Lessons From the History of Naaman
Clarence Esme Stuart
Table of Contents
Lessons From the History of Naaman: God Will Be Glorified
In the days of Elisha God had chastised Israel because of their great wickedness, and had let their enemies triumph over them; but He cared for His own glory, and vindicated it, as the history of Naaman shows in the most marked manner.
It was a dark period of Israel's history. Jehoram sat on the throne of his father Ahab. He put away the image of Baal which Ahab had made, "nevertheless he cleaved," we read, "unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin; he departed not there from." Though outwardly less bad than his father, he was an idolater. King over the largest portion of God's earthly people, in his heart he knew not God. The king and the nation which should have glorified Him did not, so God orders events that both Israel and the Gentiles should see He was the one true God who works all things after the counsel of His own will.
The history of Naaman sets forth (1) God's counsels, step by step, unfolded; (2) God's grace, because it is grace, going out to one who could claim nothing on the ground of covenant or promise; and (3) God's government, because He is holy, in active exercise in the midst of His professing people.
GOD'S COUNSELS ARE UNFOLDED
If the Lord Jehovah was greater than all gods could He not have saved Israel from their enemies? If He was the true God, would He have allowed the idol-worshiping Syrians to overcome them in battle? If the God of Israel was omniscient must He not have foreseen all that would happen? Why then did He not counteract the plans of the enemy, and thwart the military arrangements of the captain of the hosts of Syria? Such thoughts might have filled men's minds when they saw the land of Israel at the mercy of a foreign king, and the people of Israel unable to resist the Gentile power. But the God of Israel was the true God. He was greater than all gods. He was omniscient, and He would show it. It was His plan that Naaman was all the time working out, however much he might think it was his own. It was God who was prospering the armies of Syria, though they might ascribe their success to Rimmon, their god. He could have interposed and have discomfited the hosts of Syria, as He did the army of Moab shortly before; but then, He was protecting Judah, as yet faithful to Him; now He was chastising Israel, notoriously unfaithful.
How changed now was everything in Israel! Naaman was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance to Syria. Often before had the Lord granted deliverance to Israel; now, for the first time, we read of His giving the victory to Syria. He who had formerly gone with the hosts of Israel, had now gone forth with the armies of Syria. In the days of Joshua, Israel had witnessed what the Lord could do for them. In the days of David, the sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees told of the presence of the Lord preceding the armed hosts of Israel to battle. The stars, in their courses, had fought against Sisera; great hailstones had smitten down the retreating hosts of the Canaanites; and thunder had discomfited the Philistines in the days of Samuel. Now we read the Lord was found with their enemies, and gave them deliverance by Naaman. This was the first link in the chain of events as set forth in this history.
Next, who was this Naaman? A mighty man of valor, a great man with his master, high in favor at court. What was there in the whole world that he needed? Place, honor, fame, riches-all these were his. He had all that the world could give, short of a throne. But the world could not supply the one thing he wanted—health. God had withheld it—he was a leper. All his possessions, if added together and sold at the price he put on them, could not have purchased for him the much coveted boon—health. The one bitter ingredient in his otherwise full cup of happiness was that he was a leper. The hand of God was evidently on him, not to debar him this object of desire but to bestow it. Before, however, it could be bestowed, he must be brought down to supplicate for this blessing in that land over whose armies he had triumphed, and from the servant of that God whose people he had overcome in battle.
But how should he hear of the prophet who would recover him of his leprosy? Here a third link in the chain is disclosed. In the wars between Syria and Israel a little maid had been taken captive by the Syrians, and she waited on Naaman's wife. A daughter of Israel in captivity in the land of Syria! What could she do there? How could she do service for God? Who would be inclined to hearken to her voice? Her age would not command the attention of others. Her position would not add' weight to her words. Looked at outwardly it was not much that she could do, but it was all that was required, and she did it. She told her mistress of the prophet in Samaria, and the little maid's speech reached the ears of the king of Syria. Naaman was sent to Samaria to be healed but, as is ever the case when God deals in grace, to receive much more than he asked for. He sought for health; he got light. He desired healing and he got, we may well believe, life. He learned who was the true God, and became a worshiper of Jehovah. He reached Samaria with his retinue and his presents, and now, before we get God's grace flowing out to him, we get man, as he is under various aspects, brought before us.
