[2Ki 5:1-7] A Valiant Soldier Who Had Leprosy

2 Kings 5: 1-7    Part 1 of 3 

“He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.” By John C. Lim

1  Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. 

2  Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 3  She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." 

4  Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 "By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents [b] of silver, six thousand shekels [c] of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy." 

7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!" 

We are introduced to a man named, Naaman in this passage.   Look at verse 1.

     Now, Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram.  He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram.  He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

There are few things we learn about this man named, Naaman.  He was a commander of the army of the king of Aram.  Being a commander of the king’s army is not only an exceptional honor but is a testament to Naaman’s leadership and his competence as a field general proven over time.    
 
Naaman was a great man who was highly regarded by his king.  Naaman was a successful leader of king’s army as he was able to claim victory when he went to war.  Also, we find out that Naaman was a valiant soldier.  Naaman was not just a great leader but a courageous warrior who displayed his bravery in battle.  In another word, he was a soldier in the fullest sense of that term. 

From this 1st verse, we can conclude that Naaman was all that a military leader would want to be without any deficiencies.  He was a capable soldier who took his vocation seriously and achieved a great success.

The problem is this.  Whenever we use the word, “but,” we know that everything that came before that word is now to be viewed in light of what follows after the word, “but.”  The description of Naaman is impressive until we find out that he had leprosy. 

Even though he was a man greatly regarded and highly capable, he was nevertheless a man who suffered from this incurable disease called leprosy.  We know that this disease is not uncommon in ancient times as there were others who suffered from this terrible condition.  Look at Luke 4:27.

     And there were many in Israel with leprosy[a] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian."

Even though Naaman enjoyed success and prestige in his military career, achieving the highest position a soldier could hope to attain, everything that he accomplished and had would have been laid aside because of the fact that he was suffering from this disease.

Now, we get to see how God in his divine providence works through his plan of redemption for this widely respected and regarded general of a foreign country, Aram.  Look at verse 2-3.

     Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife.   She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

The nation of Aram and Israel had an adversarial relationship as there were skirmishes.  So bands from Aram took a captive, a young girl from Israel and it just happens that she is now working in Naaman’s household as a servant to Naaman’s wife. 

We covered a bit about Naaman’s decorated military career thus far but we haven’t really talked about his character as a man.  Now, we are able to deduce and surmise some interesting observations from verse 3.

Observe what this young girl taken captive from Israel says.  Look at verse 3.

     She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria!  He would cure him of his leprosy.”

Although we don’t have all the details about how Naaman behaved in his home or how he dealt with the servants, we can safely conclude that Naaman was a kind and generous boss who did not mistreat his servants as someone who in powerful position would be inclined to do.  We have heard of many unpleasant stories and anecdotes about the wealthy and famous people who make it a regular practice to treat people who are under their payroll without respect and dignity. 

But such was not the case with Naaman.  This servant girl who was taken captive against her wishes and now forced to serve the household of Naaman wanted to see her master, Naaman be healed of his disease.  She felt such compassion for Naaman, that she took the initiative to tell her mistress or Naaman’s wife about the cure from Naaman’s incurable disease, leprosy. 

The prophet she mentions who is in Samaria is no other than Elisha.  It is interesting to see how God brings people from certain places to bring about His will.  Often times, we don’t see or recognize that God’s hand is involved in all that happens in the affairs of man.  God actively intervenes in our lives to do His will.  In a sense, we can see that this servant girl was captured by a rogue band from Aram and later ended up serving in the household of Naaman so that she can tell Naaman’s wife about the cure for his disease.

I am sure the biggest concern for Naaman and his wife was the sad predicament of Naaman’s incurable disease.  No matter how successful and how great Naaman was in his work, the sad fact that weighed him and his household down more than anything else in their lives was the fact that he was suffering from leprosy.  
 
Look at verse 5b.

     So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents [b] of silver, six thousand shekels [c] of gold and ten sets of clothing.

Naaman heard about this news from his wife about a prophet who might be able to cure his illness.  He immediately took action and started the journey to find this prophet.  Notice, he did not expect to be healed of his incurable disease without what he considered appropriate compensation for this healing. 

The value of 750 lbs of silver ($10 per ounce) and 150 lbs of gold ($800 per ounce) would be somewhere around $120,000 (silver) plus $1,920,000 which would come to just a bit more than $2 million dollars in US currency.

For Naaman, being healed of this disease would be worth more than $2 million dollars.  We need to let this interesting observation sink in.  I am sure Naaman’s wife told Naaman about this possibility of being cured of his disease and Naaman being the soldier that he is went straight to king of Aram.  Look at verse 4-5. 

Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 "By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents [b] of silver, six thousand shekels [c] of gold and ten sets of clothing.

The king of Aram valued Naaman immensely and gave his support for Naaman to seek this prophet in Samaria for the cure.  The king of Aram gave Naaman a letter to bring to the king of Israel.  Look what the letter said in verse 6.

     The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy."

