Elisha Heals a Leper

Answers Bible Curriculum Year 2 Quarter 2 Lesson 13

In this lesson, David Capoccia looks at the poignant account of Elisha and Naaman the Syrian leper. David Capoccia explains how this account is another example of God being opposed to the proud and giving grace to the humble, no matter who they are or where they come from. David Capoccia cautions that, while this account features many elements of the gospel, Christians should not try to interpret it as a direct analogy of salvation in Jesus Christ.

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we’re gonna get started good morning welcome to Sunday school thanks for being here right at the start today’s review day most the classes Quarter Two review for the second year of the answers Bible curriculum but in our class today we’re going to be looking at an account that we didn’t have time to look at last week and that’s the account of God using Elisha to heal Syrian leopard named Naaman uh just a word you may notice that the the screens seem to be refreshing turning black and then coming back on that’s a hardware issue that we’re trying to figure out but please you’re patience with that today you can always look here this one seems to be constant before we get to today’s lesson about naming let’s review a little bit of what we talked about last week last week we looked at God’s transferring Elijah into heaven and God’s replacing Elijah with Elisha why did Elijah keep trying to leave Elisha behind I think that’s the best answer that it was a test or it was part of the training the last set of training that Elijah was doing for Elijah in ministry will you persevere to the end will you stick with me into the end in Ministry what request did Elisha make to Elijah before Elijah was taken I would like a double portion of your spirit as we saw Elisha was not asking for double the spiritual power Elisha had for what was Elisha really asking Place yeah it was about succession there’s a there’s empowerment there just like a firstborn son who received a double portion he I need extra wealth I need extra uh extra empowerment to do this job but basically I want to take your place I want to be your successor I want the unique empowerment duties and difficulties that come with being the prophet in Israel and this was a hard request because this meant that the same trouble Elijah or Elijah experience would happen to Elisha and it meant that only God could Grant it but God did Grant Elijah’s request and in what two ways do we see Elijah’s succession as Prophet validated by God what’s one way very good remember Elijah Elijah said I don’t know if I can grant your requests it’s a hard request but if you see me depart from you you will have what you requested and he did Elisha did see Elijah go up to heaven in a whirlwind in that storm and in The Chariot of fire and what was the other validation he was able to do the same miracle that Elisha did which was to divide the Jordan River and to walk across on dry Ground God confirmed his prophet now many principles from this account as we saw apply to us we have our own inherited responsibility and empowerment as Christ ambassadors and though we cannot force results we cannot make ourselves successful from a human perspective we can be faithful to the charge handed down to us as Elijah and Elijah were and therefore and thereby obtain God’s commendation so let us by their witness persevered to the end in Ministry and may God grant us a legacy of righteousness like theirs that will testify to the world even after we die questions or comments about last week’s lesson all right well to close out the quarter we’re going to look at the account of Elisha and Naaman this is a famous account also a profound one here’s our outline for today’s class we’ll look at the context of where this account appears the chapter is right before Second Kings five then we’ll analyze the account itself and then we’ll consider how this account applies to us that’s right father I pray that you’d help me to explain this well some tricky things in this passage Lord I pray that you would help me and that you would Minister to your people that you build up your church mature your people and also those that don’t know your God I pray that you would save them in Jesus name amen all right open your Bibles please the second Kings five before we read the chapter we’re gonna get some context what’s happened since chapter two where we last were Elijah Elisha exceeds sus sucks seeds Elijah in Second Kings 2 and then he continues to speak and Minister for God empowered by God God meanwhile continues to validate Elisha by miraculous signs at the end of Second Kings 2 young men ridicule God’s prophet and by extension God himself Elijah pronounces a curse on them and they are mauled by bears it’s a miracle Second Kings three God according to the word of Elisha miraculously provides water for Israel and Judas thirsty armies as they are going out to fight and subdue rebellious Moab the battle is or they are able to defeat Moab more actually in battle but there’s also the miracle of the water for the armies now though the wicked king of Israel jehoram benefits from these Miracles Elisha says it’s because of Jehoshaphat that God is even allowing me to talk to you and that these Miracles take place it was on account of righteous Jehoshaphat in Second Kings 4 we see a number of Miracles God uses Elisha to miraculously provide for a righteous Israelite Widow she was the wife of one of the sons of the prophets who were the sons of the prophets again who are the sons of the prophets yeah they’re followers of the prophets some of them are prophets themselves but they’re righteous men and their families ostensibly are righteous as well so their disciples or followers of God’s prophets so this Widow was married to one of the sons of the prophets he died and the Widow’s about to have her two sons sold into slavery because she’s in great debt the creditors are coming they’re going to sell her sons into slavery but God provides that a little bit of oil she has miracula will not run out until she fills up a whole bunch of vessels and then is able to sell them pay her debts and then live on the rest with her two sons this is a miracle provided for this righteous Israelite Widow but there are more miracles further on in Second Kings 4 God uses Elisha to miraculously cause a Barren but righteous