Wash and Be Clean
1 Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria; he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little girl, and she waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy.” 4 Someone went in and told his lord, saying, “The girl who is from the land of Israel said this.” 5 The king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” He departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, “Now when this letter has come to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.” 7 When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.” 8 It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman was angry, and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leper.’ 12 Aren’t Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 His servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 15 He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, “See now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.” 16 But he said, “As Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” He urged him to take it; but he refused. 17 Naaman said, “If not, then, please let two mules’ load of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will from now on offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to Yahweh. 18 In this thing may Yahweh pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon. When I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, may Yahweh pardon your servant in this thing.” 19 He said to him, “Go in peace.” So he departed from him a little way.
A slave girl's suggestion sends an enemy general to Israel, where he is offended by how little is asked of him — and washes anyway.
Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria; he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.
The introduction is a stack of honors ending in one word that cancels them, and it contains a claim the reader should not walk past: Yahweh had given victory to Syria, through this man, against Israel. Israel's God is running the geopolitics of the nation attacking Israel, and the book states it in the opening verse as settled fact.
She said to her mistress, “I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy.”
The entire chapter turns on a sentence spoken by a child slave — captured in a Syrian raid, serving in the household of the general whose army took her, and wanting him well. She is not named. She has no reason to help and does, and the gospel reaches Damascus because a kidnapped girl mentioned a prophet.
When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.”
Naaman goes through channels — a royal letter, ten talents of silver, six thousand of gold — and the king of Israel reads a diplomatic request as a pretext for war. His panic is the tell: a king who tears his clothes over an impossible medical demand has forgotten that there is a prophet in his own capital who raises the dead. Elisha has to send word to the palace to remind him.
It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean.”
The general arrives with horses and chariots at a prophet's door and the prophet does not come out. A servant delivers the instruction, and the snub is deliberate. Naaman's anger is entirely about the form: behold, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over the place' 2 Kings 5:11. He has scripted the ceremony in advance and is furious that the healing does not match his expectations of a healing.
The second complaint is national pride — aren't Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? 2 Kings 5:12 — and it is a fair point. The instruction was never about the water.
His servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
His servants save him, and their argument is the chapter's center. He would have paid any price and performed any feat; what he cannot stomach is that nothing is being asked of him except obedience in a small, undignified thing. The offense of the simple requirement is the oldest obstacle there is, and Scripture keeps returning to it — a bronze serpent to look at Numbers 21:8, a gift that cannot be purchased Isaiah 55:1.
Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Seven times, which means six times standing in the river with nothing happening. And the restored skin is compared to a child's — the same word the slave girl is described by, so the great man ends the scene looking like the least important person in his own household.
He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, “See now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”
The confession is a conversion, and Elisha refuses the payment absolutely — as Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none 2 Kings 5:16 — because a gift that could be bought would have taught Naaman the opposite of what he just learned.
What he asks for instead is two mule-loads of Israelite soil, to worship Yahweh on at home 2 Kings 5:17, and pardon in advance for the times his duties require him to bow in the temple of Rimmon while supporting his master's arm 2 Kings 5:18. His theology is imperfect and his honesty is total, and Elisha's answer is three words: go in peace 2 Kings 5:19. A new believer with a compromised job and a wrong idea about geography is sent away without a lecture.
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