2 Kings 5:12 — Meaning and Application

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.

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. {I thought: Heb. I said} {I thought...: or, I said with myself, He will surely come out, etc: Heb. I said} {strike: Heb. move up and down}

{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. {Abana: or, Amana}

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?

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.