woman from shunam that’s another town in Israel so this is another Israelite woman to conceive and have a son with her aged husband this is a miracle and the gracious thing from the Lord then this son later dies but God uses Elijah to actually raise the boy from the dead another Big Miracle and at the end of Second Kings Four two more miracles a group of the sons of the prophets accidentally create poisonous stew they’re not able to eat it but God uses Elisha to miraculously make the stew edible again and then finally God uses Elisha from raxing multiply food for the sons of the prophets 20 body Loaves and a few fresh ears of grain fully feed a hundred men and they even have some left over now I mentioned all these things to you because you may notice there’s a pattern to these Miracles at least when it comes to who’s receiving them who is receiving these miracles no these these here are Israelites these are all Israelites but what else can we say about them they’re not just Israelites what else do they have in common they are yeah God fears they are righteous we have these right the righteous Widow these two righteous women and then we have a number of things happening to the sons of the prophets and we also have the thing happening for Jehoshaphat who was a righteous King those who are not righteous they are part of the Miracles sometimes as well but it’s because of the righteous people or they’re on the other side of the miracle like those boy or those young men who are ridiculous ridiculing God’s prophet but these people that these Miracles are happening or the people that these Miracles are happening for they’re in distress they need help they’re Israelites they’re men women and children and they’re righteous they’re true followers of Yahweh now that’s important because that has to do that has going to have something to do with the account that we’re looking at today so keep that in mind as we now turn to analyze our main passage in Second Kings five remember that the Miracles in the previous context they take place on behalf of distressed but righteous Israelites but now let’s look at chapter five and we’re going to read the whole chapter verses 1-27 all along with me please now Naaman captain of the army of the king of Aram was a great man with his master and highly respected because by him the Lord had given Victory to arum the man was also a valiant Warrior but he was a leper now the Armenians had gone out in bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel she waited on naaman’s wife she said to her mistress I wish that my master with the prophet who was in Samaria then he would cure him of his leprosy Naaman went in and told his master saying thus enough spoke the girl who was from the land of Israel then the king of Aram said go now and I will send a letter to the king of Israel he departed and took with him ten talents of silver and 6 000 shekels of gold and 10 changes of clothes he brought the letter to the king of Israel saying and now as this letter comes to you behold I’ve sent Naaman my servant to you that you make cure him of his leprosy when the king of Israel read the letter he tore his clothes and said am I God to kill and to make alive that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy but consider now and see how he is seeking a quarrel against me it happened when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes that he sent a word to the king saying why have you torn your clothes now let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel so Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the House of Elisha Elisha sent a messenger to him saying go and washing the Jordan seven times and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean but Naaman was Furious and went away and said behold I thought you 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 cure the leper I’m not abana and far far 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 then his servants came near and spoke to him and said my father the prophet told you to do some great thing would you not have done it how much more then when he says to you wash and be clean so he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan according to the word of the man of God and his flesh was restored like the Flesh of a little child and he was clean when he returned to the man of God with all his company and came and stood before him he said behold now I know that there is no God in all the Earth but in Israel so please take a present from your servant now but he said as the Lord lives before whom I stand I will take nothing and he urged him to take it but he refused Naaman said if not please let your servant at least be given two mules load of Earth for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering nor will he will he sacrifice other gods but to the Lord and this matter may the Lord pardon your servant while my master goes into the house of Remnant to worship there and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of remn when I bow myself in the house of women the Lord pardon your servant in this matter he said to him go in peace so he departed from him some distance the servant of Elisha the man of God thought behold my master has spared this name in the airmean by not receiving from his hands what he brought as the Lord lives I will run after him and take something from him when Naaman saw one running after him he came down from The Chariot to meet him and said is all well they said all is well my master has sent me saying behold just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the Hill Country of Ephraim please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothes Naaman said be pleased to take two talents and he urged him and he bound two talents of silver and two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants and They carried them before him when he came to the hill he took them from their hands and deposited them in the house and he sent the men away and they departed but he went in and stood before his master and Elisha said to him Where Have You Been Ghazi and he said your servant went nowhere then he said him did not my heart go with you when the man turned from his Chariot to meet you is it a time to receive money and to receive clothes and Olive Groves and Vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever so he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow