〉 Chapter 20—Captain Naaman Healed of Leprosy
Chapter 20—Captain Naaman Healed of Leprosy
This chapter is based on 2 Kings 5. (SS 132)
“Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.” RSV. (SS 132.1)
Ben-hadad, king of Syria, had defeated Israel in the battle which resulted in the death of Ahab. Since that time the Syrians had maintained against Israel a constant border warfare, and in one of their raids had carried away a little maid who, in the land of her captivity, “waited on Naaman’s wife.” A slave, far from her home, this little maid was one of God’s witnesses, fulfilling the purpose for which God had chosen Israel as His people. In that heathen home, her sympathies were aroused in behalf of her master, and, remembering the wonderful miracles of healing wrought through Elisha, she said to her mistress, “Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.” Verse 3. She believed that by the power of Heaven Naaman could be healed. (SS 132.2)
The conduct of the captive maid in that heathen home is a strong witness to the power of early home training. There is no higher trust than that committed to fathers and mothers in the care and training of their children. (SS 132.3)
Happy are the parents whose lives reflect the divine, so that the promises and commands of God awaken in the child gratitude and reverence, parents whose tenderness and justice and long-suffering interpret to the child the love and justice and long-suffering of God, and who teach the child to love and trust and obey his Father in heaven. They endow him with a treasure as enduring as eternity. (SS 132.4)
Our children may spend their lives in common vocations, but all are called to be ministers of mercy to the world. They are to stand by the side of Christ in unselfish service. (SS 133.1)
Naaman heard of the words that the maid had spoken to her mistress, and, obtaining permission from the king, went forth to seek healing, taking “ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.” He also carried a letter from the king of Syria to the king of Israel: “I have ... sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.” (SS 133.2)
When the king of Israel read the letter, “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.” (SS 133.3)
Tidings of the matter reached Elisha, and he sent word to the king: “Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” (SS 133.4)
“So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.” Through a messenger the prophet told him, “Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.” (SS 133.5)
Naaman had expected to see some wonderful manifestation of power from heaven. “I thought,” he said, “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.” When told to wash in the Jordan, his pride was touched: “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.” (SS 133.6)
The rivers mentioned by Naaman were beautified by surrounding groves, and many flocked to the banks of these pleasant streams to worship their idol gods. It would have cost Naaman no humiliation of soul to descend into one of those streams. But only through following the specific directions of the prophet could he find healing. (SS 134.1)
Naaman’s servants urged him to carry out Elisha’s directions: “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?” The haughty Syrian yielded his pride and seven times dipped himself in Jordan, “according to the saying of the man of God.” And his faith was honored: “His flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” (SS 134.2)
Gratefully “he returned to the man of God, he and all his company,” with the acknowledgment, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.” (SS 134.3)
In accordance with custom, Naaman asked Elisha to accept a costly present. But the prophet refused. It was not for him to take payment for a blessing that God had bestowed. “So he departed from him.” (SS 134.4)
Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, had had opportunity to develop the spirit of self-denial characterizing his master’s lifework. The best gifts of Heaven had long been within his reach; yet, turning from these, he had coveted instead worldly wealth. And now the hidden longings of his avaricious spirit led him to yield to an overmastering temptation. “My master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: ... I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.” In secrecy “Gehazi followed after Naaman.” (SS 134.5)
“When Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? And he said, All is well.” Then Gehazi uttered a deliberate lie. “My master,” he said, “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.” To the request Naaman gladly acceded, pressing upon Gehazi two talents of silver instead of one, “with two changes of garments,” and commissioning servants to bear the treasure back. (SS 135.1)
As Gehazi neared Elisha’s home, he dismissed the servants and placed the silver and the garments in hiding. This accomplished, “he went in, and stood before his master.” In response to the inquiry, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” he answered, “Your servant went nowhere.” RSV. (SS 135.2)
Elisha knew all. “Did I not go with you in spirit,” he asked, “when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, menservants and maidservants? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you, and to your descendants forever.” Swift was the retribution that overtook the guilty man. He went out from Elisha’s presence, “a leper, as white as snow.” RSV. (SS 135.3)
Solemn are the lessons taught by this experience. Gehazi placed a stumbling block in the pathway of Naaman, upon whose mind had broken a wonderful light and who was favorably disposed toward the service of the living God. For the deception practiced, there could be no excuse. To the day of his death Gehazi remained a leper. (SS 135.4)
“A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.” Proverbs 19:5. “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Hebrews 4:13. God revealed to His prophet every detail of the scene between Gehazi and Naaman. (SS 135.5)
Truth is of God; deception in all its forms is of Satan, and whoever in any way departs from the straight line of truth is betraying himself into the power of the wicked one. Those who have learned of Christ will be straightforward and true, for they are preparing for the fellowship of those holy ones in whose mouth is found no guile. See Revelation 14:5. (SS 136.1)
Naaman’s wonderful faith was commended by the Saviour as an object lesson. “There were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha,” the Saviour declared; “and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” Luke 4:27, RSV. God passed over many lepers in Israel because their unbelief closed the door to them. A heathen nobleman who had been true to his convictions of right was in the sight of God more worthy of His blessing than the afflicted in Israel who had despised their God-given privileges. God works for those who appreciate His favors and respond to the light given them from heaven. (SS 136.2)
If those who are honest in heart follow what they understand to be duty, they will be given increased light, until, like Naaman, they will acknowledge that “there is no God in all the earth,” save the living God, the Creator. (SS 136.3)