Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 5
Turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings chapter 5, the particular section beginning in chapter 4 to chapter 6 deals with the miracles of Elisha. Elisha the prophet, the successor of Elijah the prophet, goes about, like Christ would later, doing good things, engaging in miracles for the glory of God and the good of people. And here we see that God's grace goes international. with the curing and conversion of this man, Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria. So God's grace has certainly been poured out upon Israelites, but God's grace is also poured out upon Syrians.
So I'll begin reading in chapter 5 at verse 1. Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. And the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel.
She waited on Naaman's wife, and she said to her mistress, If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy. And Naaman went and told his master, saying, Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel. Then the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy. And 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 heal him of his leprosy? Therefore, please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me. So it was when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes that he said 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. Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. And 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. But Naaman became furious and went away and said, Indeed, I said to myself, he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy.
Are not the Abana and the Farpar, 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. And his servants came near and spoke to him and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it?
How much more then, when he says to you, Wash and be cleaned? So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him and said, Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.
Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant. But he said, as the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. So 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 to the Lord. Yet in this thing, may the Lord pardon your servant. When my master goes into the temple of Rimon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimon. When I bow down in the temple of Rimon, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing.
And he said to him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a short distance. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Look, my master has spared Naaman, the Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought. But as the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.
So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, Is all well? And he said, All is well. My master has sent me saying, Indeed 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. So Naaman said, please take two talents and he urged him and bound two talents of silver and two bags with two changes of garments and handed them to two of his servants and they carried them on ahead of him. When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand and stored them away in the house. Then he let the men go and they departed.
Now he went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, where did you go, Gehazi? And he said, your servant did not go anywhere. Then he said to him, did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you?
Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever. And he went out from his presence leprous, as white as snow. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, the larger context, beginning in chapter 4, verse 1, all the way through chapter 6, is the miraculous power of God displayed through Elijah, the successor of Elijah. And essentially, there's three sections that we ought to observe in our passage tonight.
The Sovereignty of God
First, the sovereignty of God, verses 1 to 8. I sort of toyed with what to title this particular section. I didn't think any of us would mind hearing about the sovereignty of God in verses 1 to 8. Secondly, the healing of Naaman in verses 9 to 19.
And then thirdly, the greed of Gehazi in verses 20 to 27. But note in the first place, with reference to the sovereignty of God,
The Target of God's Grace
the target of God's grace in verse 1. Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. So essentially, what we see in this book of Kings, or Second Kings and in First Kings, is there is constant tension between Syria and Israel.
And here the focus is upon Syria. And as we follow through the narrative, there does seem to be at least something of a truce. Even if it's an uneasy truce, there is nevertheless a truce between Syria and Israel. Though, of course, Jehoram the king is a bit unsettled by this request from the king of Syria.
So it shows that it is an uneasy truce. But here specifically, the highlight or the focus is upon this Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria. He is great. He is honorable.
He is a mighty man of valor. But note that his success is due to the God of Israel. He was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. We need to appreciate that reality.
Whether pagans admit it or not, whatever good or ill falls to them is ultimately under the hand of a sovereign God. The God of Israel alone is absolutely sovereign, comprehensively so, so that when Naaman leads the the armies of Syria into battle, even against Israel, and he is victorious, the victory, or the glory, rather, belongs to God Almighty. Davis says that God, the text implies, controls Syrian politics and foreign affairs. I mean this is a very incredible statement in verse 1, but I think at times we're apt to just sort of read over.
We become so used to it, we become so conditioned by it, that we don't stand and marvel at the reality that God through Elisha is doing these incredible things on the people of Israel, And then as sort of a detour, sort of a corollary, or sort of a way to continue that theme of Gentile inclusion in the covenant promises of God, the focus shifts specifically upon this Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria. So back to Davis. He says that God is no small-time director of an Israelite ghetto, not some mascot of a little Jewish club. Here is the God of Psalm 24-1.
Yahweh is both God of the church and Lord of the world. Yahweh draws near to His people, but that does not mean He allows pagans to run around unsupervised. I like that last bit because it's most comforting. He not only watches over His church, He not only protects His church, He not only stabilizes His church, He not only draws near to His church, but that does not mean He allows pagans to run around unsupervised.
So pagans in this world are ultimately under the hand and the control of a sovereign and glorious God. Notice as well, he is a great man, he is an honorable man, he is a mighty man of valor, but a leper. So it really doesn't matter what your station in life is, it really doesn't matter what kind of greatness you've achieved even as a military leader, you are still prone to the various diseases and susceptible to the various ills that plague this world. And in this instance, he's a leper.
Now notice
The Exercise of God's Providence
the exercise of God's providence in verses 2 to 4. Again, under the sovereignty of God. Providence is certainly an aspect of God's sovereignty. It's that doctrine wherein he governs all his creatures and all their actions.
He has orchestrated all things, and he controls these events to carry out his particular plan. But notice this little girl in verse 2. The Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's life.
Notice her identity. Doesn't even tell us what her name is. We've seen that over and over again in chapter 4. The recipients of God's grace are nameless nobodies more often than not.
