Carolyn Decillo—Staff

In the Bible we read that on one of his raiding expeditions against Israel, Naaman had captured a young girl. He gave the girl to his wife to be her maid. We don’t know anything about the rest of the girl’s family. The girl might have been 10 or 12 years old. We hear so little about her that it’s hard to even imagine how she might have felt being kidnapped. She may have been very sad about what had happened to her.  

Yet, one day she said to her mistress that if Naaman could meet the prophet of Samaria, he would be healed. Despite her own situation, she was still concerned for others. It is easy to say she lived in a different time. But imagine someone being taken from their family and helping their captor. It is a wonderful thing that she did.

Obviously, Naaman’s wife told him what the girl had said. Naaman wanted very badly to be healed. So he immediately went to the king and asked for time off to go find the prophet. The king liked Naaman a lot and said, “By all means go!” Naaman expected to pay for his healing. He took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing. It was a great sum fitting for a great man.

Did Naaman know anything about the prophet or Israel’s God? Probably not. But this was an opportunity he could not pass up. His king gave him permission to go. In fact, the King of Aram sent a letter to the King of Israel telling him to heal Naaman. He assumed that the King of Israel had court prophets working for him, like every other king in that era, and that healing was part of what they did. But the King of Israel couldn’t simply order his people to heal the commander. As soon as the King of Israel read the letter, he was very frightened and tore his clothes. He thought it was a trick and that the King of Aram was trying to start another war with him. After all, this was an enemy ruler telling him to cure an enemy soldier—the one that had recently defeated them. 

He was so upset that eventually the prophet of God, Elisha, heard about it. Elisha sent word to have Naaman come to his house. As soon as Naaman was told, he hurried to Elisha’s house with all his horses and chariots. When he arrived, Elisha’s servant met him with a message from Elisha: “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan and your skin will be made clean.”

Even though this is exactly what Naaman wanted—to be free of the disease—he was insulted. He was mad that Elisha didn’t even show him the courtesy of coming out to talk with him. He expected that Elisha would come out and call on the name of the Lord and wave his hands over him. It would have been some sort of great healing ceremony, something appropriate for the rank of a general. Instead, Elisha sent a servant! And then there was the matter of the river. Everyone knew the rivers of Damascus in the kingdom of Aram were much cleaner than any river in Israel. And if he had to get wet, he surely should be able to do it in clean water. So he left in a rage.

He was in a major bad mood. We can almost imagine him snapping his whip as he rode out of there. But, then, one of his servants stepped in. He asked him, “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? So why not do the simple thing, like getting into the water?” The argument made sense. Naaman stopped to think it over. Then he went down and dipped into the Jordan seven times, just as the man of God had told him to do. And just as promised, he was healed right away. In fact, his skin was soft and smooth like a young child’s.

Naaman was not one to take this healing for granted. Now humbled, he went right back to Elisha. Naaman stood before him, and acknowledged the power of the God of Israel saying, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.” He was so grateful that he begged Elisha to take the gifts. But Elisha refused.

Then, Naaman asked if he could take some of the soil back to Aram with him. It shows that he believed God was tied to the land where He was worshipped. He also promised that never again would he sacrifice to any other god but the Lord. The only exception would be when he escorted his friend, the King of Aram, into the temple. Out of respect, when the King bowed to his god, Rimmon, Naaman would have to do so as well. But he asked for Elisha’s forgiveness in advance.

Elisha did not admonish him or instruct him on the proper way to worship God. Instead, Elisha told him to “go in peace.” Such gentleness and understanding was surely needed for a man who had just experienced the wonderful power of Israel’s God. “Go in peace” affirmed that God is for everyone. God was not the property of only the people of Israel. God responds to the cries of all people who are in need.