okay an amazing account start our analysis with observations the count focuses on a man named Naaman what do we learn at the beginning of this account about Naaman what’s one thing he’s a great man well respected great man uh considered great by his master what else that’s right he’s called the captain or this would be the supreme commander of the Syrian armies he is very high up in the king’s court and he has been very successful it says the Lord had given him victory he is the successful captain of the armies of the king of Aaron yes Danny good question who was over what nations was he successful it’s possible that it includes the nation of Israel he may have actually himself led the Syrian armies against Israel we don’t know that for certain various commanders at different times lead the Syrian armies but he was successful and certainly the Israelites were a neighbor and sometimes enemy of the kingdom of Aaron yeah Danny girl right it doesn’t say that he himself led the raid that resulted in her capture but she was taken captive by the Arabian so that does tell you that the relations between the two kingdoms have not been positive it’s normal for raids to from one side to go to the other and the air means that actually captured this girl um Naaman may have also LED raids against Israel that certainly would have been normal for the Syrian commanders to do so he’s the commander the successful commander of the Syrian armies what else do we learn about Naaman he is a leper yeah we’ll talk more about that in just a second he’s also said to be from Aram where is Aram yes Dwayne Syria yeah some Bible translations actually translate the term Aram as Syria it’s literally Aram in the Old Testament Hebrew but Aram the kingdom of Aram would be that if Israel’s right here Syria the kingdom of Aaron would be right to the Northeast so they’re very close to Israel and they’re frequently going to be interacting with Israel especially right after this chapter Syria Aram is going to do a number of things with Israel he’s from Aram that means he’s a gentile not a Jew he’s also called a man of Valor that could refer to his martial courage or it could refer to his great wealth that term could mean either of those things but also a leper mentioned at the very end but he was a leper remember the term leprosy has a broader definition in the Bible than it does now leprosy today also called Hansen’s Disease is a serious contagious disease of the nervous system caused by bacterial infection which the body deteriorates from the inside out there’s loss of feeling in various parts of the body which means the one who has leprosy is not able to notice when he damages the various limbs or parts of his body and soon those parts actually begin to fall off it’s a very horrific disease it is curable today with antibiotics but in Bible times it was not if you had leprosy of this type you would die a slow and humiliating death but leprosy in the Bible does not necessarily refer to just this serious form of disease it referred to any number of skin diseases and some of them were actually pretty mild others were serious like the one I just described what kind of leprosy does Naaman have it’s actually a difficult question let’s gather some Clues notice that though Naaman has leprosy he’s still accomplishing much for himself and for his King it doesn’t appear to be a serious threat of contagion from Naaman since he’s constantly interacting with people he goes in before the king he has a number of slaves he’s leading soldiers that says something about the kind of leprosy he has another clue is that the appears at the end of the chapter when naaman’s leprosy is said to come upon gahazi gehazi is described as appearing how he’s described as being white as snow a leopard white as snow and that that phrase is sometimes connected with leprosy in the Bible and it is used at least one other time to describe the totality of leprosy of one other person and that’s Miriam may remember Miriam and the pentateuch is once struck with Leprosy when she and Aaron rebelled against Moses let me just read to you the description of her leprosy from numbers 12 because the same description why does snow is given to her that should help shed some light on what Naaman has so this is numbers 12 verses 10 to 12.

and this is what it says but when the cloud had withdrawn from the tent God is just rebuked Aaron and Miriam behold Miriam was laborious as white as snow as Aaron turned toward Miriam behold she was leprous then Aaron said to Moses oh my Lord I beg you do not account the sin to us in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned oh do not let her be like one dead whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb that’s a very interesting description it’s quite Vivid this white like snow leprosy from Miriam which seems to have some similarity to what is described as happening to Naaman and later gehazi makes the person look like a corpse the flesh looks like it’s been half beaten and half formed it’s very pale like snow perhaps even resembling the look of a stillborn child that’s actually the way the NIV translates that description in Numbers Chapter 12. don’t let her look like one born still or a stillborn so this leprosy is pretty frightening looking notice something else over back in our account in Second Kings five actually soon afterwards though turn to leper at the end of this chapter gehazi we later find gahazi in the court of the king of Israel in just a few chapters in Second Kings 8 he’s talking to the king and relating the Deeds of Elisha now where people with Leprosy allowed in the king’s court No in fact they weren’t even allowed in the towns of Israel they were to stay outside the camp outside the towns because the leprosy was thought to be contagious it was considered unclean they couldn’t come in except for one kind of leprosy what kind you may not know or remember but there was one exception and I’ll read it to you from Leviticus 13. actually turn there you can see this yourself turn back to Leviticus 13. this is actually where we get a number of the laws that relate to leprosy Leviticus 13 and 14.

there were different types and it talks about when you see something that looks leprous what the priest is supposed to do and there’s one type in the middle of this section which we should pay attention to Leviticus 13 verses 9 to 17.

verse 9.

