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. 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.
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
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 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. 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 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 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. 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. 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. 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.