Well, here's another nameless nobody. She's a little girl that was ultimately captured during battle and brought back to Naaman's house to be a servant to her mistress, Mrs. Naaman. Matthew Henry says the unhappy dispersing of the people of God has sometimes proved the happy occasion of the diffusion of the knowledge of God.
In a real sense, the whole narrative, Naaman's health and Naaman's conversion is owing to this little servant girl. You see how God's providence works. We often overlook insignificant sorts of things, like little servant girls, but it's those sorts of things that God uses to bring about His glory in the salvation of sinners, such as Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was. And then Davis, in his commentary, I think helpfully points out the sort of distress that she no doubt went through.
I'm not going to get too much into it, but she was captured from her home. And the fact that she believes that Elisha the prophet is able to cure Naaman the leper indicates that most likely she came from a covenantally faithful family. In other words, the family that she came from was part of the remnant, part of those who actually feared Yahweh and believed that God could in fact heal lepers through the ministry of his prophet Elisha. So it was a happy family up until the point when the Syrian raiders came along and seized upon this little girl and took her away from her family, took her away from everything, and deposited her in the household of Naaman.
Davis says that oftentimes blessing comes at the expense, great deal of expense, of suffering to some of God's people. And that's something we ought to appreciate with reference to those who are persecuted, that very often, or more often than not, through their persecution, I'm not suggesting this is cause for the enemies of God to go out and persecute, but God does bring even good things out of those wretched circumstances. So notice the instruction she gives to Mrs. Naaman.
She says to her mistress, if only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy. Now, there's a couple of contrasts in this chapter, and she and the king are certainly a contrast. She has faith in the living God. She has faith in the prophet Elisha.
When the king, Jehoram, gets this letter from the king of Syria, he is terrified, he is fretful, and he is fearful. This little servant girl evidences something of true and living faith in the true and living God, when the reigning king of the northern kingdom is a fearful man who is paralyzed by the sorts of things that he is reading. Now notice, the information is then passed on to Naaman, and Naaman, according to verse 4, takes this, tells his master, saying, thus and thus, said the girl who is from the land of Israel. So Naaman has a vested interest in this.
Naaman certainly wants to get cured. He wants to get healed. He wants to go to Israel, where this prophet Elisha is, in order that he may be healed. Now again, through the providence of God, it comes by way of this little girl.
Now notice, before we leave this particular section, just sort of conjoining it with what we saw last week and the week before, God is God over the big stuff, and God is God over the little stuff. He's the God of the big stuff of chapter 3. When Moab rebels against Israel's forces, there is a coalition of kings that goes to subdue them. Big stuff.
God is sovereign. He is over that. Chapter 4. God is over what we might consider small stuff.
Of course, it's not small stuff if it's you that's the widow, or you that's the Shunammite, or you that's about to ingest poisonous stew, or you that is not going to eat the bread that has been secured by that man who brings it to the prophet. Of course, it's not small stuff then, but you get the comparison. You get the difference between sort of these macro-level national affairs that God is sovereign over, and then sort of the mundane minor affairs of daily life. You see that played out here.
God is the God of Naaman, and he is the God of this little girl. He is the God of the big stuff. He is the God of the small stuff. He is comprehensively sovereign over every single human being on the face of the earth.
He governs all his creatures and all their actions, and that for his own glory. So you have a contrast here as well. You've got a contrast between Naaman and the little girl. He is a Syrian.
She is an Israelite. He is a great and honorable mighty man of valor. She is a young girl. He is the commander of the army of the king of Syria.
She is a captive servant. He is famous for his military savvy. She essentially is a nameless nobody. Again, her claim to fame is certainly being used by God in divine providence or in God's divine providence to bring about good for Naaman, but nobody knows her name.
We won't know her if we bump into her in heaven. So the Lord God uses these means to bring about his purposes. And then note, as I mentioned, the fearfulness of Israel's king. Essentially, the king of Syria deals the way a king does.
He writes a letter to send to the king of Israel. He sends it by way of Naaman, and Naaman brings a great deal of loot. Because you have to understand, according to paganism, their gods need a bit of bribery. Their gods need a bit of priming of the palm.
Their gods need to be a bit manipulated. Their gods need to be coerced into functioning. So no doubt this is the rationale behind which he departed, verse 5, and took with him 10 talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, and 10 changes of clothing. One man reckons that this would be 340 kilograms of silver and 90 kilograms of gold.
So he is loaded down with a lot of loot. And, you know, again, if he is thinking that the God of Israel needs to heal him of leprosy, that's a pretty tall order. He doesn't have a cold, he doesn't have the flu, he doesn't have a hangnail, he has leprosy. And for God in Israel to render his verdict, it's going to cost him some dough.
And that's the rationale behind this. So he brings this letter to Jehoram, and then notice in verse 7, 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 heal him of his leprosy? Therefore, please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me. Again, it's a question of faith or a lack of faith.