The letter from the head of one nation to another in seeking assistance is quite significant.  The king of Aram is making an appeal to the king of Israel to help his general, Naaman receive the cure.  Obviously, this entreaty carries immense diplomatic weight and burden as we can see from the king of Israel’s response in verse 7.

     As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!"

The king of Israel is right in venting his frustration when he read the letter from the king of Aram.  Obviously, Naaman made the trip to king of Israel and gave him the letter that accompanied him.  And upon reading the letter, he was greatly troubled by this request.  He was well aware of the incurable nature of this disease, leprosy. 

And the king of Israel concluded that this was a mere ploy for the king of Aram to pick a fight with him and create a situation that would allow him to attack Israel on the count of Israel’s not being able to help his most beloved general of the army.  It is interesting to note from the king of Israel’s comment what an impossible task it is to be healed of this disease.  He exclaims, “Am I God?  Can I kill and bring back to life?”

This says it all about the impossibility of healing someone of leprosy.  It is simply not possible and cannot be done.  When someone asks for something that is impossible, we would also conclude that the request is so unrealistic, there must be some kind of hidden agenda in that request to bring us trouble.

So the king of Israel finds himself in a desperate situation.  Here is a commanding general of the Aram’s army making an impossible request and he is thinking that this will create a situation where king of Aram will possibly invade Israel under the pretense of not healing Naaman of his incurable disease. At least, this is how the king of Israel interpreted the request.

Let’s stop for a moment and ponder this a bit.  Naaman simply wanted to be healed of his disease.  This disease that cannot be cured represents the sinful state of man.  We are infected with this incurable disease of sin from which we desperately seek cleansing and healing.  We are weighed down with this condition of ours no matter how successful we are in all other areas of our lives.  We as sinners are like a leper without cure.

No matter how well we are doing in everything else from our physical health, family, finances, career, and social life, one thing that constantly gnaws at us is how we are going to deal with sin in our lives.  We realize that at the end of day, we are still sinners struggling, trying to rid of ourselves of this burden.  

We would eventually die someday and what would happen then?  Will all our wealth save us from eternity?  As we get older, we realize how temporary our life truly is in contrast to eternity.  This is true reality for all of us.  After this life here on earth, we will face judgment.

Look at Hebrews 9:27

      Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

First thing we must come to acknowledge is that we are sinners before God and that we are indeed suffering from our incurable disease of sin.  Acknowledgement is the first and the most important step on our way to eternal redemption.  Naaman recognized he was a leper.  It was very obvious to him that he was suffering from leprosy.  Every morning when he woke up and saw himself in reflection, he was reminded of his disease.  Perhaps our state of being a sinner is not so obvious.  We can justify that since everyone sins, why is it that we should take it more seriously?  But the Bible is very clear that wages of sin is death.  We are talking about spiritual and physical death. 

The fact that he was a leper made him feel desperate and invariably saddened him in spite of all the other successes.  Sin is like that.  Even as we enjoy success in many aspects of our lives, we are incessantly reminded that we are but sinners. 

So what shall we do?  Should we simply try to forget that and go on living our lives as normally as we possibly could?  Should we put aside such negative thoughts and fill our minds with all the positive thoughts?  Should we skirt the issue and continue to do good so that there will be more good on our account to balance out the bad credits? 

Just as Naaman recognized his own desperate condition, we want to acknowledge and recognize that we are in need of healing.  We want to be healed of our disease called sin.  It covers us so completely and overwhelmingly that we cannot deny it.  But instead of wallowing in mud of self pity, we want to turn to the one who can help us and is able to help us. 

Second thing we want to acknowledge is our need to turn to God who alone can heal us of our incurable disease, sin.    The Bible is very clear on how we can be saved.  Look at Acts 4:12. 

     Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

The forgiveness of sins or healing from sin is found in no other name but in the name of Jesus Christ.  We can only be forgiven of sin through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ.  There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.  We can never depart from this truth in the Bible.  Contrary to many who want to believe that there are many ways to be saved from eternal destruction, Bible leaves no doubt that there is only one way.  Jesus proclaimed in John 14:6. 

     Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

We can find our salvation or healing from sin in Jesus Christ alone and no one else.  There is only one way to heaven and that way is through Jesus Christ.  This is the most crucial truth that all men and women must come to confront in their lives.  We cannot be cured of sin except through Jesus Christ. 

Although we do not have the biblical account, it is possible that Naaman sought healing prior to his upcoming encounter with the prophet of God.  He may have visited all the famous healers of that day with all kinds of stories of healing.  But time after time, he would have been deeply disappointed as no one could heal him of his disease.  In the end, he would have been discouraged and dejected.  Perhaps he had thought that there is no hope and that he would have to live the rest of his life as a leper.  But he did not do that.  Upon hearing the prophet of God in Samaria, he acted on that hope by making that trip to Israel. 

Today, we have the same scenario being played over and over again.  We have all those false healers who promise healing and forgiveness only if we would follow their brand of recipe.  This is dangerous as we will find out next time.
The Bible is the only source we must turn to. The way to complete and perfect healing from our state of sin is through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.