2 Kings 5:1–27

5:4–5 Naaman takes the logical course of action and asks his king (probably Ben-hadad II) to make contact with the Israelites through normal diplomatic channels, which the king commits to do: “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” In the ancient world, most prophets worth their prophetic salt were employed by the state. Naaman himself, of course, will have to deliver this letter. So, stocking up an appropriate payment for the kind of service he is hoping the prophet will perform (“ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing” comprises a massive gift—c. 750 lb. of silver and 110 lb. of gold), he sets out for Israel.

5:6–7 The wording of the letter understandably throws the king of Israel (unnamed, as he is simply a foil here, but probably Jehoram) into a panic: “I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” Given the fact that none of the Israelite kings have been straightforward Yahweh worshipers, nor have they enjoyed warm relationships with Elijah, Elisha, or any other authentic prophet of God, this presents significant problems. In fact, the major issue in this part of the chapter is not the Syrian’s skin complaint. Nor is it the little girl, tempting though it is to dwell on the fact that God can use even little slave girls to point soldiers to Christ. The point is actually something we have seen before: the complete ignorance of the king. God’s king does not know God.

It is striking that Jehoram is not even named in this chapter. He has already been effectively discredited and is shown up this time by a Syrian soldier. Yet again, the king who should be the one steeped in the Bible, leading his people with humility and wisdom from God, comes out looking like a fool, in contrast to Naaman’s young servant girl.

The king “tore his clothes” in a mixture of panic and despair: “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?” Here he repeats a line drawn from the song of Moses: “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand” (Deut. 32:39; cf. 1 Sam. 2:6). This is so far beyond the capabilities, experience, or even framework of the king that he is forced to put a political spin on the request to make sense of it: “Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.” When he receives the letter, he does not see an evangelistic opportunity, or even a call to repent of his disinterest in Yahweh himself; he just sees trouble. Jehoram knows that only God can make alive. He has seen God do the little things of producing water and defeating the Moabites (in 2 Kings 3). He has surely heard of Carmel and the repeat episodes involving his brother in 2 Kings 1. And yet, unlike the little girl, he refuses to call on the name of Yahweh—even while citing Yahweh’s own Word. At the heart of 2 Kings 5:1–7 is the stubbornness of the king.

5:8–9 In verse 8 the scene changes, the king of Israel disappears, and Elisha enters. Unusually, Elisha is relatively quick to put the king out of his misery: “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” The slight irony is that the Syrian commander will then be one step ahead of the king of God’s people in his theological knowledge! In this fast-moving narrative, the scene again jumps forward to Naaman and his significant entourage, including “horses and chariots,” arriving outside Elisha’s home. The scene is now set for resolution, as Naaman is poised “at the door of Elisha’s house,” ready to encounter this prophet that he has gone to great lengths to meet face to face.

5:10 Elisha’s preference for dealing with people through intermediaries now spills over into deliberate rudeness. With the Syrian commander and his party at the door, “Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.’” Elisha sends Gehazi to fend Naaman off with a message that he must know will drive him mad. Ancient standards of hospitality (and modern standards too) are happily flouted by the prophet. Elisha offers the prospect of healing wrapped in a highly insulting manner of dealing with a foreign dignitary, especially one who comes with the imprimatur of his king. Even his prescription sounds more like a recipe for ritual cleanness (cf. Leviticus 14) than a promise of healing.

5:11–12 It hardly comes as a shock that “Naaman was angry,” and it seems entirely reasonable that the Syrian feels slighted: “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.” Despite his pagan background, Naaman’s reasonable expectation involves some kind of invocation of Yahweh and some religious action (like that of Elisha with the child in the previous chapter) rather than a blunt dismissal. This disappointment quickly gives rise to an understandable sense of pique flowing from national pride (and a reasonable comparison of waterways): “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” Even if the reader understands the priority of Israel in the plans of God, his reaction does elicit our sympathy: “So he turned and went away in a rage.”

