Bible Commentaries

Now Naaman Was a Leper, But—

2 Kings 5:1

As a rule our interest in the story of Naaman centres round the dramatic incident of his healing in the waters of Jordan. Looking at the story as a whole, and seeing it in its true perspective, it is inevitable that this should be the case. But I am going to ask you to look at the history of Naaman from another point of view. What can we gather from the story of Naaman's life before there came into it the whisper of hope through the lips of the little captive girl—his wife's lady's maid? Leprosy, the most terrible disease of the East, had developed in him. It had come in a form that did not involve exclusion from society. It was the white leprosy, which is one of the most slowly developing forms of the disease. In this particular form the leprosy is all under the skin, and the disease, which may run its course for more than twenty years, results in the end in an utter absence of feeling—unless it changes its form in the later stages and becomes virulent and loathsome. It is possible that Naaman had been suffering from this incurable disease for a number of years before the light of hope broke into his life. Assuming this to be 2 Kings 5:1

It is said that there is a crook in every lot. A wise divine of a good many generations ago has written a very large book to prove that this must be and is so.

I. The Imperfection of the Human Lot.—Holy Scripture brings to us many reminders of the imperfection of the human lot. There was Eve planted down in the Garden of Eden under circumstances which might have seemed of the most consummate felicity. She was not, however, altogether happy, for there was one tree the fruit of which she might not pick. There was Rachael, beyond question one of the sweetest and most charming figures in all Scripture history—and yet so long childless, the saddest sorrow that could fall upon women of her race. There was 2 Kings 5:1-4

The name of the architect of the fine cathedral at Chartres is unknown, and most of the artists, in stone and colour, wrought with the same anonymous humility. Although they knew much of their work was to be hidden in the shadow of a cavern, they finished it with exquisite care. "What artists must they have been to work thus for the glory of God, and for their own satisfaction, creating marvels while knowing that no man would see them."

There is a tradition (idyllized by Browning) connected with the battle of Marathon, that a peasant fought with great prowess on the side of the Greeks, using a ploughshare as weapon. When the battle was over he was nowhere to be seen, nor would the oracle divulge anything beyond this:—

Care for no name at all!

Say but just this: We praise one helpful whom we call

The Holder of the Ploughshare! The great deed ne"er grows small.

References.—V:1.—R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons (3Series), p186. R. W. Hiley, A Year's Sermons, vol. ii. p126. H. Hensley Henson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxiv1903 , p169. W. J. Woods, Outlines of Sermons on the Old Testament, p74. V:1-19.—C. Perren, Revival Sermons in Outline, p139. V:2.—T. Sadler, Sermons for Children, p24. V:2 , 3.—A. G. Mortimer, The Church's Lessons for the Christian Year, part iv. p197. Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxxiv1908 , p51.

The Maid of Israel

2 Kings 5:4

From this well-known story we may learn valuable lessons about God's dealings, and about the mutual duties and feelings that different classes of people owe to one another.

I. How Wonderfully God Works for the Good of the World.—A little maid is carried captive, and Naaman is thereby healed and brought to the knowledge of the true God. God's Word has often had free course and been glorified by means of the captivity of its preachers. The captivities of the Jews did a great deal to spread the knowledge of God in the world. Joseph did a great deal of good in a prison, so did St. Paul, so did John Bunyan, and many more. "The Word of God is not bound!" It would be endless to try to show in what strange ways God brings about people's good. How can we pretend to understand them? If you go into a factory, at what pains must the manager or foreman be to explain to you the steps by which the web of cloth, or sheet of paper, or a common dish is made ready for the market. And after all, you likely come away with a very defective knowledge of it. But you know that somehow the thing is done, and that it needs a great many processes that you would never have thought of, to get it done. "Trust also in God, and He will bring it to pass."

II. Gather Some Lessons from the Part which the Maid Plays Here.

(a) She does not harbour grudges against her captors. Render good for evil.

(b) She interests herself in the good of her master. She is not content with merely doing her bit of work. People might call her a slave, but she was not really a slave. Her spirit was not slavish. The apprentice, the scholar, the servant girl, are free when they give themselves with a good will to their work. It is not our outward condition, but our own hearts that make us slaves, or free. A gentleman has a nice brook in his estate. It is his; but it is free all the same, for it flows just as it is in its nature to do. He calls the trout in it his; but still they are free, for they are just where they want to be, and swim and hide in it as they choose. "I have learned in whatsoever state I 2 Kings 5:11

I. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. There is no such difference as to make the Divine thought utterly and always unlike and inconceivable. If it were 2 Kings 5:11-12

Following the suggestion of our text, I wish to speak on the commonplace; and I shall cast what I have to say into this shape: First, the dislike of the commonplace is wellnigh universal. Second, there are few things more dangerous than this dislike.

I. The Widespread Irritation at the Commonplace, so clearly manifested in the case of Naaman. I think I need hardly remind you of another Bible story where the same intense dislike makes itself manifest. "Is hot this the carpenter's son? Do we not know His brothers?" It was with such words that the Jews discredited Jesus. Like Naaman they were intensely irritated at the commonplaceness of the Messiah's advent.

Are we not all prone to the same irritation? The fact is we are half-savage at the heart yet, and have never lost the savage delight in glaring colours.

