Naaman's Eagerness for God
Naaman's Eagerness for God (one-off) • Sermon • Submitted
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Prologue
Prologue
2 Kings 5:1
1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.
fun fact: Naaman’s name means “to be beautiful/delightful/pleasant
“host” means armies here
Syria was also called Aram at times
*show map and relief*
“given deliverance” - God sometimes uses conquering armies as tools, Babylonian exile
Naaman was normally a strong man, a conqueror, he was in a high position with prestige but now he has a weakness
his position of honor, his livelihood, his physical health, and even his life was on the line, it was a desperate situation
2 Kings 5:2-3
2 And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 And 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.
we see here that Israel would get accosted from time to time from the Syrians
The young girl was a believer, even in a foreign land she remembered God and His prophet Elisha even after being brought away from your home and homeland
She says this as a matter of fact, he WOULD, not COULD
2 Kings 5:4-5
4 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. 5 And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.
Naaman was desperate for a solution, he not only was willing to try this girls suggestion, but also to travel all the way to Israel and find Elisha
traveling to be healed was not unheard of in these times though, the egyptians were famous for their “healing skills” and Babylonian exorcists were prized by the Hittites
“The gift accompanying Naaman is exorbitant, a king’s ransom. Ten talents equals 30,000 shekels, about 750lbs of silver. The 6,000 shekels of gold equals about 150lbs. Converted to today’s buying power, it would be in the vicinity of 750 million dollars. One can get an idea of the proportions by understanding that a typical wage would have been 10 silver shekels per year, and one gold shekel would purchase one ton of grain.”
2 Kings 5:6
6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.
2 Kings 5:7
7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
Naaman just shows up to the king of Israel (likely Joram) out of the clear blue sky
Imagine a neighboring rival king, who sends a man to you with a letter asking you to heal him
we can probably all relate to the kings words here, he’s essentially saying “what am *I* supposed to do? I can’t just heal people, I’m not God”
understandably, he thinks the king of aram is just looking for an excuse to go to war with him
2 Kings 5:8
8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
Back then, tearing your clothes was usually a sign of deep grief, often accompanied by wearing sackloth and dumping ashes over your head (not really something we can relate to these days)
with some of the things in this story, we have to remember that their cultures in ways were vastly different than ours, and in many ways had a different worldview
Elisha often was in contact with the king, usually Joram
Elisha is basically saying, “what are you worried about Joram? Let me heal him so he can know the power of God”
2 Kings 5:9-10
9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
So Naaman, with all his pomp and circumstance and his massive amount of silver and gold shows up to Elisha’s house
this would have seemed disrespectful and almost like a waste of time, we’ll see how Naaman thought in a moment
he was told to wash though, and what would John the baptist be doing in the same river years later? Naaman was told to wash off the old and put on the new
2 Kings 5:11
11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
2 Kings 5:12
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? So he turned and went away in a rage.
Naaman felt like he wasted his time, he got a letter and permission from the king, took a horseback journey all this way, all while having leprosy, and he doesn’t even get to see Elisha?
Naaman was probably not used to this kind of treatment, being an extremely high ranking member of the Syrian army and likely very rich
Naaman wanted things done on his terms
He assumed things would be a certain way, sometimes things aren’t how we expected they would be. The Pharisees were this way, they expected the messiah to be a certain way when He was very different
He turned and left in a rage, he didn’t get things his way on his terms, so it made him mad. are any of us that way?
He says “I could have washed back home, there are better rivers there anyway”
2 Kings 5:13
13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, 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?
his servants say, “hey Naaman, you should be happy it’s this simple, just because he didn’t tell you to do some big grand thing doesn’t mean it’s not going to work, just try it.”
If Elisha was in Samaria, as the servant girl said in the beginning, the Jordan would have been around 40 miles away.
2 Kings 5:14
14 Then went he 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.
Naaman eventually calmed down and listened to his servants
he dips 7 times in the Jordan, 7 being a holy number to the Jews, 7 usually is a symbol for completeness or wholeness
Turns out, what the man of God, the prophet Elisha said was true, God is the God of truth after all
2 Kings 5:15
15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
Naaman could have left, he could have just figured, “Hey, I’m healed, let’s go”, but he was not only grateful, but excited”
He makes a confession, a declaration, that he knows that there is no God but God
2 Kings 5:16
16 But he said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.
Elisha would accept the gift because it’s not about compensation, it’s about the work of God
this contrasts with the usual attitude of charlatans/faith healers/false prophets
Healing and miracles cannot be bought
Naaman urged him, yet another indicator of how thankful and how excited he was
it’s understandable, his position, livelihood, and life had just been restored by God
2 Kings 5:17
17 And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord.
Naaman, a high ranking military leader, calls himself the servant of Elisha, essentially saying that he is God’s servant
not only does he accept God, but he renounces other gods
dirt
in the levant during this time, cultures often thought that their gods were connected with their land. This was a common way of thinking for cultures, including this Israelites
We call Israel the holy land, when moses met God in the cave, God called it Holy ground there
essentially, Naaman would have thought that God was connected somehow to the literal land, the dirt
in addition, he likely was going to build an altar using this dirt, since he was going to be offering sacrifices, although we can’t know this for sure
does this not read like someone who is very passionate and very eager to worship God?
2 Kings 5:18
18 In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing.
rimmon is essentially another name for baal that was used in Aram/Syria
Naaman preemptively wants to get the “OK” from Elisha about his situation and what he had to do
the key here is that Naaman wasn’t worshipping Rimmon in his heart, he knew that there was no God but the God of Israel
yes, he was physically there in the temple helping the king, but his heart was not there, his hear was burning with passion for God
We must remember, Syria and Israel warred on and off over the years, Naaman worhsipping Israels God was likely quite socially unacceptable
2 Kings 5:19
19 And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.
After telling Elisha that his heart was directed toward God and God alone, Elisha dismisses him
He says “go in peace”, implying that the situation that Naaman described was okay and Naaman left back for Syria
we see multiple lowly people who were involved in getting to this point
the young girl servant
Naaman’s entourage
2 Kings 5:20
20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.
2 Kings 5:21
21 So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well?
2 Kings 5:22
22 And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.
2 Kings 5:23
23 And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.
2 Kings 5:24
24 And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.
2 Kings 5:25
25 But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither.
2 Kings 5:26
26 And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?
2 Kings 5:27
27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.