Now Naaman, captain of the host of the King of Syria. 2 Kings 5:1-19 The History of Naaman's disease and cure Homilist. I. THE FORCE OF WORLDLY POSITION. Why all the interest displayed in his own country, and in Israel, concerning Naaman's disease? The first verse of this chapter explains it. "Now Naaman, captain of the host of Syria, was a great man," etc. Perhaps there were many men in his own district who were suffering from leprosy, yet little interest was felt in them. They would groan under their sufferings, and die unsympathised with and unhelped. But because this man's worldly position was high, kings worked, prophets were engaged, nations were excited for his cure. It has ever been a sad fact in our history that we magnify both the trims and the virtues of the grandees, and think but little of the griefs and graces of the lowly. 1. This fact indicates the lack of intelligence in popular sympathy. Reason teaches that the calamities of the wealthy have many mitigating circumstances, and therefore the greater sympathy should be towards the poor. 2. It indicates the lack of manliness in popular sympathy. II. THE FORCE OF INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCE. The influence of this little slave girl should teach us three things. 1. The magnanimity of young natures. 2. The power of the humblest individual. 3. The dependence of the great upon the small. III. THE FORCE OF SELF-PRESERVATION. The instinct of self-preservation is one of the strongest in human nature. "Skin for skin; all that a man hath will he give in exchange for his life." Men will spend fortunes and traverse continents in order to rid themselves of disease and prolong life. This strenuous effort for recovery from disease reminds us oral. The value of physical health. This man had lost it, and what was the world to him without it? Bishop Hall truly says of him, "The basest slave in Syria would not change skins with him." 2. The neglect of spiritual health. IV. THE FORCE OF CASTE-FEELING. "And the King of Syria said, Go to; go, and I will send a letter to the King of Israel." He, forsooth, was too great to know a prophet — too great to correspond with any one but a king. 1. Caste-feeling sinks the real in the adventitious. The man who is ruled by it so exaggerates externalisms as to lose sight of those elements of moral character which constitute the dignity and determine the destiny of man. He lives in bubbles. 2. Caste-feeling curtails the region of human sympathies. He who is controlled by this feeling, has the circle of his sympathies limited not only to the outward of man, but to the outward of those only in his own sphere. All outlying his grade and class are nothing to him. 3. It antagonises the Gospel. Christ came to destroy that middle wall of partition that divides men into classes. The Gospel overtops all adventitious distinctions, and directs its doctrines, and offers its provisions to man as man. V. THE FORCE OF GUILTY SUSPICION. "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?" The construction that the monarch put upon the message of his royal brother was, instead of being true and liberal, the most false and ungenerous. Where this suspicion exists, one of the two, if not the two following things, are always found. 1. A knowledge of the depravity of society. The suspicious man has frequently learnt, either from observation, testimony, or experience, or all these, that there is such an amount of falsehood, and dishonesty in society, as will lead one man to take an undue advantage of another. 2. The existence of evil in himself. The suspicious man knows that he is selfish, false, dishonest, unchaste, and he believes that all men are the same. VI. THE FORCE OF REMEDIAL GOODNESS. Though the king could not cure, there was a remedial power m Israel equal to this emergency. That power, infinite goodness delegated to Elisha. The passage suggests several points concerning this remedial power. 1. It transcends natural power. "When Elisha, the man of God, had heard that the King of Israel had rent his clothes,... 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." The monarch felt his utter insufficiency to effect the cure. Natural science knew nothing of means to heal the leper. 2. It offends human pride. 3. It clashes with popular prejudice. "Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?" 4. It works by simple means. 5. It demands individual effort. "Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God." Naaman had to go down himself to the river, and to dip himself seven times in its waters. 6. It is completely efficacious. "His flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." VII. THE FORCE OF A NEW CONVICTION. Observe — 1. The subject of the new conviction. What was the subject? That the God of Israel was the only God. He felt that it was God's hand that healed him. 2. The developments of this new conviction. A conviction like this must prove influential in some way or other. Abstract ideas may lie dormant in the mind, but convictions are ever operative. What did it do in Naaman?(1) It evoked gratitude. Standing with all his company before the prophet, he avowed his gratitude "Now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.(2) It annihilated an old prejudice. Just before his cure he despised Judaea. Jordan was contemptible as compared with the rivers of Damascus. But now the very ground seems holy. He asks of the prophet liberty to take away a portion of the earth.(3) It inspired worship. Thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice, but unto the Lord." VIII. THE FORCE OF ASSOCIATES. IX. THE FORCE OF SORDID AVARICE. Gehazi is the illustration of this in his conduct as described in vers. 20-22. In his case we have avarice — 1. Eager in its pursuits. 2. This avarice is in one associated with the most generous of men. He was the servant of Elisha. 3. This avarice sought its end by means of falsehood. X. THE FORCE OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. There is justice on this earth as well as remedial goodness, and Heaven often makes man the organ as well as the subject of both. Elisha, who had the remedial power, had also the retributive. Here we see retributive justice in — 1. Detecting the wrongdoer. 2. Reproving the wrongdoer. 3. It punishes the wrongdoer. ( Homilist. ) Naaman the Syrian F. Whitfield, M. A. 1. There is not a man or woman living, however happy or prosperous, in whose description sooner or later we do not come to a "but." There is always some drawback here, some drop in every cup that needs extraction, some thorn in every path to be removed. And even though this "but" were not in our health and circumstances, it is always in our nature. Leprosy is God's one great disease in the Bible to represent sin. It meant exclusion from the camp and distance from our fellowmen. Hideous and revolting in itself, it poisoned the springs of man's existence. Hence it strikingly represents that sin which is in man, and, in the absence of everything else, is the terrible "but" which mars and spoils the fairest earthly picture. Like man by nature, Naaman carried within him that disease which none but God could heal. 2. Contrast with this great man and honourable, the little maid. Torn away from her home and friends by rude hands, and probably amid the bitter tears of parental affection, she had been taken captive and sold as a slave. But amid all these discouraging circumstances she possessed a secret to which Naaman, with all his greatness, was a stranger. She knew of God and God's healing grace. Naaman felt the disease, she knew the healing. This made all the difference between her and Naaman. This makes all the difference between a Christian and one who is not. This makes the mighty difference between one man and another. 3. God disposes each lot in life. Naaman has his own peculiar sorrow, and so has the little maid hers. They are widely different. Yet God measures out to each one their position and circumstances, their blessings and afflictions, as will best show forth His glory. God had been leading her, through that strange way, to do for this great man and honourable what he could not do for himself, nor any one in the royal court of Benhadad. "The Lord had need of her" for this His great work. Before passing on, notice another truth. Nanman's heavy trial had no power to subdue his haughty spirit. Sorrow of itself can never sanctify. Men may pass through God's hottest furnaces and only come out harder than ever. It is only when the Holy Spirit uses our sorrows — when we put them into His hands to use — that they will ever be made a blessing to us. Let us learn again, from the difference between Naaman and this little maid, that inequalities of social position are divine, and are means of blessing. We have seen two characters here, both of them representative — Naaman and the little maid. Let us now look at a third — Benhadad, King of Syria. In him we have man in his loftiness and arrogance. Nothing can be done, he feels, but through him. He prepares his litter, his gold and silver and raiment. All this is worldly religion — man's proud thoughts about God's ways. And yet all he does is but "labour lost." There is yet another character — Joram, King of Israel. Here is a man who knows about the true God, knows the revelation of His will, knows of the true Elisha at his very door, and yet, with all this knowledge, unable to take his true place and act God's part in directing the poor leper to the healer in Israel. Here is the man of religion, of true religion, of many privileges above others around him, yet all lost, and he utterly unable to direct the diseased one to the saviour prophet! 