In Naaman we have man as one in need, who keenly feels his want, but cannot by any plan of his own supply it. From the letter of the king of Syria we see man as he is by nature in utter ignorance of God—the little maid had spoken of the prophet of God; he wrote to the king of Israel to recover Naaman of his leprosy. There is not a thought of God in his letter. His ideas, apparently, do not travel beyond the range of the things of sight. "I have therefore sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy." God was not in his thoughts when he wrote this to Jehoram. Well might the latter exclaim, as he read it, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?" Perfectly true—who can heal the leper but God only? His reasoning was just, but he affords us an instance of man in apostasy. He knows something about God, but he does not know God. A difficulty arises; he cannot meet it. He rent his clothes, he spoke to his counselors, but did nothing. His hands hung down in feebleness. The only stay of the heart in a day of difficulty, the only source of wisdom, he had forsaken. He sees that ruin may be before him, but cannot avert it. He is utterly helpless, a miserable exhibition, surely, of one of God's professing people.
The king of Syria, in nature's darkness, is ignorant about God; the king of Israel, in apostasy, has no stay for his soul, no refuge to which he can turn.
How unlike the conduct of Jehoram was the conduct of Hezekiah when he received a letter from a Gentile sovereign. He read it, and spread it before the Lord, and received an answer. Jehoram read his, reasoned about it, but took it not to God. How could he turn to Him whose truth he had given up, and whose worship he openly discountenanced. But God has a witness in Samaria, and in the prophet we see one in communion with God. That which caused such commotion in the house of Jehoram, affrights him not. He knows how to act. "Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel." Jehoram never spoke about God's prophet. Naaman might learn from the king the sad condition of an apostate; he would learn from Elisha about God, and what He can do.
Lessons From the History of Naaman: From God's Counsels to God's Grace
The Gentile stands before the prophet's door a leper, a loathsome object, if rightly viewed, yet, in his own country, a person of rank, and highly esteemed. (See 2 Kings 5.) Before grace can flow out, the soul must be in a condition to receive it, for grace is bestowed, not earned; the favor is on God's part in giving, not on man's in receiving. How many have wrong thoughts on this point, which need to be corrected. "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The Lord gave Himself for our sins. Paul obtained mercy. (Rom. 6:23; Gal. 1:4; 1 Tim. 1:13.) At the prophet's door, but not admitted into his presence, Naaman learns this.
The captain of the hosts of Syria was a defiling object which the prophet could not touch, before God. Receiving all honor from his attendants, he received none from Elisha. The prophet will not see him. Who, before this, had refused to admit Naaman into his presence? Where could any be found in Syria or in Israel who would not have run to Naaman? Elisha, acting for God, and filled with God's thoughts about all things, remains within while Naaman stands with his train without; not that he was unconcerned about all this, for he would have him know that there was a prophet in Israel; nor yet that he would not help him, for he sent a message, at once clear in its terms and full of promise for the leper-"Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." This was what he wanted, but he did not want it in this way.
He had traveled from Syria to Samaria to be healed, but had never thought of this manner of procedure. Naaman was wroth. How unreasonable! Had he not got what the king of Israel had failed to give him, full directions for his cure? "Go and wash in Jordan seven times... and thou shalt be clean." No uncertainty was there in this language. The promise was sure, the message clear-"Thou shalt be clean." But he was wroth and went away in a rage. Why reject his own mercies? Why refuse to obey? The truth comes out-"I thought." If bidden to do some great thing he would have done it, but this message made nothing of him. Does he stand alone in this? How often have men's thoughts stood in the way of God's grace-"I thought." But what ground had he for thinking how the prophet would act? "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." He was willing to be healed if he were honored. How many are willing to be saved if only they may retain a good opinion of themselves. As Naaman acted then, many would act in this day. But God acts now in a similar way to what He acted then. He acts in grace, but it is to sinners, to those dead in sins, to those without strength and ungodly, to those who can do nothing for their salvation but receive it, to those who conform to the obedience of faith. The Son of man came to seek and to save the lost. This one verse speaks volumes. Men were lost. He came to seek the lost, and to save the lost.
