2 Kings chapter five. I'll begin reading in verse one. 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. Then 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 in 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 sent to the king saying, why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
The 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 clean?
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 Reman to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Reman, when I bow down in the temple of Reman, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing. Then 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 in 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.
And 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, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our God and Father, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for all scripture given by inspiration of God. We know that it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction. and for instruction in righteousness, that you may thoroughly equip each and every one of us. And God, we pray for the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us as we consider this passage.
As well, God, forgive us and cleanse us from all sin and everything that darkens our minds and understanding. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for the gospel of our salvation. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ and every blessing that we have received in Him.
And we pray in His wonderful name. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as we come to this particular section, it's always a bit difficult to just drop in to Old Testament narrative. There is context to be sure, there is connection to be sure, and as the name suggests, the book is about the kings of Israel. And in this particular section, beginning in 2 Kings 2 and continuing to 2 Kings 13, the emphasis is upon the ministry of the prophet Elisha. So Elijah is taken up into heaven in 2 Kings 2.
Elisha is then his successor. And Elisha is typical of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what we see concerning Elisha in the last few chapters, or in this area, chapters 3, 4, and 5, and 6 even, are miracles engaged or performed by Elisha under the power of God Almighty. And when we come to this particular section, we'll notice that the grace of God is not confined to Israel, but it's also dispensed upon a pagan, a heathen, a man that was a leper, and not only is he physically cleansed, but he's also spiritually cleansed, and he's brought out of darkness into marvelous light.
Ralph Davis comments on the context, chapters 4 to 6. He says, now we enter a segment of Elisha's ministry in which he shows that Yahweh's power is triumphant over death, chapter 4, verses 1 to 7. Death, chapter 4, verses 8 to 37. Drought, chapter 4, verses 38 to 44. disease, chapter 5, verses 1 to 27, and then difficulty in chapter 6, verses 1 to 7.
So God exercises his sovereignty through the agency of this prophet, specifically in chapter 5, to manifest himself to this man, Naaman, who was not only plagued by leprosy, but a problem greater than leprosy, which is sin and estrangement from the living and true God.
The Providence of God
So we'll look first at the providence of God in verses 1 to 8. Secondly, the healing of Naaman in verses 9 to 19. And then finally, the greed of Gehazi in verses 20 to 27. But if you look with me first of all at the providence of God in verses 1 to 8, you'll notice the object of God's grace.
The Object of God's Grace
The object of God's grace, 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. So the grace of God has been demonstrated profusely in Israel in chapters 3 and 4, and now it comes to this pagan. We notice that this man is great and honorable because he was the agent or the instrument by which God gave victory to the Syrians.
Now, as we look at this particular section, we'll wonder why that's good news. Well, there's a bit of an uneasy truce between Syria and Israel at this particular time. It's uneasy because the Syrians still go on raiding campaigns and grab little Israelite girls and take them and enslave them. But in 1 Kings chapter 22, we see that Jehoshaphat is engaged in a campaign with Syria to oppose Israel.
And so there is this tenuous relationship that obtains that the king of Israel, as we see here in verse 7, is a bit fearful of concerning this overture from the king of Syria. And when it comes to the particular problem that Naaman has, look at what we see at the end of verse 1. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. So he was plagued by that plague that our brother just read about in the book of Leviticus.
So he's got a big problem in terms of his physical condition. So he is the object of God's grace. But then notice
The Mystery of God's Providence
the mystery of God's providence in verses 2 to 4. This Israelite servant is taken captive. Verse 2, the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel, and she waited on Naaman's wife. Just so happens she waits on Naaman's wife.
Just so happens that she's in the right place at the right time to be a means of directing this man to the prophet of Israel. It doesn't just so happen, it's orchestrated by God. God governs all his creatures and all their actions. And when Syria went on that campaign, and when they abducted that little girl, who no doubt was traumatized by this particular event, she is then brought back to Naaman's house, and she is the servant specifically of Naaman's wife.
Notice that the text never names her. Matthew Henry makes the observation, the unhappy dispersing of the people of God has sometimes proved the happy occasion of the diffusion of the knowledge of God. That is an excellent observation and that is precisely what is happening in our passage. So 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 wife. Now notice she says to her mistress. She is obviously aware of the fact that Naaman's got issues. She's obviously aware of the fact that Naaman bears this plague, that Naaman suffers with this disease called leprosy.
