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’?”  (2 Kings 5:13)

Naaman was a successful man, the kind of person that others look up to. He was a leader of men, a general in the army of the King of Syria. In most ways he had what others long for, except for one giant exception: he was a leper. The disease was not only disgusting, it was also a death sentence.

General Naaman came to the prophet Elisha for healing, but Elisha wouldn’t even see him. Through a messenger the prophet told him to go to the humble, muddy Jordan River and wash himself seven times. Naaman was furious that he wasn’t treated better as was given such a humble – almost ridiculous – path to healing.

He was so offended that Naaman would have walked away in anger if not for the wise advice of his unnamed servants. The servants of Naaman used a brilliantly logical approach. If Elisha had asked Naaman to sacrifice 100 or 1,000 animals to the God of Israel, Naaman would have done it immediately. Yet because his request was so easy to do and humbling, Naaman refused in anger.

Naaman was willing to do something great or something difficult so that he could gain some of the credit for his healing. It would be his accomplishment and achievement. To do something so simple, so humbling, meant that the great general would get no credit for what happened. It would be God’s gift alone.

It’s the same way with the rescue we receive from Jesus Christ. He asks us to do something so simple – to trust in Him, to rely on Him, to believe upon Him – that even a child could do it. This doesn’t take great strength, wisdom, willpower, or moral character. We believe and receive.

If you told people, “real life on earth and eternal life in heaven is yours if you crawl up this mountain over sharp rocks,” there would be a long line of people willing to do it. The message, “Jesus paid it all – believe on Him and receive” – isn’t as popular. But it is true, and it works. Naaman was healed, and not by anything he did. We can all receive real life on earth and eternal life in heaven as a gift received from Jesus – but not by anything we do. It is true, and it works.

And, thank God for His unnamed but wise servants!

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 5

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. (2 Kings 5:5)

This verse concerns a general in the army of Syria named Naaman. Naaman was a great and honorable man, and a man of great courage and strength (2 Kings 5:1). He was a success by almost any measure, but he was a leper. His leprosy was not only a disgusting disease, but it was also a death sentence. Eventually he would die from this normally incurable disease.

Through a servant girl, Naaman heard that there was a prophet in Israel who could heal him. Elisha was a true prophet of the living God, and though the he could not do miracles simply as he pleased to do them, God used him many times to do miraculous things.

Naaman asked his boss – the king of Syria – if he could go to enemy territory (Israel) to ask a prophet among Syria’s enemies for healing from this disgusting, deadly disease. The king gave permission, and Naaman went.

Our verse tells us that Naaman brought the following things to pay the prophet who could heal him: ten talents of silver, six thousand shekelsof gold, and ten changes of clothing. Here’s the point: this was a lot of money. A talent was generally thought to be about 33 kilograms (75 pounds). At today’s prices, ten talents of silver were worth $158,934. A shekel can be estimated to be 12 grams (.42 ounces). At today’s prices, six thousand shekels of gold were worth $2,978,640. We can give a low estimate of ten changes of clothing in today’s prices to be $5,000.

In total, Naaman brought $3,142,574 (€2,779,242 at today’s exchange rate).

More than $3 million is a lot of money, but all that money couldn’t bring Naaman life or happiness. Naaman was willing to spend that much to get something that God would give him freely. If they could, what would people pay to get to heaven? To be made right with God? To have true, meaningful purpose in life? To have their guilt erased? Their sins forgiven?

Naaman needed something that only God could bring to him, and God would bring it through a prophet – a man of God’s word.

God and His word have treasure for you that money can’t buy. In a prayer to God, Psalm 119:72 says, the law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver. Naaman was about to receive something that money could not buy.

Have you received the greatest things from God? The things that money can’t buy?

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 5

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. (2 Kings 5:1)

2 Kings 5:1 introduces us to an important, powerful man – a general named Naaman. We read that he was a great and an honorable man, and that God had blessed him with victory for the Syrian army. We also learn that he was a mighty man of valor, just like Gideon (Judges 6:12), Jephthah (Judges 11:1), David (1 Samuel 16:18), Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:28), and several others. In fact, it seems that Naaman was the only Gentile the Bible says was a mighty man of valor.

General Naaman had a lot going for him, but the last three words of 2 Kings 5:1 change his story completely. With his power, status, and influence, Naaman was a great man – but a leper.

Leprosy often began with the loss of sensation in some part of the body. Because of the nerve damage, the muscles started to waste away. The hands and feet became disfigured, and often deteriorated so much that fingers and toes were lost. Over the span of 20 or 30 years a leper might lose hands and feet; it was, as William Barclay wrote, “a kind of terrible progressive death in which a man dies by inches.”

The leprosy described in the Bible was a contagious, debilitating disease that corrupted its victim and makes him essentially dead while alive. Most people thought that lepers were under the special judgment of God, deserving no pity or mercy. For all these reasons, the condition of leprosy is a picture of sin and its effects.

Remember the tragic words about Naaman: but a leper. Those words speak to us today. The effects of leprosy run deep, but by appearance, the leper is “skin-sick.” All humanity is “sin-sick.” Spiritually speaking, we are all lepers until Jesus heals us.

– No matter what we accomplish in life, we still have to deal with sin.
– Our sin-sickness makes us dead while still alive.
– We can’t heal our own sin-sickness.
– Our sin-sickness often follows a slow progression.
– Left to itself, our sin-sickness will grow worse and worse.
– Our sin-sickness will lead to death without what only God can do.

The story of General Naaman has a happy ending. That isn’t true of every sin-sick person. But Jesus knows how to heal both the leper (Matthew 8:1-3) and the sinner. Jesus rescues both the skin-sick and the sin-sick.

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 5

So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were. Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it. So he said, “Then bring some flour.” And he put it into the pot, and said, “Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.(2 Kings 4:39-41)

Like his mentor Elijah, the life of Elisha was filled with miracles. This was one of the more unusual wonders God worked through the prophet.

In this case, in a time of famine (2 Kings 4:38), an unnamed man found a wild vine and brought it back to a group of young prophets. They sliced up the vine and threw it into a pot of stew. The vine or gourd was probably something known in that area as a wild cucumber. It can be bitter to the taste and cause severe digestive problems if enough is eaten, sometimes leading to death.

Under God’s guidance, Elisha put some good flour into the pot of stew and something wonderful happened: what was once so bad that it brought death was now made good. We aren’t exactly told, but it seems they enjoyed the rest of the stew.

Let’s take two applications from this. First, we often do what the unnamed young prophet did. We sometimes go out into the world for things we think will help and satisfy us, and instead they bring us death. If you belong to God, you will never again find the same satisfaction or nourishment in the things of the world. You can’t really go back to a life where the most important things are entertainment, or pleasure, or comfort, or fame, or wealth. These things in the “stew” of our life will eventually leave us shouting, “There is death in the pot!”

Second, notice what Elisha did. Instead of trying to get all the poisonous stuff out of the stew, instead he added something good: flour, the stuff you use to make bread. When wholesome food came into the pot, it changed everything.

Surely there is a time to try and remove poisonous doctrines among believers; but more often the proper course is to add as much good spiritual food as possible. Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:35). Put the focus on Jesus and His life-giving Word – and watch how God gets the “death” out of a once-poisoned stew.

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 4