NAAMAN’S HEALING
We’re continuing in our series ‘Bible Stories for Grown-Ups.’ Today we’re looking at one of the most famous stories in the Book of Kings. It’s the story of the healing of the Syrian general, Naaman. It’s a great story for Sunday School, because one of the key characters is a young girl.
If we state the story simply, it goes like this. Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, was brave, but he had leprosy. When he heard of the power of Elisha, he went to Samaria to be cured. Elisha told him, ‘If you want to be clean, wash seven times in the Jordan.’ Naaman did as Elisha told him, and he was healed.
That’s the simple form of the story. But there’s a lot more in it, and A LOT we can learn from it. I’ve got eight brief points. I don’t suppose everyone will find every point helpful, but I hope everyone will find SOME of them helpful! They follow the progression of the story, and are not in order of importance. In fact, the most important point is the last one.
1. BE COURTEOUS. COURTESY GENERATES RESPECT.
In this story, Naaman eventually comes to faith in God. His journey to faith starts with ten words (in the Hebrew) uttered by a little slave girl. In verse 2 we read that Syrian raiding bands have been attacking Israel and have carried off ‘a little girl’. I’m going to call her Natalie for convenience. Natalie is a ‘little’ girl or a ‘young’ girl. Both ‘little’ and ‘young’ are possible. But the Hebrew word for ‘girl’ is rather specific. The Hebrew word that’s translated ‘girl’ is ‘naarah.’ The male form of ‘naarah’ is ‘naar.’ A commentator [John MacDonald, University of Leeds in the 1960s] tells us:
“NAAR stands out … as descriptive of HIGH-BORN MALE YOUNG. The feminine NAARAH compares with other words for a female in much the same way as NAAR does with other words for a male. Rebekah is one, as is Dinah.”
The point is that when the text says that Natalie is a naarah, it means she’s from a noble or upper-class family. I don’t like to make class distinctions, but it seems that the Bible is making a distinction here. It isn’t saying that being from an upper-class or noble family is better than being from any other class, but it’s the background Natalie is from. Naaman is the commander of Syria’s army; his wife will therefore be a lady of standing. She would be ‘upper-class’ and she would have wanted a servant who had been brought up in a similar home. Natalie, being a ‘naarah’, fits right in. Coming from an upper-class family does not mean that you know how to speak courteously and wisely. However, it seems that Natalie does. In our passage, she says just one thing:
“Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
Although this is brief, Natalie’s words show her courtesy and wisdom.
First, she says, ‘Would that my lord…’ She doesn’t directly suggest that Naaman go to see Elisha. It isn’t her place to do that.
Second, she refers to Naaman as her ‘lord.’ That’s polite and respectful.
Third, Elisha is in Israel. However, Natalie diplomatically says he’s in Samaria. Israel is the enemy. That’s wise, to avoid saying Israel.
Fourth, Natalie is very confident that Elisha ‘would cure him of his leprosy.’ She has conviction.
Initially, Naaman’s wife, and later, Naaman, pay attention to what she is saying. Why? She’s just a little slave girl.
Natalie may have been reliable and trustworthy, but we don’t know that. What we do see is that she was courteous, diplomatic, and had conviction. That must have played a role in Naaman and his wife taking her seriously. Interestingly, the Bible also recognizes her. She is the only little girl in the Old Testament who speaks in her own voice.
So, lesson one is: be courteous. Courtesy generates respect.
2. LOOK FOR THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT COME WITH THE PROBLEMS
Natalie came into contact with Naaman and his wife because she was seized in a raid. She was a slave in a foreign country – a definite problem. But she found an opportunity. There are others like her. Joseph was taken as a captive to Egypt. Daniel was taken as a captive to Babylon. Both seized opportunities. Persecution scattered the early church. People get moved today. Sometimes they want to move; sometimes they don’t. Over a million migrants came to Europe in 2015. It wasn’t what they wanted or what Europe wanted. But it created great opportunities for mission.
Lesson two is to look for the opportunities that come with the problems.
3. DON’T TRUST KINGS
Naaman goes to the king of Syria. He needs to see the prophet but the king of Syria writes a letter to the king of Israel. Not so smart. The king of Israel gets the letter and gets angry. He says, ‘How am I supposed to help?’ So, neither king does very well. That’s the point. The two kings don’t even get names. They aren’t significant. Worse, they get in the way. It is God who has power to cure. The message is the same for us. Don’t imagine that the government will fix all your problems. It simply can’t.
Lesson three is, don’t trust kings – or governments, either. Trust God.
4. DON’T LOOK DOWN ON SIMPLE REMEDIES!
Elisha tells Naaman to go and bathe in the Jordan. It’s dead simple, but Naaman doesn’t like the idea. Modern medicine faces the same problem. I read an article on this passage by a consultant microbiologist. He commented that lots of patients suffer from what he called ‘Abana and Pharphar Syndrome.’ Abana and Pharphar were the rivers in Syria which Naaman thought would be much better than the Jordan. The consultant commented that many patients reject simple, sound advice and want some wonder drug instead. He wrote that some doctors fall into the same trap. What we need, like Naaman, is humility.
