2 Kings 5:1-14. The cure of Naaman's leprosy (Not in Chronicles) 1. _honourable_ An attempt is made by the LXX. to translate literally the Hebrew expression which is the same as in Isaiah 3:3. τεθαυμασμένος προσώπῳ, -admired in the eyes of". The idea is the passive of -an acceptor of persons". Henc... [ Continue Reading ]
_had gone out_by _companies_ R.V. IN BANDS. The idea is of plundering parties, who made forays upon their neighbours. So we have in 2 Kings 6:23, -The _bands_of Syria came no more into the land of Israel", and in 2 Kings 13:20, -The _bands_of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the yea... [ Continue Reading ]
_Would God_ This interjection is found only here and in Psalms 119:5. There it is rendered - _O that_my ways were directed". _the prophet that_is _in Samaria_ Elisha had a house in the city of Samaria, as we see from verse 9, and also from 2 Kings 6:32. The fame of the prophet, and the mighty cures... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_one _went in_ On the margin the R.V. has -he". But it is better to insert an indefinite nominative. It is not likely that Naaman himself was the reporter. _and told his lord_ i.e., Naaman's lord, the king of Syria. The LXX. disregarding the gender of the verbal form has - _She_went in and told... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go to, go_ Naaman was so valued by the king that not a moment must be lost, but he must start to seek for his cure at once. _I will send a letter_ There must have existed at this time such relations between Israel and Syria as made correspondence between the two kings possible. The two nations wer... [ Continue Reading ]
_he brought the letter to the king of Israel_ The Syrian king would conclude that the prophet was at the king's command, and so he had only to write to the king, and all would be done that could be done. _Now_[R.V. AND NOW] _when this letter_ This is not the commencement of the letter. The writer o... [ Continue Reading ]
_that he rent his clothes_ Sometimes the act was a sign of grief as in 2 Kings 2:12 above and Genesis 37:29; sometimes as here, of horror and alarm. Cf. also 2 Kings 18:36; Ezra 9:3; Jeremiah 36:24. _to kill and to make alive_ The disease of leprosy was incurable, and so the request that it should b... [ Continue Reading ]
_that he sent to the king_ The prophets of Jehovah were now in no such peril as they had been in Ahab's days. Elisha has his house in the royal city, and has no fear of sending a message to the palace. _that there is a prophet in Israel_ i.e. a true messenger of the God who can kill and make alive.... [ Continue Reading ]
_with his horses and with his chariot_ R.V. CHARIOTS. For though the Hebrew word is singular, the sense is -chariotry", i.e., a number of chariots. In attendance on so great a man as Naaman there would be many persons on horseback and in carriages, and the display would seem such as to draw even the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Elisha sent a messenger unto him_ The princely cavalcade waited at Elisha's door, but the prophet did not come forth. We need not think of him as avoiding a leprous person, either from fear of infection, or from legal scruples. It was rather that he wished to prevent any thought of himself as the w... [ Continue Reading ]
_But Naaman was wroth_ He had expected that his wish would have been accomplished at once, and that more display would have been made over a case like his. The God of Israel would receive some credit for the cure of the Syrian commander. And was he to be sent off in this way, without any parade or n... [ Continue Reading ]
Are _not Abana_[R.V. ABANAH] _and Pharpar, rivers_[R.V. THE RIVERS] _of Damascus_ There is a marginal reading _Amanah_in the Hebrew, but it is not well supported. The Abanah has been identified with the larger of the two rivers which now water Damascus. Its present name is -Barada", and the Arabic v... [ Continue Reading ]
_his servants came near_ As the chief ministers of the king are called -servants" though they probably are of distinguished rank; so the servants of Naaman were probably persons nearly his equals in everything except reputation, and so they could come and speak freely to him, without fear of giving... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then went he down_ His rage had first gone down, and thus he was in a fitter condition to undertake the journey commanded him. _and dipped_himself _seven times_ Not only in the journey to the river, which was without any display, and merely terminated in some lonely spot on the river's brink, but... [ Continue Reading ]