Naaman has come all this way. He is prepared to pay. He has even left the palace and gone to Elisha’s house. In his vending-machine theology, he has put plenty of coins in the slot, but what has he gotten? No respect. No cure. Just very annoying words. It is humiliating. It is ridiculously simple. It is so parochial. It is rude! So he turns and goes away in a rage. But this is part of the writer’s point, however, for alongside the questions concerning Elisha’s (deliberately) provocative behavior, these events have raised significant questions about Naaman’s pride, which has remained hidden up to this point.

We must not miss the fact that there is every indication that Elisha is rude on purpose. He means to get under his skin—and he does! Sometimes it takes shock tactics to get through to others, and the great news is that Yahweh is more than prepared to do what it takes to break through pride and stubbornness to force humans to humble themselves before the living God, which is precisely what happens next.

5:13–14 Naaman’s sense of being slighted by an insulting solution after going to such lengths to encounter this prophet has blinded him to the possibility of healing held out by Elisha, a fact his servants are quick to point out: “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” The delicacy these servants display in cajoling their master is impressive, as is the turnaround they achieve. Naaman’s servants recognize the word of Yahweh when they hear it (unlike Jehoram). And to his credit, Naaman has second thoughts. He makes a conscious decision to accept the word of Yahweh through the prophet: “So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, . . . and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”

The writer intends us to see Naaman emerging with a complexion like that of his wife’s servant girl. His inflamed flesh ends up looking just like that of the little slave girl as he bows before her Lord. The change happens as this mighty warrior accepts that he needs to do what Yahweh says and humbles himself before Yahweh. This is another example of Yahweh’s working through his word (all this happened “according to the word of the man of God”).

5:15–16 A now deeply grateful Naaman swallows his pride and makes his way repentantly back with his entourage “to the man of God, . . . and he came and stood before him.” The Syrian mighty man of valor now understands himself to be Yahweh’s servant, a term he uses of himself five times in 5:15–19. This is a quite a turnaround for Naaman. He finally gets to stand before Elisha and his God—but he has realized that the only way to stand before God is to bow before him first! Unlike Ahaziah and Jehoram, he knows “that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.” He shows the generous impulse that is a mark of those in whom God is at work. He even has a radically transformed view of idolatry; his confession is remarkable. He does not simply acknowledge the power, or even the supremacy, of Yahweh but appears to become a monotheist (a fact borne out by the rest of this chapter): “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.”

The fact that Elisha did nothing to heal him per se is an important part of Naaman’s journey to faith in the God who heals (and gives victory—cf. v. 1). It then makes perfect sense to make a gesture of gratitude—in this case, he urges Elisha to “accept now a present from your servant.” For Elisha, however, this is unacceptable, and he refuses in the strongest possible terms: “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.”² Further attempts by Naaman to persuade Elisha to relent fail.

5:17–19a Having given up trying to foist a gift on Elisha, Naaman changes tack to make a highly unusual request (in fact, it is unique in an OT context). As this formerly pagan and now apparently Yahwistic foreigner seeks to anticipate the challenges of living out his faith in Damascus, he asks for some Israelite dirt: “Please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the Lord.” This is an extraordinary statement. Naaman, the new convert, has been transformed—brought to new life by Yahweh the life-giver. Now he is a servant of Yahweh. But he still has the theological framework of a Syrian soldier. Like most people in the ancient Near East, he believes that all gods have their home ground. So yes, he recognizes that Yahweh is the real God, the God without equal, but he still thinks (as he has always done), that one needs to worship Yahweh on his turf—hence the strange request about the dirt.

