History · Chapter 5 of 25

2 Kings 5

Naaman, a great Syrian commander stricken with leprosy, learns from a captive Israelite girl of a prophet who can heal. He comes with gold and grandeur, but Elisha simply sends word to wash seven times in the Jordan. Offended, Naaman nearly leaves, until his servants persuade him. He obeys, is cleansed, and confesses the LORD. Gehazi's greedy deceit brings the leprosy on himself.

What happens in 2 Kings 5

Naaman commands Syria's army, honored and mighty, but he is a leper. A young Israelite girl captured in a raid, serving his wife, mentions the prophet in Samaria. Naaman travels with silver, gold, and a royal letter. Israel's king panics, but Elisha calls for Naaman. Instead of a grand ceremony, Elisha sends a messenger telling him to wash seven times in the Jordan. Enraged that the prophet did not come out and that the Jordan is lesser than Syria's rivers, Naaman storms off.

His servants gently reason with him, and he relents, dipping seven times; his flesh becomes like a child's, clean. He returns confessing there is no God but Israel's and tries to reward Elisha, who refuses. Gehazi, Elisha's servant, chases Naaman for silver and garments, lies to get them, and is struck with Naaman's leprosy for his greed.

2 Kings 5 in context

Syria, also called Aram, was Israel's enemy, which makes Naaman's healing a shocking act of grace to a foreigner. Leprosy meant social and religious exclusion. The nameless captive girl, herself a victim of Syria's raids, becomes the unlikely witness who sets salvation in motion.

Naaman's demand for a spectacle exposes how pride resists God's humbling, ordinary means of grace and nearly costs him his healing.

Main themes of 2 Kings 5

2 Kings 5 (KJV)

1Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. 2And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. 3And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. 4And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. 5And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. 6And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. 7And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. 8And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. 9So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. 11But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. 13And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? 14Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 15And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. 16But he said, As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused. 17And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD. 18In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing. 19And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way. 20But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him. 21So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? 22And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments. 23And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him. 24And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. 25But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither. 26And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? 27The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

Verses to carry from 2 Kings 5

“And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.”2 Kings 5:10

“Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”2 Kings 5:14

“And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.”2 Kings 5:15

Reflection

God's grace often comes in humble, ordinary ways that offend my pride, a simple command, an unimpressive means, a call to obey before I understand. Will I wash in the Jordan, or hold out for something grander? And do I ever try to leverage God's gifts for my own gain, like Gehazi?

A prayer from 2 Kings 5