So 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. That seems to indicate that this girl came from a believing family. a covenantally faithful family. She had faith in Yahweh and she had faith in Yahweh's prophet. And she understood and realized and knew that if Naaman could get in touch with Yahweh's prophet, then Naaman could be healed, Naaman could recover, Naaman could be washed clean of the leprosy that plagued him.
Now notice, before we proceed, that God is sovereign over not just the big stuff, but He's sovereign over little stuff as well. If you go back to chapter 3 in 2 Kings, you'll notice that God is over the big stuff concerning the defeat of Moab. Moab plagues Israel, God gives victory to them. And then you have Elisha and the widow's oil.
Again, that's not an international affair. That's not a cosmic situation. It certainly meant everything to this particular widow. But in terms of the grand scheme of life and history, this is kind of the small stuff.
Elisha raises the Shunammite's son. Again, a big event, a big deal for her, to be sure, but for the rest of us, not so much. Moving on into chapter 4, Elisha purifies the pot of stew. So again, he's sovereign in his providence, not only over victory concerning Moab, but also over a poisoned pot of stew.
And then we see that Elisha feeds a hundred men at the end of chapter 4, and now there's this international incident. God Most High weighs in on this particular situation. His sovereignty is extensive. His sovereignty is comprehensive.
His sovereignty is not confined to the geographical boundaries of Israel. Davis says that Yahweh, the text implies, controls Syrian politics and foreign affairs. He 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. Good, encouraging reminder concerning our God in a day and age where we're hoping that God is supervising the pagans and that they are tethered ultimately by his providence. And then notice still under the providence of God in verses 1 to 8, we have the object, we have the mystery of his providence, and then we have
The Fearfulness of Israel's King
the fearfulness of Israel's king. It's most likely Jehoram at this particular time. The text is silent. in terms of which king is on the throne, but most likely it is Jehoram. Notice in verse 5, the king of Syria said, Naaman gets this information from the servant girl, he goes to his king, and then the king of Syria in verse 5 says, Go now, I will send a letter to the king of Israel.
So he departed and took with him 10 talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, and 10 changes of clothing. This is likely 750 pounds of silver, a lot of silver. Likely 198 pounds of gold. You see, as far as Naaman, a pagan, who served a plethora of gods, was concerned, this is how you did business with God.
You bribed him, you brought things to him. And then you hope that he would visit you with the particular blessing. The pagans treat God like a vending machine. Christians aren't supposed to, but at times they do.
Witness the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. We simply put in our time and God gives us boats. That is absolutely ludicrous. But notice how this pagan addresses his situation.
So he departs, he brings all this stuff. Verse 6, 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 he tears his clothes. This is a signifying statement of his fearfulness, of the fact that he feels threatened. He says as much at the end of verse 7.
Therefore, please consider and see how he seeks to quarrel with me. They have this uneasy sort of alliance that as we know, uneasy alliances can go awry pretty rapidly. Well, Jehoram knew this as well, and he doesn't want it to go awry. He feels threatened, he's afraid, and he recognizes God's sovereignty cognitively, but he doesn't embrace it experientially.
Notice what he says, am I God? To kill and make alive. That's prerogative of deity. So Jehoram understands that, but he doesn't rest in that.
He freaks out, he loses his mind, and it's up to the prophet to calm him down, and that is precisely what Elisha does. Notice in verse 8. So it was when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."
Resting in Providence
Brethren, it is one thing to confess God's sovereignty, it is one thing to confess God's providence, but it's another thing to find comfort in it. It's another thing to rest in it, to be stabilized by it, and to know security as a result of it. Jehoram does not manifest this. Elisha does.
And intriguingly, the servant girl who had been ripped from her family home in Israel and brought to Naaman's house, she rests in that sovereignty as well. She understands that providence. She doesn't just have it up here, but rather she understands well that if only Naaman can meet the prophet, then God will bless him with health, with wholeness, and with healing. So if we confess sovereignty and we confess a belief in providence, it should settle us.
It should provide for us that ability to navigate through this chaos-filled world in a manner that is consistent with the saints of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
The Healing of Naaman
Now notice, secondly, the healing of Naaman. First, he's instructed by Elisha.
