We learn from this portion that Naaman was the captain of the army of the king of Syria and an enemy of Israel and Judah, a man of valor. His name means “pleasantness” and he was a leper (meztora), and he will represent in our story those in the world who are successful and pleasant, maybe even moral, but have the “leprosy” of sin.
Syrian bandits had brought back a captive girl from Israel, and this was all part of God’s plan for Naaman. The girl just happens to become a servant in Naaman’s house and she told Naaman’s wife about Elisha the prophet and a cure for leprosy. Naaman tells the king of Syria about this, so he sends a letter to Jehoram king of Israel saying that Naaman has been sent to obtain a cure for his leprosy. He also sent ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold, plus ten changes of clothes as gifts for the king. When Jehoram read the letter he was upset because he had no power to cure Naaman, so he thought he was being set up for a war if he failed. Elisha heard of it 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 that there is a prophet of Yehovah in Israel.
So Naaman came with chariots and horses and came to the house of Elisha. Elisha sends a message to Naaman telling him to wash in the Jordan River (“Yarden” in Hebrew means “descender” and a type of “death” in the Scriptures) seven times (a leper is sprinkled seven times-Lev 14.7). If he did this he would be healed. But Naaman becomes 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 (making a big demonstration) and cure the leper.” But Elisha never even came out of his house. Then he says, “Are not the Abanah (stone) and Pharpar (swift), the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?”
Spiritually, this is what is being communicated here. He is saying he came all this way and Elisha didn’t come out of his house but sent his word. He could have done that while Naaman was at home and it would have saved him a trip. But the Jordan River alludes to the “mayim”chaim” or the living waters of the Torah and the Scriptures given to Israel. Naaman, by saying he could have washed in the rivers of Damascus, is like saying that “all religions are the same and they all worship the same God.” In other words, people can be cleansed in these “rivers” too. He doesn’t have to wash in the river Jordan in Israel!
But his servants had a good word for him. They said, “Had the prophet told him to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then when he says to you, “Wash and be clean?” One can only be cleansed from sin through the living waters of what is revealed in the word of God, and by the God of Israel. No other religion (river) 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, and this alludes to being born again (John 3.1-15). This means “the waters of Israel (the Torah and the Scriptures) leading to faith in Yeshua will save us from our “leprosy” of sin. The religions of the world or man’s traditions (the rivers of Damascus) are contrary to what God gave Israel and cannot cleanse the sinner of spiritual leprosy.
Naaman offers Elisha a reward but he refuses. He was thankful and Naaman knew there was a God in Israel. But at this point he is a new believer and was a superstitious man and he thought (like most pagans) that deities had power over certain places. So, he wanted to bring back dirt from Israel, “a piece of Israel”, with him to Syria to build an altar. This like some false teachers today who sell “miracle water” from the Jordan, or a vial of dirt from Israel, so that the recipient can he healed or blessed. Naaman wanted to build an altar and sacrifice on it. But as a new believer, he didn’t know any better and was untaught, so he can be forgiven here for his zeal.
But he also had another issue. He wanted the Lord to forgive him when he went with the king, as his aide and part of his duties, to worship in the house of the king’s false god. When he bowed to this false god in that temple, he wanted the Lord to forgive him because it was not in his heart to worship that idol. He knew better now. So Elisha told him, “Go in peace.” Elisha and the Lord understood and all his sins have been forgiven. In due time, God will convict Naaman and will give him strength and a way to escape this idolatry.
Spiritually, when we become believers in Yeshua (washed in the Jordan River), God places his Torah commands on our heart, and gives us the desire to begin keeping them (Jer 31.33; John 14.15; 1 John 2.3-4). But we still are connected to all the idolatry that we have participated in as we come out of Replacement Theology Christianity or some other religion (the rivers of Damascus), and do not have the knowledge or training to understand the Scriptures, and what exactly to do with our Torah-based faith in Yeshua. These verses tell us that God will be patient with us and in due time he will move us out of our previous religious walk and bring us into a Torah-observant lifestyle that is consistent with our faith in Yeshua.
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