NL 109: Elisha Heals Naaman

image: “The Healing of Naaman” stained glass panel in the V&A Museum in London from the cloisters at Mariawald, a Cistercian abbey, c.1510-30., photo by Lawrence OP, via Flickr

2 Kings 5:1-15a

November 6, 2022

2 Kings 5:1-15a

Initial Thoughts

  • What has happened since last week?

    • After Solomon the Kingdom of Israel is divided into Israel (North) and Judah (South). 

    • Elijah was a prophet in Israel (Northern Kingdom), he stood up against the idolatry of King Ahab and Jezebel (yes that Jezebel, no - not that Ahab) see 1 Kings 17

    • Elijah is taken up in fiery chariot (2 Kings 2) and Elisha takes over for him as prophet of the Northern Kingdom of Israel

    • 9th century BCE (800s)

  • AMAZING Video interpretation of this story: http://youtu.be/0JQgGQUqGR4

  • cf. Luke 4:27 - Naaman is referred to by Jesus in defense of his inaugural sermon

Bible Study

  • Slave Girl (or young girl)

    • a non-person (no name or title) simply the servant of the wife of a servant..

    • She is the bearer of good news!

    • Mutuality of mission, we do not simply bring people the good news from the a place of power but need to hear it as well

    • What could she have to offer?

      • Salvation

    • Slave girl has faith where the King of Israel or even Naaman does not.

    • “Interpreters repeatedly romanticize her because of her wish that Naaman be cured by Elisha the prophet… She told the exiles what they needed to hear, but we must not overlook the brutality of her experience.” (Denise Dumbkowski Hopkins, CEB Women’s Bible, p. 456)

  • Skin disease

    • Often identified as leprosy, thorough Alter notes, “the leading symptom in this narrative and elsewhere is a complete loss of pigmentation, whereas leprosy involves lesions and lumps in the skin” This is a skin disease that refers to a ghastly whiteness. (“2 Kings”, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary, p.543n3)

  • Come before the prophet

    • To come before someone is to subjugate oneself before another - Naaman is being told to humble himself before the prophet in Samaria.

    • To subjugate himself before the prophet is to subjugate himself before Yahweh and thereby acknowledge that all his victories are due to Yahweh.

  • Misunderstanding - the King of Israel thinks the King of Aram is trying to trap him - that when the king cannot cure Naaman, the King of Aram will use the failure as a pretext to attack Israel.

    • However, the King of Israel acknowledges who has true power- not the King but God alone

  • Naaman comes but does not stand before Elisha deferentially, but with his whole military retinue - so Elisha refuses to meet with him and instead sends a nameless messenger (not his personal attendant Gehazi)

    • Naaman thinks his command is to bathe - which is ridiculous as Damascus lies as the confluence of major rivers and the Jordan is little more than a muddy backwater - only his servants suspect there is something more at work.

    • Naaman (miraculously) listens to the advice of his servants

    • Only after the miracle does Naaman then humble himself by “standing before” Elisha.

    • “There is word play between verse 14 and verse 15: Just as Naaman’s flesh hasbeen “restored” (shub), Naaman “returns” (shub) to Elisha.” Richard D. Nelson, Interpretation: First and Second Kings, p. 178–179.

  • Naaman’s physical healing comes before his conversion - the conversion is a grateful response to what God has done, not an expectation of what God is doing

    • In fact Elisha will take no money at all for this miracle even though Naaman repeatedly offers (in fact Elisha’s servant Gahazi will be cursed with Naaman’s disease for running after and getting payment from Naaman).

    • The focus is on God’s miraculous healing of a foreign commander who has done nothing for God, nor is anything expected.

  • Revelation

    • Slave girl offers salvation, but does not require conversion

    • She does not abandon or neutralize her faith and culture in order to deliver the good news, but offers them from her faith and culture

    • Interfaith relations/dialogue

      • Importance of speaking authentically from one’s faith

      • Sharing the good news of one’s special revelation, does not mean ignoring another’s special revelation or overcoming general revelation

        • special revelation - revelation of God in a specific culture of context (e.g. Christianity, Islam, etc)

        • General revelation - revelation of God in the natural world and order of life (e.g. God in nature, in general human community, see Psalm 19 or Romans 1:20)

  • Courage and healing

    • Girl has the courage to share her knowledge about Elisha

    • Naaman has the courage to go to Israel

    • Courage of Israel to accept Naaman- enemy of Israel

  • The work of God

    • incarnate in the river Jordan, in Elisha and in the servant girl

    • Not aloof or transcendent but incarnate

    • Not to convert Naaman, but to show the goodness and glory of God.

Thoughts and Questions

  • Do we have ears to hear those who work for us, serve us, perhaps who we see (intentionally or not) as less than? If the slave girl’s mistress hadn’t listened to her or if the Naaman had not listened to his wife, or the king of Aram not listened to Naaman, or the King of Israel not listened to Elisha or Naaman not listened to his servants - the miracle wouldn’t have happened. Perhaps the miracle was the powerful listening to the powerless.

  • How might we reclaim evangelism as a way of showing God’s goodness and not about getting more members?

  • Are we willing to accept the strangeness of the Gospel in order to be healed?

    • Are we too proud or arrogant to accept healing?

    • Are we too skeptical of God’s messengers?

Year 1Eric Fistler1 KingsComment