Elisha's Instruction and Naaman's Fury
Notice that Elisha doesn't even leave his house to come out and see Naaman. This is an affront to Naaman. I mentioned this morning the connection between the man, the noble man, who comes to Jesus in John 4, and Naaman. Now, the noble man's not quite as bad as Naaman, not quite as dramatic as Naaman, but still faulty in terms of his understanding.
The noble man thought that it was requisite that Jesus leave Cana, that he go to Capernaum, so that there he could apply healing to the noble man's son that was nigh unto death. Well, Naaman has that same sort of a mindset. The simplicity of the healing that he receives is simply an offense to him. And it begins with this reality, that Elisha doesn't even leave his house to go out and see him.
Notice in verse 9, Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. I'm guessing Elisha's house didn't look like Stephen Furtick's. I'm guessing it wasn't a six million dollar palatial mansion out in the middle of nowhere that was attended by servants. Elisha was a simple man.
He was a simple prophet. He probably dined on simple fare and he had a simple residence. So you've got Naaman there in all of his glory as a military commander for one of the the most notorious nations on earth at the time, certainly you would expect for Elisha to come out and fawn all over him. But Elisha doesn't do that.
Elisha doesn't treat Naaman as if he's an honorable man. He doesn't treat him as if he's a man of valor. He doesn't treat him as one who is equipped with military savvy. He treats him as a leper who stands in need of healing.
Elisha understands the score, he understands the issue, and Elisha wants to demonstrate that in the confines of Israel, it's not the personality of the prophet, but it's the power of God that makes the difference. For pagans, it was the personality of the prophets. Remember those pagans that served Baal in 1 Kings 18. When Elijah issues his contest at Carmel, how do those pagans invoke Baal?
They do it with dancing, they do it with leaping, they do it with cutting themselves and bleeding all over themselves and engaged in all kinds of frenzy to try to get Baal to send fire down to consume their offering. See, the idea among the pagans is we need to manipulate the gods. We need to get the gods to work on our behalf. We need to get them to perform.
That's why fornication was rampant among the bailists. That's why there were temple prostitutes. The idea was simple. If you fornicate, then you invite Baal to fornicate with one of his girlfriends, Asherah for instance, and when he is pleased with you, he'll rain down and fertilize your crops.
This was commonplace with the pagans that you had to appeal to the gods to get them to act on your behalf. Well, not the God of Israel, not the Lord God Most High. We cannot manipulate Him. We cannot coerce Him.
We cannot treat Him as if He's a vending machine. Rather, we are at His beck and call. We are under His sovereign command, and we are under His providence. So verse 9, 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. The idea of seven times may reflect the seven-day quarantine that we find in Leviticus 13 and 14. So he gives that simple bit of instruction. Again, he doesn't treat him as a mighty and valorous man.
He treats him as a leper who needs to be cleansed from his leprosy. So those are the instructions. Now notice the fury of Naaman. Naaman does not receive this well.
Naaman does not say, well, that's a good process or a good procedure. I'll go ahead and do that. In the first place, he 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 and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God.
He will certainly come out to me. I'm Naaman. I demand that kind of respect. I'm a mighty man.
I'm a man of valor. I have been the instrument of Yahweh's blessing upon the nation of Syria to bring them victory and prestige. Certainly His prophet ought to come out and He ought to give me some instruction that is according to my status, my stature. Notice that Naaman expected prophetic razzmatazz.
He expected a show. He expected some sort of an approach by the prophet that he was familiar with in his own pagan hometown. He was looking for something like those prophets of Baal, who would dance around in a frenzy, who would gash themselves with stones, who would cry out from morning until evening. Look at verse 11 again.
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. As well, he complains about the choice of the river Jordan. Notice in verse 12, 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. Brethren, this is symptomatic of the sinful heart, isn't it? The guy comes to Elisha for healing. Elisha gives him instruction and he gets mad at him.
He gets upset. Have you ever had that? You've given somebody some advice? Perhaps they've taken that advice and it went awry and they get mad at you.
It was advice. I'm sorry. It's simple as that. I mean, there are times, and perhaps you've witnessed this in coming to see me, there are times if you ask me, what is the doctrine of justification by faith alone?
I'll give you the biblical answer. I won't shrink back and I won't cut any corners. I'll tell you the absolute truth. But if you ask me my advice, I'm going to preface it by saying, this is my advice.
