Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Second Kings-Part 4

In 2 Kings 5.1-27 we have the story of Naaman (“pleasantness”) who was the captain of the army of the king of Syria. This story is very eschatological and relates to the redemption of the non-Jews, and Yeshua mentions him in Luke 4.27. He was a man of valor and an enemy of both Israel and Judah (1 Kings 22.1-36). Naaman was a leper and he represents those in the world who are successful, “pleasant” and moral but have the leprosy of sin and opposed to God. When Israel and Judah fled back to their homes, the Syrians followed them and took many captives. One of the Syrian captives brought back was a girl from Israel, but this was all part of God’s plan. She became a servant to the household of Naaman and she told Naaman’s wife about Elisha and there may be a cure for his leprosy. Yehovah can use a great prophet or a servant girl to accomplish his plan. His wife went immediately to Naaman and told him about what the servant girl said.

Naaman told the king of Syria about this, so he sent a letter to the king of Israel (Yehoram) saying that Naaman had been sent to obtain a cure for his leprosy. He also sent ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothes. These were gifts for the king. When Yehoram read the letter he was upset because he had no power to cure Naaman. He thought he was being set up for a quarrel or a war if he failed. This king of Israel had no faith in Yehovah because he followed the gods of his mother Jezebel, but this servant girl held captive in Syria did.

Elisha heard about this and asked the king why he tore his clothes. After he heard the story, he told him to let him come so that he would “know there was a prophet in Israel” (to help him in the name of Yehovah). So Naaman came with chariots and horses and came to the house of Elisha. Elisha sent a message to Naaman telling him to wash in the Jordan River seven times. The word Jordan means “descending” and it alludes to the fact that God “descends” from heaven to the earth through his Torah, the Messiah and the Ruach Ha Kodesh. The Jordan is also alluding to death. A leper is sprinkled seven times (Lev 14.7) and seven is the number of completeness. If he did this he would be healed.

After hearing this, Naaman became furious and left saying, “Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of Yehovah, his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not the Abanah (meaning “stone”) and Pharpar (“swift”), the rivers of Damascus, better (cleaner) than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” But Yehovah had a message for him in these instructions, and for us as well.

Spiritually, this is what is being communicated here. He is saying that he came all this way and Elisha could have sent his word while he was home and saved him a trip. After all, he never even came out of his house. The Jordan River alludes to the Torah and God’s word as we have said, and to death. We must die to ourselves and realize we are sinners according to the Torah if we are to be cleansed from sin. This takes humility. Naaman is saying that “all” religions (his rivers in Syria) are just as good as other religions, and we all worship the same God, right? Why does he need to wash in a river in Israel? But his servants had a good word for him. They told him, “Had 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’?” Man can only be cleansed from sin through what is revealed in the Word of God, and the God of Israel. No other religion (the rivers he mentioned) can do it.

So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan (no easy thing) and he was cleansed from his leprosy. His flesh was the flesh of a little child, alluding to being “born again” (Matt 18.1-3, John 3.1-7). That means the “waters of Israel (Torah) will lead us to faith in Yeshua and we will be saved. He is the goal and the target of the Torah. This concept can be seen in Rom 10.4 where it says, “For Messiah is the end of the law (Torah) for righteousness for everyone who believes.” The word for “end” there is “telos” and it means “goal, target or objective.” So it reads like this, Messiah is the goal, target or objective of the Torah for everyone who believes. The word “telos” is where we get “teloscope” from and we know a teloscope brings things closer and into clear view. That is what the Torah does, it shows us the Messiah (Psa 40.7; John 5.39-47; Luke 24.27). The religions of the world, replacement theology Christianity or rabbinical traditions cannot cleanse the sinner of spiritual leprosy.

Naaman offers Elisha a reward, but he refuses. The blessings and forgiveness of God cannot be bought or paid for. This is unlike many teachers today. They would have advertised that Naaman was healed, and a person can also be healed if they “plant a seed in this ministry.” We have all heard that before. But Naaman was thankful and didn’t know any better, but he knows now that there was a God in Israel.

But Naaman was a superstitious man and he thought (like most pagans) that deities and their gods had power over certain places. So, he wanted to bring back a “piece of Israel” back to Syria in the form of two mule loads of earth so he could build an altar. He was not going to offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to other gods anymore, only to the God of Israel. This is like some false teachers today who sell “miracle water from the Jordan River” or bring back a vial of dirt from Israel so that the recipient can be healed or blessed. Again, Naaman didn’t know any better and was untaught. But he also had another issue.

It is clear from this healing that Naaman had a real experience with Yehovah and he knew his previous life was all vanity. He told Elisha that he wanted the Lord to forgive him when he went with the king of Syria into the house of Rimmon to worship there. This Syrian deity is also called Baal (the storm god) and it was also known as Ramanu by the Assyrians. Scholars are unclear as to what exact deity this was, but Naanan wanted the Lord to forgive him when he went in to bow to this idol in that temple. It was not in his heart to worship false gods anymore. He knew better now but to do this was part of his duties.

Elisha told him “Go in peace.” Elisha and the Lord understood, and all his sins have been forgiven. God will convict Naaman in due time and tell him how to handle this, and this will give Naaman the strength to avoid idolatry. However, Elisha’s servant Gehazi had other thoughts. Remember the woman who had a sick son in 2 Kings 4.29-30? Elisha wanted Gehazi to go and lay Elisha’s staff on the boy’s face, but the mother wanted Elisha to do it. She knew something was wrong with Gehazi even then, and it is confirmed here.

He is a type of the religious man who is always looking for a religious angle to make money. He holds the second most powerful religious position in the prophetic world in Israel, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t corrupt. He was going to use his position to get rich, like the false teachers in our world today. He follows after Naaman to get a reward for himself. If Elisha is too stupid to receive a reward, Gehazi wasn’t going to let this opportunity go by. He would make use of the reward. So Naaman gave him two talents of silver, which is a lot of money (about 800,000 dollars). He would have given it all if Gehazi had asked for it. But that is not the whole story. Gehazi not only stole Naaman’s money, but he also took the greatness and majesty of Yehovah that was in the mind of Naaman. God’s mercy, compassion and forgiveness is not for sale, but in Naaman’s mind, he may have thought about it differently now because of what Gehazi did (“maybe the God of Israel needs to be paid”). That is also what the Lord was angry about. Gehazi stored the money in his house to hide it from Elisha, but Elisha knew what happened by the Spirit and his attempts to hide it failed. Elisha exposed his greedy heart and told him that because of this, the leprosy of Naaman would now come upon Gehazi, and his descendants, forever.

In this story we see a pagan military leader who had fought against Israel and Judah in 1 Kings 22 act in faith (emunah) and be cured of leprosy, which was a horrible thing. And we also see an Israelite who acted with dishonor in wanting to be paid for serving the Lord, and cursed with leprosy. As a result, Gehazi went out from his service to Elisha and Yehovah as a leper “as white as snow.”

We will pick up in 2 Kings 6.1-33 in Part 5.

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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