when the infection of leprosy is on a man then he shall be brought to the priest the priest shall then look and if there is a white swelling in the skin and it has turned the hair white and there was quick raw flesh in the swelling it is a chronic leprosy on the skin of his body and the priest shall pronounce him unclean he shall not isolate him for he is unclean normally you’d be isolated seven days to see whether the thing progressed he says don’t even do that he’s unclean if the leprosy breaks out farther on the skin and lets you covers all the skin of him who has the infection from his head even to his feet as far as the priest can see then the priest shall look and behold if the leprosy has covered all his body he shall pronounce clean him who has the infection it has all turned white and he is clean but whenever raw flesh appears on him it shall be unclean the priest shall look at the raw flesh and he shall pronounce him unclean the raw flesh is unclean it is leprosy or if the raw flesh turns again and is changed to White then he shall come to the priest and the priest shall look at him and behold if the infection has turned to White then the priest shall pronounce clean him who has the infection he is clean very interesting so what kind of leprosy actually can still keep one clean yeah right exactly if your whole body is covered by the leprosy then once that happens you’re considered clean while it’s progressing you’re unclean but once your whole body has turned white and your all your hair is turned white you’re considered clean however you could become unclean again if what happens if a section of raw flesh appears so apparently even after your whole body has been covered by this leprosy there may be a breakout of some kind of raw flesh and inflammation of the skin and while that’s there you are unclean until it turns back to the white as the rest of the body so we have these details gathered back in the second Kings five what kind of leprosy does Naaman have we’ll wait to the interpretation step before we take a stab at that question let’s ask some other questions related to observations Naaman hears that there’s a prophet in Samaria who can heal naaman’s leprosy how does he hear about this prophet his servant girl probably better understand slave girl because of her origin we mentioned earlier she’s an Israelite girl who was kidnapped taken captive by an aramian raid and if you’re a kidnapping a person you’re not going to hire them you’re gonna be like oh yeah it doesn’t work for me a couple of uh you know a certain amount of money per day she’s a slave she’s been enslaved she ends up serving naaman’s wife the Miss or whom she calls her mistress and she tells naaman’s wife that she wishes her master visited the prophet in Samaria because that Prophet would heal him naaman’s wife tells Naaman and Naaman tells the king what were you gonna say Danny yeah she’s not very old I’m not exactly sure what little girl entails but usually if it’s saying little I mean girl already means young but little girl we’re probably talking to somebody who’s not very old at all and she was kidnapped and she’s not being taken back and never is according to this account not that we can see anyways she tells about this prophet name and hears about it so a surprising chain of events to give name in this information but he goes to the king Eamon goes to his King and he gets permission to set out for Samaria what does name and take with him a couple different things he takes 10 talents of silver now talent What’s Talent a talent is 75 pounds about 7 75 pounds so how many pounds of silver is this 750 pounds of silver that’s a ton of silver and then six thousand shackles of gold now what’s a shekel what are six thousand shekels another math question here 3 000 shekels is equal to a talent and we have six thousand shackles so how many pounds of gold 150 pounds of gold that’s a lot of gold a lot of silver a lot of gold and then also what else is he taking 10 changes of clothes and then the letter from the King there’s a letter from the King as well but he’s bringing a lot of wealth with him and he’s going to have to transport all that wealth and secure all that wealth which means he’s taking some of his servants or slaves with him actually the word used for Servant here could mean servant or slave so I’m going to refer to them both as slave or servant we don’t really know what kind they were but he has slaves they could be slaves also or they could be soldiers but they’re called servants here he’s taking all this wealth with him he’s got this Caravan it describes the Caribbean as consisting of horses and chariots in verse 9. all of them are traveling to Samaria when Eamon arrives in Israel and presents his King’s letter to johoram the king of Israel how does johoram react yeah very interesting response he first tears his clothes which is a sign of grief or distress is this is a terrible thing that’s happened that we’ve gotten this letter and that we see this person and his conclusion as you were saying Danny is that the king of Syria is trying to pick a fight with Israel basically I’m sending you this servant for you to heal oh you can’t heal him then I’m gonna go to war with you because that was very rude of you or that you you refuse to heal him so he’s saying he’s trying to pick a fight with me this is terrible news we’re going to soon be going to war with Syria what factors to harm strangely forgetting or ignoring that there is a prophet who can heal this man he doesn’t say oh I’ll send you to Elijah right away he just says oh I’m not God I can’t do anything for you he’s strangely forgetting about Elisha Elisha hears about the king’s reaction though and he says send them to me and he gives the reason so that he will know there is a prophet in Israel you make it look like there isn’t there is anyone brings his Entourage to Elisha’s house and Naaman stands at Elisha’s door but the healing process as arranged by God through Elisha makes Naaman Furious what is it that Elisha says and does that enrage is Naaman yeah he doesn’t even meet with him he sends a messenger he’s at the door of his house it wouldn’t take too much effort for Elijah to come out but he doesn’t he sends a messenger and the messenger has a message what about the messages offensive yeah Rob yeah yeah he feels like it’s a silly and easy thing to do go wash yourself in a river seven times and then there’s another aspect to that watching that also infuriates Naaman where is he supposed to wash the Jordan what’s his view of the Jordan gross non-special certainly not a majestic River there are way better rivers in Syria why would I have to go to the Jordan so Elisha won’t meet with him himself he has to do something that seems silly and easy and it’s in the Jordan the dirty gross Jordan River and he’s ready to turn away in a rage he’s gonna storm off but his servants and treat him they say and they say to Naaman you were willing to do something hard and he’s told you to do something easy why not do that and Naaman listens to his servants his slaves and he travels the approximately 25 miles from Samaria to the Jordan River he dips himself in the Jordan seven times and his skin is restored just like the soft and perfect skin of a baby name is even said to become clean but Naaman doesn’t just rejoice and go home he returns to Elisha well this time actually does present himself to name it now because of the travel time this would have been a day two days or three