I don't have chapter and verse, but it seemeth wise unto me that this might be a way to proceed. Well, if you take that advice and it goes awry, I'm sorry, but you were the one ultimately that had to evaluate that advice and proceed according to your own will. But with reference to this idea or this rage, he gets mad at Elisha for doing what Elisha does. He gets upset because he has an expectation that Israel's God should be just like the pagan's gods.
Dillard, Raymond Dillard 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.
That's the way the pagans treat God. That's why, or they treat their gods. That's why when we look at modern worship, so much of it has more connection with Baalism than it does with the worship of Yahweh. This whole emotional overflow, this whole sort of back and forth waving, this almost trance-like repetition of choruses ad nauseum.
What is the purpose behind that? In Colossians and Ephesians, we are to sing and praise God Most High, to teach and admonish one another. We can't do that by the recitation of the chorus 48 times that is a simple statement. We are trying to be like bailists in the modern church, to get God to bless us, to get God to work for us.
We can pray, we can petition, we can supplicate, but we cannot cajole, we cannot coerce, and we cannot manipulate the true and living God. We need to learn that from the case of Naaman. He wants the razzmatazz, Elisha simply brings the truth of God's holy word. This is probably why Elisha did not go out to meet with them.
This is probably why Elisha sent his servant out. It was to defeat or rather to disenfranchise him of the notion that it's the personality of the prophet instead of the power of God that makes all the difference. But before we move on to the healing of Naaman, look at the wisdom of the servants in verse 13. You'll find that in Old Testament narrative.
Once in a while, there's a perplexing situation, and a servant will make a glorious observation, filled with wisdom, filled with ingenuity, filled with biblical horse sense. And that's what the servants do in verse 13. 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 than when he says to you, wash and be clean.
In other words, calm down. They didn't say it quite like that. In other words, chill out. In other words, listen to the instruction of the prophet of the true and living God.
If he tells you to go to the Jordan and dip yourself seven times, then go to the Jordan and dip yourself seven times. Praise God for unnamed servants in biblical narrative, because more often than not, they set their masters straight and put them on the proper course that does please and honor God.
Naaman's Cleansing and Conversion
Now let's move to the healing of Naaman. Notice in verse 14. If you were reading the Greek translation of the Old Testament scriptures, you would have, so he went down and baptized seven times in the Jordan. Baptized, dipping, that's what he does.
He immerses himself in this water in order to wash himself clean. Now the water doesn't have healing properties, neither does that water. The water is simply emblematic, it is symbolic, it is representative, it is simply what God calls upon the man to do in terms of the healing of his leprosy. Now notice, he is washed and he is cleansed, and at the end of verse 14, his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
So that's the physical manifestation of God's grace having come to him. The man is healed. The man is no longer a leper. The servant girl was right.
If Naaman goes to meet with Elisha, then Elisha will mediate the blessing of Yahweh such that Naaman will be cleansed. He'll no longer be plagued by leprosy. But you see, God's grace is so profuse. God's grace is so abounding.
God's grace is so glorious. He doesn't stop at the physical. He doesn't just heal the man externally. but he heals the man internally. He saves the man by his grace and for his glory.
And you see that change come over him in verses 15 to 19. Notice his change of attitudes, a change of attitude. He goes from rage and fury and anger at the thought that Elisha wouldn't even leave his couch, wouldn't even exit his front door to come and meet this man of valor and military savvy. Five times in verses 15 to 18, Naaman refers to himself as your servant.
That's what God's grace does. It humbles people. It knocks them off their high horse. It takes them from this place of faking themselves eight foot tall and bulletproof to that place of your servant to the prophet of God, even Elisha.
Naaman's Confession and Gratitude
Notice the confession of faith that he makes in verse 15. He says, indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Turn over to Joshua chapter 2. This is similar to other pagan confessions when they get converted to the true faith.
Joshua chapter 2, you have Rahab the harlot. Rahab the harlot, that wonderful lady from Jericho that God saves by His grace. Notice in Joshua chapter 2 at verse 8. Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof.
Excuse me. and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted. Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
Now, therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house and give me a true token and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have and deliver our lives from the death. It's a beautiful statement. Notice in verse 11, she says, for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. That was not pagan thought.
Pagans had gods for heaven, gods for earth, gods for hills, gods for valleys. That she is ascribing sovereignty to the God of Israel shows the change in her heart. And then turn over to the book of Ruth, Ruth chapter 1, passages that you should be familiar with because these were persons outside the commonwealth of Israel that by God's grace were included among the covenant people. In Ruth chapter 1, verse 16, but Ruth said, entreat me not to leave you. or to turn back from following after you.
