A Journey through the Bible with Tiglath

63. The 2nd Book of Kings, Chapters 5

Chapter 5 is most interesting as it tells of what

happened to a man named Naaman. Naaman

was a general in the Syrian army. He was

suddenly stricken with leprosy, which was

incurable in those days. It so happened at that

time that the Syrians had been fighting the

Israelites and a little Israelite girl had been

captured. She was given the task of waiting on

Naaman’s wife. When the little maid heard

about Naaman’s illness she said this to her mistress in verse 3: ‘Would God

my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of

his leprosy’. When the king of Syria heard this he ordered Naaman to go to the

king of Israel; he gave him a letter for the king and fine presents (v.5). So

Naaman goes to Samaria and presents the letter from his king, asking the king

of Israel to cure Naaman of his leprosy. The letter causes tremendous

consternation. In verse 7 the king of Israel rent his clothes and said: ‘Am I

god, to kill and make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man

of his leprosy? Wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeks a

quarrel against me.’ Soon after this the prophet Elisha heard that the king had

been upset and had rent his clothes. He sent a message to the king telling him

to send Naaman to him and he would show the general that there was a

prophet in Israel. When Naaman arrived at Elisha’s house he expected the

prophet to come out and greet him, but instead Elisha sent a message to

Naaman telling him he would be cured if he washed in the River Jordan seven

times. Upon hearing this, Naaman lost his temper. He had expected Elisha to

come out and call upon the name of the Lord and to place a healing hand over

the leprosy.

In verse 12 he says: ‘Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better

than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?’  So he

went away in a rage. Then his servants, who seemed to have more common

sense than their master, reminded him that if the prophet had told him to do

some mighty act he would have done it. All he had to do was dip in the river

seven times. At last Naaman saw sense, did as the prophet had instructed, and

to his delight was cured of his leprosy. Naaman then returned to the home of

Elisha and offered him gifts. The prophet refused these but offered two loads

of earth to Naaman for him to take home. He would then stand on this earth

and be able to pray to the Israelite God. (In those days people believed that

gods were territorial and only worshipped in the country to which they

belonged.) Naaman believed he now had part of Israel and could worship

God, even in Damascus.

Elisha had a servant named Gehazi who was not pleased that Elisha had

refused gifts from Naaman. He ran after the Syrian and asked for some

presents, which Naaman was pleased to supply. Elisha was very angry about

this; verse 26: ‘Is it time to receive money, garments and olive yards and vineyards,

sheep and oxen and servants? The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave

unto thee, and unto thy seed forever’. Gehazi left his presence as a leper as

white as snow (V. 27).

In the next part of our journey we shall discover Elisha causing iron to swim!

A Thank You to the Author of Tiglath:

Geoffrey Willetts celebrated his 90th

birthday on Monday 14th April.

Not only was Geoff surprised and

treated by his family, he also attended

a lovely birthday lunch at Milton

Abbot village hall following the Palm

Sunday service at Milton Abbot

church.

After a lavish lunch Geoff cut a

beautiful birthday cake with orange

icing - and gave an amusing speech.

He has been a lay reader for 57 years,

with plenty of stories to tell. We wish

him a happy birthday and hope he can

continue with his sermons and enjoy his new greenhouse