to be saved?” the Philippian jailer asked Paul. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved….” The problem is not the solution, but the pride that won’t believe it.

The deeper irony is that God’s people in Israel were not submitting to God’s word and so their own lives were a wreck. What about us here? We say we are God’s people but where are we not submitting to his rule and authority? Where do we not believe that the words of the prophets are among us? What part of the Bible do you struggle with? What parts do you just reject but expect God to bless your life?

In Luke 4, after reading God’s word in the synagogue, Jesus says that all that the words of Isaiah are fulfilled in him. The audience basically accused him of blasphemy and was about to kill him. Jesus uses the story of Elisha to remind them that God has no problem allowing his people who profess his name to suffer under judgment while he moves on to bless the rest of the nations who will believe in him. Jesus tells the Jews in Luke 4:24-27:

“…’Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.’ When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.”

Jesus’ point is, especially in claiming fulfillment, is that he is THE Prophet now. To not believe in him and obey him is to fundamentally reject the covenant blessings of God and become an outsider while those who will believe become insiders. How you relate to God’s word is the difference between blessing and curse.

What keeps you from obeying God? Christian, what keeps you from trusting God? Remember it was God’s people who needed to learn the chief lesson that there was a God in Israel. God demonstrated that lesson through the healing of Naaman. What other gods do you have that keep you from going to God’s word for how to live your life? Jesus offered this story of the cleansing of Naaman as evidence that God has prophet and we need to know that God’s word contains what we need to know to be cleansed of not only our spiritual leprosy, but one day of all the effects of sin in our bodies and in our world.

A New Enemy

The third part of the story balances out for us what a prophet is not like. This is significant in the time in which this was written because the prophets were just starting to emerge as an office, especially as God’s people went more and more astray. God sent his prophets to call Israel out of their sin and back to covenant faithfulness or else they would continue to suffer the covenant curses. Falling for idols is a plague that we all suffer from. The first commandment is to not have any other gods before the LORD. Tim Keller rightly notes that we do not break any commandments without always breaking this first commandment because you are always worshiping and bowing to something in what you think about, speak about and do when you sin.

Gehazi, whose name means “greedy,” decides that Naaman has no right to the free grace of God and even displays a sense of nationalism when he says, “See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not accepting from his hand what he brought” (v20).

Again, it is a time of drought and food and wealth is certainly scarce. Gehazi decides to provide for himself. But notice he has problems with “sparing” the one whom God himself has spared. All he can ever see is the who has raided his people. Israel has little resources because of Naaman. Gehazi does not like the fact that Naaman is “the Syrian.” It’s all right there in the text!

Now Gehazi is not seeking justice with his heart language here. He is not even seeking revenge. Rather, he is justifying for himself (as we are privy to the thoughts of his heart revealed by inner dialogue) as to why he has a right to get a little something for himself: Naaman has been “spared” and he is “the Syrian.” Hence, in the name of “mercy” and in an effort to “make Israel great again,” he reasons that he should get something, perhaps for all the “trouble” of his people and maybe even himself personally as an Israelite.

But Gehazi does something else. He tries to bring God to his side. “As the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” Gehazi makes a vow in the name of the LORD to do what he is about to do. He tries to justify his actions as doing something for God.

Most of us are inclined to think that “all sins are equal” and there is some truth to that. The guilt that all sin brings is certainly equal. One is not “guiltier” than another. Its binary: you either are or you are not. According to the Westminster Larger Catechism 150, “All transgressions of the law of God are not equally heinous; but some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.” The catechism continues: “What are these aggravations that make some sins more heinous than others? 1) From the persons offending…” The more “light” one has the greater their sin because they sin “with a high hand” and against what they know they ought not to do. A persons position above others, their office and those who are – like it or not – role models for others compound their sin. 2) Who they offend is also considered: Consider Matthew 18:5-6 which Jesus says, “…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Are they sinning directly against God and his grace? Are they sinning against those in authority over them? Against the weak or the marginalized? Are they harming a larger group by their sin? 3) From the nature and quality of the sin. That is, is it clear and direct violation of God’s law? “Thou shalt not murder; murdered someone.” Is there a more than one sin involved? Does the sin create scandal and does the one sinning remain unrepentant and admit of no reparations? You get the point by now.

