A great man with an incurable disease, and the person who points him to help is a captured child working in his house. That is where this story begins.
Naaman arrives expecting a ceremony worthy of his rank. What he is given instead is a plain instruction, delivered second hand, that nearly sends him home angrier than he came.
The Story of Naaman
Naaman was captain of the army of the king of Syria, honorable, and a mighty man in valor. The text says the LORD had given deliverance to Syria by him. Then it adds four words that change everything: but he was a leper.
Syrian raiding parties had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on Naaman’s wife. This captive girl, who had every reason to say nothing, told her mistress that the prophet in Samaria could recover her master of his leprosy.
The word traveled up. The king of Syria sent Naaman to the king of Israel with a letter, ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of raiment. The king of Israel tore his clothes and asked whether he was God, to kill and to make alive, and decided the letter was an excuse to pick a quarrel.
Elisha heard of it and sent word: let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and chariot and stood at the prophet’s door. Elisha did not come out. He sent a messenger with one line: go and wash in Jordan seven times.
Naaman was furious. He had expected the prophet to come out, call on the name of the LORD, wave his hand over the place and heal him. He asked whether the rivers of Damascus were not better than all the waters of Israel, and turned away in a rage.
His own servants talked him round with a simple argument: if the prophet had told him to do some great thing, he would have done it, so why not this? He went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child. He returned to Elisha and said he now knew there was no God in all the earth but in Israel, and Elisha refused every gift he offered.
Key Verses
“Was a great man with his master, and honourable … but he was a leper” 2 Kings 5:1
“Would God my lord … with the prophet that … in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy” 2 Kings 5:3
“Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean” 2 Kings 5:10
“His flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” 2 Kings 5:14
“Now I know that … no God in all earth, but in Israel” 2 Kings 5:15
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), a public-domain translation.
What the Story of Naaman Teaches Us
The chain that saves Naaman runs through people with no power. A captured servant girl speaks, a household passes the word on, and later his own servants are the ones who keep him from walking away. The commander contributes the least to his own healing.
Naaman’s anger is worth noticing, because it is about method rather than outcome. He had pictured how the healing should look, and a muddy river and a message passed through a servant did not match the picture. The instruction was simple, repeatable and public, and it left him nothing to boast about.
Elisha’s refusal of the silver and gold makes the same point from the other side. Nothing about the healing was for sale, and the prophet would not let it be turned into a transaction. Naaman leaves with his health, and with a conviction about who God is that he did not arrive with.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who told Naaman about the prophet?
A young Israelite girl taken captive in a Syrian raid, who served Naaman’s wife. She told her mistress that the prophet in Samaria could cure her master, and that one sentence sets the whole account in motion.
Why did the king of Israel tear his clothes?
He read the Syrian king’s letter as a trap. He asked whether he was God, to kill and to make alive, and assumed an impossible demand was being used to start a quarrel. He did not think of Elisha at all.
Why was Naaman angry about washing in the Jordan?
He expected a personal, ceremonial healing, with the prophet coming out to him and calling on the name of the LORD. Instead he got a message through a servant and was pointed at a river he considered inferior to the rivers of Damascus.
How many times did Naaman wash?
Seven times, as Elisha instructed. The text says his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Why did Elisha refuse the gifts?
Naaman offered a blessing from the treasure he had brought, and Elisha said, as the LORD lives, that he would receive none of it. The healing came from God, and Elisha would not let it be treated as something bought.