2 Kings 5 explained: A Foreign General Is Healed

A captive girl speaks up (vv. 1-3)

Naaman led the army of Aram (Syria), Israel's neighbor and frequent enemy, and the word translated leprosy covered many serious skin diseases, not only what we call leprosy today. A young Israelite girl, taken in a raid and made a servant in his house, pointed him to the prophet Elisha.

The king panics (vv. 4-7)

Naaman arrived with a huge gift of silver, gold and fine clothes, and a letter that simply asked Israel's king to cure him. Letters then often stated only the main request, so the king took this impossible demand as an excuse to start a war and tore his robes in alarm.

A plain instruction (vv. 8-14)

Elisha did not even come out but sent word to wash seven times in the Jordan, while Naaman had expected a grand scene with prayer and a hand waved over the sore, and he thought his home rivers far better. His own servants talked him into the simple step, and his skin became like a young boy's.

Healing not for sale (vv. 15-16)

Naaman declared that Israel's God was the only true God and tried to pay. Elisha refused, apparently so no one could think this healing had been bought or that God's prophet worked for profit.

Soil and a request (vv. 17-19)

Naaman asked for two mule loads of Israelite soil, perhaps to build an altar to the LORD back home, though the text never says why and the reason is uncertain. He also asked pardon ahead of time for bowing beside his king in the temple of Rimmon, a Syrian god, and Elisha simply said "go in peace," which readers take either as approval or as a kind farewell.

Gehazi's greed (vv. 20-27)

Elisha's servant Gehazi chased Naaman, invented a story in Elisha's name to get silver and clothing, then lied to Elisha's face. Elisha declared that Naaman's disease would now cling to Gehazi and his descendants, a harsh sentence the text reports without softening.

Key verse: 2 Kings 5:15

Something to think about

Why might a simple, unglamorous step sometimes be harder to accept than a dramatic one?