A wonder before the Gospels
Naaman Healed
A proud Syrian general, mighty in war but leprous in body, was told to wash seven times in a humble river. Jesus Himself pointed to Naaman's cleansing when His own town rejected Him.
“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
What happened
What happened. In 2 Kings 5 Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man and honourable, a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. A little captive Israelite maid who served his wife told her mistress that the prophet in Samaria could heal him. Naaman came with horses and chariots and rich gifts and stood at the door of Elisha's house. But Elisha did not even come out; he sent a messenger, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. Naaman was furious. He had expected the prophet to come out, call on the name of the LORD, and wave his hand over the place. He scorned the muddy Jordan, asking, Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? and he turned away in a rage. But his servants reasoned with him gently, saying that if the prophet had asked some great thing, he would have done it, so how much more when he simply said, Wash, and be clean. 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.
What it revealed
What it revealed. Naaman's cleansing revealed that God's grace reaches beyond Israel to a Gentile, indeed to a commander of a hostile nation, brought to healing through the witness of a captive servant girl. It revealed that God resists the proud, for Naaman's cure waited on the surrender of his pride, his willingness to obey a humbling command in a lowly river. It revealed that salvation is on God's terms, not ours; Naaman could not buy it with silver and gold, nor dictate the manner of it, but had only to obey and be washed. It revealed the power of a small, faithful testimony, since the whole rescue began with a young slave who told the truth about her God to the household of her captors. And it revealed a God whose mercy is not managed by human dignity or nationality. The mighty man had to become as a little child, and his flesh was made as the flesh of a little child, clean.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. Jesus refers to this miracle by name, so the connection has His own authority. In the synagogue at Nazareth He said, And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian (Luke 4:27). He cited Naaman to show that God's grace often reaches the outsider and passes by those who presume upon it, and His hometown was so enraged that they tried to throw Him off a cliff. So the miracle explicitly serves, on Jesus' own lips, as a sign that the gospel would go to the Gentiles and that pride bars the blessing. Beyond this explicit reference, the cleansing carries a traditional typological resonance often drawn by the church: the washing in the Jordan, cleansing the unclean and giving flesh like a child's, has long been seen as a picture of the new birth and of baptism into Christ, who alone cleanses the leprosy of sin. That devotional reading is worth naming as tradition, while the reference in Luke is the Lord's own.
Questions people ask
Why did Naaman have to wash seven times?
God chose a humbling, specific command, and the sevenfold washing required obedience and faith rather than a single grand gesture. Naaman had to surrender his pride and his own ideas of how healing should come. The point was submission to God's word, and only after full obedience was he made clean (2 Kings 5:14).
Did Jesus mention Naaman?
Yes, explicitly. In Luke 4:27 Jesus cited Naaman the Syrian as the one leper cleansed in Elisha's day, using him to show that God's grace reaches outsiders. His hometown crowd was so angered that they tried to kill Him. This is one of the clearest cases where Jesus names an Old Testament miracle Himself.
Is the washing a picture of baptism?
That is a traditional typological reading, seeing the cleansing in the Jordan as a foreshadowing of the new birth and baptism into Christ. It is a devout and long held interpretation, worth naming as tradition. The explicit New Testament reference, on Jesus' own lips, is to Naaman as a sign of grace reaching the Gentiles (Luke 4:27).