For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me." So when we go back to the case of Naaman, he sounds just like that.
He sounds like a fresh convert. He sounds like one who's come out of darkness into marvelous light and has seen the glory and the majesty and the power of the living and true God. So he says specifically, indeed now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. And then notice his gratitude toward God.
Now he's expressing gratitude in the only way that he knows, but this does mirror or parallel the guilt, grace, gratitude motif that we find not just in the Heidelberg Catechism, but what we find in the gospel. There is that guilt. We understand our sin and misery because of the law of God. And then we receive God's grace because He's so good and merciful and He shows us Christ.
And then we respond with gratitude. We bless Him. We thank Him. We serve Him.
And by grace, we obey Him. Notice what Naaman does. Naaman says at the end of verse 15, now, therefore, please take a gift. from your servant. Please take a gift.
Again, as far as he's concerned, you know, it's consistent with his pagan religion, it's consistent with sort of buying off the gods, but here we could see it as the reflex to his reception of God's grace. There is this gratitude, and he wants to respond in kind. Of course, Elisha refuses that gift. Why do you think Elisha refuses that gift?
Because Elisha agrees with the reality that grace is free. He does not want to teach this pagan that God is like the gods of the pagans. He does not want to underscore or affirm or confirm or give any idea to Naaman that Yahweh is sort of like Baal. Yeah, not only do you receive the benefit, but you also have to proffer up the price.
Give up some silver and gold and we'll call it a day. No, Elisha flat out refuses that. He wants to maintain the reality that God is a God of grace. a God of mercy, a God of kindness, and a God who cannot be bought off. Notice the resolution of Naaman.
Again, this isn't an ordo salutis like what you find in Romans 8, but it certainly mirrors conversion under the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace, we respond with gratitude, and then there's resolution in our heart to serve the living and the true God. Notice what Naaman says in verse 17. Naaman said, then if not, please let your servant be given two mule loads of earth.
What does he want Israel dirt for? He wants Israel dirt so he can take it back to Syria so he has a piece of Israel with him. When he remembers Yahweh, when he worships Yahweh, he wants to have a piece of dirt that reflects the God of Israel. This seems odd to us, but it certainly didn't seem odd to Elisha.
It certainly didn't shock Elisha. It certainly didn't make Elisha try and correct him and fastidiously get into his face and say, oh no, there is nothing sacred or holy about dirt. Sure, go ahead, load up two mule loads, take it back home, and when you worship Yahweh, do it on Israel's dirt. Notice, he says, if not, please let your servant be given two mule loads of earth.
And then he says, for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord. He is making a resolution. This happens with converts. This happens with those who are saved by grace.
They express gratitude to God, and then they express their hopeful fidelity to God. Certainly they learn along the way what we sang there in the hymn, We are prone to wander and prone to leave the God that we love, but we always want to reaffirm. We always want to renew that covenant, that attachment to our blessed God. And so Naaman does that, and it speaks well concerning his conversion.
But then
Naaman's Sensitive Conscience
notice his sensitivity. He's got a sensitive conscience because he knows that there are going to be problems. I mean, after all, he's the military commander of a pagan nation. He is going to be in jeopardizing situations.
He is going to be in difficult situations. He is going to be in compromising situations, so He preemptively seeks to fetch grace from Yahweh to meet that eventuality. That's what we find in verse 18. Again, it seems strange to us, but let's look at the text.
Yet in this thing may the Lord pardon your servant. When my master goes into the temple of Reman to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Reman, when I bow down in the temple of Reman, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing." Now, Reman was the Syrian version of Baal. And as Naaman says, his king worshipped that false god. And in the course of the day, that king would go visit the temple of Reman.
And when that king would go, he would take Naaman. Naaman knows this is going to happen. Naaman understands the compromising situation that this is going to be. So in verse 17, he announces that his fidelity is to Yahweh alone.
I'll offer up neither burnt offering or sacrifice to any other gods but to Yahweh. But I'm gonna have to go into the temple of Reman. I'm even gonna have to bow down. Now, take my word for it, Elisha, I'm not doing that out of religious devotion.