The little servant girl living in Naaman's house realizes and knows and is convinced that Elisha the prophet has the ability on behalf of the God of Israel to heal this Naaman of his leprosy. But when the king of Israel receives this letter, he is absolutely unaware of the reality that there is an Elisha living in Israel. And that's unfortunate because he's already had interactions with Elisha, and those interactions have gone favorably for the king in chapter 3. It is unbelief that brings about this fear, and notice it is a suspiciousness concerning this relationship with Syria.
Notice at the end of verse 7. Therefore, please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me. So he's thinking, or he believes, that the king of Syria is setting up the king of Israel to fail. I want you to make sure that Naaman gets healed of his leprosy.
If Naaman doesn't get healed of his leprosy, well then we're going to launch a military incursion against Israel and you guys are going to die. And so Jehoram is very suspicious of the whole situation. He is very much questioning the whole situation and on the one hand he recognizes at least cognitively that God is sovereign. Notice his question.
Am I God to kill and make alive that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? I think that Jehoram recognized that this was part and parcel of Israel's theology, but I don't believe he believed it. I don't think it was part of his heart. I don't think it was part of his bones.
I don't think it was something that he appropriated by faith. It was not experiential. It was cognitive. He recognized that this is part of Israel's confession.
But when it comes right down to it, Jehoram, paralyzed by fear, demonstrates that he does not believe that the God of heaven and earth is able to do this, to kill and to make alive. Certainly the God who's been doing glorious things through Elisha is able to deal with the leprosy of Naaman. Now, note Elisha's response in verse 8. Essentially, he says, let him come to me.
Again, Davis in his commentary says, you can just imagine the fanfare when Naaman and all of his loot and all of his entourage and his whole retinue show up at Elisha's house. Elisha probably wasn't living high on the hog. As we walk our way through the rest of the narrative, what does he do when Naaman wants to grace his palm? He refuses it.
Elisha doesn't look for the money. Gehazi's the greedy, covetous wretch, but Elisha doesn't want the loot. So most likely, Elisha's living in a hovel. He's probably not living in Joel Osteen's mansion or the other fellow that built a big place, Fertick.
He's not living like those guys. He's not living large. And so this Naaman with all of his loot and all of his retinue show up at Elisha's house.
The Healing of Naaman
Now let's go on secondly to the healing of Naaman. Notice in verses nine to 10, Naaman arrives according to verse nine and in verse 10, 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. Notice he sends his messenger. Now, Naaman doesn't like this.
Naaman's going to get upset. Naaman's going to get a bit irritated. Well, he's not going to get a bit irritated. The text tells us that he gets furious.
He's outraged. I mean, he is a great and honorable and a mighty man of valor. He is, after all, the commander of the army of Syria. He is the right-hand man to the king of Syria, and this Elisha won't even meet him himself?
This is an outrage. You sort of see the picture here. Well, there's a rationale for it. We'll see it as we move through the passage, but for now, see what's happening here.
The seven times washing probably has in the backdrop Leviticus 13 and 14. A man who had this skin disease would have been quarantined for a period of seven days. And so what? Elisha tells him is to go and to wash.
And it is intriguing, as I said, the rage and the outrage he's going to express. Elisha treats Naaman, not like a great man, not like a mighty man of valor, but as a leper who needs to be healed. Remember the other week I said how Lloyd-Jones went and he preached at Oxford and he treated them like they were sinners? And the wife of the president said, I appreciated your sermon because you treated us like we were sinners.
Not every other person probably expressed that to Lloyd-Jones. Or Lady Huntington's friends under the preaching of Whitefield were outraged that he would treat them as common sinners. I think this is probably behind Naaman. Naaman is the sort of man that wants persons to fawn all over him.
Elisha's not the sort of man that's going to fawn over persons. You see that in the text. He sends his messenger, and he gives him the instruction, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean. So there's a promise of healing that Elisha holds out to him.
Now
Naaman's Fury and Pride
notice the fury of Naaman in verses 11 to 13. Naaman expected Elisha himself. Verse 11, But Naaman became furious, and went away, and said, Indeed I said to myself, He will surely come out to me. He's just affronted.
This is just an offense to him that somebody would treat him like a commoner. I think we need to appreciate Naaman's attitude here specifically in verse 11 so that we can appreciate the transformation that comes over him as he comes into contact with Israel's God. It's a beautiful transformation. See, the glory of this section is not that Naaman was healed of his leprosy.
The glory of the section is that Naaman is healed of his idolatry. He is brought nigh to the God of Israel. It's akin to that scene in Matthew chapter 9, when the men lower that paralytic down and Jesus sees the man and he says, son, your sins are forgiven you. And the Pharisees stroke their beards and scratch their heads and they say, who does this man think he is?
Only God alone can forgive sins. And Jesus says, what's easier to say? To say to the man your sins are forgiven you or take up your bed and walk? Well, certainly it's easier to say, your sins are forgiven you, because we can't test that, we can't validate that, we can't authenticate that.
I might walk down the street and pronounce the whammy on somebody, but nobody knows if they're forgiven. So Jesus then says, take up your mat and walk. The fact that the man takes up his mat and walks demonstrates, yes, the power of Christ in giving him the ability to walk, but the power of Christ in forgiving him. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.