days later take some time to go to the Jordan back when he arrives back before Elisha what does Naaman confess I now know there’s only one God and it’s your God it’s the god of Israel it’s Yahweh there’s no other God I now know that Naaman wants to give a gift to Elisha after all that’s why he’s brought all this fabulous wealth but Elijah refuses even when Naaman repeatedly urges Elisha to accept a blessing that’s actually the word gift can be translated blessing except a blessing from me says Nope as the Lord lives I will not accept the thing from you seeing that Elijah cannot be persuaded Naaman instead asks Elisha for a gift for two mule loads of soil from the land of Israel what reason does Naaman give for this request it is for sacrifice says I want this soil so that I can sacrifice to Yahweh that’s a notice the word for what’s the exact verse here yeah verse 17 for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering nor will these sacrifice other gods and to the Lord also the connection between the soil and sacrifice comes back to that in the interpretation step but just notice that observe that okay he also before leaving asks Elisha for yahweh’s pardon over one issue what’s the issue yes he says even though I’m going to serve Yahweh only I do have a duty to go into the house of women my master is going to lean on me and he’s going to Bow and when he bows I’m going to bow to another God in the house of Remnant now what’s this Remnant all about according to John McArthur Raymond is a parody a Hebrew word that means pomegranate but it’s a parody of the Assyrian ranunu which means thunderer so we’re probably talking about Baal um bail hey Dad the storm God this would be this another version of the bail that was introduced into the northern tribes the storm God the sky God it’s one of the main Gods in Syria he says I’m going to go into the house of Raymond which is the house of Baal so Naaman is essentially asking when I support my master as he worships Baal in Bales Temple and it looks like I’m worshiping Baal too please let Yahweh pardon me not really worshiping Baal but I have to be there for my master what’s Elijah’s response go in peace which seems to suggest he has the pardon that he’s asking for otherwise you couldn’t be going in peace that would be wonderful the account stopped right here oh great wonderful the miracle that’s wonderful but there’s a epilogue something else happens afternoon leaves gahazi Elisha’s servant resolves to do something what does he resolve to do I’m gonna go get something from Naaman I’m gonna go take something from Naaman kahazly secretly runs after Naaman and he tells a lie about Elisha needing some gifts for some sudden visitors uh for what does gehazi ask specifically please give me two changes of clothes and Talon of silver remember that’s 75 pounds and generosity though Naaman gives him two talents 150 pounds of silver and two changes of clothes now obviously God he’s not gonna be able to carry all that back so someone named him slaves they carry it for him until gahazi gets close to his house he’s able to take the items from the Servants of Naaman and put them away in his house so the servants leave and gohaji goes back to the presence of his master what lie does gehazi then tell Elisha yeah like she says where have you been God this is I didn’t go anywhere I’ve been here the whole time but Elisha knows all along about what kahazi is doing as if his own heart was going with gehazi he saw it all Elisha then acts very interesting question is it time gahazi to receive money clothes Olive Groves Vineyards sheep oxen male and female servants what’s the expected answer no it’s not time it’s not time therefore what you did was very inappropriate gohazi sought to take some wealth from Naaman but Elijah says gehazi would really take something else what is he taking from Naaman his leprosy you went to get something from Naaman well you got it it’s his leprosy and that’s just and kahazi it says the end of the account he leaves supernaturally leprous as white as snow Okay so we’ve gathered some observations on this this chapter and the text here let’s take these observations and now put some put them towards some interpretive questions do you have a question yeah digitalizes likes Arden um Neiman saying it was okay to bow down to another guy well he does say good question is Elisha really saying it’s okay if you bow down to another God well he does say go in peace and he is God’s representative here so unless Elisha is saying something on his own and not Consulting God is saying oh it’s fine then this seems to be something that is okay by God not that bowing down to another God is okay but this particular circumstance that Naaman is in where he’s required to do this Duty he’s not really wishing but he has to support his master wise Master worships this particular situation seems to be pardoned by Yahweh yeah George yeah that’s a good point too and then certainly that coincides with some new testament teaching where we say or where we learn an idol is nothing so he says I’m going into this Temple um I’m forced to be the support for my master but really I’m not serving that God there is no God there there’s no God except in Israel but that’s a pretty particular situation we know there’s also some other New Testament teaching that say beware of taking part in anything idolatrous don’t go feasting in an Idol’s Temple thinking oh an idol is nothing yeah we’re gonna say Danny just hmm right yeah that’s a good point uh certainly we can see naaman’s heart we can see that this really bothered him and that he wanted to bring it before Elisha we just say real quickly we don’t want to take these Concepts too far because we know that there are certain other parts of scripture where for example the three friends of Daniel are told to bow down before the statue they can’t rationalize and say well we know the statute is really nothing so if we bow it doesn’t really mean anything they very clearly stand up and say no we have to Worship the Lord only we’re not going to bow down before any Idol so we don’t want to take any of the principles being exercised for a name in here too far and say oh it doesn’t really matter if you bow down to where a statue as long as you think it’s not really an idol there there are some subtleties to what God is God is exactly pardoning here all right let’s ask some interpretive questions here’s a biggie what kind of leprosy does Naaman have what do you think I would argue yes it is the mild form of chronic leprosy that covers the whole body this is not the more serious form where your body is being eaten from the inside out I would say this is the more mild form this is still a very grotesque form of leprosy because if it is indeed like Miriam then he looks like a corpse this isn’t just like somebody who looks like an albino this is someone who looks like he’s a corpse walking around this is a very scary looking skin condition but technically it’s uh mild and it’s not going to kill him now there are some tricky details that it’s kind of hard to put together into a satisfactory interpretation verse 11 does say I thought he would wave his hand over the place that seems to suggested localized lesion of leprosy but then he says the place and cure the leper which is weird because he’s talking about himself so why does he say it like that and the word leper does not refer to a place it refers to a person so I’m a kind of confusing statement there in verse 11.