So, lesson four is, don’t despise simple remedies.
5. AVOID TAKING CREDIT FOR SOMETHING YOU DIDN’T DO!
Elisha doesn’t come out of his house to see Naaman. I don’t believe he has anything against Naaman. He isn’t trying to slight him. But what would have happened if Elisha had prayed over Naaman and poured oil on him and laid his hands on him? Naaman would have seen Elisha as the source of healing. Elisha wanted God to get the glory, so he keeps away.
Lesson five is: avoid being accidentally given credit for something you don’t do.
6. BE OPEN TO GOD USING A MIRACLE TO REVEAL HIMSELF
We usually think that faith goes before miracles. No faith, no miracle. But in Naaman’s case, the miracle went before the faith. Naaman was healed and as a result he saw that God is real. He then came back to Elisha and acknowledged that the God who had healed him was the one God in all the earth. He committed to worshipping him alone. I believe that God sometimes does the same for people today as he did for Naaman. He reveals himself to a person in some way – even before they have come to faith. It could be through a vision or a miracle of some sort.
Lesson six is to be open to that possibility and try to do for people we meet what Elisha did for Naaman. If a person needs healing, we look for an opportunity for God to heal them.
7. DON’T SEEK PERSONAL BENEFIT FROM GOD’S GRACE!
God was extraordinarily good to Naaman. But the story of Gehazi shows us that God’s goodness may not be abused. God, who took the leprosy from Naaman, put it on Gehazi. I don’t know how many Christians today really believe God heals today as he healed Naaman. But I suspect that there are fewer who believe that God might CAUSE leprosy today as he did to Gehazi! That just doesn’t fit with our picture of God. It’s our picture of God that’s at fault. The case of Gehazi shows us what God is like. He takes a very dim view of people looking for personal benefit from what HE has done. In recent times there have been many cases of Christian leaders embezzling or misappropriating funds. Only the most significant cases reach the news, and there are certainly many, many less significant cases. We need to take warning from this story. God’s grace is a gift; we must not seek to gain financial benefit from it for ourselves.
Lesson seven is: take heed. If you try to gain a person benefit from God's work, expect consequences.
8. DON’T REJECT GOD’S PROPHETS. YOU’LL FORFEIT GOD’S BLESSING
Jesus referred to the story of Naaman. Jesus is better than any of us at understanding Scripture, so we may assume that the message Jesus draws out of this passage is actually its most important message. God blessed Naaman but he didn’t bless the people of Israel at the time. Why not? Jesus’ message is that if God’s people are not willing to accept God’s prophets then they will forfeit God’s blessing. Jesus was in his home town of Nazareth, preaching what may have been his first sermon, and getting warmed up nicely. Then he tells the congregation:
“Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your home town as well.”
He goes on:
“Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his home town. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
Jesus’ sermon didn’t go down well! It was a message the people in Nazareth didn’t want to hear. You want to be told that God WILL help, don’t you? Not that he WON’T help! In his sermon, Jesus compares the congregation in Nazareth with one of the lowest periods in Israel’s history, a time when the people had turned away from God – and God DIDN’T help. The people in the synagogue probably thought they weren’t anything like those ancient Israelites.
Jesus is explaining why he wouldn’t do any healing miracles in Nazareth, why he COULDN’T do any. He said, ‘no prophet is acceptable in his home town.’
He then went on to the story of Elijah and Elisha. At the time of Naaman, the people of Israel rejected God’s prophets, Elijah and Elisha. The lepers and widows of Israel did not receive God’s help and ultimately, God rejected Israel. Israel ceased to exist as a nation. Naaman, however, accepted Elisha’s words and was blessed.
Nearly a thousand years later the people of Israel encountered God’s greatest prophet, Jesus. Jesus anticipated that they would be like the people of Israel in Elijah and Elisha’s day, and forfeit God’s blessing. He was right, of course. Israel, by and large, rejected him. They forfeited his blessing, and later, Israel experienced God’s judgement.
So, our eighth and final lesson is to pay attention to God's prophets and, above all, to his greatest prophet, Jesus. If we don't, we will forfeit God's blessing.
CONCLUSION
There’s a lot that this passage teaches us, and we certainly haven’t exhausted all its lessons. The story of Naaman tells us that if a person accepts God’s word through his prophet, he will experience God’s blessing.
But if there is one lesson that we should keep in mind it should be the lesson Jesus drew from the story of Naaman. Jesus looked not just at what WAS happening but at what was NOT happening. The lesson he drew is that if God’s people reject his prophets, as they did in the case of Elijah and Elisha, they forfeit his blessing. No miracles for them. So, let’s not do that. Let US make the choice Naaman made, to receive God’s word and implement it, and so experience his blessing, and even his miracles.
Sermon given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK 23rd August 2020.