I'm not doing that because I'm obliged to Reman. I love, I want to honor, and I want to glorify Yahweh of Israel. So, Elisha, can you call upon the Living God and ask Him preemptively to pardon me for what is eventually going to be a very uncomfortable situation. Matthew Poole points out, this was not a religious action towards the idol, but only a civil respect for his master.
He had an actual responsibility to perform to his master. Davis makes this observation. The fact, well, let's just look at verse 19 first. Notice what Elisha responds to.
Then he said to him, go in peace, so he departed from him a short distance. Elisha doesn't take this time to correct him. Elisha doesn't take this time to instruct him on ethics. Elisha doesn't take this time to say, oh, you can't go anywhere near the Temple of Ramon.
Christians simply just don't do that. Now brethren, I don't want to overread into this text and give some sort of leeway for us to be engage in folly in terms of our life and our commitments and those sorts of things. But at this particular juncture in redemptive history, Naaman didn't have a lot of information. Naaman did not know a lot about, you know, the kind of religion that Israel practiced.
But the fact that Naaman had a conscience pricked that was sensitive about this eventuality speaks well concerning the grace of God in his heart. There are persons who confess Jesus Christ today who live a whole lot less consistently in light of New Covenant, New Testament religion, in light of an entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. So Elisha doesn't take the time to correct him. Elisha tacitly says that this is a messy world and that sometimes we have to do things we'd rather not do.
So Elisha bids him to go Davis says 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. You see, if you've read 1st and 2nd Kings up to this point, and if you continue past this point in 2nd Kings, you will notice that the religion of Israel, while they may have had it up here, it certainly was not fleshed out in their lives. It was not practiced, it was not applied.
So back to the Davis quote. He says, 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.
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?
So you see, it is an odd situation, it is an odd request, a preemptive fetching of God's grace for an offensual situation, but it does show that sensitive conscience. It shows that he did in fact receive God's grace.
The Greed of Gehazi
Now let's look thirdly and finally at the greed of Gehazi. Two things to note here, the deception and the disease. Verses 20 to 24, you see Gehazi's desire. 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.
I mean, come on, that gold and that silver? If not all of it, Elijah, a few shekels our way could help us, you know, with the pot of stew. We might get a bit of meat in the next pot that we make. So Gehazi's kind of licking his chops at the thought of a bit of a better life, which he ultimately gets and then ultimately sacrifices.
So he sees the situation. And then notice what he says in the middle of verse 20. Brethren, that's a special kind of wickedness. When you design to rebel against God, don't do it by adjuring God.
Don't do it by oathing to God. As the Lord lives, I'm going to undo everything my master, the prophet of Yahweh, has said, and I'm going to run up to Naaman, and I'm going to get some money from him. So that's his desire. Notice how he goes about it.
Verses 21 to 24. So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. And he said, is all well?
And he said, all is well. My master has sent me saying, he's a liar. He does this as the Lord lives. He's lying with having adjured the living and true God.
He's engaged in subterfuge just to try and get loot. So he says that 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. And we see that Naaman complies.
Naaman's new to this religion of Israel. Naaman thought that perhaps this is just going to do a solid for these two new prophets that need a bit of money and a little bit of treatment. Elijah's done him a great service. He's going to go ahead and repay this kindness.
So this is Gehazi's plan. to take from him. Notice verse 23, Naaman said, please take two talents and he urged him and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of garments and handed them to two of his servants and they carried them 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. Elisha said to him, where did you go, Gehazi? So you see, he had to make good now. He had to come to grips with what he has done.
If he had no Elisha to face, he perhaps would have got away with it. That's the folly of every criminal. They always think they're going to get away with it, right? Yeah, I I can get away with this sin.
I know billions of my my fellows have tried and have failed, but I'll be successful It's kind of like communism. We know that it's failed in every other country It's ever been tried. But but we'll be able to pull it off in America. We'll be able to accomplish it in Canada Yeah, let's see how that goes So he's got the same sort of a mindset as far as Ghazi is concerned.
He just wants money. He wants a a filthy lucre as the King James calls it. So he lies ultimately about God Most High. And then in terms of his having to pay the ferryman.
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. Brethren, if you are in contact with a prophet of the true and living God, can I give you a bit of counsel?
Don't lie to him. Don't do that. Elisha's much smarter than Gehazi. Elisha's the prophet, Gehazi's the servant, Gehazi's a wretch.