Gehazi has to deceive himself prior to his sin in order to sin. God did not ask him to get something from Naaman, yet he vows in the name of the LORD (which is taking God’s name in vain) to do something that God has not commanded to do. Gehazi then goes to Naaman, misuses the authority of his place with Elisha as he says in verse 22, “My master has sent me to say…” when his master had not sent him. Naaman was now a servant of Elisha like Gehazi and so Gehazi knows that he will submit to the words of “my master” because Elisha is also Naaman’s master. He exploits Naaman’s submission to Elisha.

Naaman does not hesitate to provide all that Gehazi asked for. Naaman is being suckered here. But we are meant to contrast who is really being faithful to their master and who is not.

This is part of the reason why this part of the story is in the Bible. I mean let’s be honest, the sermon should have ended at Naaman receiving his healing. Gospel song. Benediction and lets all go home with happy feelings. But the story is not over there and God wanted this part of the story in the Bible for a reason. He needed his people to know something about prophets because, both Israel and Judah were about to enter a time when they would have to learn how to recognize true and false prophets. Those of you familiar with the Old Testament know that the true prophet was really the minority voice in the nations and it was false prophets who were in the majority. In such an environment, it was easy to call the true prophet the “false prophet” because no one else said what they said calling the nation and the kings back to God through repentance and to give up their idolatrous ways. The others guys were the ones with the “happy messages” of “peace, peace.” No one likes the whistle-blower. Everyone loves the one who makes an organization or institution look good.

This part of the story helps us to see who is really being faithful. Gehazi is lying and using false motives to attempt to thrive in the ministry. He is using ministry and attempting to speak in the name of his master so that he can get what he feels he deserves. Interestingly enough, we get to see the generosity of Naaman and his willingness to support the Lord’s work. I do not know if Naaman ever found out what happened with his money and where it really went. That part is not important and the Holy Spirit did not put that in the narrative. Naaman is doing his best to be faithful; Gehazi is doing his best to deceive.

And that is the dynamic that God’s people would be up against in the coming centuries even up to this day. There are “ministers” – and I hate calling them that – who will literally promise you “blessings” that God has not promised if you give them money. But people don’t always want money. Some just want attention or a place of influence. How can we know? Like Naaman, we may not know and simply be trying to be faithful servants to Jesus, our master. But part of the point here is that there are going to be those who will attempt to speak in the name of our master, Jesus, and really be nothing more than self-seeking.

And so Gehazi is confronted in verses 24-26 and the leprosy of Naaman is placed on Gehazi and his descendants forever in verse 27. “One man goes away healed because of his obedience, while the other man, indeed the one who should have known what matters most, walks away with leprosy. Yet another Israelite has made the tragic mistake of choosing a substitute for the Lord, while a Gentile convert has discovered that what his servant girl said about the Lord’s prophet is true.”[1]“So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow.”

God’s message of grace is the most valuable message of the words of the prophets. The Gospel! Paul compares it to a treasure! Jesus compares it to something that you sell everything that you have to obtain if you have too! God’s message of grace is for any and all will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It does not require fancy rituals and it cannot be bought. God’s grace is given freely; with not even a way to earn a chance for it. God himself has to grant it. That message is to be treasured and protected. Gehazi’s actions confuse that message and so do we when we seek to exclude any people of any tribe, any language, and people and nation. God’s message of grace is for all nations, not just one particular group or race or ethnicity or nationality. When that message gets confused, we are acting like Gehazi and giving the wrong message to those seeking mercy.

This story reminds us of that grace that we have in Jesus Christ and through faith alone in him and that anybody who confuses that message will be cursed by God. It is a message that we may know that there is a God who has spoken through his prophets and those words are recorded for us in the Bible. Treasure your Bibles. Treasure God’s word.

May we heed the message and may we, like Naaman, confess that we know that there is only one God and not fall for the idols that would lead us and others astray. Amen.

[1]Paul R. House, 1, 2 Kings, vol. 8, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 274.