Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Prologue
2 Kings 5:1
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
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
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
2 Kings 5:7
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
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
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
2 Kings 5:12
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
2 Kings 5:21
2 Kings 5:22
2 Kings 5:23
2 Kings 5:24
2 Kings 5:25
2 Kings 5:26
2 Kings 5:27
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