He said to the paralytic, take up your mat and walk. The miracle in Matthew 9 is not that the paralytic walked again. The miracle in Matthew chapter 9 is that the paralytic was forgiven. We're like the baby that's, you know, so led astray by the shiny thing that it misses the father and the mother that loves them.
We're so easily distracted by the shiny thing that we miss the glorious thing that Christ has power on earth to forgive sins. When Naaman confesses what he confesses in verse 15, shows the kind of resolution that he shows in verses 17 and 18, Naaman is demonstrating something that Israel has not been demonstrating. He is demonstrating true faith in the true and the living God. So the glory of the healing of Naaman is not so much his skin disease, but it's the sin disease that the Lord undertakes on his behalf.
So Naaman expected Elisha himself. Naaman expected some sort of pathetic razzmatazz. I mean, this is the way paganism worked. When you went to a Baal service, for instance, and Ramon, that he mentions later on, that would be the Syrian equivalent of Baal.
He would be the storm god over Syria. So Baal was worshipped through copulation and fornication. If you wanted something from Baal, you had to prime the pomp. And the way the worshipers would do that would be by fornicating.
You had to get the God in the business of blessing and providing. And so Naaman expects some sort of pathetic razzmatazz. Notice, he becomes furious. He went away and said, Indeed I said to myself, it will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord as God and wave His hand over the place and heal the leprosy.
See, Naaman's looking for a Pentecostal service. Naaman's looking for the hoopla. Naaman's looking for the effort and the manipulation, the coercive power of the prophet, and he's neglecting the power of the living and true God. And so Elisha is teaching him that the God of Israel does not work that way.
This is why Elisha sends the messenger. This is why Elisha sends him to the river Jordan. Elisha's not present when the man is healed, so that Naaman will learn it's not the razzmatazz of the prophet, but it's the glory and the sovereign power of God. The God of Israel is not like the pagan deities.
You don't manipulate, you don't coerce, you don't get him to perform. And then notice in verse 12, he says, Are not the Abana and the Farpar, 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.
I mean, he's very upset. This did not meet his expectations. You ever fill out one of those customer cards? The service met expectations or the service exceeded expectations.
Well, at this point in the narrative, Naaman would have to report, it didn't meet my expectations. I expected a show. I expected a prophet wearing, you know, bright clothing and, you know, a charismatic figure, not some guy living in a hovel that sent his messenger out. You see, everything conspicuously is designed to promote the glory of God, not the glory of Elisha.
And then notice what happens. Well, let me just read a quote to kind of summarize. Dillard makes this observation. He says, Naaman expected Israel's God and prophet to be just like what he had known at home.
Itching palms and magic shows. He had brought plenty of money, and so he expected the prophet to deliver on the magic. Naaman wanted vending machine grace. Put your money in and take your blessing.
The prophet was expected to appear, accept the pay, and wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. So the next time you deal with a health, wealth, and prosperity person, bring them here. Because Elisha is the anti-health, wealth, and prosperity preacher. Elisha is the absolute opposite of Benny Hinn.
He is the absolute opposite of these big-haired preachers with their shiny razzmatazz that go out and impress in order to garner money. Elisha doesn't even want the money when Naaman offers it to him. Now notice, It is a good thing that this man had good servants. And again, notice how nameless servants carry the providence of God in a favorable manner.
It's just really amazing. You've got this little girl, and then you've got these nameless servants that were listening better than what Naaman was. I think it was just a matter of who heard better. There's a way to interpret specifically Naaman's words, or rather the servant's words in verse 13, to indicate that it was they who had understood rightly.
But notice verse 13, his servants came near and spoke to him and said, and this is just reverence and honor. My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more than when he says to you, wash and be clean. I was telling Mike today, it's sometimes tempting to take New Covenant Ordo Salutis and read it into Old Testament narratives.
And as tempting as that might be at times, it sometimes is difficult or unhelpful. I think we see a lot of the New Covenant ordo salutis in 2 Kings 5. Isn't Naaman offended at the simplicity of the instruction given by Elisha? There's gotta be something I have to do.
There's gotta be a better river. There's gotta be better water. There's gotta be something associated. Notice what the servants say.
If the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? In other words, if somebody said, how do I get saved? Well, you save up all your pennies, and when you gather up a thousand dollars, you give it to the church of your choice, and then everything will be good with your soul. Okay, that's something I can manage.
That's something I can do. We're not even telling them to save up their pennies until they have $1,000. We're telling them to look and live. Isn't there something that I can do?
Isn't there something that I can contribute? Isn't there some sort of contribution that needs to be made? It's the simplicity of the direction that confounds Neyman. He's expecting a prophetic show.
He's expecting to spend money. I mean, he's loaded to spend money, right? He's like a rich man going to wherever it is they spend lots of money. He's ready to part with it.
When he deals with Gehazi, he parts with it. Gehazi asks for one, he gives him two. I mean, he's not stingy at this point. He's ready to cough up.
So they say, how much more then, when he says to you, wash and be clean? Now
Healing, Conversion, and Confession
notice in verse 14 to 19, the healing of Naaman. And yes, this is baptized in the Septuagint. He went and dipped seven times. He went and was baptized, or baptized himself in the Jordan seven times.
