2 Kings 5:11

‘O, HOW UNLIKE THE COMPLEX WORKS OF MAN, HEAVEN’S SIMPLE, EASY, UNENCUMBERED PLAN!’

‘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.’

2 Kings 5:11

Naaman represents human nature, anxious to be blessed by God’s revelation of Himself, yet unwilling to take the blessing except on its own terms: for Naaman saw in Elisha the exponent and prophet of a religion which was, he dimly felt, higher and Diviner than any he had encountered before. He was acquainted with the name of Israel’s God, and he expected that Elisha would cure him by invoking that name. In his language we see:—

I. A sense of humiliation and wrong.—He feels himself slighted. He had been accustomed to receive deference and consideration. Elisha treats him as if he were in a position of marked inferiority. Elisha acted as the minister of Him Who resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. The Gospel must first convince a man that he has sinned and come short of the glory of God.

II. We see in Naaman’s language the demand which human nature often makes for the sensational element in religion.—He expected an interview with the prophet that should be full of dramatic and striking incident. Instead of this, he is put off with a curt message—told to bathe in the Jordan, a proceeding which was open to all the world besides. The proposal was too commonplace; it was simply intolerable.

III. Naaman represents prejudiced attachment to early associations, coupled, as it often is, with a jealous impatience of anything like exclusive claims put forward on behalf of the truths or ordinances of a religion which we are for the first time attentively considering.—He wished, if he must bathe, to bathe in the rivers of his native Syria instead of in the turbid and muddy brook he had passed on the road to Samaria.

IV. Naaman’s fundamental mistake consisted in his attempt to decide at all how the prophet should work the miracle of his cure.—Do not let us dream of the folly of improving upon God’s work in detail. The true scope of our activity is to make the most of His bounty and His love, that by His healing and strengthening grace we too may be cured of our leprosy.

—Canon Liddon.

Illustrations

(1) ‘There are two ways of salvation: God’s way and man’s way. Man’s way is unavailing, yet much frequented, because it flatters the pride of man. Man’s way of salvation deals with what it takes to be great things: great works which man himself is to do, great organisations, great gifts, which flatter human vanity and will-worship, but have this trifling defect, that they are of no avail. God’s plan knows nothing of earthly grandeurs, burdensome minutiæ, external observances. God’s messages are very short and very few and simple. He says only, “Wash, and be clean”; “Believe and obey”; “Believe and live.” ’

(2) ‘Proud men do not like God’s way of helping and saving them. Naaman felt insulted when told to go and wash in the Jordan. He wanted to be healed in a dignified way. Many persons reject salvation by Christ for the same reason. It does not make enough of human wisdom and ability. They want to do something themselves, and they like pomp and show, rather than the quiet way in which the Gospel directs them to be saved.’