4. Let us now turn to the saviour prophet, Elisha, and his dealing with the poor leper. The King of Syria prepares a great price — £7500 value of our money. Naaman sets out with it on his journey, and King Jehoram acquiesces m it. Thus the idea of each is that the healing is to be obtained by a price. It is the latent thought of every man by nature. "Without money and without price" is God's Word, and this narrative of the healing of Naaman, and Elisha's dealings with him, are an illustration of this. And what is Elisha's message? "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." How simple, how plain! Then what am I to do with the £7500 and the raiment? Has it no value? None whatever in the eyes of Elisha. None whatever before God. Take it back with thee as the dregs of the sinner's righteousness, and learn that all thou art to receive, all that is to set thee free from sin and death and make thee a new creature in Christ Jesus, is of the free sovereign grace of God. Thus we see the pride of the natural heart. "Are not Abana and Pharpar better?" Here is the leper taking his own way of healing, and regarding it as better than God's. "He turned and went away in a rage." Here is the despising of God s remedy and the enmity of the natural heart showing itself. And Naaman was right. Abana's waters were clear and beautiful. Jordan's were clayey and muddy. There was nothing for Sight in all this. It was only for faith. It was God choosing the base things of this world to bring to nought the mighty. Is it not so still? "What is this blood of Christ?" the sinner says. "What! are all my prayers, my good deeds, my sacraments, all my honest efforts to do my best and to please God to go for nothing? But the grace that can provide for a leprous soul can plead with a reluctant heart. It can use a ministry as well as open a fountain; and this ministry is, like the remedy, simple and artless, and exactly suited to its end, for one is divine as the other. Like the "little maid" before, it is the "servants" now, for such are God's means at all times. Human righteousness and greatness, and all nature's fond conceits are set aside completely. 5. Observe the effects of the healing. the form in which it was manifested: "his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child." This is the new birth. It is put before us m this form in other parts of Scripture: "if there be a Mediator with him, the One above the thousands of angels to show man (God's) righteousness, then He is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found the ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth" ( Job 33:23, 24 ). Here the same truth is brought before us. Again we have it in the New Testament: "Except a man be born from above he cannot enter the kingdom of God." "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new." 6. Observe, in the next place, the manifestation of this new nature in the conduct of Naaman. From this point it is seen there is a great change in him. His spirit, his tone, his language, his whole bearing seems from this moment to form a striking contrast to all that has gone before, so much so that, had his name not been mentioned, we should have said it could not possibly be the same man. "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." Observe the fruits of the new nature here, in their order. Naaman stands with all his company before Elisha. It is not now the proud and haughty Naaman, but the subdued and humbled one. Here is the first-fruit of the Holy Spirit in his character. He was humble because he was washed. Secondly, he makes a goodly confession of the one and only God. He had learnt the true God through the virtue of His grace exerted on himself — through the health and salvation he had received from Him. This is the only way the soul can ever learn Him. Thirdly, he presses his gifts upon Elisha, not now to purchase the healing, but because he has been healed. He has been forgiven much, therefore he loves much. Fourthly, he "will henceforth know no other God." To this end he seeks materials to raise an altar to the true God. And fifthly, he has now a renewed conscience, quick and sensitive about any, even apparent, departure from the God who had so blessed him. ( F. Whitfield, M. A. ) Namman the Syrian Monday Club Sermons. There is scarcely a story in all Scripture of deeper interest than this of Naaman, the Syrian. I. THE CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF NAAMAN. There is no mention of Naaman in the Bible, save in this connection. There is, however, a Jewish tradition as old as the time of Josephus, which identifies him as the archer whose arrow struck Ahab with his mortal wound, and thus gave deliverance to Syria. Whether this be true or not, some brave deed of Naaman had lifted him into special prominence, and crowned him with exceptional honour. But he was a leper! This made him loathsome and a burden to himself. Here we learn that no honour, no valour, no victory, can place men beyond the reach of the sorest calamities of life. These are as likely to visit the rich as the poor; are as likely to fall on princes as on peasants. No king is always happy; no prime minister of state but has his fears and sorrows, Naaman stood next the king, but he was a leper, afflicted more than many a slave in Syria. There is no possession so vast, no position so high, no attainment so conspicuous, no employment so congenial, no association so sweet, as not to have its "but," revealing sorrow, or some great unmet want. There is, however, "a skeleton in every home." Each heart has, and knows, its own bitterness. One reaps advantage of one kind here, another of another kind there, but every man reaps disadvantage of one kind or another. The good and ill of life are far more evenly distributed than most imagine. II. THE CHARACTER AND SERVICE OF THE LITTLE MAID. She was by birth an Israelite, carried captive into Syria. There she became a servant in Naaman's household. In her early home, and among her own people, she had become familiar with the worship and history of Israel. It is possible that she had met the prophet Elisha. Those homes of Israel were schools for the household. The children there were trained to believe in, and worship, the God of their fathers. History with them was sacred. With scepticism and atheism those Israelitish homes were not darkened and afflicted as our homes are. Egypt, Sinai, Samaria were all alive with Divine deliverances, which old and young alike appreciated. God was among the people, and this the children understood. The confidence of children is remarkable in the beneficence of God and in the influence of the good with Him. Children may be, not only our greatest comforters, but our wisest teachers and our divinest helpers. In their simple, childish faith they often put us to shame, and in their generous desire to serve others, often rebuke our indifference. III. THE MIRACULOUS CURE. It appears that Naaman somehow heard of the desire and faith of this little maid in his home, and was encouraged to make trial of the prophet. It appears further, that, aside from the maid, none was more anxious for the cure than the king. Through the instrumentality, — possibly of some one overhearing the conversation of this maid with her mistress, or possibly of some one informed by this woman, and sent by her, or, it may be of Naaman himself, the king learned of the wish and the faith. It is more than probable that both Naaman and the king had heard of Elisha as a worker of wondrous miracles; for his fame must have reached to the farthest bounds of the kingdom. But be this as it may, the leper sighs for help, and is ready for the experiment of seeking Elisha. Poor man! There he stood at the prophet's door, a leper, full of large expectations; yet dictating as to the manner of the cure, and falling into a frenzy because it was not to be effected with pomp and parade such as he thought became his rank and station. Why the prophet bade him go to Jordan instead of the waters of Damascus, he could not understand. He seems to have forgotten that Jordan belonged to the God of Israel, and that, in a miraculous cure, relation to God was of far more importance than the depth or beauty of the stream. Besides, Jordan was the river appointed; and if Naaman is to be cured by Divine power he must obey the Divine will. He was, however, proud and haughty — style and rank were offended. What now? Jordan has become a healing stream for this afflicted man. No longer shall he compare that river with the waters of Damascus. No longer shall Elisha be regarded as an enemy, or as indifferent to his welfare. To be cured of such a disease in such a manner was enough to convince Naaman of the power of God, and of Elisha as a true prophet of God. Experience is a wonderful teacher. This cure had been effected by consciously supernatural