The prophets Elijah and Elisha lived in the mid 800s B.C. Elisha succeeded Elijah as prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel. There are many miracle stories about them (1 Kings 17—21; 2 Kings 2—9). In 2 Kings 5 Elisha cures Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, of leprosy.
A little girl from Israel captured in a raid tells Naaman’s wife that a prophet of her country can cure his leprosy. The king of Aram sends Naaman to the king of Israel with thousands of gold and silver pieces and a letter that says, “Cure my servant.”
The king of Israel panics and senses an international conflict in the making. When Elisha gets word, he is nonplused. “Let him come and find out there is a prophet in Israel,” he says.
Like Sunday’s gospel, this Old Testament miracle story is about much more than the miracle. It’s about where God is, who are real prophets, and how national boundaries affect God’s power.
Namaan is ready and willing to meet any test Elisha requires of him. But Elisha asks nothing. He sends Naaman to bathe seven times in the Jordan River. This seems too humble an act to the great commander. He says he could have stayed at home and bathed in a Syrian river. His servants reason with him to do this simple thing.
Elisha heals Naaman.
Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of Elisha, the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before him and said, “Now I know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant.”
“As God lives whom I serve, I will not take it,” Elisha replied. Though Naaman urged him to take it, he refused.
Naaman said, “If you will not accept, please give your servant two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god but the Lord.”
2 Kings 5.14-17
Naaman’s request for dirt from Israel shows he thinks of Israel’s God as not quite universal. He associates God’s power with the place where this God is powerful. To worship Israel’s God back in Syria, Naaman must have earth from Israel.
Elisha refuses Naaman’s gifts. A true prophet does not profit from using God’s power.
- Where do you think God is?
- What steps does Namaan take in his process of coming to faith in Israel’s God? How are they like our own development as believers?