also there’s that detail that when he comes out of the Jordan and said he is made clean well technically if he has full body leprosy isn’t he clean already is this another form of leprosy well even if he does have full body leprosy obviously is not normal so I think there’s a sense that he would still be considered unclean even if he is ceremonially clean in Israelite law but I think the decisive details are the fact that Naaman is to able to accomplish very much on behalf of his master is still able to interact with people who are not afraid of him shunning him and gahazi when he has the same form of leprosy is still able to go into the king’s court now you can try and argue some certain things about Second Kings eight as being outside of the chronology or maybe because he got healed later but I don’t think it was a persuasive I think the the judgment on gahasi proceeds forward into the chapters because actually we don’t even see gehazi serving Elisha anymore he’s apart from Elijah at that time so I think the Judgment remained on him but it was again that mild form of still grotesque looking chronic body covering leprosy I would argue that’s the kind of leprosy that Naaman has he’s completely Snow White his hair is all white and while this is not deadly there are the periodic infections of the skin of raw flesh so that is assuredly painful and annoying and socially there’s an obvious stigma because of his frightening appearance maybe that’s good for battle but socially he looks very scary foreign I believe that’s the form of leprosy we’re looking at here why does Naaman bring so much wealth with him yeah Rob OT is yeah I think that’s a good way to describe it he’s trying to buy The Profit services and this is totally normal for how the people of that time considered holy men and Prophets if you’re going to go down to a prophet you always had to bring a gift with you go down to a Seer or to a holy man we actually see something like this happening in numbers 22-24 remember balak consults Balaam who’s supposedly a prophet and he’s ready to honor him with all sorts of gifts he says just curse Israel for me but when he doesn’t do that he says oh I was going to honor you but now you get no honor because you’re not doing what I want you to do it’s looking to buy The Profit Services you can call it a gift oh I’m just really thankful for what you did but essentially it’s buying the profit services and this is customary so Naaman brings all these gifts why does Elijah refuse the gifts yeah Roy right so to write to accept the payment would be to really prostitute his position as profit I’m not in it for myself and God is not a God who needs money God acts for according to his own glorious and holy purposes therefore it’s not appropriate for me to accept any gift from you I’m not a prophet for hire and God is not a genie who if you pay him or God is not some God or if you just pay him he’ll do what you want yeah Roy yeah that’s a great Point Roy uh Faith healing and the Prosperity Gospel they invert exactly about what Elisha is doing here and they’re acting just like the prophets of the Pagan Nations where accept a gift give me some sort of money and then God will do what you want though when Elisha explains his reasoning to gehazi he says something different something in addition that is very interesting he says it is not the time to be receiving wealth receiving gifts why not why is it not an appropriate time because it suggests that there is an appropriate time or something like an appropriate time but that is not the time right now why not what could be a possible reason just me yeah okay that’s a that’s definitely a cogent explanation that he says for this miracle it’s important that we don’t accept any wealth because we’re trying to present our position and God’s position in a certain light so if you by you accepting this gift you’re really polluting that message that that God is putting forth through this miracle why else why else is it an appropriate inappropriate time for be for Gathering or for accepting wealth yeah Roy willing to pay maybe this might be something okay um that’s an interesting thought the it’s certainly true well no I’ll say one thing and then I’ll say the other thing it’s the Syrian paying the Israelite here or seeking to pay so it would not be exactly paying off because the raids seem to be coming from Syria unless he’s trying to pay off the Israelites so they don’t raid Syria we don’t know if they were raiding Syria but we would expect the payment to be going the other direction if there were indeed a paying off of the rates however it’s interesting that you mentioned raids and serious relationship as an enemy of Israel because as I said before right here in this chapter begins a number of accounts about how Syria Wars with Israel they devastate Israel actually to the point where they besieged Samaria and the inhabitants are so desperate that they start cannibalizing their own children so I think there is a sense that we can say it’s inappropriate for us to be accepting this gift or trying to gather wealth and trying to enjoy wealth because think about what’s about to happen the chastisement of God through Syria is about to come upon Israel it’s so it would be silly for us to try and make ourselves comfortable with well we’re about to go under siege in a city we’re gonna have to leave this wealth behind we can’t lug around 150 pounds of silver or uh if we’re trying to hold on to these well these things are going to be taken by the enemy right now we really need to put our priorities somewhere else it’s not appropriate for us to be gathering wealth and trying to enjoy well I think along with that we can also say the spiritual state of Israel makes it inappropriate for the prophets to be gathering or enjoying wealth there’s an important and difficult job for the prophets to do they