1 Now Naaman, chief of the army of the king of Aram, was a man of high position with his master, and greatly respected, because by him the Lord had given salvation to Aram; but he was a leper.
2 Now the Aramaeans had gone out in bands, and taken prisoner from Israel a little girl, who became servant to Naaman's wife.
3 And she said to her master's wife, If only my lord would go to the prophet in Samaria, he would make him well.
4 And someone went and said to his lord, This is what the girl from the land of Israel says.
5 So the king of Aram said, Go then; and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he went, taking with him ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
6 And he took the letter to the king of Israel, in which the king of Aram had said, See, I have sent my servant Naaman to you to be made well, for he is a leper.
7 But the king of Israel, after reading the letter, was greatly troubled and said, Am I God, to give death and life? why does this man send a leper to me to be made well? is it not clear that he is looking for a cause of war?
8 Now Elisha, the man of God, hearing that the king of Israel had done this, sent to the king, saying, Why are you troubled? send the man to me, so that he may see that there is a prophet in Israel.
9 So Naaman, with all his horses and his carriages, came to the door of Elisha's house.
10 And Elisha sent a servant to him, saying, Go to Jordan, and after washing seven times in its waters your flesh will be well again and you will be clean.
11 But Naaman was angry and went away and said, I had the idea that he would come out to see such an important person as I am, and make prayer to the Lord his God, and with a wave of his hand over the place make the leper well.
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not be washed in them and become clean? So turning, he went away in wrath.
13 Then his servants came to him and said, If the prophet had given you orders to do some great thing, would you not have done it? how much more then, when he says to you, Be washed and become clean?
14 Then he went down seven times into the waters of Jordan, as the man of God had said; and his flesh became like the flesh of a little child again, and he was clean.
15 Then he went back to the man of God, with all his train, and, taking his place before him, said, Now I am certain that there is no God in all the earth, but only in Israel: now then, take an offering from me.
16 But he said, By the life of the Lord whose servant I am, I will take nothing from you. And he did his best to make him take it but he would not.
17 Then Naaman said, If you will not, then let there be given to your servant as much earth as two beasts are able to take on their backs; because from now on, your servant will make no offering or burned offering to other gods, but only to the Lord.
18 But may your servant have the Lord's forgiveness for this one thing: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon for worship there, supported on my arm, and my head is bent in the house of Rimmon; when his head is bent in the house of Rimmon, may your servant have the Lord's forgiveness for this thing.
19 And he said to him, Go in peace. And he went from him some distance.
20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Now my master has taken nothing from Naaman, this Aramaean, of what he would have given him: by the living Lord, I will go after him and get something from him.
21 So Gehazi went after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from his carriage and went back to him and said, Is all well?
22 And he said, All is well: but my master has sent me, saying, Even now, two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill-country of Ephraim; will you give me a talent of silver and two changes of clothing for them?
23 And Naaman said, Be good enough to take two talents. And forcing him to take them, he put two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and gave them to his two servants to take before him.
24 When he came to the hill, he took them from their hands, and put them away in the house; and he sent the men away, and they went.
25 Then he came in and took his place before his master. And Elisha said to him, Where have you come from, Gehazi? And he said, Your servant went nowhere.
26 And he said to him, Did not my heart go with you, when the man got down from his carriage and went back to you? Is this a time for getting money, and clothing, and olive-gardens and vine-gardens, and sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants?
27 Because of what you have done, the disease of Naaman the leper will take you in its grip, and your seed after you, for ever. And he went out from before him a leper as white as snow.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Kings 5
Commentary on 2 Kings 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
2Ki 5:1-7. Naaman's Leprosy.
1. Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master—highly esteemed for his military character and success.
and honourable—rather, "very rich."
but he was a leper—This leprosy, which, in Israel, would have excluded him from society, did not affect his free intercourse in the court of Syria.
2-5. a little maid—who had been captured in one of the many predatory incursions which were then made by the Syrians on the northern border of Israel (see 1Sa 30:8; 2Ki 13:21; 24:2). By this young Hebrew slave of his wife, Naaman's attention was directed to the prophet of Israel, as the person who would remove his leprosy. Naaman, on communicating the matter to his royal master, was immediately furnished with a letter to the king of Israel, and set out for Samaria, carrying with him, as an indispensable preliminary in the East, very costly presents.