So dipping means, you know, baptism. Just for a little Paedo-Baptist sort of polemic here tonight, he baptized himself, naming the Baptist. Actually, don't quote me on that. So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
There's no contrast there, but there is a comparison. The little girl, What's Naaman become? He's become like a little child. Of such is the Kingdom of God.
Again, it's difficult not to take New Covenant Ordo and read it into this passage. The washing that's involved with Naaman. The simplicity of his access to Israel's God. the beauty of the grace of God in showing mercy to this particular man. So he is healed according to verse 19.
Now notice his conversion in verses 15 to 19. In verses 15 to 19, or rather 15 to 18, Naaman now refers to himself as your servant five times. You want to talk about the grace of God? He goes from rage and fury and anger at Elisha, who didn't have the prophetic razzmatazz, who didn't have the dazzling show and the big hair and the loud wife.
No, he goes from that to calling himself your servant five times to Elisha. That's conversion, brethren. That's a change of attitude. That's a change of disposition.
That's a change of heart. Notice his confession of faith. And here he enters into the ranks with Ruth and with Rahab. Again, two outsiders, two Gentiles who have come to taste and see that Israel's God is good.
And notice the case with Naaman. He is doubly removed from the Commonwealth of Israel. Not only is he a Gentile, that keeps him out of the Commonwealth, but he's a leper. Lepers are outsiders.
Lepers are supposed to stay as unclean. They are outside. And so this doubly cursed man has come nigh to Israel's God, and listen to his confession again, in the same sort of way that Rahab confessed, and in the same sort of way that Ruth confessed. In verse 15.
He returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him, and he said, Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel." This is a pagan! This is a former worshipper of Ramon, the Syrian sort of equal to Baal. They had a pantheon, a plethora of gods, and now he's confessing monotheism. And that monotheism directed to Yahweh of Israel.
Now, if we ask the question, why here? I mean, to a degree, he had to have believed in the power of God, at least insofar as he loads up his retinue, as he takes all this loot, as he goes to Israel, as he seeks out the prophet. There was some inkling that there was a healing to be had in Israel. But it's here that he makes this grand confession in verse 15.
I like the way Proven describes it. He says, why has the event, now that it has happened in the Jordan rather than outside Elisha's house, made such an impression on him." In other words, why is he confessing this now? Again, we know it's because he's converted, but I think what Proven says here is helpful. The point of the delay now becomes clear.
He had looked to the prophet for a cure based on the words of his Israelite informant. You see, he had been focused on Elisha. He had been focused on the razzmatazz. He had been focused on the hand wave.
He had been focused on the signs and the wonders. He had been focused on the human instrumentality rather than the God of Elisha. The way the cure has been wrought, however, has made it clear to him that Elisha's God is not simply a convenient metaphor for unnatural prophetic powers, but a living person. Healing has not come via a semi-magical wave of the prophetic hand.
It has been delivered by the living Lord at a distance from the prophet. It is the directness of God's action that has convinced Naaman of God's reality. And it was necessary to take him to the Jordan if he was to experience that directness. Ambiguity would have remained had Elisha been involved.
Again, when we go back in the narrative and we see that Elisha sends out his messenger, Elisha knows what he's doing. He's the prophet of God. And he knows if he goes out there and he starts courting the favor of Naaman, Naaman's going to trust in Elisha rather than in Yahweh. So this grand confession of faith in verse 15, and then notice the gratitude toward God in 15b.
He says, now therefore, please take a gift from your servant. Again, the attitude's different. It's, your servant, please take a gift. Not because I'm bribing God in order to get the cure.
He's already cured. But rather, it's an expression of gratitude, that threefold distinction. In the Heidelberg Catechism, guilt, Grace, gratitude. How do we respond to the grace of God?
It's through gratitude to God. And when this man now confesses the supremacy of Israel's God, it is but natural for him to offer this gift to Elisha the prophet. So Elisha says, no. Verse 16, as the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing.
And he urged him to take it, but he refused. So Elisha stands fast, he holds ground, and he doesn't do it. Now, why do you think that is? And why do you think what Ghazi does is so reprehensible?
Because Elisha is teaching the man something about grace. Grace ain't grace if you pay big bucks for it. Elisha wants to make sure that Naaman knows how Israel's God works, so that when Gehasi goes behind his back and lies in the name of the prophet, when he is cursed with leprosy, it's fitting, it's just, and it's righteous, because he has betrayed the living and true God. He has taught this Syrian commander that God's grace is purchasable.
That's why it's offensive. But back to the text. Notice the resolution of Naaman in verse 17. Now, this might trouble us, as might verse 18.
We'll do our best to give some explanation. Notice what Naaman says in verse 17. The first point of emphasis is his renunciation of any other gods. In other words, he says, I'm not going to offer anything anymore but to Yahweh.
And because I want some connection and some attachment to the people of Israel, the faithful, let me take a couple scoopfuls of Israel dirt so I can put it near my house. Not because it's magic, not because it somehow is the conduit for God's presence, but because it connects me to God's people. It's a bit of holy dirt that he wants to take back. I think this is beautiful.