means. This he was ready to confess. ( Monday Club Sermons. ) Naaman, the Syrian M. G. Pearse. I. In turning to the story of this Naaman, the first thing that I would notice is A CONTRAST IN SERVICE. We set him before us dwelling in the stately palace of the king, the commander of the king's armies; with authority to speak to the whole nation, and all men are ready to obey him: with troops of horses and hosts of chariots, and servants that wait upon him and minister to him. Altogether, in council and in camp, the foremost man in Syria. And as brave as he was wise, of whose valour many a stirring tale was told. Here is greatness: great in himself, great in his position, great in his possessions, great in his achievements, great in his authority: no element of greatness is lacking. Then do you notice how beside this word great there is set the word little; and alongside of this mighty man of valour is put the record of this captive maid? Poor little thing, her story is a very sad one. A troop of Syrians marching one day into Israel — fierce fellows, burning the homesteads of the villagers, before whom the frightened people fled to the mountains or caves — had come to some cottage, and there, it may be, tending a sick mother, too feeble to escape, or guarding some little one of the family whom she would not forsake, this girl is taken captive and carried away by the soldiers. They sell her as a slave to Naaman's wife. A stranger in a strange land, with the memory of her bitter griefs — in thought and feeling, and hope and religion, severed from those about her, so she must wait upon her mistress and do her bidding, with none to befriend her. We can think of her sighing in her loneliness. "Ah, me; if I were only King of Syria, or even this great lord, I would set right the wrongs of the poor folks, and bid the cruel soldiers stay at home. I would have no burning cottages, no ruined homes, and no poor captive men or maidens if I were king. How good it must be to be so great! But I am only a little maiden; what can I do? here there are so many troubles? It is dreadful to be so weak and little." And yet this little maid it is who brings deliverance to the great man of Syria, for in her are two things that are never little — a kind heart and faith in God. So, in the great world, with its sorrows, there is always room for loving-kindness and for faith in God. It is not greatness that the poor world wants mostly, not chief captains or men of valour; but love. The little, and the least, with love and faith, can always find a place for service; a service that is always blessed, and shall have its golden wages. Our measure for service is not in position, nor in gifts, nor in greatness, but in love. Her tender love and simple faith do set this little maid alongside of this great captain. Take it, I pray you, for whom it is meant, and give thanks to God. Say it and sing it within yourself: "If in this great world I can do nothing else, I can do this — and since I can do this I will envy none. Wherever I am I can keep a simple faith in God and a kind heart." Thank God, little one, that He has a place for thee. II. NOTICE THE WISDOM OF NAAMAN. He no sooner hears that there is a chance of his being cured than he sets off for the prophet. He does not despise the suggestion because it is a prophet of Israel who has the power. If this is a chance of his being cured he will go forth and seek it. He might very naturally have said, "I will get my master, the King of Syria, to write a letter to the King of Israel, and he can send the prophet to see me. The prophet is much better able to travel than I am; and it is altogether more fitting that he should come here. It is an enemy's country, and the people may oppose my coming, and I am ill fit to journey. I will send my horses and chariots, and a company of soldiers for his escort, and I will pay him well for his coming." So he might have said, but that will not do. He will go himself. There must be no delay. If there is a chance of being cured he will do his best to avail himself of that chance. At once everybody in the place is set to work to hasten his going. Now do not let this Naaman the Syrian rise up in judgment against us. We have heard that in Jesus Christ is our salvation; that there is One who is able to break the power of our sin, to rid us from its loathsomeness, and to make us whole. To us the testimony concerning the salvation which is in Christ Jesus comes from ten thousand who have found in Him their deliverance from the curse and power of sin, the cleansing from its foul leprosy. Think if he should bid his musicians sing of this: Elisha, and chant his greatness, and week after week should sit and listen to the story of the captive maiden. "I like to hear her," says he, "she is so much in earnest, and her gestures are so graceful, and her words so well chosen." O fool! and all the time the leprosy is eating into him with horrid cruelty, deeper and deeper, and every day he is growing more hideous and scarred, and his case becomes more desperate. And the longer he delays the more he questions about going at all. And now the King of Syria comes to see him. "Well, have you been?" he asks. "Been where?" saith Naaman. "Why, to the great prophet that can heal thee of thy leprosy," cries the king, wondering. "No," saith Naaman, "I have not exactly been to him, you know. But I have heard all about him, and have got quite familiar with his name and history, and what he has said and done." "But surely," cries the astonished king, "it were as well never to have heard of him if you do not go." Then one day the tidings spread, "Naaman is dead"; died of his leprosy. Dead! and he knew so much about the prophet. And in the palace is heard the wail of the little maiden, "Would God my lord had gone to the prophet that is in Samaria." Alas! it is only in religion that men play the fool like this: only in the deeper and more dreadful leprosy of the soul! Can you imagine any greater folly, hearing of Christ as the Saviour, year in and year out, and yet never coming to Him? III. NOTICE THE NEEDLESS PREPARATION. ( M. G. Pearse. ) Naaman, the leper C. Bullock. Men who are called to like positions in our own day are generally the objects of envy. Doubtless, Naaman was such an object in the eyes of many. But how greatly were they mistaken in the estimate they formed. Naaman knew, before others knew, that the leprosy had marked him as its victim. The small spot, herald of the approaching disease, was upon him; the worm was at the root of the gourd; the cancer was beginning to prey upon his very vitals; the heart was already feeding upon its own bitterness. Naaman, the illustrious, — Naaman, the captain of the king's hosts, — Naaman, with all his greatness, must henceforth carry about with him a monitor of his own weakness, yea, his own sinfulness. And, upon the face of the record, do we not read this lesson, — I. THE SINFULNESS OF PRIDE IN THE SIGHT OF GOD? All pride will be humbled in like manner. "God resisteth the proud" ( James 4:6 ) always, at all times, and in all cases. "He that exalteth himself shall be abased" ( Luke 14:11 ). Pride is the idolatry of self. Where pride reigns, God cannot reign, but God will judge. Let each beware of pride. Pride does not help a man to fill his station; it leads him to overstep his station. Humility ennobles, for it is a Divine grace; but pride degrades, for it is earth-born, a satanic spirit. If the proud man does not seek the throne of grace, and humble himself there, pride will prove his ruin. II. Another truth, of which the experience of Naaman may remind us, is this, — OUR ENTIRE AND ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE UPON GOD. We are not the arbiters of our own destiny. We cannot determine our own future. Even to-day's bread is dependent on God's bounty. "As He will," is the law of our condition, absolutely and without qualification. Naaman, the captain of the host of Syria, the mighty man of valour, was no exception to this law. In his leprosy he carried about with him a silent but a faithful monitor of the supremacy of God. There was manifestly a will above his will, — a will that had determined his affliction, irrespective of himself. III. But there is yet another, and a principal lesson, which the experience of Naaman enforces, — THE INSUFFICIENCY OF EARTHLY GOOD TO CONFER HAPPINESS UPON THE POSSESSOR. Naaman possessed fame, and honour, and friends, and wealth; but he was a leper. I ask, Is there not always some "but," or some "if," to act as a drawback on the earthly portion? Has the man ever lived who, being "of the earth, earthy," living for this world only, could say he was so happy as not to need something to be added or to be taken away? It has even become a proverb, "Man never is, but always to be, blest." "Is the child happy?" asks one of our Puritan Fathers. "He will be, when he is a man. Is the peasant satisfied? He will be, when he is rich. Is the rich man satisfied? He will be, when he is ennobled. Is the nobleman satisfied? He will be, when he is a king. Is the king satisfied? Listen! for one is speaking, 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.'" Each is devising a portion for himself, in which he thinks happiness will be found; but none attain happiness. Riches may be pursued and acquired; but riches cannot confer happiness. It is a true testimony, which all experience confirms: "They that increase riches, increase sorrow with them." There is always some "but" attached to the best estate. The knowledge that God is our God for ever and ever — that we are reconcried to Him by faith in Christ Jesus — that He will be our guide, the director of our steps, even until death, — this is the knowledge which alone discovers to us the secret of happiness — this is the knowledge which places in our possession the key which may be said to open to man a Paradise regained. ( C. Bullock. ) Some modern lessons from an ancient story Homiletic Review. This whole story of Naaman, ancient as it is, is not one out of relation with our present lives. It is a story which can easily teach us some most valuable modern lessons. I. THE UNIVERSAL SUBTRACTION FROM OUR ADDITION. Consider them in Naaman's case. 1. Consider the addition. (1) Captain of the host of the King of Syria. (2) A great man with his master. (3) And honourable. (4) Because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. (5) He was also a mighty man in valour.How many items in this addition, and how large the sum of their values — high military command, great favour at court, splendid reputation, success, great personal bravery. 