NAAMAN

 

Healed by Faith and Obedience

 

In the royal courts of Syria there was a nobleman by the name of Naaman.

2 Kings 5: 1

 

1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.

 

One day, Jesus was speaking in the Synagogue in His home town of Nazareth and He was talking about an incident that happened to Naaman involving the prophet Elisha. 

 

Naaman’s wife had a maid who had been captured from the Israelites by the Syrians.  The maid was worried about Naaman’s disease and told her mistress:

2 Kings 5: 3

3 And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.

The prophet Elisha heard that Ben-hadad II, King of Syria had sent a letter to Joram, King of Israel on behalf of Naaman.  He knew the King of Israel would be hesitant concerning the matter, Elisha told the King:

2 Kings 5: 8

8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

So, Naaman and his company went to Elisha’s house, seeking a blessing.  Elisha sent message to Naaman with instructions what to do.

 

2 Kings 5: 10-14

 

10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

 

12 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 turned and went away in a rage.

 

13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?

 

14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

 

Naaman returned to the house of Elisha and declared:

 

2 Kings 5: 15

 

15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.

 

He wanted to pay Elisha for what he did, but Elisha refused it.

Now when Jesus finished the story of Naaman and Elisha, He told them:

 

Luke 4: 27-28

 

27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath....

 

Those listening to Jesus were upset at this reference, since Naaman was a Syrian and not of the House of Israel and since the Savior implied that Naaman had more faith and a higher degree of obedience than could be found among the Israelites.

 

Certainly the point was well taken by Jesus in regard to the skeptical and distrusting leaders among the Jews in the area where He grew up.

 

This teaches us that what happened to Naaman and how he handled the situation, WE ALL should apply in our own lives.  We are here to prove ourselves to the Lord.  We are here to have FAITH in what the Lord says directly to us or THROUGH A LIVING PROPHET.

Whatever instructions we get from the Lord or through a prophet, we need to obey and have FAITH that what was told us is TRUE and will happen.

For more details about NAAMAN, go to www.lds.org and click on Scriptures and read more in the scriptures that were mentioned.