So he tries to continue to perpetrate this wickedness. Why do you think Elisha doesn't want to pay, or receive rather, the pay from Naaman? Why do you think that Elisha is upset with Gehazi for having done this? Again, Davis.
Why was Elisha so adamant, note his oath, notice in verse 16, as the Lord lives before whom I stand. Same language that Gehazi uses to pull off his crime. So Davis says, why was Elisha so adamant, note his oath, about refusing Naaman's gift? Doubtless because he wanted to impress upon Naaman that Yahweh 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. Raymond Dillard says 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. The man's a wretch. The man should have listened to his master. He shouldn't have done this.
And that is precisely how the passage ends. Verse 26, 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? He's speaking about what Gehazi planned to do with that money.
Is it time for that, Gehazi? You just want a life of luxury and ease? You just want all of your needs met? You want your needs exceeded?
You want your wants? You want all satisfaction? Elisha is saying there is something far more important than our temporal ease. than our temporal comfort, than meat in our stew pot. What is most important is to communicate the truth of God Most High to persons in need.
He cannot be bribed, He cannot be manipulated, He cannot be coerced, and we are not in the business of profiting as prophets, is what Elisha says to this man Gehazi. Now notice 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." I would imagine New Testament Christians read this and they say, wow, that's a bit over excessive, isn't it? That's a bit harsh, isn't it? No, not at all.
Matthew Poole is right on. He says, 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. It is not wrong for God to punish this man with leprosy for his having committed this crime and this sin before Yahweh. In the presence of Elisha and in the presence of a brand new Christian, a brand new believer, a brand new convert to the true religion from paganism.
We need to speak the truth concerning God in each and every instance. We need to communicate the truth about the gospel in each and every instance. Remember that the book of Galatians exists to show us that it's not faith plus anything that gets us salvation. It's faith alone.
It's God's grace alone. That's why this whole idea of faith as instrument, it's the receiving hand that gets from God what He graciously grants to needy sinners.
Application
Well, in conclusion, there are theological lessons that we should derive, and then there are some the gospel significance. First, the comprehensive sovereignty of God. He's sovereign over Israel. He's sovereign over Syria.
He's sovereign over Naaman. He's sovereign over this Israelite girl that is taken captive and brought into Naaman's house. The providence of God. The providence of God, again, just like the Fever of that young man in John chapter 4 was the crushing providence that provoked that noble man to go out and seek out Jesus to go and fetch healing.
It's providence that brought these these persons together. It's providence that put this servant girl in Naaman's house. It's providence where the servant girl says to Mrs. Naaman, if only your husband could meet the true prophet of God, he would be healed.
That wasn't lucky. It wasn't fortuitous. It wasn't a chance event. God governs all his creatures and all their actions.
Thirdly, and we ought to appreciate this, not that we shouldn't appreciate the others, the inclusion of Gentiles in the covenant promises of God. Naaman was twice removed from the commonwealth of Israel. Actually, three times removed. He's not an Israelite.
He's a pagan. Two, he's a leper. We've read in Leviticus 13 and 14 how they were unclean. They were having to live outside the communal society.
But thirdly, he was an enemy ultimately of these people. Again, it was an uneasy truce. It was such that the Syrians still went on raids and still abducted young girls from their families' homes and brought them to Syria. So the inclusion of Gentiles in the covenant promises of God.
Paul House says, from Genesis 12, 2 and 3 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. It is a most glorious display of God's blessing upon not only Israel, but upon the Gentiles as well. And in terms of the gospel significance, first, the humbling impact of God's grace.
He goes from a man who thought that Elisha should dutifully run from his house and kowtow to him, to your servant, five times in discourse with Elisha. Brethren, a proud Christian is an oxymoron. Proud Calvinist is horrible. Proud reform people is terrible.
We are to be humbled by the grace of God. We are not saved tonight. We are not heaven bound tonight because we're good. It's not that we deserved it.
It's not that our works were right on. It's not that we're law keepers. It's not that we're upright. We're wretched, we're miserable, we're sinful, we're defectors, we're transgressors, we're lackers of conformity unto God's law.
And yet we have received grace. It ought not to promote in our minds any conception of ourselves, but it rather ought to humble us under His mighty hand. Secondly, the simplicity of God's grace. The servants point this out.