In Naaman's mind all was arranged. He pictured the scene to himself, and made himself the foremost figure in the group. "He will surely come out to me." One might picture the scene as Naaman graphically describes it, the Gentile idolater waited on by the prophet of God. The incongruity of this he did not then see. We see it. God would visit him in grace, but as one who had no ground of his own to stand on. As a sinner He could meet him. As a leper He could heal him. As the captain of the hosts of the king of Syria He would not receive him. What place has a sinner before God save that of one to whom mercy can be shown? What place is suited for the leper save that outside the camp? Naaman has to learn his place. He may be wroth with the prophet, but he cannot move him. Before him he is only a leper, whatever he may appear before others. Learning his place he has to learn his vileness. He imagined Elisha would have struck his hand over the place, and recovered the leper. A sign-a scene he expected-not a mere word. He did not know what a defiling object he was.
The, priest looked on the leper to judge whether he was leprous or not. He touched him only when he was clean. There was no doubt of Naaman's leprosy, for he had come to be healed of it. To touch him ere he was clean would only have defiled the prophet. But further, if he had been able to touch him, and so have healed him, would not men have thought there was virtue in the prophet? By sending him to the Jordan to wash, it would be clearly seen that the cure was direct from God. Man has no virtue in himself-he can only be the channel of God's grace to others. God must have all the glory of the cure, and Naaman be taught his true condition and vileness. We read of but One who touched the leper, and healed him; for in Him resided the virtue needed for his cure. He could do this and God be glorified, for honoring Him they honored the Father. But Elisha being the servant, not the Son-the channel, not the fountain-the instrument, not the worker-could direct, but could not touch.
The proud man must learn another lesson. "Go and wash in Jordan," was the command. "Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean?" was the proud captain's rejoinder. To the natural eye they might be better than all the waters of Israel, but they could not help him. He might wash in them seventy times, and at the end he would come out as leprous as he went in. What then were the healing properties of the Jordan? It had none, but there only could he be healed. He must learn the "obedience of faith." So to the Jew the preaching of the cross, Christ crucified, was a stumbling block; to the Greeks it was foolishness; but to the saved it was the power of God. Why, it might be asked, could he not go to the Kishon, or the Jabbok, or any other stream? Why must he wend his way to the Jordan? Because the Jordan is the type of death, and by death alone is a soul delivered from the dominion and guilt of sin. By the blood and death of the Lord Jesus Christ our sins are blotted out. By His death sin is put away as before God. As dead and risen with Christ, souls are freed from the dominion of sin. (Heb. 9:26.28; Rom. 6:13.)
What the Jordan was typically, Israel's history shadowed forth when they passed through it dry shod; the ark, having gone before them, remained in the bed of the river till all had passed through. Elisha shows out in his history something of the typical character of the river, when, with a double portion of Elijah's spirit, he recrossed the Jordan dry-shod, having opened the way with Elijah's mantle to commence his ministry in Israel. The disciples of John tell us something of the same, when they were baptized of John in Jordan, confessing their sins. In Jordan then must the leper wash if he would be clean.
But might not Abana or Pharpar typify death as well as Jordan? They were rivers of Syria-Jordan was a river of Israel is the simple answer. God could work in grace, even for Gentiles, but He who worked thus was the God of Israel. The Gentile could get blessing in that dispensation, but only in a way which established the preeminence of Israel. God's name was great in Israel, however much His people had forgotten Him. Naaman had to learn this lesson likewise. He was to be healed, but by the God of Israel, and in the land of Israel. Throughout that dispensation the Gentile was taught that he must receive blessing through the Jew. The woman of Sarepta was preserved alive through the famine, but it was when she received Elijah into her house. The Ninevites were saved from the impending wrath, but it was by the preaching of Jonah. Comparing the Jordan with the rivers of Syria, Naaman might despise it, but there, and there only, could the cure be effected.
He must stoop to own his vileness in God's appointed way. That was all he had to do. That done in obedience to God, he would be healed. What a lesson was this to be learned! to confess his uncleanness, and to confess it as uncleanness of no ordinary kind. A garment, or the person slightly soiled may be cleansed by one washing. He must wash seven times to show his defilement was great; but, when washed seven times, his leprosy would be completely and forever put away. Could he stoop to all this? At first his proud spirit rebelled. The remonstrance, however, of his servants prevailed; he obeyed.