Naaman will need to grow in theological understanding, but, judging by Elisha’s swift and positive response, this seems to be a wise and pragmatic response to his recent conversion.³ At this point, Naaman raises another matter of some theological concern, which explains the way in which the issue is bracketed by a request for pardon from Yahweh: “In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: . . . the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.” Naaman is clearly anxious, repeating himself several times. The matter that is causing such concern for Naaman is the fact that his duties in Damascus involve being present at idolatrous worship “when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon.”⁴

The repetition ensures that his desire to guard himself against any suggestion or possibility of idol worship (even accidentally) stands in stark contrast to the way in which kings of both Israel and Judah have played fast and loose with idolatry. Elisha’s brief response (“He said to him, ‘Go in peace.’”) suggests that he is both commending his concern to take such issues seriously and also reassuring his tender conscience that there is no need to worry. Naaman may be a bit confused, but he is far ahead of most Israelites. He is the OT equivalent of the Thessalonians, who turned from idols to serve the true and living God—and Elisha has the spiritual insight to realize that Naaman at this point needs to be supported and encouraged, rather than corrected.

5:19b–27 In the concluding scene, the transformation in Naaman is set against the grasping bitterness of Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, who steps into the limelight for the first time. No sooner has Naaman left Elisha than “Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, ‘See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not accepting from his hand what he brought.’” The language used by Gehazi betrays his deep-seated attitudes. Rather than rejoicing in the ongoing fulfillment of the promise to Abraham, Gehazi bemoans the fact that Elisha did not make Naaman suffer. Using Elisha-esque terminology, he vows to exploit the Syrian: “As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

When he sees Gehazi coming in verse 21, Naaman responds in all good faith. Gehazi is not only deceitful but also clever, fabricating a plausible story about a changed situation: “All is well. My master has sent me to say, ‘There have just now come to me from the hill country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’” Given the fact that Elisha has already provided for the wider community of the sons of the prophets, and that the amounts Gehazi requests are not excessive (particularly as he may have had a good idea of the amount of silver and gold Naaman had brought with him), this is a modest request.

In fact, the request is pitched so well that it inspires Naaman in verse 23 to offer to double his request and offer two talents (150 lb./68 kg) of silver: “He urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants.” This poses something of a problem for Gehazi, as he does not want Elisha to see Naaman’s servants bearing the gifts he refused to receive, so in verse 24, “when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and put them in the house, and he sent the men away, and they departed.” Upon approaching “the hill” (the place where God revealed himself to be the one and only God), he attempts to cover his tracks, but to no avail.

Back in 2 Kings 4:27, Elisha had no idea of what was going on. This time, however, he is in full possession of the facts, even though Gehazi attempts to cover up his actions, saying, “Your servant went nowhere.” Elisha asks, “Did not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you?” This may be implying that his heart “went with him” or that his heart “moved” when Gehazi implemented his plan. Elisha’s second question, “Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants?” may imply that Gehazi’s long-term plan involves receiving more than the silver and clothes from Naaman (cf. 1 Sam. 8:14–17). Or it may simply be a reminder that Yahweh is the God who has already given them even the land itself. Either way, Gehazi’s actions are utterly wrongheaded (and wrong-hearted).

The closing statements of the chapter in 5:27 highlight a sobering announcement of judgment on Gehazi: “Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” The same disease that had dogged Naaman is now passed to Gehazi with instant effect: “So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow.” The subjection of Gehazi’s descendants to this condition seems unfair to some. However, the world of the OT is a deeply covenantal world, in which the connectedness of both families and generations is assumed, as the behavior of one generation always has ramifications for those following.

The point is clear: Elisha in 5:16 is adamant that nobody is to be paid for sharing the good news of God’s grace. No money is to change hands, because Yahweh is a God of grace. It is that simple. But not for Gehazi, whose name means something like “greedy.” He is also racist and covetous, and he lies. But that is not the worst thing. Gehazi gives Naaman the idea that Yahweh is a taker just like everyone else. This is catastrophic and can potentially have an awful effect on new-believer Naaman’s view of God and grace. Gehazi ignores the sovereignty of God and has no thought for God’s reputation. As a result, he pays a terrible price. As with Ananias and Sapphira, it does not end well for Gehazi (although slightly better than for Ananias and Sapphira). The implication of verse 26 is that the sovereign God has already been so generous to his people, so how could they possibly ask for any more. But Gehazi does anyway.