A Disease Worse Than Leprosy | 2Kings 5

We find ourselves working through the book of Kings. We are in 2 Kings chapter 5. If you’re sort of new to the Bible, the passage we’ll be considering today you’ll find on pages 311 and 312 of the church Bibles. Chapter numbers are the big numbers; verse numbers are the little numbers.

Now, before we jump in this morning, I have to get something off my chest. You already know that in the book of Kings, we have come across what is called a digraph — we don’t have this in English — where two vowels are stuck right next to each other. We’ve seen this in the case of the god Baal, B-A-A-L. We don’t do this in English. And we find the central figure in our story today, 2 Kings 5, having that same kind of thing in his name. So all week long I’ve been studying this passage and hearing it in my head as “Nah-ah-man.” That’s how his name is pronounced, and I was intending to read it saying “Nah-ah-man.” Then I realized I’m in Piqua, and nobody in this room has ever heard the man called “Nah-ah-man.” And to prevent you from thinking too highly of me, we’re just going to call him “Nay-man.” Nay-man, okay? And then later we’ll ‘warsh’ the dishes and clean the ‘terlits’. You hillbillies.

All right. 2 Kings chapter 5. Here’s the big idea this morning: the grace of God is a free gift for all who humble themselves before Him. That’s where we’re headed. Let’s pray.

He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Our Lord, we ask that You would grant to us, by the power of Your Spirit, the gift of humility — that we would be teachable; that as we read in this text and see our own sin, we would have humility to acknowledge it and to lay it before You and to receive the free gift of Your grace and mercy. Amen.

The Splinter of Pride

Once upon a time, the Lord Jesus Christ visited His hometown and was driven out of it by men who hated Him. They took Him by force to the edge of a cliff and intended to throw Him off the cliff and kill Him. And the reason they hated Him and wanted Him to die is because of the Lord Jesus’s mention of the central figure in our passage today. Jesus said this: “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” And they were triggered, and they became violent. Because Jesus was saying to them, as one commentator would put it, “Naaman the Syrian could teach you people a thing or two about the ways of God” — and that they could not accept. A Gentile teaching us about our God? It exposed their pride.

Augustine, one of the church fathers, believed that pride was the origin of evil, and I think he might be right about that. Pride is something every man hates when he sees it in someone else, and unless he’s a Christian, he hardly ever thinks he is guilty of it himself. Ironically, the more prideful we are, the less tolerant of pride we are when we see it in others. And pride is so contrary to God that you will have no part of Him while you hold on to it.

God knows this. And so, in His great love for His people, desiring for them to know Him and to experience true delight and true joy, God destroyed the power of pride by humbling Himself. By becoming man. God the Son took the form of a servant and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, to cure the disease of pride and reconcile sinners to God. But in order for us sinners to be reconciled to our God, we must let go of pride. We must humble ourselves, recognizing that we don’t know as much as we think we know, that we’re not as well off as we think we are. We must depend on God for grace, and consider others more significant than ourselves.

The book of Kings was written to Jews in exile in Babylon, under the judgment of God for, in part, their pride. The author of Kings is writing to explain why they are there. And he might just as easily have written to them and said, “If you humble yourself before God, He will forgive you of your sins and reconcile you to Himself.” But instead, he tells the story of Naaman. Stories are great teachers. You see, pride is like a splinter: if you just go right at it, you’re only going to drive it deeper. But a story has the power to draw it out while your attention is on something else. It sneaks the antidote in.

Four points will guide us through this chapter.

I. Human Power Cannot Solve Our Greatest Need (vv. 1–7)

The first is this: human power cannot solve our greatest need. 2 Kings chapter 5, verse 1. This is the word of the Lord.

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”

So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”

Our greatest power cannot solve our greatest need. We’re introduced to Naaman in the most illustrious terms imaginable. He is the commander of the Syrian army. He is a great man. He is in high favor. He is victorious. He is a mighty man of valor. Even his name means “pleasant.” And yet verse 1 tells us: he is a leper.