2. Consider the subtraction — one vast damaging item, but he was a leper. Take a New-Testament instance, that of Paul ( 2 Corinthians 12 ).(1) Addition. Rapture (ver. 2). Presence in Paradise (ver. 4). Vision of the unspeakable glories (ver. 4). Abundant revelations (ver. 7).(2) Subtraction — thorn in the flesh (ver. 7). Are not those instances more or less exactly parallel in our own lives? You can add together many a favouring circumstance and possession: then here is sure to come the subtracting — but. Why is this? Why, in our common lot, must there be this universal subtraction from our addition? If this life were all, and were intended to be all, it would be cruel. But there is another life. These subtractions from our additions are allowed, lest we should somnolently settle into the feeling that this life is all. II. THAT OF FAITHFULNESS TO ONE'S RELIGION IN STRANGE PLACE AND CIRCUMSTANCE. The little Hebrew maid (vers. 2-4) how unlike her are those professing Christians who, moving to a new place or city, will not use their church letters but drop into the sad throng of non-churchgoers! III. THE UNWISDOM OF MAKING BEFOREHAND PLANS FOR GOD. 1. Behold the ancient picture — the letter; the presents worth USD50,000; the ostentatious arrival before the prophet's door; the message; the reply and rage (vers. 11-12). 2. Behold the modern counterpart. Simple was the remedy the prophet ordered — the washing in the Jordan. So simple is the Gospel — personal acceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. But men, thinking their thoughts, making beforehand plans for God, say, "Are not the Abana and Pharpar of my moralities better?" or, "Are not the Abana and Pharpar of my penances better?" or "Are not the Abana and Pharpar of some shining experience I have imagined better?" IV. THE WISDOM OF DOING FIRST WHAT GOD SAYS (ver. 14). Have you not been delaying, and thinking, and imagining, and holding to your way long enough? Now, in the beginning of this New Year, will you not wisely submit to God, as Naaman did? Will you not accept Jesus Christ and so, in the only possible way, find forgiveness for your sin? ( Homiletic Review. ) The method of grace W. Mincher. There is much modern application in these Old Testament circumstances. There is so much humaneness in the Bible which makes it always a new book. Principles know nothing of years. Truth is not hampered by time. The Scriptures are as old as eternity, and yet as new as every morning. The Gospel in the narrative may thus be developed. I. THE GOSPEL APPEALS TO THE MAN, NOT HIS ACCIDENTS. The prophet's message was to the leper, not to the courtier. Naaman came with his horses and with his pageantry. He came in a lordly air, but the prophet did not even meet him. The true man is neve

Benson Commentary 2 Kings 5:1 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. 2 Kings 5:1 . Naaman — was a great man with his master — In great power and favour with the king of Syria; and honourable — Highly esteemed, both for his quality and success; because the Lord by him had given deliverance unto Syria — He had been victorious in such battles as he had fought, which coming to pass through the permission or appointment of the Divine Providence, the sacred writer would have the Israelites to look upon it as the Lord’s doing. Let Israel know, that, when the Syrians prevailed, it was from the Lord. He gave them success in their wars, even with Israel, and for Israel’s chastisement. But he was a leper — This did not exclude him from the society of men in that country, where the Jewish law was not in force. But it was a great blemish upon him, and also likely to prove deadly; there being no cure for this disease, a disease very common in Syria. 2 Kings 5:2 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. 2 Kings 5:2 . The Syrians had gone out by companies — Making inroads into the land of Israel, to rob and plunder, after the manner of those times. And had brought away captive a little maid — The providence of God so ordering it for very important reasons. And she waited on Naaman’s wife — Was preferred into Naaman’s family, where she published Elisha’s fame, to the honour of Israel and Israel’s God. 2 Kings 5:3 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. 2 Kings 5:3 . Would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria — In the kingdom of Samaria; or, rather, in the city of Samaria; where Elisha was when she was taken, and where he commonly resided, though he went to other places as need required. For he would recover him of his leprosy — She had heard of the wonderful things which he had done, and therefore was confident he could work this cure. Children should betimes acquaint themselves with the wondrous works of God, that wherever they go they may speak of them, to the profit of others. Yea, and servants, like this little maid, may be blessings to the families in which Providence casts their lot, by telling what they know of the glory of God, and the honour of his ministers. 2 Kings 5:4 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. 2 Kings 5:4 . And one went in and told his lord — One of Naaman’s servants, hearing this, told it to Naaman, and he to the king of Syria, begging his leave to go to the prophet in Israel. For though he neither loved nor honoured the Jewish nation, yet if one of that nation can but heal him of his leprosy, he will gladly and thankfully accept the cure. And he hopes that one can, from the intelligence he has received, which he does not despise because of the meanness of her that gave it. O that they who are spiritually diseased would hearken thus readily to the tidings brought them of the great Physician! 2 Kings 5:5 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. 2 Kings 5:5 . The king said, I will send a letter to the king of Israel — It was very natural for a king to suppose that the king of Israel could do more than any of his subjects. He took with him ten talents of silver, &c. — That he might honourably reward the prophet, in case he should be cured by him. But it was a vast sum that he took for this purpose; for if they were Hebrew talents, the silver only amounted to four thousand five hundred pounds sterling. 2 Kings 5:6 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 5:6 . Now when this letter is come unto thee, &c. — The beginning of the letter, which, it is likely, contained the usual compliments, is omitted, as not pertinent to the matter in hand. That thou mayest recover him of his leprosy — Or, That, by thy command, the prophet that is with thee may cleanse him; for kings are often said to do those things which they command to be done: in which view, there is no ambiguity in this letter of the king of Syria. But this not being plainly expressed, the king of Israel apprehended that the intention of this demand was only to pick a quarrel with him, and seek an occasion, or rather a pretence, for a war with him. 2 Kings 5:7 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. 2 Kings 5:7 . The king of Israel rent his clothes — Either as one in great affliction and trouble, or because he looked upon it as blasphemy, to ascribe that power to him which belonged to God alone. Am I God, to kill and make alive? — He expresses himself thus, because the leprosy is a kind or degree of death, Numbers 12:12 ; and he thought it as impossible to cure it as to raise the dead. Every body can kill; but when a person is killed, to make him alive again is the work only of the Almighty. See how he seeketh a quarrel against me — For not doing what he requires, which he knows to be impossible for me to do. Though he had seen what miracles Elisha had done, yet he either had forgot them, or thought this to be beyond his power. Or, it may be, he was loath to see still further demonstration of his power with God, and therefore did not send to him on this occasion. 2 Kings 5:8 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. 