Naaman the Leper and the Grace of God

By Dan & Brenda Cathcart

The video version of this teaching is available at: https://youtu.be/qbbmxOfexrI

The scripture reading for this teaching is 2 Kings 4:42-5:19

Most of us are familiar with the story of Yeshua traveling in the Galilee region, healing the sick and lame, and preaching the good news of the kingdom of God.  I am sure that most of you have experienced that it is most difficult to speak to your closest family and friends about your faith in Yeshua.  You get no respect at home!  And this was certainly true of Yeshua when He traveled back to his home town of Nazareth.

On the Sabbath, Yeshua was in the Synagogue and invited to read from the book of Isaiah. Specifically, Isaiah 61:1-2 but leaving off the last half of verse 2.  Yeshua then goes on to tell those present that this scripture is now fulfilled in their presence.  This is one of the most powerful and provocative claims Yeshua makes as to His office of Messiah!

Yeshua goes on to further explain His statement and His mission. He relays the story of the prophet Elijah at the time of the three and a half years of famine in the land; About the many widows in the land but being sent only to an unnamed widow in Zaraphath in the region of Sidon, in an area outside the land of Israel. Yeshua then mentions Naaman, a Gentile Syrian who was healed of leprosy when he seeks out the prophet Elisha.

Luke 4:27 NKJV 27 "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."

After Yeshua’s teaching, the Scribes and Pharisees present became very angry with Yeshua.  What were they angry about?  Were they angry at Yeshua for not finishing the Isaiah passage?  Were they angry at His claim of Messiahship?  Or was it something else?  Was it something between the lines that set them off?

The primary story contained in our Haftarah reading this week concerns Naaman.  Naaman was a Gentile and a general in the Syrian army.  Naaman was a believer and follower of the God of Israel, and he also suffered from leprosy.

2 Kings 5:1 NKJV 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.

Leprosy as described in the Bible is not the same as the leprosy we understand today, which is known as Hansen’s disease.  Biblical leprosy, as described in Leviticus chapters 13 and 14, not only affects the person but can affect one’s clothing, household furnishings as well as a house itself. In the community of Israel, leprosy rendered a person unclean and they were exiled from the camp. And there were very specific commandments to be followed for a person to be healed and cleansed of this disease. A lot of time is spent in the Torah describing the process of leprosy and its treatment.

As a commander in the Syrian army, Naaman staged many raids into the nation of Israel.  On one such raid, he brought back a young girl to be a maidservant for his wife.

2 Kings 5:2 NKJV 2 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.

The Hebrew of this text uses the term na’ara katannah, which would indicate a very young girl, probably no more than eleven or twelve years old. The young girl told her mistress of a prophet in her home land that could heal Naaman of his leprosy.

2 Kings 5:3 NKJV 3 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."

Naaman, being a general and certainly someone of high standing in his society, had access to the best doctors and religious leaders. Yet these people could not provide Naaman with the relief he sought for his ailment. Even though Naaman was powerful and respected, this kind of thorn in his flesh would certainly keep him humble.  Should Naaman take the advice of this young girl and seek out the prophet of God she spoke of?  That might be humiliating for Naaman in the eyes of his troops and his king.  But Naaman feared the God of Israel and approached the Syrian king to get permission for safe passage to visit this prophet.

2 Kings 5:4-5 NKJV 4 And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel." 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.

Because Naaman led many raids into the land of Israel, the king of Israel is no doubt skeptical of both Naaman and the letter from the Syrian king.

2 Kings 5:6-7 NKJV 6 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. 7 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."

Well that didn’t go very well for Naaman!  The king of Israel in question is Joram, the son of Ahab. Joram was not a good king, and like his father before him, did evil before the LORD. Just as Elijah was a nemesis and constant reminder of the sovereign God to Ahab, so too was the prophet Elisha to Joram. It seems that Joram wasn’t about to acknowledge there was a true prophet of God capable of healing Naaman. Naaman’s affliction perhaps served as a reminder to Joram that God still had His servant in Israel despite his best efforts to ignore him.

Elisha saw a golden opportunity to proclaim the God of Israel to a heathen nation. Elisha sent word to Joram.

2 Kings 5:8-9 NKJV 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." 9 Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house.

Elisha was reminding the king that he was still there and he was the one ministering in the land.  Joram reluctantly granted Naaman permission to go to Elisha to seek his healing.

How would Elisha go about healing Naaman?  Naaman already humbled himself by requesting to go to the king of Israel.  The king of Syria experienced humiliation by allowing Naaman to go, and by writing the letter of request to an enemy king.  The Syrian doctors and priests experienced humiliation in their inability to heal Naaman themselves. But Naaman was in for further humiliation.  Was he willing to humble himself before God and his prophet Elisha?

2 Kings 5:10-12 NKJV 10 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." 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, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.' 12 "Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, 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.

Naaman probably expected Elisha to treat him with the respect and social graces normally granted someone of his position. But Elisha didn’t even come to the door!  He sent a servant with a message and an unbelievably simplistic procedure for healing Naaman’s affliction. Rabbi J.H. Hertz give a summary in his commentary.

“Elisha did not come out to him, and Naaman was enraged that the prophet was no respecter of persons. He (Naaman) was especially annoyed at the simplicity of the remedy: He expected the prophet to come out and play the wonder-worker.”[i]

Elisha sent him to the Jordan river of all places.  That murky, smelly so-called river that isn’t much wider than a small stream!

Naaman was incensed!  It was bad enough that he had to suffer the humiliating treatment from Elisha, who refused to meet him personally, but then to have to bathe in the Jordan when there were much superior and cleaner rivers available back home in Syria was almost too much for him to take!