Again, we see that God symbolizes through various things, water, salt, different sort of emblems. And for this Naaman, this dirt would be a sacrament for him, not only of his God, but of his people, Israel. Now, notice in verse 18, the sensitivity of of Naaman. Yet in this thing may the Lord pardon your servant.
When my master goes into the temple of Ramon to worship there and he leans on my hand and I bow down in the temple of Ramon, when I bow down in the temple of Ramon, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing." Now, persons here say, well, you know, Elisha should have never granted him peace in this matter. Do you see what he's saying? Do you see what Neyman's saying? He's saying life is messy.
We don't like that. We like everything tidy. We like everything to function in a particular way. We like everything to be neat.
We like everybody to always have every Sunday off. We don't like the thought that anybody ever engages in anything that may possibly look untoward. This man, in service to his master, would have to go to this temple of Remont. He is not going as a worshipper.
He is going there as a servant to his master. Matthew Poole says, not a religious action towards the idol, but only a civil respect for his master. He knows that this is going to happen. Remember back in 1 Kings 18, when Elijah meets Obadiah, And Obadiah was the man who squirreled away the hundred prophets from the Lord, but Obadiah was pretty discreet about it.
He was pretty covert about it. He was pretty hush-hush about it. He didn't want to be found out by Ahab. He didn't want to be executed.
Now, it's easy for us to posture and say, take a bold stand, take your bullhorn out and shove it in the ear of Ahab and say, I'm hiding the prophets. Brethren, our lives are not at stake in 1 Kings 18. It's pretty easy for us to Monday morning quarterback. In the same way, Naaman, notice, has this sensitivity to the situation that he is going to face.
Now, I'm not suggesting that you rip chapter 5, verse 18 out of your Bible and plug it into all sorts of things in your life and say, well, you know, he saw some things, I see some things, I'm just going to ask in advance that God forgive me. No, I think there's a sensitive conscience behind this, but we should appreciate the messiness of life. Naaman can't quit his job. Naaman can't now move over to Israel.
Again, we would say that, wouldn't we? Well, it's clear what you got to do. You got to quit your job. You got to go march right in there to Ben-Hadad or to Hathael or whichever king it is at this particular time, and hand in your two-week notice, and then just move to Israel.
Buy a house, bring Mrs. Naaman, bring the servant girl, she gets to come back. He's not going to do that. He's the commander of the armies of Syria.
Brethren, life is messy. Why is it that that still perplexes us? I can't believe so and so did. Life's messy.
I can't believe. How can a Christian ever even say that? I can't believe. Why?
Life is messy. It's untidy. It's not as orderly as we might like. My kids joke with me, at least Josh does, I don't know if Micah does, that if I like something, it ends up on my nightstand.
I don't know how they got that. I mean, I have just a few items. And Josh has always said, if it makes it on the nightstand, it's something dad really prizes and values. Well, I wouldn't probably have to tell you that my nightstand is very orderly.
Everything is lined up just so. I like life that way. Everything off my nightstand ain't like that. Life's messy.
Life's messy when Naaman gets converted. Life's messy when we get converted. Life's messy when we live the Christian life. Life's messy when we interact with brethren.
Life's messy when we interact with kids, when we interact with grandkids. Life's messy at work. Now, again, this isn't justification of sin. I'm not saying go out and sin and just say, well, you know, God, life is messy.
But notice what Elisha does here. In verse 19, He said to him, Go in peace. So he departed from Him a short distance. This man said in verse 18 was absolutely reprehensible.
Elisha's instructions here were very wrong, but I don't think Elisha's instructions are very wrong. Let me hide behind Davis here. He says, but the fact is that Elisha sent Naaman off in peace and didn't seem overly concerned about the matter, perhaps because Naaman was miles ahead of scores of Israelites. Note positively what verse 18 shows.
It shows a sensitive conscience. Here is a man who feels the rub between his exclusive allegiance to Yahweh and the expectations of his workplace. He knows that this is a reality. He's not just blindly wandering about, going into the temple.
He sees this as part and parcel of his job. He has been thoroughly converted by the God of heaven and earth, and now he feels keenly the reality, I'm going to end up in an idol's temple. And I hope and pray, Elisha, that the Lord will pardon me. Again, I'm not saying go visit idols, go get down with the brethren, or not brethren, but the idolaters there, and just trust it.
No, I'm not saying that. Don't take this text out of the context. Davis goes on to say, it shows a sensitive conscience. Here is a man who feels the rub between his exclusive allegiance to God and the expectations of his workplace, and it bothers him.
Would that Bethel-visiting or Baal-kissing Israelites were bothered like this. Would that they could have the uneasy conscience of this Gentile. Would that apparent inconsistencies drove them to seek pardon. Again, we're not justifying what he does in terms of being in this temple.
All things being equal, don't go into a temple, an idol's temple. But see, Naaman didn't have that luxury. And so Naaman says, may God forgive me for engaging in this civil activity to my earthly master.