2 Kings 5:8 . Elisha sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? — There is no just occasion for thee to do so. Let him come now to me — It was not for his own honour, but for the honour of God and his people, that he desires the leprous Syrian to be sent to him. And he shall know there is a prophet in Israel — One who can do that which the king of Israel dares not attempt, and which the prophets of Syria cannot pretend to: and it were sad with Israel if there were not. As the word prophet commonly signifies a man who declares things which none could know but God, and those to whom he revealed them, so here it signifies a man endued with a divine power, and who thereby could do what no man could effect, unless God were with him. 2 Kings 5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 2 Kings 5:9-10 . Naaman stood at the door of the house of Elisha — Waiting for Elisha’s coming to him. And Elisha sent a messenger, &c. — Which he did partly to try and exercise Naaman’s faith and obedience; partly for the honour of his religion and ministry, that it might appear he sought not his own glory and profit, but only God’s honour and the good of men; and partly for the manifestation of the almighty power of God, which could cure such a desperate disease by such slight means. 2 Kings 5:10 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. 2 Kings 5:11 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 5:11 . Naaman was wroth — Supposing himself to be despised and insulted by the prophet. And said, Behold I thought, &c. — Herein he gives us an example of the perverseness of mankind, who are prone to prefer their own fancies to God’s appointments. Big with the expectations of a cure, he had been imagining how this cure would be wrought: and the scheme he had devised was this: He will surely come out to me — That is the least he can do to me, a peer of Syria; to me, who am come to him in all this state, with my horses, chariot, and retinue; to me , who have so often been victorious over the armies of Israel. And stand and call on the name of his God — On my behalf. And strike his hand over the place — Wave it over the afflicted part, where the leprosy is: without which it seemed ridiculous to him to expect a cure. 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? So he turned and went away in a rage. 2 Kings 5:12 . Are not Abana and Pharpar — better than all the waters of Israel — How magnificently doth he speak of these two rivers, which watered Damascus, and how scornfully of all the waters of Israel! May I not wash in them and be clean? — Is there not as great virtue in them to this purpose? But he should have considered that the cure was not to be wrought by the water, but by the power of God, who might use what means and method of cure he pleased. 2 Kings 5:13 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? 2 Kings 5:13 . His servants came near– Though at other times they kept their distance, and now saw him in a passion, yet knowing him to be a man that would hear reason at any time, and from any one, they drew near, and made bold to argue the matter with him. Happy they who have such servants as these, who both had the courage to speak the truth, and prudence to order their speech with skill, submission, and reverence. My father — Or, our father; a title of honour in that country, and a name by which they called their lords, as kings are called the fathers of their people. They use it to show their reverence and affection for him. If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing — Had ordered thee into a tedious course of physic, or enjoined thee to submit to some painful operation, suppose blistering, or cupping, or salivating, wouldst thou not have done it? No doubt thou wouldst. And wilt thou not submit to so easy a method as this, Wash and be clean? It appears they had conceived a great opinion of the prophet, having probably heard more of him from the common people, whom they had conversed with, than Naaman had from the king and courtiers. 2 Kings 5:14 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. 2 Kings 5:14 . Then went he down and dipped himself, &c. — Upon second thoughts he yielded to make the experiment, yet probably with no great faith or resolution. However, God was pleased to honour himself and the word of his prophet, and to effect the cure, notwithstanding his evil reasoning and unbelief. His flesh came again like the flesh of a little child — No doubt to his great surprise and joy. And he was clean — Fresh and pure, free from every the least mixture or mark of the disease. This he got by yielding to the will of God, and obeying the injunction of his prophet, which he at first despised as unreasonable and foolish: and it is in the way of observing, not in the way of contemning and neglecting divine institutions, that we must expect the cure of our spiritual diseases. 2 Kings 5:15 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. 2 Kings 5:15 . He returned to the man of God — To give him thanks and a recompense for the great benefit which he had received. I know there is no God in all the earth but in Israel — By this wonderful work I am fully convinced that the God of Israel is the only true God, and that other gods are impotent idols. A noble confession! but such as speaks the misery of the Gentile world; for the nations that had many gods, really had no God, but were without God in the world. He had formerly thought the gods of Syria gods indeed, but now experience had rectified his mistake, and he knew Israel’s God was God alone, the sovereign Lord of all. Had he merely seen other lepers cleansed, perhaps it would not have convinced him; but the mercy of the cure affected him more than the miracle of it. Those are best able to speak of the power of divine grace, who have themselves experienced it. I pray thee take a blessing of thy servant — A thankful acknowledgment, or token of gratitude. The Hebrews called every gift a blessing. 2 Kings 5:16 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. 2 Kings 5:16 . He said, As the Lord liveth, I will receive none — Not that he thought it unlawful to receive presents, which he did receive from others; but because of the special circumstances of the case, it being much for the honour of God that the Syrians should see the generous piety and kindness of his ministers and servants, and how much they despised all that worldly wealth and glory, which the prophets of the Gentiles so greedily sought after. 2 Kings 5:17 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. 2 Kings 5:17 . Two mules’ burden of earth — Wherewith I may make an altar of earth, as was usual, Exodus 20:24 . He desires the earth of this land, because he thought it more holy and acceptable to God, and proper for his service; or because he would, by this token, profess and declare his conjunction with the Israelites in the worship of God, and constantly put himself in mind of his great obligation to that God, from whose land this was taken: and though he might freely have taken this earth without asking any leave, yet he rather desires it from the prophet’s gift, as believing that he, who had put so great a virtue into the waters of Israel, could put as much into the earth of Israel, and make it as useful and beneficial to him in a better way. And these thoughts, though extravagant and groundless, yet were excusable in a heathen and a novice, who was not yet thoroughly instructed in true religion. 2 Kings 5:18 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. 2 Kings 5:18 . When my master goeth into the house of Rimmon — Or rather, went, or hath gone, namely, formerly; for the Hebrew text of the whole verse may be properly rendered in the past time, thus: In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my master went into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaned on my hand, and I bowed myself in the house of Rimmon; when I bowed myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing. Rimmon, it must be observed, was a Syrian idol, called here by the Seventy Remman, and Acts 7:43 , Remphan. And as Naaman, in the preceding verses, had declared that he would worship no other God but Jehovah, this translation seems evidently the true one, and is approved by many learned men, as Mr. Locke, Dr. Lightfoot, Lord Clarendon, and others. Certainly, as Dr. Dodd observes, “‘the incongruity would be great, if Naaman, who had just before declared his renunciation of idolatry, should now confess his readiness to relapse into the same crime, and desire God’s pardon for it beforehand; whereas to ask pardon for what he had done amiss, and to desire the prophet’s intercession with God in that behalf, argued a mind truly sensible of his former transgression, and very much resolved to avoid it for the future; and accordingly it is supposed that upon his return home he refused to worship Rimmon any more, and was thereupon dismissed from being general of the king’s forces.” 