The Promise

Captain Naaman Healed of Leprosy

Picture: Captain Naaman Healed of Leprosy 2TC 125.1

This chapter is based on 2 Kings 5.

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. 2TC 125.2

Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, had defeated Israel in the battle that resulted in Ahab’s death. Since that time the Syrians had maintained a constant border warfare against Israel. In one of their raids they had carried away a little maid who, in the land of her captivity, “waited on Naaman’s wife.” A slave, far from her home, this little captive was one of God’s witnesses, fulfilling the purpose for which God had chosen Israel as His people. In that heathen home, her sympathies were aroused in behalf of her master, and, remembering the wonderful miracles of healing that God had performed through Elisha, 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.” She believed that by the power of Heaven Naaman could be healed. 2TC 125.3

The captive maid’s conduct in that heathen home is a strong witness to the power of early home training. There is no higher trust than that committed to fathers and mothers in the care and training of their children. 2TC 126.1

Happy are the parents whose lives reflect the divine, so that the promises and commands of God awaken gratitude and reverence in the child. These are parents whose tenderness, justice, and long-suffering interpret to the child the love and justice and long-suffering of God. They teach the child to love, trust, and obey the Father in heaven. They endow that child with a treasure as enduring as eternity. 2TC 126.2

Our children may spend their lives in common occupations, but God calls them all to be ministers of mercy to the world. They are to stand by the side of Christ in unselfish service. 2TC 126.3

A Captive Girl Encourages Naaman to Seek Healing

Naaman heard what the maid had said to her mistress. After getting permission from the king, he went in search of healing, taking “ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.” He also carried a letter from the king of Syria to the king of Israel: “I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.” 2TC 126.4

When the king of Israel read the letter, “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.’” 2TC 126.5

News of these developments reached Elisha, and he sent word to the king: “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 2TC 126.6

“Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house.” Through a messenger the prophet told him, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” 2TC 127.1

Naaman had expected to see some wonderful display of power from heaven. “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.’” When Elisha’s messenger simply told him to wash in the Jordan, it wounded his pride: “‘Are not the Abana 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.” 2TC 127.2

The rivers Naaman mentioned were beautified by surrounding groves, and many people flocked to the banks of these pleasant streams to worship their idols. Naaman would not have needed any humility to go down into one of those streams to wash. But only by following the prophet’s specific directions could he find healing. 2TC 127.3

Naaman’s servants urged him to carry out Elisha’s directions: “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?’” The proud Syrian yielded his pride and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, “according to the saying of the man of God.” And God honored his faith: “His flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” 2TC 127.4

Gratefully “he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides,” and acknowledged, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.” 2TC 127.5

In keeping with the custom of those days, Naaman asked Elisha to accept a costly present. But the prophet refused. It was not fitting for him to take payment for a blessing given by God. “So he departed from him.” 2TC 127.6

Elisha’s Servant Has the Spirit of Judas

Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, had had opportunity to develop the spirit of self-denial that characterized his master’s lifework. The best gifts of Heaven had been within his reach for a long time; yet, turning from these, he had instead coveted worldly wealth. And now the hidden longings of his greedy spirit led him to yield to a great temptation. “My master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; ... I will run after him and take something from him.” In secrecy “Gehazi pursued Naaman.” 2TC 127.7

“When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and said, ‘Is all well?’ And he said, ‘All is well.’” Then Gehazi told an absolute lie. “My master,” he said, “has sent me, saying, ‘Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.’” Naaman gladly agreed to this request, pressing upon Gehazi two talents of silver instead of one, “with two changes of garments,” and sending servants to carry the treasure back. 2TC 128.1

As Gehazi neared Elisha’s home, he dismissed the servants and placed the silver and the clothes in hiding. With this done, “he went in and stood before his master.” In response to Elisha’s inquiry, “Where did you go, Gehazi?” he answered, “Your servant did not go anywhere.” 2TC 128.2

Elisha knew all. “Did not my heart go with you,” he asked, “when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.” The guilty man’s punishment followed swiftly. He went out from Elisha’s presence, “leprous, as white as snow.” 2TC 128.3

This experience teaches solemn lessons. Gehazi placed a stumbling block in the pathway of Naaman, whose mind had received wonderful light and who felt favorably toward the service of the living God. There could be no excuse for the deception Gehazi practiced. To the day of his death Gehazi remained a leper. 2TC 128.4

“A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies will not escape.” Proverbs 19:5. “All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13. God revealed to His prophet every detail of the scene between Gehazi and Naaman. 2TC 128.5

Truth comes from God; deception in all forms comes from Satan. Whoever departs in any way from the straight line of truth is betraying himself into the power of the wicked one. Those who have learned from Christ will be straightforward and true, for they are preparing for the fellowship of those holy ones in whose mouth is found no deceit. See Revelation 14:5. 2TC 129.1

The Savior presented Naaman’s wonderful faith as an object lesson. “Many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet,” He declared, “and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” Luke 4:27. God passed over many lepers in Israel because their unbelief closed the door to them. In God’s sight a heathen nobleman who had been true to his convictions of right was more worthy of His blessing than the afflicted in Israel who had despised their God-given privileges. God works for those who appreciate His favors, who respond to the light Heaven gives them. 2TC 129.2

If those who are honest in heart follow what they understand to be duty, God will give them increased light until, like Naaman, they will acknowledge that “there is no God in all the earth” except the living God, the Creator. 2TC 129.3