The leprosy mentioned here is not like modern leprosy. This is a little bit different — we’re not exactly sure what it is — but it’s an incurable skin disease that leaves the sufferer ugly and disfigured and religiously unclean.

Before we get too far along in our text this morning, I’d like us to consider briefly a phrase in verse 1: “by him” — by Naaman — “the Lord had given victory to Syria.” God gave victory to the pagan nation of Syria, the enemy of Israel. This is the witness across Scripture that God is sovereign over kings and nations. And that matters to this story, because it means Naaman’s greatness, Naaman’s success, came from the Lord. It was derivative. There is no such thing as a self-made man. Vince Lombardi once said that the price of success is hard work and dedication. Sure — and God supplies the currency. We are creatures, one and all. We are more dependent upon the grace and kindness of God than most of us are comfortable admitting.

For all of his greatness, for all of his success, this man could not cure his greatest need. He has a lot of money, but it could not cure his leprosy. And the way the story is told highlights this irony: a powerful general suffers an ugly disease and is saved through the witness, as Pastor Matt said, of a little girl. She’s a young Israelite stolen from her home during a Syrian raid and forced to serve as a slave to Naaman’s wife. She’s unnamed, never mentioned in Scripture again. And yet, in some ways, she is the hero of this story. Rather than allowing hatred and bitterness toward her master to grow up in her heart, she trusts in her God, and she shows compassion to her enemy. She points Naaman to the man of God in Israel.

How many of us would have responded so humbly, were we in her situation? This man stole her from her home, from her family. He ruined her life. Leprosy is the least of what he deserves. How many of us would have thought, “Well, this is just a judgment of God upon a wicked pagan”? But not her. She tells her mistress — literally, the text reads — “Oh, how I wish my master were with the man of God in Samaria. He would cure him.” What did Jesus say? “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Naaman takes the counsel of this little girl, and he gets permission from his king, Ben-hadad — we’ve seen him before in the book of Kings. And Ben-hadad writes a letter to the king of Israel, Jehoram — we’ve met him in the book of Kings before. You wonder, why would he send a letter to the king and not a letter to Elisha? Well, because this is how things are done in the ancient Near East. Prophets, magicians — they are servants of the king. You petition the king. Plus, Ben-hadad probably had a little bit more written into this letter than just “heal my servant.” There’s probably a veiled threat here: Heal my boy, or else.

So Naaman readies himself with chariots and horses and servants and 750 pounds of silver and 150 pounds of gold and ten changes of clothes. We’re talking millions of dollars’ worth of silver and gold traveling alongside this man, because he’s going to make sure the king in Israel knows how important he is. So he turns up in Samaria with his entourage and his payment in tow. And you can imagine King Jehoram is on edge. The commander of the army of your enemy is at your doorstep, and he wants you to do something for him that you can’t do. Ben-hadad demands that his servant be healed. And so Jehoram freaks out, tears his clothes, and says, “Am I God, to kill, to heal?” No thought of Elisha. No mention of prayer to the God who does kill and heal. No concern for the suffering man in front of him. Just totally focused on himself.

We tend to think that pride looks like the haughty man looking down his nose at others. And that is a form of pride — but pride comes in many shades. Sometimes the color it takes is clothes-tearing emotional breakdowns. Sometimes pride mopes with drooped shoulders and chin tucked, posturing yourself, hoping that someone will notice and ask. A truly humble man is not the gloomy fellow always talking about how unworthy he is. A truly humble man is cheerful and easily pleased — the kind of guy who takes a real interest in others and hardly talks about himself at all.

Elisha catches wind of Naaman’s visit and sends word: Send him to me. And this brings us to our second point.

II. Humble Faith Receives God’s Gracious Aid (vv. 8–14)

Humble faith receives God’s gracious aid. Verse 8.

But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.”

But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and 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.

