International School of The Bible
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Naaman was a commander, the primary general, of the Syrian army, a great enemy of Israel.
He was suffering from leprosy. See definition in endnote. His wife's slave was a young Israeli girl who advised that perhaps Naaman could be healed if he went to the prophet Elisha. Naaman took part of the advice, going to his king and telling about the advice he received. The King of Syria had a better idea. He wrote a letter to the king of Israel, king to king with a large financial bribe, asking him to heal Naaman. Can you see the worldly pride prevailing here? "Prophet? Listen Naaman, I will send you direct to the king!"
The king of Israel of course referred the matter to the prophet Elisha. Elisha, being a man of God, knew that the first thing Naaman needed was a lesson in humility.
“The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility” (Proverbs 15:33).
“Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, And before honor is humility” (Proverbs 18:12).
“By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life” (Proverbs 22:4).
Can you imagine Naaman's entourage of government and military chariots and troops pulling up to Elisha's house? Here is Naaman expecting Elisha to come out and bow to him. However Elisha simply sent out his servant! The servant gave him Elisha's instructions, to go dip into the muddy Jordan River seven times.
“And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, 'Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.' But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, 'Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?'” So he turned and went away in a rage” (2 Kings 5:10-12).
I believe that the Jordon is a type and shadow of "death to the flesh," our old nature.
The crossing of the Jordon marked the Israelites' entrance into the Promise Land. We are called to humble ourselves unto the death of our strong prideful nature. When we do, we are dipping into and crossing the Jordon into God's promises for us. His promises include everything we need for life and godliness, 2 Peter 1.
Jordon is the place of exchange.
Jesus was baptized in the Jordon “And John tried to prevent Him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?' But Jesus answered and said to him, 'Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he allowed Him” (Matthew 3:14, 15). Have you ever wondered why Jesus wanted to be baptized? He was not a sinner. He had no need for repentance, or for any of the other principles embedded in baptism.
It was the exchange. When Jesus went into the Jordon, He was taking on the sin of the world, yours and mine, in a pre-figurement gesture. Therefore when Naaman dipped into the Jordon, his Leprosy was sucked up into Jesus like a vacuum, and Jesus' healing and righteousness rushed into him. With God the difference in times and dates makes no difference. Jesus was crucified before the foundation of the world! Before we called, He answered.
Oh love of God!
"Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies a parchment made; were every star on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade. To write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky." Halleluiah!
God is after prosperity in your soul.
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 1:2).
The definition of soul prosperity is developing into the likeness of Jesus. Jesus' personality is humility. He is the most prosperous human that ever lived. He defeated Satan, Pride himself, and the enemy and potential destroyer of every man and woman.
“And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness; And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things” (Psalms 45:4).
The story.
2 Kings 5:1-27.
1 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.
2 And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife.
3 Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.”
4 And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.”
5 Then the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
6 Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.
7 And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.”
8 So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
9 Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house.
10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.”
11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’
12 “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”
16 But he said, “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.
17 So Naaman said, “Then, if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth; for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD.
18 “Yet in this thing may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon--when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD please pardon your servant in this thing.”
19 Then he said to him, “Go in peace.” So he departed from him a short distance.
20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”
21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and said, “Is all well?”
22 And he said, “All is well. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.’”
23 So Naaman said, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them on ahead of him.
24 When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand, and stored them away in the house; then he let the men go, and they departed.
25 Now he went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where did you go, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant did not go anywhere.”
26 Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants?
Not only will pride keep you from your healing and prosperity, but it will also bring spiritual leprosy on you.
27 “Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.” And he went out from his presence leprous, as white as snow.
Jesus spoke about Naaman and honored him.
Luke 4:17-27.
17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’”
24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.
25 “But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land;
26 “but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
27 “And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
Become desperate!
Consider your own plans foolish in the sight of God who raises the dead. Listen for His voice. Dedicate your entire life to simply hear and quickly obey His voice. Make certain it is His voice you hear. Take every one of your own thoughts captive, and submit all of your "members" a living sacrifice. (Romans 12:1-2, 2 Corinthians 10:4)
Endnote Leprosy. Spiritual Leprosy typified sin, and its treatment represented the separation which sin makes between sinners and saints. The leper was a "walking tomb," "a parable of death, and of sin, "the wages of sin is death." Hence he had to wear the badges of mourning, a covering upon his upper lip, and was regarded "as one dead" Lev13:45, Num 12:12. The malady was often due to inherited trait, as is sin. The gradual decay of the body, first of the skin, then the bone, then the flesh, life still surviving, vividly representing the sure and deadly process of man's ruin by sin. In Isa 53:4, Jerome's Valg. Translated "we thought Him to be a leper smitten of God." Leprosy being God's direct judgment for sin. Fausset's Bible Dictionary.