How much then had he to learn? How low had he to come down? He learned from his visit to Jehoram that a mere man could not help him. He learned from the prophet's message that he could direct him. He learned from Elisha's absence what he thought of the leper. He learned from the mention of the Jordan that in God's land only could he get what he wanted; and now, by washing seven times in Jordan, he learned what it was to confess his great uncleanness. Now God could work for him. He has come down to his true place; seven times he has gone down into the Jordan, and the prophet's words are verified; his flesh has come again like the flesh of a little child, and he is clean.
All is changed. He meets with different treatment. The leper is leprous no more. He had stood before the door of the prophet; now he stands before him, no longer a suppliant whom the prophet could not see, but a voluntary confessor of the one true God. "Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel." This was not the first time, surely, that he crossed the boundary between Syria and Israel, yet till now he knew not that there was but one God, and that in Israel. God, because Israel had failed to do so, now glorifies Himself, and brings Naaman to enter the land as a suppliant, and to leave it as a confessor of the truth.
Naaman learned who God is, and where He can be found, now he learns too that while he can receive from God, the prophet will receive nothing from him. God must be glorified in this too. Naaman can receive the blessing, but it is all of grace. When God gives to sinners, He gives freely. So the answer comes, "As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused." And he acts rightly in refusing it. Could the prophet of God he beholden to a Gentile? Impossible. Knowing the spirit in which he should act, like Abraham before the king of Sodom, he declines the offer. It would have been out of character with the times of Elisha if he had received it. That was the day to show what God could do. By-and by it will be the day to receive from the Gentiles, according to the glowing prediction of Isaiah 60.
But if Elisha will not take from him, Naaman desires something from the land. The leper lately, now a confessor of the one true God, will not stop short of being a worshiper. He will henceforth offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to Jehovah alone. All the sacrifices ever offered to Rimmon had not wrought his cure. To the One whom he had never worshiped he is indebted for it. To Him alone will he henceforth sacrifice, and he requests two mules' burden of earth for this. He brought treasures with him; he carries back what he esteems of value. Full, a short time previous, of the superiority of Syria over Canaan, he now desires earth from the land of Israel. And why? Were there no artificers in Damascus to design for him an altar for his new worship? Was not this request of his the proof of a perception as a worshiper, faint yet real, of what God is, and what was suited for His worship? Ahaz, years afterward, finds a pattern for an altar at Damascus; Naaman carries back with him two mules' burden of earth. We can hardly suppose that he was acquainted with God's command to Israel (Exod. 20:24). Had he by spiritual instinct a right perception of what was needed? that God required not any ingenuity of man to make an altar fit to offer sacrifices on to Him, and that nothing was so suited for the worship of God in an idolatrous country as the altar of earth-a silent, yet solid witness to the immeasurable distance between man and his Maker, who seeks for nothing from man but real worship and heart service, and to whose glory he cannot add a single ray!
Here a difficulty arises. Naaman will worship Jehovah alone, but can he refuse to attend his master, the king, in the house of Rimmon? "In 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... the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing." (2 Kings 5:18.) Here again we see surely the spiritual instincts of a newborn soul. Fresh from the Jordan, he learns how incompatible is all other worship with that of the true God. God cannot admit of a rival. He sees something of this, and learns that there cannot be the blending of the false with the true. He cannot worship Jehovah and Rimmon. As a heathen, he might have introduced the worship of Jehovah to his countrymen, as a fresh rite, to be practiced side by side with the old one. As a newborn soul he sees this cannot be. What is he to do? Elisha answers, "Go in peace" -which at first sight appears to be a strange reply. Is God willing to share His glory with another? Could Elisha have bowed himself in the house of Rimmon, if honored by being the support of the king of Syria? A wise answer it was, if we reflect on it. He leaves Naaman to be taught of God, as he is able to receive it. He could not sanction what Naaman spoke of. He did not excuse it, nor did he make light of it. He refused to direct him about it. Could Naaman have walked by Elisha's faith?
Naaman's words show he saw it was wrong to act as he speaks of, but he did not see how wrong. Could one who saw it clearly have said, "The LORD pardon thy servant in this thing"? When it was a question of teaching Naaman the freeness of grace, Elisha is plain and decided; when it is a question of how Naaman should act, his eyes as yet only half opened, Elisha leaves him with God. Should we not do well to follow the prophet sometimes in this?