2 Kings 5:19 And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way. 2 Kings 5:20 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 5:20 . Gehazi, the servant of Elisha — One would have expected that Elisha’s servant should have been a saint; but we find him far otherwise. The best men, the best ministers, have often had those about them that were their grief and shame. My master hath spared this Syrian — A stranger, and one of that nation who are the implacable enemies of God’s people. As the Lord liveth — He swears, that he might have some pretence for the action to which he had bound himself by his oath; not considering, that to swear to do any wicked action, is so far from excusing it, that it makes it much worse. 2 Kings 5:21 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 5:21-23 . He lighted down from his chariot to meet him — Thereby testifying his great respect to the prophet his master, He said — My master hath sent me, &c. — This story of Gehazi was a very unlikely one: Naaman, however, was not willing to question it, but glad of the opportunity of showing his gratitude to the prophet. And he — Naaman, urged him — Who at first refused it upon a pretence of modesty and obedience to his master’s command. 2 Kings 5:22 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 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 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 5:24 . When he came to the tower — A safe and private place, which he chose for the purpose, and where possibly he hid and kept other things, which he had got by such like frauds and artifices. And let the men go — Before they came within sight of his master. 2 Kings 5:25 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 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 5:26 . Went not my heart with thee? &c. — Was not I present with thee in mind, when the man, &c. Is it a time to receive money? &c. — Was this a fit season for this action? I had but just refused his gifts, and that obstinately, for important reasons; and now thou hast given him cause to think that this was done in mere vain-glory, and that I inwardly desired, and sought only a fitter place and opportunity, to take secretly in private what I refused in public; thus bringing reproach on our religion, and on the God we worship. And olive-yards, &c. — Which Gehazi intended to purchase with this money; and therefore the prophet names them, to inform him that he exactly knew, not only his outward actions, but even his most secret intentions. What a folly is it to presume upon sin in hopes of secrecy! When thou goest aside into any by-path, doth not thy own conscience go with thee? Nay, doth not the eye of God go with thee? What then avails the absence of human witnesses? 2 Kings 5:27 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. 2 Kings 5:27 . The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and thy seed for ever — That is, for some generations, as the expression is often used, and as may be thought by comparing this with Exodus 20:5 ; Exodus 34:7 . This was a sentence which Gehazi justly deserved, for his crime was aggravated by a greedy covetousness, which is idolatry, profanation of God’s name, a downright theft, in taking that to himself which was given for others, deliberate and impudent lying, a desperate contempt of God’s omnipotence, justice, and holiness, a horrible reproach cast upon the prophet and his religion, and a pernicious scandal given to Naaman, and every other Syrian who should chance to hear of it. We are taught from hence that God knows our sins, though committed in secret, and will punish them; and particularly that his wrath pursues, not only the unrighteous, but all those in general who are given to covetousness and dishonest gain; and that goods acquired by wicked means carry a curse with them, which often descends from parents to their children. He went out from his presence a leper as white as snow — Which is the worst kind of leprosy, and noted by physicians to be incurable. Those who get money by any way which is displeasing to God, make a dear purchase. What was Gehazi profited by the two talents of silver, when he lost his health, if not his soul, for ever? Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary 2 Kings 5:1 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. THE STORY OF NAAMAN 2 Kings 5:1-27 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8:3 AFTER these shorter anecdotes we have the longer episode of Naaman. A part of the misery inflicted by the Syrians on Israel was caused by the forays in which their light-armed bands, very much like the borderers on the marshes of Wales or Scotland, descended upon the country and carried off plunder and captives before they could be pursued. In one of these raids they had seized a little Israelitish girl and sold her to be a slave. She had been purchased for the household of Naaman, the captain of the Syrian host, who had helped his king and nation to win important victories either against Israel or against Assyria. Ancient Jewish tradition identified him with the man who had "drawn his bow at a venture" and slain King Ahab. But all Naaman’s valor and rank and fame, and the honor felt for him by his king, were valueless to him, for he was suffering from the horrible affliction of leprosy. Lepers do not seem to have been segregated in other countries so strictly as they were in Israel, or at any rate Naaman’s leprosy was not of so severe a form as to incapacitate him from his public functions. But it was evident that he was a man who had won the affection of all who knew him; and the little slave girl who waited on his wife breathed to her a passionate wish that Naaman could visit the Man of God in Samaria, for he would recover him from his leprosy. The saying was repeated, and one of Naaman’s friends mentioned it to the King of Syria. Benhadad was so much struck by it that he instantly determined to send a letter, with a truly royal gift to the king of Israel, who could, he supposed, as a matter of course, command the services of the prophet. The letter came to Jehoram with a stupendous present of ingots of silver to the value of ten talents, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. After the ordinary salutations, and a mention of the gifts, the letter continued "And now, when this letter is come to thee, behold I have sent Naaman my servant, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy." Jehoram lived in perpetual terror of his powerful and encroaching neighbor. Nothing was said in the letter about the Man of God; and the king rent his clothes, exclaiming that he was not God to kill and to make alive, and that this must be a base pretext for a quarrel. It never so much as occurred to him, as it certainly would have done to Jehoshaphat, that the prophet, who was so widely known and honored, and whose mission had been so clearly attested in the invasion of Moab, might at least help him to face this problem. Otherwise the difficulty might indeed seem insuperable, for leprosy was universally regarded as an incurable disease. But Elisha was not afraid: "he boldly told Jehoram to send the Syrian captain to him. Naaman, with his horses and his chariots, in all the splendor of a royal ambassador, drove up to the humble house of the prophet. Being so great a man, he expected a deferential reception, and looked for the performance of his cure in some striking and dramatic manner. "The prophet," so he said to himself, will come out, and solemnly invoke the name of his God Jehovah, and wave his hand over the leprous limbs, and so work the miracle." But the servant of the King of kings was not exultantly impressed, as false prophets so often are, by earthly greatness. Elisha did not even pay him the compliment of coming out of the house to meet him. He wished to efface himself completely, and to fix the leper’s thoughts on the one truth that if healing was granted to him, it was due to the gift of God, not to the thaumaturgy or arts of man. He simply sent out his servant to the Syrian commander-in-chief with the brief message, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and be thou clean." Naaman accustomed to the extreme deference of many dependants, was not only offended, but enraged, by what he regarded as the scant courtesy and procrastinated boon of the prophet. Why was he not received as a man of the highest distinction? What necessity could there be for sending him all the way to the Jordan? And why was he bidden to wash in that wretched, useless, tortuous stream, rather than in the pure and flowing waters of his own native Abanah and Pharpar? How was he to tell that this "Man of God" did not design to mock him by sending him on a fool’s errand, so that he would come back as a laughing-stock both to the Israelites and to his own people? Perhaps he had not felt any great faith in the prophet, to begin with; but whatever he once felt had now vanished. He turned and went away in a rage. But in this crisis the affection of his friends and servants stood him in good stead. Addressing him, in their love and pity, by the unusual term of honor "my father," they urged upon him that, as he certainly would not have refused some great test, there was no reason why he should refuse this simple and humble one. He was won over by their reasonings, and descending the hot steep valley of the Jordan, bathed himself in the river seven times. God healed him, and, as Elisha had promised, "his flesh," corroded by leprosy, "came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." This