2 Oct. Elisha heals Naaman’s leprosy
“Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram [Damascus]. He was honoured by his master, and he had much respect because the LORD used him to give victory to Aram. He was a mighty and brave man, but he had a skin disease.”
“The Arameans had gone out to steal from the Israelites and had taken a little girl as a captive. This little girl served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, ‘I wish my master would meet the prophet who lives in Samaria. He would cure him of his disease.’”
“Naaman went to the king and told him what the girl from Israel had said. The king of Aram said, ‘Go ahead, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’ So Naaman left and took with him about 30,000 pieces of silver, as well as 6,000 pieces of gold and ten changes of clothes. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, ‘I am sending my servant Naaman to you so you can heal him of his skin disease.’”
“When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes to show how upset he was. He said, ‘I’m not God! I can’t kill and make alive again! Why does this man send someone with a skin disease for me to heal? You can see that the king of Aram is trying to start trouble with me.’”
“When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent the king this message: ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Let Naaman come to me. Then he will know there is a prophet in Israel.’ So Naaman went with his horses and chariots to Elisha’s house and stood outside the door.”
“Elisha sent Naaman a messenger who said, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan River seven times. Then your skin will be healed, and you will be clean.’”
“Naaman became angry and left. He said, ‘I thought Elisha would surely come out and stand before me and call on the name of the LORD his God. I thought he would wave his hand over the place and heal the disease. The Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, Are better than all the waters of Israel. Why can’t I wash in them and become clean?’ So Naaman went away very angry.”
“Naaman’s servants came near and said to him, ‘My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? Doesn’t it make more sense just to do it? After all, he only told you, ‘Wash and you will be clean.’”
“So Naaman went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times, just as Elisha had said. Then his skin became new again, like the skin of a child. And he was clean.”
“Naaman and all his group returned to Elisha. He stood before Elisha and said, ‘Look, I now know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.”
(2 Kings 5:1-15)
During a truce between Israel and Aram (Damascus, in Syria), Naaman, the King of Aram’s commander, was sent to Elisha at Samaria to be cured of his skin disease - probably leprosy.
Elisha told him to wash seven times in the River Jordan. While he was indignant that Elisha had not seen him personally and was reluctant at first to follow Elisha’s instructions, he was nevertheless persuaded to do so by his servants, and was miraculously healed.
As Elijah had predicted, his response was, “I now know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.” (2 Kings 5:15)
In the New Testament, when the Jewish people heard about Jesus curing the ten men with leprosy (see Luke 17:11-19), they would immediately have been reminded of Elisha’s miraculous healing of Naaman in their scriptures. And they would have noticed that, like Naaman in the time of Elisha, the one man who came back to thank Jesus, “praising God in a loud voice” (Luke 17:15) was a foreigner – a Samaritan. In both cases, a miraculous healing brought someone who had not known God closer to him.
The photo (by Beivushtang) shows the River Jordan at Kfar Hanasi.
You can read more about Elisha @ https://thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney2/32-the-divided-kingdom-amp-journey-into-exile/elisha-performs-miracles-and-healings/