But it boils down to humility. Was Naaman thinking more of about his own ego and his own way of doing things?  Was he more concerned with his status as a general and a respected man than how God had chosen to cure him?  God was about to take Naaman down another notch!

2 Kings 5:13-14 NKJV 13 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'?" 14 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.

The first thing to realize is that it is not the waters of the Jordan that are the healing agent here. God is the agent, and obedience is the vehicle.  It was only by obedience to the instructions given by God through His humble servants, first the young girl and then the prophet Elisha, that healing could take place.

The second thing is that Naaman immersed himself seven times.  We all know that seven is perhaps the single most recognizable number in the scriptures.  Seven is the number of spiritual completion and of rest.  Six days God worked to create the universe and rested on the seventh.

Naaman was brought to a place where God could complete His work in him. Naaman’s journey to faith was complete only after he surrendered his last vestige of pride.

2 Kings 5:15-16 NKJV 15 And 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; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant." 16 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.

Naaman’s statement of faith was genuine and he wanted to give Elisha a reward for his healing. Naturally, Elisha refused. 

The result of this miracle healing is that Naaman and all the witnesses had a chance to see God’s attitude toward the non-Israelite. God loves all the people of the Earth and desires nothing but good for them. Unfortunately, just as it has been throughout history, many people reject God’s call. This example of the healing of the leper Naaman shows us that whoever seeks out the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will find Him.

This was only the beginning of Naaman’s journey and growth in faith in God. As he prepares to return to Syria, Naaman make one final request.

2 Kings 5:17-19 NKJV 17 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. 18 "Yet in this thing may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon-when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD please pardon your servant in this thing." 19 Then he said to him, "Go in peace." So he departed from him a short distance.

Naaman probably, just like the rest of us, suffers from the influences of his past. Naaman was returning to his master, the King of Syria and would have to, by necessity, continue to support the king in his pagan worship practices and rituals. Naaman, also, wanted to be true to his faith in the God of Israel. In ancient times, gods were assumed to be connected to geographic boundaries, so in order to properly worship the God of Israel, Naaman naturally assumed he must do it in the land of Israel.  So he makes the unusual request to take some of Israel with him back to Syria.

This connects us back to Yeshua’s message in the Synagogue of Nazareth where we began this teaching.  At the time of Yeshua, the Scribes and Pharisees viewed themselves as a kind of exclusive club.  God fearing Gentiles were allowed in the synagogues but were separated from the Jewish men by a literal barrier.  A similar barrier also existed in the Temple. A Gentile could not enter the temple proper and was relegated to the area of the Court of the Gentiles. Paul speaks of this barrier as a metaphor in Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:14-15 NKJV 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,

The wall of which Paul is speaking, is one of their own making. God did not put up a barrier between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews were to be the priests to the nations. A priest cannot effectively minister and guide the people when they are separated from them. The Jewish Scribes and Pharisees had filled up their religious practices with countless regulations and rituals that made it virtually impossible for anyone to draw near to God, let alone the Gentiles who were kept behind a barrier. This is what Paul meant by “the law of commandments contained in ordinances.”

Yeshua’s mission on earth was to break down the walls and barriers between the people and God. So, we return back to our question of what it was that so angered the Scribes and Pharisees in the synagogue in Nazareth that day? A portion of Yeshua’s words are recorded by Luke.

Luke 4:24-27 NKJV 24 Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 "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; 26 "but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."

Yeshua specifically mentions two instances where the prophets of God go out of their way to minister to Gentiles.  The leadership of Israel at the time of Yeshua was incredibly corrupt and had totally ignored the proper provisions of the Torah. Especially when it came to providing for the needs of the people. They focused on themselves and laying heavy burdens on the common people.  This is attested to on the many occasions when Yeshua traveled to Jerusalem and the Temple.  The incident with the moneychangers comes to mind.

John 2:14-16 NKJV 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"

At the synagogue that Shabbat morning, Yeshua was calling the leaders to task for their failure to properly lead the people and for their exclusivity in treating Gentiles as second-class citizens.

The Gentile, Naaman, found peace and healing in the God of Israel. The God of Israel does not want an exclusive club. The God of Israel is the God of all the peoples of the earth.  The Jewish people are chosen to be God’s light in this darkened world. 

The leadership of Yeshua’s day had failed miserably in their duties under the Torah, the ultimate contract between God and the world.  The Scribes and Pharisees at the Nazareth Synagogue that morning, were angry with Yeshua because He directly challenged the legitimacy of their position.  He was, perhaps not so subtly, pointing out their corruption by using the story of Naaman.

The story of Naaman proves that the God of Israel is a God of grace and mercy.  When we come to Him in humility, faith and repentance, He welcomes us and fully embraces us with His lovingkindness. For it is written, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Study Questions:

1. Discuss the connection of this teaching to the Torah Portion Tazria, Leviticus 12:1-13:59.

2. How could the young servant girl serving Naaman’s wife be certain that Elisha could heal Naaman of his leprosy when no one else in the land had been healed?

3. How would the king of Israel perceive the letter carried by Naaman to be a pretense for war? Why did he tear his clothes?

4. Naaman carried with him quite a fortune in silver and gold.  Why do you think Elisha refused such a gift?

5. People could become unclean for any number of reasons. Why is it that uncleanness due to leprosy is treated so seriously and differently?  According to the Torah, why is it that only a priest could declare a condition of leprosy as well as declare a person to be clean from leprosy?

6. What new insight did you gain from this blog? How do you respond to this new insight? How will you realign your life based on this new understanding?

Bonus Question: Compare Naaman’s healing of leprosy by instruction from Elisha to Yeshua healing the leper in 

Mark 1:40-42.

© 2019 Moed Ministries International. All rights reserved.

---

[i] Rabbi J.H. Hertz Pentateuch and Haftarah, p. 468