1Now Naaman, a chief of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man before his master, because by him Jehovah had given deliverance to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. 2And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she was before Naaman's wife. 3And she said to her mistress, If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would take away his leprosy. 4And he went in and told his master, saying, Thus and thus has spoken the girl, who is from the land of Israel. 5And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he departed and took in his hand ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6Then he came to the king of Israel with the letter which said, As this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may take away his leprosy. 7And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to take away his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me. 8So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. 9So Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and stood at the door of Elisha's house. 10And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean. 11But Naaman was furious, and went away and said, Behold I thought He would go forth to come out to me, and would have stood and called upon the name of Jehovah his God, and waved his hand over the place, and taken away the leprosy. 12Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. 13And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, Wash, and be clean? 14So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little boy, and he was clean. 15And 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, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant. 16But he said, As Jehovah lives, before whom I stand, I shall take nothing. And he pressed him to take it, but he refused. 17So Naaman said, Then, if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth; for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but unto Jehovah. 18Yet in this thing may Jehovah pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to bow down there, and he supports himself on my hand, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon; when I bow down in the house of Rimmon, may Jehovah please pardon your servant in this thing. 19And he said to him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a short distance. 20But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as Jehovah lives, I will run after him and take something from him. 21So Gehazi ran after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? 22And he said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Behold, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments. 23And Naaman said, Please, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them before him. 24And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and deposited them in the house; and he sent the men away, and they departed. 25And he went in and stood before his master; and Elisha said to him, Where have you been, Gehazi? And he said, Your servant did not go anywhere. 26Then he said to him, Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? 27Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your seed always. And he went out from his presence leprous as snow.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 NAAMAN'S LEPROSY. (
2Kgs 5:1-7)
Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master--highly esteemed for his military character and success.
and honourable--rather, "very rich."
but he was a leper--This leprosy, which, in Israel, would have excluded him from society, did not affect his free intercourse in the court of Syria.
2 a little maid--who had been captured in one of the many predatory incursions which were then made by the Syrians on the northern border of Israel (see
1Sam 30:8;
2Kgs 13:21;
2Kgs 24:2). By this young Hebrew slave of his wife, Naaman's attention was directed to the prophet of Israel, as the person who would remove his leprosy. Naaman, on communicating the matter to his royal master, was immediately furnished with a letter to the king of Israel, and set out for Samaria, carrying with him, as an indispensable preliminary in the East, very costly presents.
5 ten talents of silver--Ł3421; 6000 shekels of gold; a large sum of uncertain value.
ten changes of raiment--splendid dresses, for festive occasions--the honor being thought to consist not only in the beauty and fineness of the material, but on having a variety to put on one after another, in the same night.
7 when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes--According to an ancient practice among the Eastern people, the main object only was stated in the letter that was carried by the party concerned, while other circumstances were left to be explained at the interview. This explains Jehoram's burst of emotion--not horror at supposed blasphemy, but alarm and suspicion that this was merely made an occasion for a quarrel. Such a prince as he was would not readily think of Elisha, or, perhaps, have heard of his miraculous deeds.
8 ELISHA SENDS HIM TO JORDAN, AND HE IS HEALED. (
2Kgs 5:8-15)
when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, . . . let him come now to me--This was the grand and ultimate object to which, in the providence of God, the journey of Naaman was subservient. When the Syrian general, with his imposing retinue, arrived at the prophet's house, Elisha sent him a message to "go and wash in Jordan seven times." This apparently rude reception to a foreigner of so high dignity incensed Naaman to such a degree that he resolved to depart, scornfully boasting that the rivers of Damascus were better than all the waters of Israel.
11 strike his hand over the place--that is, wave it over the diseased parts of his body. It was anciently, and still continues to be, a very prevalent superstition in the East that the hand of a king, or person of great reputed sanctity, touching, or waved over a sore, will heal it.
12 Abana and Pharpar--the Barrady and one of its five tributaries--uncertain which. The waters of Damascus are still highly extolled by their inhabitants for their purity and coldness.
14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan--Persuaded by his calmer and more reflecting attendants to try a method so simple and easy, he followed their instructions, and was cured. The cure was performed on the basis of God's covenant with Israel, by which the land, and all pertaining to it, was blessed. Seven was the symbol of the covenant [KEIL].
15 ELISHA REFUSES NAAMAN'S GIFTS. (
2Kgs 5:15-19)
he returned to the man of God--After the miraculous cure, Naaman returned to Elisha, to whom he acknowledged his full belief in the sole supremacy of the God of Israel and offered him a liberal reward. But to show that he was not actuated by the mercenary motives of the heathen priests and prophets, Elisha, though he accepted presents on other occasions (
2Kgs 4:42), respectfully but firmly declined them on this, being desirous that the Syrians should see the piety of God's servants, and their superiority to all worldly and selfish motives in promoting the honor of God and the interests of true religion.
17 two mules' burden of earth--with which to make an altar (
Exod 20:24) to the God of Israel. What his motive or his purpose was in this proposal--whether he thought that God could be acceptably worshipped only on his own soil; or whether he wished, when far away from the Jordan, to have the earth of Palestine to rub himself with, which the Orientals use as a substitute for water; or whether, by making such a request of Elisha, he thought the prophet's grant of it would impart some virtue; or whether, like the modern Jews and Mohammedans, he resolved to have a portion of this holy earth for his nightly pillow--it is not easy to say. It is not strange to find such notions in so newly a converted heathen.
18 goeth into the house of Rimmon--a Syrian deity; probably the sun, or the planetary system, of which a pomegranate (Hebrew, Rimmon) was the symbol.
leaneth on my hand--that is, meaning the service which Naaman rendered as the attendant of his sovereign. Elisha's prophetic commission not extending to any but the conversion of Israel from idolatry, he makes no remark, either approving or disapproving, on the declared course of Naaman, but simply gives the parting benediction (
2Kgs 5:19).
20 GEHAZI, BY A LIE, OBTAINS A PRESENT, BUT IS SMITTEN WITH LEPROSY. (
2Kgs 5:20-27)
I will run after him, and take somewhat of him--The respectful courtesy to Elisha, shown in the person of his servant, and the open-handed liberality of his gifts, attest the fulness of Naaman's gratitude; while the lie--the artful management is dismissing the bearers of the treasure, and the deceitful appearance before his master, as if he had not left the house--give a most unfavorable impression of Gehazi's character.
23 in two bags--People in the East, when travelling, have their money, in certain sums, put up in bags.
27 leper as white as snow--(See on
Lev 13:3). This heavy infliction was not too severe for the crime of Gehazi. For it was not the covetousness alone that was punished; but, at the same time, it was the ill use made of the prophet's name to gain an object prompted by a mean covetousness, and the attempt to conceal it by lying [KEIL].