Naaman's gratitude. His imperfect knowledge makes his practice imperfect (Not in Chronicles) 15. _And he returned to the man of God_ He was a stranger in Israel, like the Samaritan among the ten lepers whom our Lord cured, but like him he also manifested his thankfulness. He came back with all his... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will receive none_ Just as in the earlier part of his conduct Elisha had done everything to direct Naaman's attention to Jehovah alone as the healer of his disease; so now he will have no gift for himself, lest thereby he should mar the effect of the previous lesson. Heathen priests and prophets... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given_ R.V. IF NOT, YET I PRAY THEE, LET THERE BE GIVEN. The reason for the variation lies in a comprehension of the grammatical force of the Hebrew. There is no mark of interrogation in the verse, but neither is there any word for -if" which t... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Lord pardon thy servant_ Naaman can see the inconsistency of his conduct. He will offer no more sacrifices to Rimmon. But the king his master worships in Rimmon's temple, and Naaman must be in attendance, and must bow when the king bows down, or he will give offence. He sets his difficulty befo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go in peace_ We are not to consider this answer as implying that service of God and service of Rimmon might be combined without any incongruity. The prophet appears rather to be willing to leave the good seed already sown to bear fruit in due season. Being sown of God it must fructify, and peace wo... [ Continue Reading ]
Gehazi's lies and their punishment (Not in Chronicles) 20. _hath spared Naaman this Syrian_ R.V. THIS NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. The pronoun qualifies the whole expression. Gehazi had been in attendance on Elisha, and heard the whole conversation. There seems to have been no need for an interpreter. The di... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when Naaman saw_him [R.V. ONE] _running after him_ On an Eastern road the travellers were not numerous, and any one in hot pursuit would at once be noticed, and it would be felt that he was anxious that the travellers in front should halt. _he lighted down from the chariot to meet him_ As Geha... [ Continue Reading ]
_My master hath sent me_ Naaman would naturally rejoice at hearing that circumstances had wrought for an acceptance of the present, which for himself the prophet had refused. _from mount_[R.V. THE HILL COUNTRY OF] _Ephraim_ The Gilgal mentioned in the previous chapter [2 Kings 4:38] seems to have b... [ Continue Reading ]
_bound two talents of silver in two bags_ The money was put into the bag, and the opening tied up. The word translated -bags" (LXX., θύλακοι) occurs in the list of female finery in Isaiah 3:22 and is rendered by R.V. -satchels". Probably the bag was of an ornamental character, as the root word signi... [ Continue Reading ]
_when he came to the tower_ R.V. HILL. The word (Heb., _Ophel_) is often used in connexion with the description of the wall of Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 27:3; 2 Chronicles 33:14; Nehemiah 3:26-27; Nehemiah 11:21). From its use in Micah 4:8, of Mount Zion, the sense -hill" rather than -tower" appears w... [ Continue Reading ]
_and stood before his master_ He would let his absence be as little noted as possible. In the East the servants are usually kept in waiting. Hence the phrase -to stand before" is frequent in connexion with Oriental service. Thus David -stands before Saul (1 Samuel 16:21-22), so of Abishag (1 Kings 1... [ Continue Reading ]
_Went not mine heart_with thee] The Hebrew has nothing to represent the last two words, as will be seen from the italics both of A.V. and R.V. But the rendering is that of the LXX., and is probably correct. The verb takes up that which Gehazi had used, -Thy servant _went_no whither". On a former occ... [ Continue Reading ]
_The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee_ -Oh heavy talents of Gehazi", says Bishop Hall, -oh the horror of this one unchangeable suit … How much better had been a light purse and a homely coat, with a sound body and a clear soul". _a leper_as white _as snow_ Both here and elsewhere... [ Continue Reading ]