But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Picture this scene. A Syrian general rolls up with his entourage, with his chariots and his horses, with his wagons full of gold — looks like a Saudi prince — and they roll out the red carpet all the way to Elisha’s door. And the prophet sends a messenger, and stays in the house. It’s the ancient equivalent of sending a text message: Go take a bath in the Jordan seven times and call me in the morning.

Now, I don’t think I need to explain Naaman’s anger to you, do I? Army commanders are not used to this kind of treatment. We come all this way, and Elisha brushes him aside. Can you imagine what this must have looked like to Naaman’s people? This feels like a diss. The Syrian general is fuming. First of all, prophet, you have the gall to tell me to come to you? You think the prime minister of England goes to the doctor? No — the doctor comes to him. I’ll let that one slide, Elisha. And second, you send me away with a text message? “Wash in the Jordan”? That mucky swamp? We’ve got better rivers back home. No, no, prophet. Here’s what you’re going to do: you’re going to come out of your little house, and you’re going to wave your grubby hands over me, and you’re going to pray to your God. You’re going to take my gift, and you’re going to go home.

And once again, wisdom comes from the weak and the powerless. Once again, the Lord chooses the weak things of this world to confound the wise. The ESV’s translation of verse 13 can be a bit confusing; I think the CSB translation is a little clearer. The servant says, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? Well, how much more should you do it when he only tells you to wash and be clean?”

But Naaman’s pride is wounded. The Lord is kind; He softens Naaman’s heart to receive the healing. He must humble himself. Do you see what Elisha’s doing? Leprosy was not Naaman’s greatest problem. Pride was Naaman’s greatest problem. Leprosy may have disfigured his skin, but pride had deformed his soul. And Elisha saw it. He saw the real problem. He could have coddled the commander, but that would not cure him. And so Elisha offers the cure: Humble yourself. Obey the word of God from the prophet of God, and you will be healed.

As Pastor Matt said, it is like that for us, too. There is nothing magical about the waters of baptism. I mean, Naaman’s right — he could just as easily have been clean back home. The blessing comes through faith: humbling oneself before God and obeying the commands of God. Before the Lord gave grace to Naaman, He softened his heart, and verse 14 says he goes down to the river — an intentional phrase, if there ever was one. The great general has to humble himself and lower himself and obey the word of God through a prophet, and do the thing that seems foolish and beneath him. But humility was the only path to healing. The only thing this wealthy man brings into the water is his disease and his faith. His money, his rank, his pride — he had to leave on the shore. And the Lord had mercy on his soul.

I don’t know if you caught it, but there’s a play on words in the original that is easy to see in the English. At the beginning of the chapter, it was a little girl who sent this great man to be healed. And then, once he’s humbled, once he’s healed, the great man becomes like a little child. One can’t help but think of the words of Jesus, who said, “Unless you become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

My non-Christian guest, I hope you’re hearing what your Creator is saying to you this very morning. Your objections to Christianity are not intellectual — they’re biographical. You don’t believe Christianity is true because you don’t want Christianity to be true. Your skepticism has very little to do, actually, with historicity and the reliability of the Bible. Your objection has to do with the authority of the Bible. Because if Jesus saves, then that means you need saving. If Jesus is the Savior, then that means you’re not. And like Naaman, you think your philosophical rivers are better. But friend, I want you to see: you are plagued with the very same disease as this man here. You’ve been infected with the disease of pride and self-conceit, and it is rotting you from the inside. Unless you humble yourself and turn to Jesus Christ today, you will spend eternity under the judgment of God in hell.

But Jesus Christ, God the Son, humbled Himself. He became man. He lived without sin. He was charged with sin to save sinners from sin. He died and was buried and rose again, bringing life to all who turn to Him in faith. The reality is that anyone who humbles themselves and turns to Him for mercy receives forgiveness of their sins and eternal life. Why not, friend, do that today? Do not delay. Do not leave this place still in your sins. When you turn to the Lord and God shows mercy to you, your whole life will be transformed. Your pride will dissolve into gratitude, freedom, peace, and great joy. That’s what we see in this person Naaman. This brings us to our third point.