need to be God’s soldiers they need to be prophets calling the people visual back to repentance they cannot afford to be weighed down with wealth taking on its cares getting distracted by its comforts because Israel’s soul is in peril the northern tribes in which Elisha and gehazi are ministering they have been idolatrists for a long time they’re beginning there’s a Revival beginning but there’s important work to be done there’s still much wickedness going on before the prophets can rest and enjoy God’s blessings the nation needs to turn back to Yahweh remember God did promise rest and prosperity to Israel it says when you follow me I’ll bring you into the land I’ll give you such blessing and I want you to enjoy it but they’re not following Yahweh right now so it’s not appropriate it’s not appropriate for people to just be at rest and just enjoying the various blessings of God one of those blessings would be in wealth because Israel is not obedient they are under the threat of God’s judgment what would the rest of the people of Israel think if they see the prophets acquiring wealth and taking their ease would they not take that as a sign that everything’s okay no worries everybody we’re good just enjoy yourself seek whatever Pleasures you want because the prophets are settling down so we can too I think we can say that another reason why it’s inappropriate for gehazi or Elijah to accept the wealth is because it sends the wrong message to Israel it makes them think that everything’s okay it’s going to distract the prophets from Ministry there’s such important work to be done the spiritual state of Israel makes it inappropriate for us to be accepting wealth or trying to gather and enjoy wealth chastening is coming judgment is coming and the message that we’re even just trying to to portray right now to to Naaman and to those who are witnessing this is sullied by your obtaining wealth on my behalf remember he says it’s not because I want this he says Elisha wants this he sent me that’s exactly in contrast to what Elisha had said before no by the Lord I will not accept anything from you so this is the wrong message this is the wrong time for receiving wealth what’s really interesting we don’t have time to pursue this right now is that you can see this theme in other parts of the Old Testament but there’s an inappropriate time for accepting wealth or for trying to enjoy wealth Ecclesiastes 10 is one example Solomon writes that woe to the nation whose princes feast in the morning and get drunk in the morning why that’s totally inappropriate time they’re only doing that because they know a judgment is coming and they want to enjoy themselves while they can I always says they the blessed is the kingdom whose princes Feast at the appropriate time because they’re following after the Lord and there’s also um some other things in the uh the latter prophets interestingly there’s also a section in Jeremiah where Jeremiah is told to purchase aditive property right before Israel is about to be invaded and Jeremiah’s like why did you want me to do that that’s the total opposite of what you’d expect he says it’s going to be assigned Israel that they will be restored there will be a time for owning houses and property again when I restore Israel anyways let’s ask another question what’s at the root of naaman’s anger over yahweh’s method of healing Pride clearly Pride he says I had an idea of what was supposed to happen and remember he’s a great man so he his his idea perhaps carried a lot of weight in his mind consider who I am I thought things were going to happen a certain way but they didn’t and so he becomes angry it was his pride what then is required for Naaman to actually be healed what change in Naaman he has to Humble himself he has to submit to God’s way and he has to Humble himself so to be healed he needs to be humbled Naaman says that he wants some Earth from Israel in order to properly sacrifice the Yahweh what’s the connection here Edwin territory over here right balac and Balaam you’re talking about yeah right this appears to be just repeat your thought Dwayne this appears to be an erroneous but a common understanding of the time that that God’s had certain territories uh they were connected to certain lands and therefore if you were to properly worship that God you needed to be in that land or take some of that land with you and so he feels like it’s only appropriate for me to worship Yahweh if I have the soil of yahweh’s land um that is true in the sense that Yahweh was connected to the land of Israel it was the special land that he had given to Israel but certainly you don’t need the soil of Israel to worship Yahweh apparently Naaman seems to think so but again this shows even if he’s mistaken his commitment to worshiping Yahweh that there’s going to be a testimony to the people of Syria but why’d you bring all this Earth back and why are you sacrificing only on that piece of Earth and why are you sacrificing to this other God because he understands there is no other God but Yahweh so this is another fruit of naaman’s genuine belief and faith and trust in the Lord even if it is somewhat mistaken is a clear testimony of his trust in Yahweh now some bigger questions consider this miracle hang on to your question we might have some time in the end consider now this miracle with Naaman in the context the preceding miracles of chapter 2 3 and chapter four taken together what does this account show us about God yes there is a an extension that God not only cares for Israelites but he cares about Gentiles too what is the defining feature that results in God’s favor to both it is his Mercy but it is extended to whom humble right the risk goes back to one of the most basic principles that we’ve seen even since the beginning of the pentateuch that God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble and it doesn’t matter who they are or where they are Gentiles like Rahab like Ruth like Naaman they can have the same Grace and conversely stubborn Israelites who do not humble themselves before the Lord even though they are part of God’s covenant is special Covenant people they will miss out on God’s grace they’ll be opposed by God and they will be cursed by God and that’s exactly what we see here right name it technically an enemy of Israel receives God’s blessing because he humbles himself an Israelite a servant of God’s Prophet himself obtains God’s curse because he hardened his heart and he disobeyed Yahweh he decided to pursue greed rather than to trust in the Lord and to be satisfied in the Lord so we see here this divine principle emphasized in connection with all these other Miracles the Israelites those righteous Israelites who humble themselves they receive God’s Deliverance God’s provision and God’s blessing but also the Gentiles but those who did not humble themselves like the boys who made fun of Elisha like the wicked king of Israel and like kahazi may he obtain God’s curse now this is of course a principle that Israel and Exile needed to understand because remember that’s when the second Kings was written to it was written to the Israelites post-exile or in their exile he wants them to understand this principle follow after the Lord humble yourself trust in the Lord obey the Lord and He will deliver you he will provide for you don’t be stubborn in your heart don’t be like oh where is your light so we’re going to get God’s blessing no matter what no don’t be stubborn in heart because you’ll obtain the consequences just like some of the people mentioned here this was meant for the Israelites to understand this basic important Divine principle and of course it’s meant for us too we’ll explore that just a little bit later couple more questions running short on time so we’ll try and go through this a little bit more quickly naaman’s healing features many parallels to Salvation in Jesus as presented in the New Testament what are some parallels how is what happens to Naaman similar to what happens to someone who is saved by Jesus yeah right yeah those are that’s about true God is gracious in both circumstances to heal Naaman and also to save somebody from sin but it requires a obedience to God which requires a humbling before God they even had an idea of how he thought things were supposed to happen that’s to some people today have an idea of how salvation is supposed to work we often hear people say oh that’s too easy or that’s foolish what’s what a silly message that someone could actually believe this it says no if you say that and you remain stubborn in heart you miss out you will not obtain God’s Deliverance you will not obtain God’s salvation just as Naaman would not have obtained God’s healing so we do see the parallel there something else Roy that’s right we can also make a parallel between the Elisha not accepting any gift there’s no way that you can purchase or that you can earn God’s favor God’s salvation just his name and there’s no way that he could purchase the services of the Prophet or if you always your purchase yahweh’s healing it was merely on the basis of God’s um God’s mercy towards the humble and we can point out some other parallels Naaman is healing and cleansing from leprosy just as we need healing and cleansing from sin uh Naaman is an enemy of Israel just as we are enemies of God naaman’s healing is impossible without Supernatural intervention just as R salvation is impossible without God’s Supernatural intervention name is cleansed through water Christians are cleansed through baptism and we can point to a number of different things there are very many noteworthy parallels between salvation and Jesus and the healing of Naaman but not everything aligns perfectly to make this metaphor of salvation for example Naaman is told to dip seven times in the Jordan Christians don’t do anything seven times it’s part of obtaining their salvation Christians obtain salvation on the basis of the substitutionary sacrifice but there’s no substitution or sacrifice here no one takes on naaman’s sickness if Naaman truly had body covering leprosy as I’ve argued then he would have technically been ceremonially clean even though people outside of Jesus are totally unclean all the time and naaman’s leprosy would not have been deadly though annoying but our sin plague is very deadly and it will destroy us it ruins every part of our Lives eventually and it will damn us forever so the parallels are not complete even though there are a number of parallels so here’s the critical question can we say that the writer of First Kings intended to write the account of naaman’s healing as an analogy for salvation in Christ was it supposed to be a direct analogy it was not it was not intended as a direct analogy or a metaphor for salvation in Jesus to make this account directly about the gospel is to alter the originally intended meaning of the text which is isagesis it’s over spiritualizing but you may ask why are there so many parallels we see so many connections to Salvation in Jesus how can you say that it was not meant that way well the answer is because of the Gospel principles in this account God does not change he acts a certain way he always conforms to his own character and we see that character on display here just as we see it on display in the gospel there are elements of the Gospel here there are principles Divine principles Eternal truths gospel gospel principles whatever you want to call them that are evident here but they are not the the account is not a direct analogy to Jesus and the gospel of salvation this is the same thing that I argued and hopefully you persuaded by when we talked about Abraham’s offering Isaac on Mount Moriah a lot of parallels to Salvation in Jesus but was that