2 Kings 5:9 - Meaning and Application

Here we have the healing of Naaman’s leprosy.

First, consider the brief and straightforward direction the prophet gave him, along with the promise of success. Naaman had come in his chariot, with all his attendants, hoping to honor Elisha when he reached the prophet’s door (2 Kings 5:9). People who show little respect for God’s prophets at other times can become very polite when they need help from them. He waited at Elisha’s door like a beggar asking for food or money.

Anyone who wants to be cleansed from the leprosy of sin must wait at Wisdom’s gate and stay at her doors. Naaman expected his respect to be returned, but Elisha answered him without ceremony. He did not even come to the door, partly so he would not seem to take pleasure in the honor shown to him, and instead sent a messenger with this message: “Go wash in the Jordan River seven times, and you will be clean.” The promise was plain: “You will be clean.” The command was plain too: “Go wash in the Jordan.”

This was not meant as the actual cause of the healing. Cold bathing is often praised as healthy, but some think it would have been harmful in the case of leprosy. Rather, it was a sign of the healing and a test of Naaman’s obedience. Those who want God’s help must do what he tells them. Elisha may have sent a messenger for one of two reasons: either he was at that time withdrawn for prayer and did not want to be interrupted, or he knew Naaman was proud and wanted to show him that all people stand on the same level before the great God.

Next, see Naaman’s irritation with the method prescribed, because it was not what he expected. Two things upset him. First, he thought Elisha had slighted his person by sending a servant with the message instead of coming himself (2 Kings 5:11). Naaman had been imagining how the cure would happen. He thought, “He will surely come out to me. That is the least he can do for me, a man of Syria’s rank, especially one who has come in such state, and one who has often won victories over Israel. He will stand, call on the name of his God, name me in prayer, wave his hand over the place, and then heal me.”

Because the thing did not happen in exactly that way, he flew into a rage. In doing so, he forgot two things. First, he was a leper, and the law of Moses, which Elisha would honor, shut lepers out from society. As a leper, he should not have been insisting on matters of ceremony and honor. Many people keep proud hearts even while God is humbling them (Numbers 12:14). Second, he was only a petitioner asking for a favor he had no right to demand. Beggars do not get to choose, and patients do not prescribe the medicine. In Naaman we see the folly of pride. He would not be satisfied with a cure unless it came with ceremony, with great display. He scorned being healed unless he was also flattered.

The second thing that offended him was that he thought Elisha slighted his country. He was angry that he had been told to wash in the Jordan, a river in Israel, when he believed Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, were better than all Israel’s waters. He speaks very grandly of those two rivers that watered Damascus, which later joined into one stream called by some writers Chrysoroas, meaning “the golden stream.” He speaks very poorly of Israel’s waters, even though God had called the land of Israel the glory of all lands, and had especially blessed it with streams and water (Deuteronomy 8:7).

How common it is for God and man to judge differently. Naaman also spoke lightly of the prophet’s command: “Could I not wash in them and be clean?” He could wash in them and get clean from dirt, but not from leprosy. He was angry that the prophet told him to wash and be clean. He seems to have thought the prophet should do everything, and he did not like being told to do anything himself. Or perhaps he thought the thing too cheap, too simple, and too ordinary for a cure of such importance. Or he did not believe it would work at all. Or, if it would work, he saw no reason why Jordan should have any healing power that the rivers of Damascus did not.

But he failed to consider three things. First, Jordan belonged to Israel’s God, and it was from him, not from Damascus’s gods, that the healing should come. Jordan watered the Lord’s land, the holy land. In a miracle, a river’s relation to God matters much more than the depth of its bed or the beauty of its flow. Second, Jordan had already obeyed the command of almighty power more than once. Long ago it had made way for Israel, and more recently it had been used in the ministries of Elijah and Elisha. It was therefore more fitting for this purpose than rivers that had only followed the ordinary law of their creation and had never been honored in this way. Above all, third, Jordan was the river appointed by God. If Naaman expected a healing from divine power, he ought to accept divine will without asking why.

It is common for people who are wise in their own eyes to look down on God’s instructions and prefer their own ideas. Those who try to establish their own righteousness will not submit to God’s righteousness (Romans 10:3). Naaman became so angry, as passionate people often do, that he turned from the prophet’s door in a rage, ready to swear he would never have anything more to do with Elisha. But who would really lose if he walked away? Those who cling to false hopes turn away from their own mercy (Jonah 2:8). Proud people are often their own worst enemies, and they give up the very rescue they need.

Third, notice the modest advice his servants gave him, along with their quiet rebuke of his anger (2 Kings 5:13). They usually kept their distance, but now that they saw him in a fit of rage, they drew near. They knew he was a man who would listen to reason at any time, and from anyone, which is a good quality in a great man, though a rare one. They gently urged him to think it over: if the prophet had asked him to do something great, if he had ordered a long and painful treatment, or some hard operation like blistering, cupping, or bleeding, would he not have done it? Of course he would. Then why would he refuse such an easy thing as this, to wash and be clean?

It is worth noticing that his own servants gave him this counsel. That was no greater disgrace to him than the fact that he had first heard of the one who could cure him from his wife’s maid (2 Kings 5:3). It is a great mercy to have people near us who are willing to speak plainly and tell us our faults, even when they are beneath us in rank. Masters should be ready to hear reason from their servants, as Job says (Job 31:13, Job 31:14).

We should ignore the advice of the ungodly, even when it comes from the greatest and most respected people. At the same time, we should listen to good counsel, even when it comes from people who seem far below us. What matters is not who speaks, but whether the advice is right.

The servants’ correction was also very modest and respectful. They called Naaman “father,” because servants should honor and obey their master with a kind of family affection. When we correct or advise someone, we should show that our words come from love and true respect. Our goal should be reform, not shame.

Their counsel was also wise and thoughtful. If these plain, unthinking servants had stirred up their master’s anger and helped him take revenge on the prophet, who he thought had insulted him, the result could have been disastrous. The fire of God’s judgment might have fallen on them all. Instead, to our surprise, they stood with the prophet.

Elisha likely saw that his words had upset Naaman, but he did not try to calm his anger. Naaman would have to face the danger of staying enraged. But God used his servants to bring him back to reason. They appealed to him first from his strong desire to be healed: would he not do whatever was needed? When suffering sinners reach the point where they are ready to do anything, submit to anything, and give up anything for healing, there is real hope for them. They are then willing to receive Christ on Christ’s terms.

They also argued from how simple the command was: “Wash and be clean.” It was only an experiment, and a cheap one at that. It could do no harm and might do great good. The ways God gives for healing the disease of sin are so plain that we have no excuse for refusing them. It is simply, “Believe, and be saved,” “Repent, and be pardoned,” “Wash, and be clean.”

Naaman finally gave in and tried the command, though it seems he did so with little faith or resolve. Elisha had told him to wash in the Jordan seven times, but Naaman only dipped himself that many times as lightly as he could. Even so, God chose to honor himself and his word by making the remedy work. His flesh was restored like the flesh of a child, to his great amazement and joy.

This is what people gain by submitting to God’s will and following his appointed ways. Naaman’s cleansing by washing gave honor to the law for cleansing lepers. God will display the greatness of his word above every other name.