How this difficulty of Naaman's forces on the mind the moral state of the world; for no sooner has a soul received from God in grace than its difficulties begin. It finds that the ways, and maxims, and habits, and even the religion of the world is opposed to God. The subject of grace, taught about himself, and brought down to the obedience of faith, and the change in him which was made apparent the moment he submitted to God's words, affords us a clear and simple illustration of the way of salvation, with this difference-Naaman was told to wash; sinners are told to believe. He was to wash in the Jordan; sinners are to believe on One who has died-the Lord Jesus- and has been raised again for our justification. The object of faith is different; but the result when apprehended is the same-obedience of faith, and the perfect cleansing from all that defiles. And we have divine warranty for taking up this history in this light, for the Lord Himself referred to it in the synagogue at Nazareth as an instance of grace which can go out beyond the narrow bounds of God's earthly people.
Lessons From the History of Naaman: From God's Grace to God's Government
We must never confound these two things. God will show grace to sinners; He will carry on His government among His people. Gehazi is an instance of this. He could not understand the refusal of Elisha. "Behold," he says, "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." It was not to spare Naaman that Elisha refused the present. It was because grace was free, and the time to receive from the Gentile had not yet arrived. Gehazi could not understand either the one or the other. Had he possessed a right perception of grace, he would have gloried rather in the presents returning home, a witness that the God of Israel could give even to an enemy of Israel without receiving anything from him in return. Had he imbibed the true spirit of the time, he would have learned the incongruity of their being enrich ed by the Syrian. But he understood neither.
The evil desire stimulated him, and he ran after Naaman till he reached the object of his search. To the salutation "Is all well?" he responds, "All is well." Why then this haste, why this pursuit? Eager to get something from Naaman, he has a lie ready, which again reveals how he had failed to understand the right adjustment of things. Two children of the sons of the prophets were in want, and Elisha had sent to request something for them. Could not God have provided for His own servants without spoiling a Gentile? Could not Elisha look to God, and not to Naaman, for what they might need? Gehazi sees not the inconsistency of his story. He tells it—he gets what he asks, and more. Naaman is ready to give—that was right. Gehazi was desirous to receive -that was wrong. Bound on two of the young men, the presents are carried back, and Gehazi stores them away. He has perfectly succeeded in his plan, and he stands before his master. Another lie is now told. He forgets now before whom he stands. Could not the prophet search him? Could not he test most severely the accuracy of his statements? Blind to everything, he utters another lie when questioned—"Whence comest thou?" He might deceive Naaman—he cannot deceive Elisha. "Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee?" An eye had seen him. The prophet's heart knew everything. Gehazi stood before him convicted, and sentence goes forth: "The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever." He and his seed after him should be standing witnesses of what it was to forget the character of his day.
Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?" Gehazi had forgotten the character of his day. Israel had before that time spoiled the Gentiles. They spoiled the Egyptians before they departed from Egypt. They enriched themselves with the spoil of Midian just previous to their entrance into the land. This was in keeping with the times. The jewels of gold were applied to the service of the sanctuary (such of them as had not been used for the golden calf). The plunder of the Midianites was apportioned out as God had directed; but Gehazi had no command to receive from Naaman, and had no intention of enriching the sanctuary with his gifts.
Besides, all this was out of keeping with the character of his day. Elisha's presence in Israel as prophet was in consequence of their departure from God. The servant should have discerned this. The prophet's presence was a constant protest against the condition of the people among whom he dwelt. Were those who professed to know this to act as if the time of rest and enjoyment had arrived? It was the day for protesting against the settlement of Israel as "wines on the lees," unconcerned about God's glory, and indifferent to the claims of His holiness.
Were the professed servants of Jehovah to act as if the warfare was over? Under an idolatrous king in Samaria there could be no rest for those who had understanding of the times. A king in Samaria, with David's heir sitting on his throne at Jerusalem, showed at once that all was not right, nor the time for enjoyment arrived.
The condition of things around them, God's servants might not be empowered to alter; but they must not acquiesce in it. Elisha knew this, and acted accordingly. Gehazi was blinded to this, and thus fell under the exercise of God's government. For Israel the day will dawn when they shall sit each man under his vine and fig tree. But the time for repose, and making themselves at home in the land, was not then. Gehazi forgot all this. Need we show how this has teaching for believers now? May we show that like Elisha we have the mind of God, and know the character of our day, and what is suited to it. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." It is future, not present. It will be enjoyed above, not on earth.
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