CLEAN – podcast 7 (The Leprosy of Naaman)

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Scriptural study: 2 Kings 5:1-19

• Note: Naaman is also mentioned in the NT (Luke 4:27).
• Syria = Aram = Syria, not Assyria
• His qualities:
  • Leadership
  • Courage
  • And the flaw of leprosy (both visible and humiliating).
• Physical and spiritual health are found in the land of Israel (not Syria, where false gods are worshipped).
• See how God works through circumstances, through people, through conversations!
• Naaman is willing to pay! He knows that cleansing is worth it! (Do we?)
• He proceeds to the king of Israel, to whom this looks like a trap.
• Elisha finds out what has happened, and invites Naaman to come to him (v.8).
• Elisha's instructions are humbling. In the presence of Naaman's entourage, to follow the prophet's instructions would have been humiliating.
• Instead of responding in humility, Naaman has a strong and negative emotional reaction. Furthermore, his reasoning is defective.
• He received some sound counsel – again, from a servant (v.13). Notice the role servants play, as opposed to the roles of the powerful!
• The miracle leads to his conversion.
• It is also a nice prefiguring of baptism, as the early Christians did not fail to notice (Irenaeus of Lyon, fragment 34).
• He was probably already circumcised so didn’t need to be circumcised again!SeeCircumcision in ancient Syria.
• Naaman requests a double load of Israelite dirt – so that he may worship "in" the land of Israel.
• The problem of his accidental bowing when his master enters the temple of the god Rimmon could be a problem, but Elisha tells him to go in peace.

Application

• Cleansing comes when we obey God’s message.
• God’s messengers are often humble persons. Don’t be too proud to listen.
• When we are cleansed, the proper response is a life of devotion towards God.
• All of us who are true Christians have been cleansed from spiritual leprosy.