The Greed of Gehazi
Now note, finally, the greed of Gehazi in verses 20 to 27. Here we have another contrast between a converted pagan and a perverted Israelite. I mean, isn't God just amazing in this passage? And throughout Kings, I think, well, Samuel and Joshua and Judges and Ruth and Deuteronomy and Matthew, God just shows himself glorious.
We have a converted pagan and we have a perverted Israelite. Notice. This refusal of Naaman's gift by Elisha is lamented by Gehazi, and he means to make things right. So his desire drives him.
Verse 20, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Look, my master has spared Naaman the Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought. But as the Lord lives, I mean, He swears by oath that He's going to go and seize this money from this man. I will run after Him and take something from Him. And then notice His deception.
He lies about Elisha. Verse 22, My Master has sent Me, saying, Indeed, 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. He lies in the name of Elisha.
So what happens? Naaman, he's freshly converted, he's bubbling with gratitude and joy. He was loaded for bear anyway. He hears this, he says, sure, I'm not going to just give you a talent of silver, but take two talents of silver.
So what happens is that Gehazi takes it, he comes back to the citadel, he swirls this away. Ultimately, what this is, though, is a lie about God. It is to suggest that this is monies for services rendered. In other words, Gehazi is suggesting to Naaman, you got a healing, you need to drop some money in Israel's coffers.
You need to look after the profits. I mean, these two guys hail from Ephraim, it's going to take some money to keep them clothed and fed and housed. Well, that's just a lie. Gehazi wants to buy stuff.
Gehazi's driven by greed and covetousness. Davis again says, why was Elisha so adamant, note his oath, about refusing Naaman's gift in verse 16? Doubtless because he wanted to impress upon Naaman that God is a God of grace. One doesn't bribe, manipulate, or cajole Yahweh like pagans do their gods.
Yahweh doesn't forever have his hand out looking for a payoff. Yahweh is simply a gifty God. I like that. A gifty God.
That's just the way He is. He just gives things to wretches that don't deserve it. Dillard said it was because Gehazi was undoing what God had done. God wanted Naaman to know His free grace, but Gehazi was trying to put a price on the goodness of God.
The God of Israel did not accept bribes. He would not be manipulated by money or make room for human pride. His grace was free. Gehazi was implying otherwise, and it would be at a great cost to him.
And see, he underestimates the ability of God's prophet. I mean, this is just absolute folly. Notice in verse 25. He went in and stood before his master.
Elisha said to him, Where did you go, Gehazi? And he said, Your servant did not go anywhere. Now we the reader says, gee, you fool. You're talking to Elisha.
Now there are times when God keeps back things from Elisha. We saw that previously in a chapter. He didn't know why God took the Shunammite woman's son. He said, the Lord hasn't revealed this to me.
So perhaps Gehazi, you know, he's banking on that thought. Well, you know, not everything's revealed to Elisha. So maybe he won't know that I went and basically manipulated money out of Naaman through deception. So Elisha says, did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you?
Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? I think this is just a description of the sort of stuff that Gehazi intended to buy. In other words, you weren't trying to pony away this dough for good things and that would justify it. She just wanted to spend her life for luxury.
Elisha knows this man, he knows what's happened. And then in verse 27, therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever. And he went out from his presence, leprous as white as snow. Proven says the fierceness of judgment is unsurprising given the heinousness of the crime, Gehazi has sought to cash in on an act of God.
That's it. He sought to cash in on an act of God. Matthew Poole says it this way. Nor was this punishment too severe for Gehazi's wickedness, which was great and various, horrid covetousness, which is idolatry, the profanation of God's name by a wicked oath, downright theft, deliberate and impudent lying, and that to a prophet, a desperate contempt of God's omniscience, justice and holiness, a horrible reproach fastened upon the prophet and his religion, and a mischievous scandal given to Naaman and all other Syrians that might hear of it." I bet old Gehazi was happy that he didn't have Matthew Poole prosecuting his case.
And that is a serious list of indictments for what happened in this instance. So there's our exposition.
Application
Just a couple of thoughts before we close. In the first place, the theological lessons in this chapter are just amazing, as has been throughout our study in both 1 and 2 Kings. God is the star of the show. God is the chief figure in all these narratives.
It's what we learn about God that is most important here. In the first place, we learn of His comprehensive sovereignty over Syrians, over servant girls, and over disease, both in the removal of disease and an act of blessing on Naaman, but then in the imposition of disease and the act of cursing upon Gehazi. God's sovereign over all these things. Secondly, the providence of God.
We wouldn't think that a servant girl and then servants unnamed in verse 13 would be the means by which God orchestrated this plan. It's not just the big stuff, it's the small stuff. Thirdly, the inclusion of Gentiles in the covenant promises of God. Every time you meet a Gentile that's coming into Israel, think New Covenant.
I mean, think Old Covenant, too, because it's happening there. But it's picturing, it's typifying, it's demonstrating, it's showing us what life under Messiah is going to be like. As Howe says, from Genesis 12 onward in the Old Testament, God desires to bless all nations through Israel. This ideal becomes a reality here due to the witness of the Israelite servant girl and the work of the Israelite prophet.
