"Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy." (2 Kings 5:1) Ancient rabbinic tradition has it that Naaman is the man who shot the random arrow that struck King Ahab of Israel in 1 Kings 22.
You'll recall that Ahab died of his wound as predicted by the prophet Micaiah. This was the judgment of God upon Ahab because he instituted the state religion of Baal worship and because he was guilty of the blood of Naboth. Naboth was falsely accused and executed so Ahab could take his land from him. We studied this event in 1 Kings 21. Another reason Ahab's life came to an abrupt end is because the Lord had delivered King Ben-Hadad of Aram into Ahab's hands so this enemy of Israel could be put to death but instead Ahab made a treaty with him. We took a look at this story in 1 Kings 20. The Lord, through an unnamed prophet, confronted Ahab with his failure to obey His instructions regarding Ben-Hadad, saying, "You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people". We don't know for certain that Naaman is the man who shot the arrow that ended the life of King Ahab but it's safe to assume he was the man who led that successful battle. This would have made him the most famous man in Aram, second only to the king of Aram.
Naaman has everything going for him except he's contracted what was in those times a progressive, incurable disease: leprosy. Known in today's world as Hansen's Disease, it is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium Leprae and it usually begins as a series of small red lesions on the skin that progress into sores. It also affects peripheral nerves in the arms and legs, sometimes including nerves in the eyes and nose. Over time it can cause numbness, muscle weakness, blindness, weeping open sores, and many other permanent life-altering symptoms and eventually death. But it's important to note that ninety-five percent of the world's population is naturally immune to it and, should a person be of that five percent of the population who cannot fight off their exposure to leprosy, the disease is curable in our era.
But in Naaman's day, though it may have been the case even then that ninety-five percent of people exposed to leprosy would not contract it, he was one of the unlucky ones whose immune system was not able to fight off the exposure. There was nothing available to treat his condition, since antibiotics weren't even discovered until 1928, so he's facing not only a debilitating and disfiguring illness but probably eventual death from it.
In ancient times leprosy was often regarded as a judgment from God, or from "the gods" if you were of a pagan nation. People afflicted with this disease were treated as if they had committed some especially heinous offense and that the higher power whom they'd offended had chosen to smite them with one of the worst diseases of the ancient world. This idea may have been due in part to the fact that only five percent of people exposed to leprosy actually succumbed to it. Leprosy is mentioned a number of times in the Bible but that doesn't mean it was a widespread contagion; it was likely as rare as it is now to actually come down with the disease. This probably contributed to leprosy being regarded as judgment for offending whatever higher power the people of that region believed in. There are cases in the Bible where we are told that a person's leprosy was a result of their sin; in fact, at the end of our current chapter we'll find just such a case. But in other places in the Bible we aren't told the reason for the person's affliction and it could be they came down with leprosy through no fault of their own. We live in a fallen world where bad things like illnesses and accidents happen to the godly and to the wicked both.
In modern times it has been proven that it takes prolonged contact (several months at least) with the bacteria that causes leprosy before a person can contract it. Most people's immune systems will fight it off, never becoming carriers of it and never becoming ill with it. It will appear from our text that although Naaman is among the minority of people whose immune systems does not fight it off, and although his symptoms have been confirmed to be those of leprosy, he is still able to have some form of contact with his family, with his servants, and with the king of Aram. It may be that he speaks to them from a distance with his face covered but it does not seem as if he has yet been relegated to a leper colony. Naaman knows that nothing good is in his future, not with this incurable disease, and he'd be correct in assuming things will keep going from bad to worse---except that there is a God who can do the impossible. The Lord is about to have mercy on Naaman, not just for Naaman's sake alone but for all the people of Aram who will not be able to deny that a miracle has been performed for him by the God of Israel.
"Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, 'If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.'" (2 Kings 5:2-3) This young girl has been taken against her will by the Arameans and sold into slavery. This is a terrible thing but she seems to have been treated kindly by Naaman and his wife because she displays concern for his illness. As she goes about her duties as a lady's maid for Naaman's wife, she remarks that if her master could only see the prophet Elisha he could be healed of his dreadful disease.
Naaman's wife passes this information along to her husband who will go to the king of Aram in tomorrow's text to ask permission to go to Israel to see Elisha. Has Naaman ever called upon the Lord before or had anyone call upon the Lord on his behalf? That's doubtful but he's desperate now. There is no known cure in the ancient world for leprosy. If a person's immune system was not capable of fighting it off altogether or keeping it down to a mild level, there was no hope. Naaman may have already, in his desperation, tried various "cures" that did nothing but relieve him of much of the cash in his wallet. He may already be in a similar position to the New Testament woman who had been ill for twelve years and had tried everything: "She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse." (Mark 5:26) At last, in her desperation, this woman reached out and took hold of the edge of Jesus' garment and was miraculously made whole. Naaman is willing to try anything if there's even a slim chance he might improve, even if that means seeking the prophet of a God he does not serve.
Naaman is going to the Lord as a last resort. I believe in availing ourselves of medical expertise when we are sick but I also believe in seeking the Lord's help at the same time. We shouldn't leave Him for last. Naaman has left Him for last but at least he didn't leave Him out altogether. In our next study session we will find him traveling to Elisha's house to see if there is anything the prophet (through the power of the Lord) can do for him.
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