5. ten talents of silver—£3421; 6000 shekels of gold; a large sum of uncertain value.
ten changes of raiment—splendid dresses, for festive occasions—the honor being thought to consist not only in the beauty and fineness of the material, but on having a variety to put on one after another, in the same night.
7. when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes—According to an ancient practice among the Eastern people, the main object only was stated in the letter that was carried by the party concerned, while other circumstances were left to be explained at the interview. This explains Jehoram's burst of emotion—not horror at supposed blasphemy, but alarm and suspicion that this was merely made an occasion for a quarrel. Such a prince as he was would not readily think of Elisha, or, perhaps, have heard of his miraculous deeds.
2Ki 5:8-15. Elisha Sends Him to Jordan, and He Is Healed.
8-12. when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, … let him come now to me—This was the grand and ultimate object to which, in the providence of God, the journey of Naaman was subservient. When the Syrian general, with his imposing retinue, arrived at the prophet's house, Elisha sent him a message to "go and wash in Jordan seven times." This apparently rude reception to a foreigner of so high dignity incensed Naaman to such a degree that he resolved to depart, scornfully boasting that the rivers of Damascus were better than all the waters of Israel.
11. strike his hand over the place—that is, wave it over the diseased parts of his body. It was anciently, and still continues to be, a very prevalent superstition in the East that the hand of a king, or person of great reputed sanctity, touching, or waved over a sore, will heal it.
12. Abana and Pharpar—the Barrady and one of its five tributaries—uncertain which. The waters of Damascus are still highly extolled by their inhabitants for their purity and coldness.
14. Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan—Persuaded by his calmer and more reflecting attendants to try a method so simple and easy, he followed their instructions, and was cured. The cure was performed on the basis of God's covenant with Israel, by which the land, and all pertaining to it, was blessed. Seven was the symbol of the covenant [Keil].
2Ki 5:15-19. Elisha Refuses Naaman's Gifts.
15, 16. he returned to the man of God—After the miraculous cure, Naaman returned to Elisha, to whom he acknowledged his full belief in the sole supremacy of the God of Israel and offered him a liberal reward. But to show that he was not actuated by the mercenary motives of the heathen priests and prophets, Elisha, though he accepted presents on other occasions (2Ki 4:42), respectfully but firmly declined them on this, being desirous that the Syrians should see the piety of God's servants, and their superiority to all worldly and selfish motives in promoting the honor of God and the interests of true religion.
17. two mules' burden of earth—with which to make an altar (Ex 20:24) to the God of Israel. What his motive or his purpose was in this proposal—whether he thought that God could be acceptably worshipped only on his own soil; or whether he wished, when far away from the Jordan, to have the earth of Palestine to rub himself with, which the Orientals use as a substitute for water; or whether, by making such a request of Elisha, he thought the prophet's grant of it would impart some virtue; or whether, like the modern Jews and Mohammedans, he resolved to have a portion of this holy earth for his nightly pillow—it is not easy to say. It is not strange to find such notions in so newly a converted heathen.
18. goeth into the house of Rimmon—a Syrian deity; probably the sun, or the planetary system, of which a pomegranate (Hebrew, Rimmon) was the symbol.
leaneth on my hand—that is, meaning the service which Naaman rendered as the attendant of his sovereign. Elisha's prophetic commission not extending to any but the conversion of Israel from idolatry, he makes no remark, either approving or disapproving, on the declared course of Naaman, but simply gives the parting benediction (2Ki 5:19).
2Ki 5:20-27. Gehazi, by a Lie, Obtains a Present, but Is Smitten with Leprosy.
20-25. I will run after him, and take somewhat of him—The respectful courtesy to Elisha, shown in the person of his servant, and the open-handed liberality of his gifts, attest the fulness of Naaman's gratitude; while the lie—the artful management is dismissing the bearers of the treasure, and the deceitful appearance before his master, as if he had not left the house—give a most unfavorable impression of Gehazi's character.
23. in two bags—People in the East, when travelling, have their money, in certain sums, put up in bags.
27. leper as white as snow—(See on Le 13:3). This heavy infliction was not too severe for the crime of Gehazi. For it was not the covetousness alone that was punished; but, at the same time, it was the ill use made of the prophet's name to gain an object prompted by a mean covetousness, and the attempt to conceal it by lying [Keil].