Fourthly, we learn of the power of God's grace. You see it in the transformation of Naaman. He goes from this outraged, furious man to your servant, your servant, your servant, your servant, your servant, confessing the monotheistic confession of the absolute singularity and supremacy of the God of Israel, expressing gratitude, expressing his resolution to no longer serve or to worship other gods. He's going to worship Yahweh alone, and please grant me a couple of buckets full of dirt so that I have this tangible thing that I can sink my knees into when I am worshiping the God of Israel.
And then the sensitivity, the reality that this conversion is going to affect me, this conversion is going to cost me, this conversion is going to hinder my relationship with my boss. Because no doubt the king of Syria is going to say, how come you're not worshiping alongside of me? No doubt Naaman is going to take a stand and confess the sovereignty of God there. And then the offense of God's grace.
I think What we see in verse 11 in terms of a pre-converted Naaman is what Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 1. The Jews seek after a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block or an offense, and to the Greeks, foolishness. The simplicity of the gospel offends people, doesn't it?
It offends people when they hear, you mean that horrible, wicked person can be forgiven and go to heaven? Yeah. because everybody's a wicked, horrible person, and God in His mercy happens to rescue some of them. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? But it's an offensive thing to the unconverted.
They see it as unfair. And in that, we have to agree, it is not fair. If fair was enacted, we'd all be in hell. This is grace.
As well, we see the sovereignty of God's election. Notice in Luke chapter 4, Luke chapter 4, Jesus couples this scenario with what happens in Elijah's ministry with that widow at Zarephath. And he shows how this demonstrates the absolute sovereignty of God in election. He said to them, in verse 23, this is in a synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath day.
He applies the prophet Isaiah to himself. He begins to speak to them. Verse 22, they all bore witness. They marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
They said, Is this not Joseph's son? He said to them, You will surely say this proverb to me, Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country. Then he said, Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.
But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land. But to none of them was Elijah sent, except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow." You see Jesus' statement there? Sovereign election, but also judgment for Israel. There was all kinds of widows in Israel, but Elijah passed right on through them up into Phoenicia, and he stayed with that widow at Zarephath.
Same thing with reference to Elisha. Verse 27, many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. Does their response surprise you? It shouldn't.
This is what happens when sinners hear of sovereign grace. This is what happens when sinners hear that, you know what, it's not your works, it's not your ability, it's not your ethnicity, Jews, but rather it's due to the sovereign election of God. Verse 28, so all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city. They led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down over the cliff.
So how do they move? from marveling at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth to wanting them to toss him off of a cliff. Calvinism. Sovereign grace. They didn't like it because it cut against them.
It meant judgment for them. So brethren, 2 Kings 5 is a treasure trove of theological lessons in terms of gospel significance, shows the humbling effect of God's grace. Not suggesting every one of us is going to call pastors, I'm your servant, I'm your servant, but this attitude has been adjusted tremendously in this man who was filled with rage in verse 11 to the man who calls himself your servant to Elisha in verses 15 to 18. As well, the simplicity of God's grace.
Go wash in the Jordan. Go believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It frustrates people. What do you mean?
There's got to be something else. The narrowness of God's grace. Again, we're going to take some Ordo and read it back in here. The narrowness.
It's not the River Abana and it's not the Farpar. It's the River Jordan. There's an exclusivity involved here. You go to that river, not because it's magical, not because of its healing medicinal waters, but because of the exclusivity of God's grace, the thoroughness of God's grace.
He confesses truth. He's got gratitude toward God, and he's got resolution to Him alone. And then the last lesson that I think is important, especially in light of what we read in Galatians 1, is the danger of adding to God's grace. the danger of adding to God's grace. Isn't that what Gehazi is doing, essentially?
Naaman, there's a bitter reckoning. You need to cough up, I'm not asking for it all, and I'm sure Gehazi couched it, and he didn't say, you know, my master said give me everything he brought. No, no, he's modest, but it's still an appendage, it's still an addition, it's still a supplement, akin to the Judaizing error. Yes, believe the gospel, but be circumcised as well.
So, in essence, Gehazi got off a whole lot better than the Judaizers in Galatians chapter 1, because Paul says, if any man does this, let him be anathema, let him be damned to hell. So in both instances, with Gehazi and with these Judaizers in Galatians chapter 1, we see the danger of adding to God's grace. Whether it be, you owe me money, you owe me this, you owe me that, you have to do this, you have to supplement that. No, go wash in the Jordan.
Look to Jesus and live.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the many new covenant themes that we see in this old covenant passage, certainly because you are the God of absolute sovereignty, glory, majesty, and power. how we thank you for your grace that saves, your grace that transforms, and if we have grown slack or lack in our expression of gratitude, our resolution to worship you alone, our sensitivity to things that are real issues in our lives, God forgive us and reform us and help us by your Spirit. To even imitate more and more this man Naaman, who showed such a thorough work of God's grace in his own heart and life.
We ask that you would go with us now, help us to confess your sovereignty and your glory and your majesty, and may it be the case that all who come to this place would look unto the Lord Jesus Christ and live. And we pray in his most blessed name. Amen.