healing of Naaman is alluded to by our Lord to illustrate the truth that the love of God extended farther than the limits of the chosen race; that His Fatherhood is co-extensive with the whole family of man. It is difficult to conceive the transport of a man cured of this most loathsome and humiliating of all earthly afflictions. Naaman, who seems to have possessed "a mind naturally Christian," was filled with gratitude. Unlike the thankless Jewish lepers whom Christ cured as He left Engannim, this alien returned to give glory to God. Once more the whole imposing cavalcade rode through the streets of Samaria, and stopped at Elisha’s door. This time Naaman was admitted into his presence. He saw, and no doubt Elisha had strongly impressed on him the truth, that his healing was the work not of man but of God; and as he had found no help in the deities of Syria, he confessed that the God of Israel was the only true God among those of the nations. In token of his thankfulness he presses Elisha, as God’s instrument in the unspeakable mercy which has been granted to him, to accept "a blessing" ( i.e. , a present) from him" from thy servant," as he humbly styled himself. Elisha was no greedy Balaam. It was essential that Naaman and the Syrians should not look on him as on some vulgar sorcerer who wrought wonders for "the rewards of divination." His wants were so simple that he stood above temptation. His desires and treasures were not on earth. To put an end to all importunity, he appealed to Jehovah with his usual solemn formula-"As the Lord liveth before whom I stand, I will receive no present." Still more deeply impressed by the prophet’s incorruptible superiority to so much as a suspicion of low motives, Naaman asked that he might receive two mules’ burden of earth wherewith to build an altar to the God of Israel of His own sacred soil. The very soil ruled by such a God must, he thought, be holier than other soil; and he wished to take it back to Syria, just as the people of Pisa rejoiced to fill their Campo Santo with mould from the Holy Land, and just as mothers like to baptize their children in water brought home from the Jordan. Henceforth, said Naaman, I will offer burnt-offering and sacrifice to no God but unto Jehovah. Yet there was one difficulty in the way. When the King of Syria went to worship in the temple of his god Rimmon it was the duty of Naaman to accompany him. The king leaned on his hand, and when he bowed before the idol it was Naaman’s duty to bow also. He begged that for this concession God would pardon him. Elisha’s answer was perhaps different from what Elijah might have given. He practically allowed Naaman to give this sign of outward compliance with idolatry, by saying to him, "Go in peace." It is from this circumstance that the phrase "to bow in the house of Rimmon" has become proverbial to indicate a dangerous and dishonest compromise But Elisha’s permission must not be misunderstood. He did but hand over this semi-heathen convert to the grace of God. It must be remembered that he lived in days long preceding the conviction that proselytism is a part of true religion; in days when the thought of missions to heathen lands was utterly unknown. The position of Naaman was wholly different from that of any Israelite. He was only the convert, or the half-convert of a day, and though he acknowledged the supremacy of Jehovah as alone worthy of his worship, he probably shared in the belief-common even in Israel-that there were other gods, local gods, gods of the nations, to whom Jehovah might have divided the limits of their power. To demand of one who, like Naaman, had been an idolater all his days, the sudden abandonment of every custom and tradition of his life, would have been to demand from him an unreasonable, and, in his circumstances, useless and all but impossible self-sacrifice. The best way was to let him feel and see for himself the futility of Rimmon-worship. If he were not frightened back from his sudden faith in Jehovah, the scruple of conscience which he already felt in making his request might naturally grow within him and lead him to all that was best and highest. The temporary condonation of an imperfection might be a wise step towards the ultimate realization of a truth We cannot at all blame Elisha, if, with such knowledge as he then possessed, he took a mercifully tolerant view of the exigencies of Naaman’s position. The bowing in the house of Rimmon under such conditions probably seemed to him no more than an act of outward respect to the king and to the national religion in a case where no evil results could follow from Naaman’s example. But the general principle that we must not bow in the house of Rimmon remains unchanged. The light and knowledge vouchsafed to us far transcend those which existed in times when men had not seen the days of the Son of Man. The only rule which sincere Christians can follow is to have no truce with Canaan, no halting between two opinions, no tampering, no compliance, no connivance, no complicity with evil, even no tolerance of evil as far as their own conduct is concerned. No good man, in the light of the Gospel dispensation, could condone himself in seeming to sanction-still less in doing-anything which in his opinion ought not to be done, or in saying anything which implied his own acquiescence in things which he knows to be evil. "Sir," said a parishioner to one of the non-juring clergy: "there is many a man who has made a great gash in his conscience; cannot you make a little nick in yours?" No! a little nick is, in one sense, as fatal as a great gash. It is an abandonment of the principle; it is a violation of the Law. The wrong of it consists in this-that all evil begins, not in the commission of great crimes, but in the slight divergence from right rules. The angle made by two lines may be infinitesimally small, but produce the lines and it may require infinitude to span the separation between the lines which enclose so tiny an angle. The wise man gave the only true rule about wrong-doing, when he said, "Enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away." {Pro 4:14-15} And the reason for his rule is that the beginning of sin-like the beginning of strife-"is as when one letteth out water." {Pro 17:14} The proper answer to all abuses of any supposed concession to the lawfulness of bowing in the house of Rimmon-if that be interpreted to mean the doing of anything which our consciences cannot wholly approve-is o bsta principiis - avoid the beginnings of evil. "We are not worst at once; the course of evil Begins so slowly, and from such slight source, An infant’s hand might stem the breach with clay; But let the stream grow wider, and philosophy, Age, and religion too, may strive in vain To stem the headstrong current." The mean cupidity of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, gives a deplorable sequel to the story of the prophet’s magnanimity. This man’s wretched greed did its utmost to nullify the good influence of his master’s example. There may be more wicked acts recorded in Scripture than that of Gehazi, but there is scarcely one which shows so paltry a disposition. He had heard the conversation between his master and the Syrian marshal, and his cunning heart despised as a futile sentimentality the magnanimity which had refused an eagerly proffered reward. Naaman was rich: he had received a priceless boon; it would be rather a pleasure to him than otherwise to return for it some acknowledgment which he would not miss. Had he not even seemed a little hurt by Elisha’s refusal to receive it? What possible harm could there be in taking what he was anxious to give? And how useful those magnificent presents would be, and to what excellent uses could they be put! He could not approve of the fantastic and unpractical scrupulosity which had led Elisha to refuse the "blessing" which he had so richly earned. Such attitudes of unworldliness seemed entirely foolish to Gehazi. So pleaded the Judas-spirit within the man. By such specious delusions he inflamed his own covetousness, and fostered the evil temptation which had taken sudden and powerful hold upon his heart, until it took shape in a wicked resolve. The mischief of Elisha’s quixotic refusal was done, but it could be speedily undone, and no one would be the worse. The evil spirit was whispering to Gehazi: "Be mine and Sin’s for one short hour; and then Be all thy life the happiest man of men." "Behold," he said, with some contempt both for Elisha and for Naaman, "my master hath let off this Naaman the Syrian; but as the Lord liveth I will run after him, and take somewhat of him." "As the Lord liveth!" It had been a favorite appeal of Elijah and Elisha, and the use of it by Gehazi shows how utterly meaningless and how very dangerous such solemn words become when they are degraded into formulae. It is thus that the habit of swearing begins. The light use of holy words very soon leads to their utter degradation. How keen is the satire in Cowper’s little story:- "A Persian, humble servant of the sun, Who, though devout, yet bigotry had none, Hearing a lawyer, grave in his address, With adjurations every word impress. Supposed the man a bishop, or, at least, God’s Name so often