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2 Kings 5

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Naaman the Syrian Seeks Healing 1–8

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
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. ​
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.
4
And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.
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. ​
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. ​
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. ​
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. ​

Elisha Commands Naaman to Wash in the Jordan 9–14

9
So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
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. ​
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. ​
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. ​
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?
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. ​

Naaman Confesses Faith in the LORD 15–19

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. ​
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. ​
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. ​
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.
19
And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.

Gehazi’s Greed and Punishment 20–27

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. ​
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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? ​
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. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 2 Kings 5

Verse 1

but he was a leper — Naaman is ‘a great man’ and ‘honourable’, and the verse ends on tsara’, leprous. He is a Syrian whom the LORD had used to give ‘deliverance unto Syria’. Christ names him: ‘many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian’ (Luke 4:27).

Verse 2

a little maid — The captive girl, taken in a raid ‘by companies’, is never named. ‘Little maid’ is na’arah qetannah; the same pair of words, in the masculine, returns in v.14 when Naaman’s flesh comes again ‘like unto the flesh of a little child’ (na’ar qatan).

Verse 5

ten talents of silver — With the king’s letter Naaman takes ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold and ten ‘changes of raiment’ (chalifah). The same word appears in v.22, where Gehazi asks for ‘a talent of silver, and two changes of garments’.

Verse 6

that thou mayest recover him — The letter asks the king of Israel to ‘recover’ (asaph, to gather in) Naaman of his leprosy, the verb the maid used of the prophet in v.3. It is also the verb for taking a leper back, as when Miriam was ‘received in again’ after seven days outside the camp (Num 12:14).

Verse 7

Am I God, to kill and to make alive? — The king’s words are those the LORD uses of himself: ‘I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal’ (Deut 32:39; cf. 1 Sam 2:6). He is right that the cure is not his to give, but he does not turn to the prophet in his own land (v.8).

Verse 8

a prophet in Israel — Elisha asks why the king has rent his clothes and asks that Naaman be sent: ‘he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.’ Naaman’s own confession in v.15 goes further: ‘there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel’.

Verse 10

wash in Jordan seven times — Elisha sends a messenger, and the promise is ‘thou shalt be clean’ (taher), the word a priest used when pronouncing a leper clean, in a rite that included sprinkling ‘seven times’ (Lev 14:7). ‘Thy flesh shall come again to thee’ is what v.14 reports.

Verse 11

strike his hand over the place — Nuph, to move to and fro. Naaman had pictured the prophet coming out, standing, calling on the name of the LORD and moving his hand over the diseased place. What he received was a message by a servant (v.10), and he ‘was wroth’.

Verse 12

Abana and Pharpar — Naaman names the rivers of Damascus, which he judges ‘better than all the waters of Israel’, and goes away ‘in a rage’ (chemah, heat, fury). His servants answer, ‘My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?’ (v.13).

Verse 14

dipped himself seven times — Tabal, to dip, the verb for the dipping in the cleansing of a leper (Lev 14:6, 16). Naaman acts ‘according to the saying of the man of God’, and his flesh comes again like that of ‘a little child’ (na’ar qatan), the pair of words used of the captive girl in v.2.

Verse 15

there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel — Naaman returns and ‘stood before him’ to confess. It matches what Moses told Israel, ‘the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him’ (Deut 4:35). The ‘blessing’ he offers (berakah) is a gift, as in Gen 33:11: ‘Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee.’

Verse 16

I will receive none — Elisha swears by the oath he used in 3:14, ‘As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand’. Naaman ‘urged’ him (patsar), as Jacob urged Esau (Gen 33:11), and he ‘refused’. Christ gave the principle to the twelve: ‘freely ye have received, freely give’ (Matt 10:8).

Verse 17

two mules’ burden of earth — The text does not say why Naaman wants the earth. The law given at Sinai said, ‘An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me’ (Ex 20:24). His vow is that he will offer ‘neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD’.

Verse 20

hath spared Naaman — Chasak, to restrain or hold back: Gehazi says his master has kept Naaman from giving what he brought. He then swears ‘as the LORD liveth’, the oath Elisha swore in v.16 when he refused, and uses it to plan the taking of ‘somewhat of him’.

Verse 26

Went not mine heart with thee — Elisha tells Gehazi what passed at the chariot. His list, ‘money… garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants’, is longer than what Gehazi asked in v.22. Peter told Simon, ‘thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money’ (Acts 8:20).

Verse 27

as white as snow — The leprosy ‘shall cleave’ (dabaq, to cling) to Gehazi and his seed ‘for ever’, and he goes out ‘a leper as white as snow’, as Miriam was (Num 12:10) and as Moses’ hand was when the LORD gave him a sign (Ex 4:6).