I cannot help thinking that much of men's world-weariness—much of the disappointment that unfolding life brings with it—is connected, by very real yet subtle ties, with this deep-seated vexation at the commonplace. How many avoid the path where the cross lies, who would tread it tomorrow if there were only some glamour there! It may be hard to follow the ark into the deeps of Jordan. Perhaps it is harder to wash in Jordan seven times.

And in our Christian experience are we not also like Naaman, and have we not known something of Naaman's disappointment? I think that many men come to Jesus Christ as this commander of Syria came to the Prophet Elisha. He is a thousand times more willing to cure us of our leprosy than Elisha was to cure that curse of Naaman. But when we come and when we cannot see Him, when we only hear a voice that bids us wash, when instead of great deeds there is dull and dreary service, have not men been moved even against Jesus with the very feeling which animated Naaman? To turn away from Elisha in a rage was a very poor and pitiable thing. But to turn away from Christ Jesus in a rage is the one fatal act of a man's life.

II. There are few things more dangerous than this Dislike.—Let me give you three reasons that make it so perilous to nurse this irritation.

1. The commonplace is the warp and woof of life. It is the material out of which our days are made.

2. Then the commonplace is God's preparation for the great. Simple obedience to a very plain command for us as for Naaman is the path to glorious hours.

3. Then think how Christ insists upon the commonplace. The more I study Christ's life, the more I am impressed by the value that He set upon the ordinary. Whatever Naaman did, it is clear that Jesus of Nazareth never turned away from the commonplace in a rage.

—G. H. Morrison, The Unlighted Lustre, p48.

References.—V:11 , 12.—H. P. Liddon, Sermons on Old Testament Subjects, p255. V:12.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi. Nos297,298. V:13.—Ibid. vol. xv. No892. R. J. Campbell, Sermons Addressed to Individuals, p107. R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons (3Series), p186. V:14.—C. W. Furse, Sermons Preached in Richmond, p273. V:15.—W. Redfern, The Gospel of Redemption, p101. V:15-27.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— 2 Kings 5:20

I. Gehazi is the representative of a certain type of character. As Solomon stands to us for the sage, and Daniel for the righteous 2 Kings 5:26

Ponder the travels of the heart as suggested by this penetrative inquiry of Elisha"s.

I. The Man of God Says this to the Sinner in His Courses.—The man of God must always send forth his heart after the sinner. By God's grace, it may put an arrest upon his wickedness. It will be as a judgment on his guilty courses.

The heart of the man of God should pursue the sinner with indignation. If we hated sin more intensely, we should strive to save sinners more earnestly.

The heart of the man of God should go pitifully towards sinners.

The heart of the man of God should follow sinners with prayer. Can the heart travel in two directions at once? Can it chase the transgressor, and at the same time ascend in supplication to heaven? It can. And herein it reflects the omnipresence of God. Here is another sign that it is made in the image of God.

The heart of the servant of God should follow the sinner with hope. "Despairing of no man" is a New Testament maxim. Every evangelist must be an optimist.

II. The Man of God Says this to Servants of God in their Errands.—The heart of the believer travels after the apostles and prophets of Christ with sympathy.

Our heart should travel with God's servants in consecrated imagination.

Let your heart travel after the servant of God in his service by means of interested reading.

III. The Man of God Says this to Friends Amid their Career.—How wise and good it is to cultivate a travelling heart of sympathy! It was said by one who knew him well that the secret of Bishop Wilberforce's success was "in his power of sympathy". He was the father of the modern bishops. He was eloquent and brilliant. But the master-secret of his influence was sympathy.

IV. The Man of God Says this to Departed Loved Ones.—Project your heart after the departed, and how real and near the better country seems! Moreover, these journeys of the heart prepare us for that grander realm.

V. The Man of God Says this to the Crowned Lord.—No words could better express what we ofttimes cry to the Saviour on His holy seat: "Went not mine heart with Thee?" We travel with Him through His Incarnate life, from the rude manger to the bitter Cross. We travel with Him from "the purple heights of Olivet" to the glowing heights of heaven. Our heart is ever with Him as He pleads His powerful blood at God's right hand.

VI. A Greater than Elisha Says this to Us All.—

The travels of the heart of man are great beyond our estimation. But who can follow the travels of the heart of God?

—Dinsdale T. Young, The Travels of the Heart, p3.

References.—V:27.—J. Raines, Sermons, p186. VI:1.—J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in a Religious House, vol. ii. p365. VI:1 , 2.—W. B. Carpenter, The Anglican Pulpit of To-Day, p157. VI:1-7.—John McNeill, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lviii1900 , p275. VI:3-18.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— 2 Samuel , 1,2Kings, p376. VI:6.—T. Champness, New Coins from Old Gold, p222. J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, vol. iii. p93. VI:15 , 16 , 17.—G. Buchanan Gray, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxv1904 , p387. W. Sinclair, ibid. vol. lxviii1905 , p305. Hall, Contemplations, Book xix. "Contemplation ix." Charles Simeon, Works, vol. iii. p502. Bishop Heber, Sermons Preached in England, pp18,42. H. Blunt on Elisha. Krummacher, Elisha. Canon Liddon, "The Vision Permitted to Elisha's Servant as Illustrative of the True Faith of the Soul," Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i. p1. Liddon, "The Reality of the Invisible," Outlines on Old Testament, p77. J. Parker, "The King Conquered," Expository Sermons and Outlines on Old Testament, p134 , etc. Momerie, "The Supernaturalness of Nature," Origin of Evil, p247.