on his lips-a priest. Bowed at the close with all his gracious airs, And begged an interest in his frequent prayers!" Had Gehazi felt their true meaning-had he realized that on Elisha’s lips they meant something infinitely more real than on his own, he would not have forgotten that in Elisha’s answer to Naaman they had all the validity of an oath, and that he was inflicting on his master a shameful wrong, when he led Naaman to believe that, after so sacred an adjuration, the prophet had frivolously changed his mind. Gehazi-had not very far to run, for in a country full of hills, and of which the roads are rough, horses and chariots advance but slowly. Naaman, chancing to glance backwards, saw the prophet’s attendant running after him. Anticipating that he must be the bearer of some message from Elisha, he not only halted the cavalcade, but sprang down from his chariot, and went to meet him with the anxious question, "Is all well?" "Well," answered Gehazi; and then had ready his cunning lie. "Two youths," he said, "of the prophetic schools had just unexpectedly come to his master from the hill country of Ephraim; and though he would accept nothing for himself, Elisha would be glad if Naaman would spare him two changes of garments, and one talent of silver for these poor members of a sacred calling." Naaman must have been a little more or a little less than human if he did not feel a touch of disappointment on hearing this message. The gift was nothing to him. It was a delight to him to give it, if only to lighten a little the burden of gratitude which he felt towards his benefactor. But if he had felt elevated by the magnanimous example of Elisha’s disinterestedness, he must have thought that this hasty request pointed to a little regret on the prophet’s part for his noble self-denial. After all, then, even prophets were but men, and gold after all was gold! The change of mind about the gift brought Elisha a little nearer the ordinary level of humanity, and, so far, it acted as a sort of disenchantment from the high ideal exhibited by his former refusal. And so Naaman said, with alacrity, "Be content: take two talents." The fact that Gehazi’s conduct thus inevitably compromised his master, and undid the effects of his example, is part of the measure of the man’s apostasy. It showed how false and hypocritical was his position, how unworthy he was to be the ministering servant of a prophet. Elisha was evidently deceived in the man altogether. The heinousness of his guilt lies in the words c orruptio optimi pessima . When religion is used for a cloak of covetousness, of usurping ambition, of secret immorality, it becomes deadlier than infidelity. Men raze the sanctuary, and build their idol temples, on the hallowed ground. They cover their base encroachments and impure designs with the "cloke of profession, doubly lined with the fox-fur of hypocrisy," and hide the leprosy which is breaking out upon their foreheads with the golden petalon on which is inscribed the title of "holiness to the Lord." At first Gehazi did not like to take so large a sum as two talents; but the crime was already committed, and there was not much more harm done in taking two talents than in taking one. Naaman urged him, and it is very improbable that, unless the chances of detection weighed with him, he needed much urging. So the Syrian weighed out silver ingots to the amount of two talents, and putting them in two satchels laid them on two of his servants and told them to carry the money before Gehazi to Elisha’s house. But Gehazi had to keep a look-out lest his nefarious dealings should be observed, and when they came to Ophel-the word means the foot of the hill of Samaria, or some part of the fortifications-he took the bags from the two Syrians, dismissed them, and carried the money to some place where he could conceal it in the house. Then as though nothing had happened, with his usual smooth face of sanctimonious integrity, the pious Jesuit went and stood before his master. He had not been unnoticed! His heart must have sunk within him when there smote upon his ear Elisha’s question, - "Whence comest thou, Gehazi?" But one lie is as easy as another, and Gehazi was doubtless an adept at lying. "Thy servant were no whither," he replied, with an air of innocent surprise. "Went not my beloved one?" said Elisha-and he must have said it with a groan, as he thought how utterly unworthy the youth, whom he thus called "my loving heart" or "my dear friend,"-"when the man turned from his chariot to meet thee?" It may be that from the hill of Samaria Elisha had seen it all, or that he had been told by one who had seen it. If not, he had been rightly led to read the secret of his servant’s guilt. "Is it a time," he asked, "to act thus?" Did not my example show thee that there was a high object in refusing this Syrian’s gifts, and in leading him to feel that the servants of Jehovah do His bidding with no afterthought of sordid considerations? Are there not enough troubles about us actual and impending to show that this is no time for the accumulation of earthly treasures? Is it a time to receive money-and all that money will procure? To receive garments, and olive-yards and vineyards, and oxen, and menservants and maid-servants? Has a prophet no higher aim than the accumulation of earthly goods, and are his needs such as earthly goods can supply? And hast thou, the daily friend and attendant of a prophet, learnt so little from his precepts and his example? Then followed the tremendous penalty for so grievous a transgression-a transgression made up of meanness, irreverence, greed, cheating, treachery, and lies. "The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever! Oh heavy talents of Gehazi!" exclaims Bishop Hall: "Oh the horror of the one unchangeable suit! How much better had been a light purse anal a homely coat, with a sound body and a clean soul!" "And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow." {Exo 4:6 Num 12:10} It is the characteristic of the leprous taint in the system to be thus suddenly developed, and apparently in crises of sudden and overpowering emotion it might affect the whole blood. And one of the many morals which lie in Gehazi’s story is again that moral to which the world’s whole experience sets its seal-that though the guilty soul may sell itself for a desired price, the sum-total of that price is naught. It is Achan’s ingots buried under the sod on which stood his tent. It is Naboth’s vineyard made abhorrent to Ahab on the day he entered it. It is the thirty pieces of silver which Judas dashed with a shriek upon the Temple floor. It is Gehazi’s leprosy for which no silver talents or changes of raiment could atone. The story of Gehazi-of the son of the prophets who would naturally have succeeded Elisha as Elisha had succeeded Elijah-must have had a tremendous significance to warn the members of the prophetic schools from the peril of covetousness. That peril, as all history proves to us, is one from which popes and priests, monks, and even nominally ascetic and nominally pauper communities, have never been exempt; -to which, it may even be said that they have been peculiarly liable. Mercenariness and falsity, displayed under the pretence of religion, were never more overwhelmingly rebuked. Yet as the Rabbis said, it would have been better if Elisha, in repelling with the left hand, had also drawn with the right. The fine story of Elisha and Naaman, and the fall and punishment of Gehazi, is followed by one of the anecdotes of the prophet’s life which appears to our unsophisticated, perhaps to our imperfectly enlightened judgment, to rise but little above the ecclesiastical portents related in mediaeval hagiologies. At some unnamed place-perhaps Jericho-the house of the Sons of the Prophets had become too small for their numbers and requirements, and they asked Elisha’s leave to go down to the Jordan and cut beams to make a new residence. Elisha gave them leave, and at their request consented to go with them. While they were hewing, the axe-head of one of them fell into the water, and he cried out, "Alas! master, it was borrowed!" Elisha ascertained where it had fallen. He then cut down a stick, and cast it on the spot, and the iron swam and the man recovered it. The story is perhaps an imaginative reproduction of some unwonted incident. At any rate, we have no sufficient evidence to prove that it may not be so. It is wholly unlike the economy invariably shown in the Scripture narratives which tell us of the exercise of supernatural power. All the eternal laws of nature are here superseded at a word, as though it were an everyday matter, without even any recorded invocation of Jehovah, to restore an axe-head, which could obviously have been recovered or resupplied in some much less stupendous way than by making, iron swim on the surface of a swift-flowing river. It is easy to invent conventional and a priori apologies to show that religion demands the unquestioning acceptance of this prodigy, and that a man must be shockingly wicked who does not feel certain that it happened exactly in the literal sense; but whether the doubt or the defense be morally worthier, is a thing which God alone can judge. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.