If he had told you something great, you would have went and done it. All you had to do, all you have to do is go dip in the river seven times. The simplicity of God's grace. Perhaps more people would be heaven-bound if there was a litany of rules, and a decree of commands, and a whole host of things that they could check off their list.
But that's not how it works. It's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. I would imagine if you could convince somebody out there that really there was a heaven and really there was a hell and it cost $5,000 to get into heaven, they would probably do whatever they could to gather up $5,000 and pay that price immediately. They'll do those things that seem enormous when the call of the gospel is to believe.
Oh no, it's got to be believe and do. It's got to be believe and perform. It's got to be believe and obey. No, the emphasis and the accent falls in the New Testament and the Old Testament as well on justification by faith alone.
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. You almost hear it in the mouths of the pagans. That's it?
That's kind of what people think. That's it? That's all? That's all you have to do?
That's why you're going to heaven? You mean you didn't have to go to this, you know, class or sit in a monastery or go stand on a pole? You didn't have to do all that and yet you're going to go to heaven? It's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
Thirdly, the thoroughness of God's grace. The thoroughness of God's grace. He doesn't just partially deal with us. You see it in Naaman in a twofold manner.
First, the physical manifestation. He's no longer a leper. He no longer had that malady. He no longer had that affliction.
But you see it spiritually in what has happened to him. He confesses belief in Israel's God. He expresses gratitude toward Israel's God. He expresses a resolution to none other than Israel's God.
This wasn't a half-hearted conversion. This wasn't just a decision just for the time so that he could be healed from his leprosy. Fifth, you see in the passage, specifically with the greed of Gehazi, the danger of attempting to add to God's grace. We are not those who are trying to put a value on salvation.
There's no value you can place on it. It is not the case that we put additions or supplements into the gospel call, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and do this with your children. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and go to this particular church. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and subscribe this particular confession.
No, that's what's condemned by Paul in the book of Galatians. There it was circumcision. There it was the ceremonies of Moses. There it was faith in Jesus as Messiah plus circumcision to identify with the people of Israel.
Paul anathematizes that approach to the gospel. And then finally, you can turn to Luke 4. We'll tie up everything with what we saw this morning. The sovereignty of God's grace.
The sovereignty of God's grace. We noted this morning with John's comments that Jesus made this tripped from Samaria into Galilee, and he says that a prophet is without honor in his own hometown. Well, you see this in Nazareth in Luke chapter 4, verse 16. So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as his costume was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.
He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Then he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Who could do that but the one who is the subject of that particular prophecy? Verse 22, So all bore witness to him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
And they said, Is this not Joseph's son? So at this point, they're marveling at the grace that proceeds out of his mouth. This changes when he tells them about sovereignty. Look at what happens in verse 23.
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." Brethren, she was a pagan. She was part of Heathenville. She was not in the Commonwealth of Israel. What's Jesus' point?
God's sovereignty is such that at the time of Elijah, he passed up a lot of Israelite widows and ministered to this widow in Zarephath. But he doesn't stop there. Notice in verse 27, And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. See, another demonstration of the fact that God cannot be manipulated.
God cannot be coerced or cajoled, but rather God is sovereign in the dispensing of His grace. And notice how the Nazareth people respond now to his teaching on God's sovereignty. So just remind yourself in verse 22, all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. Now drop down to 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. And they led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down over the cliff. then passing through the midst of them, he went his way." God's sovereignty is an offense to those who are perishing, but to those who, by God's grace, have their eyes open and their hearts filled with faith and repentance, they see it as one of the most blessed things in all of the world. Sovereign grace is such a blessed benefit. It is such a wondrous thing.
Let us with Naaman resolve to serve and glorify him alone. Let us with Naaman seek God's grace and mercy and forgiveness when we sin, when we come into places where we might sin. And let us with Naaman Bless the God of Israel and respond with the gratitude that is befitting for those who have received God's sovereign grace. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your blessedness and your holiness and your goodness and the way that you saved this pagan. And our Father in heaven, we know that you are in the business even now of saving persons by your grace and for your glory. Bless the gospel as it has gone out today.
I pray that multitudes who have heard the sound of Christ and Him crucified and resurrected would be affected, they would be convicted, they would see themselves as sinners before a holy God, and they would see Christ as the one in whom there is forgiveness and a righteousness that avails with you. We thank you for your great salvation in our lives. Help us to respond in a manner that is consistent with what we find in Holy Scripture, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We'll close with a brief time of meditation.