III. God’s Grace Produces Grateful Worship (vv. 15–19)

God’s grace produces grateful worship. Verse 15.

Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused. Then Naaman said, “If not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the Lord. In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.” He said to him, “Go in peace.”

A Gentile, a Syrian, a commander of the army of the enemies of the people of God, makes the great confession: “There is no God in all the earth but Yahweh, and Him alone will I serve.” He returns to Elisha, and now he offers him a gift. Before Naaman was humbled, before he was healed, his money was a tool for bartering — he was going to pay for this healing. After the man is humbled, after he is healed, it’s an act of worship, and he offers Elisha a gift.

Now, money from Naaman is life-changing money. Can you imagine what good could be done in the kingdom of God had Elisha had nearly unlimited funds? But Elisha refuses. And despite the general urging him to take it, the prophet refuses. Can you imagine the damage that would be done had he accepted money for grace? The grace of God is a gift. You cannot buy God’s favor with money, rank, or good works. It’s unmerited. At the beginning, the freeness of God’s grace was offensive to Naaman. This is a man who’s used to taking care of his problems himself. But grace, by its very definition, cannot be earned. God’s grace is free, so that God alone would receive the credit and the glory — and God won’t share one ounce of His glory with anyone.

Free grace is what makes Christianity different from all the other religions of the world. And it is the most difficult thing for us to accept and believe. It cuts against all of our impulses. We simply breathe the air called karma: what goes around comes around; you do good, good will be done to you. It’s the law written on our hearts.

The law says, “Sow, and you will reap.” The gospel says, “You reap what you could never sow.”

The law says, “You’ll be accepted if you keep the law.” The gospel says, “You’re accepted because Christ kept the law.”

The law says, “You suffer the consequences of your sin.” The gospel says, “Christ suffered the consequences of your sin.”

The law says, “Work hard. Hide your failures. You’ll be loved.” The gospel says, “Rest in Christ. Be honest about your failures. You are loved.”

The law says, “Your past determines your future.” The gospel says, “God’s grace rewrites your future.”

The law is based on you and your ability; therefore, your future is never certain. The gospel is based on Christ and the cross, and therefore your future is secure.

Under the law, obedience is an act of negotiation. Under the gospel, obedience is an act of love.

The law produces prideful, anxious, miserly people. But the gospel produces humble, peaceful, happy people.

The effect of God’s grace in Naaman’s life is unmistakable. He immediately recognizes he must change. Just consider the change in how he views himself. Look at verse 17. He asks Elisha, “Let there be given to your —” what does your Bible say? — “servant.” A different man climbed out of the waters of the Jordan than the one who went into it. Naaman knows intuitively that his life must change. His worship must change. It’s a strange request, perhaps, but he asks for two mule loads of Israelite dirt. He knows that Yahweh is the one true God, and so he asks for soil from the land of Yahweh, so that when he returns to Syria, he may build an altar and worship Him there.

He also recognizes that his relationship to his king and to his job must change. His duty to the king of Syria involved standing next to the king of Syria during certain religious ceremonies to the false god Rimmon. Naaman commits himself that he’s not going to participate in false worship, but his conscience is sensitive, and so he asks God to pardon him in his association with the worship of Rimmon while he’s doing his job. And so Elisha says to this new believer, “Go in peace” — you live in the world, not of the world.

As much as we would like to know how Naaman got on — the years that transpired, life in Syria as a follower of Yahweh — that is not the point of Kings. This book was written for exiled Jews in Babylon, and they’re being shown, through Naaman’s example, that anyone — even Syrians, even pagans — who humbles themselves before the Lord will receive the free grace of God and forgiveness of their sins.

Seeing God’s free grace that He gives to a Gentile, to a Syrian, to the commander of the army of the enemy, exposes pride in the heart of Elisha’s servant Gehazi. This brings us to the last point, where we’ll close.

IV. Pride Hates Grace (vv. 19–27)

Let’s pick up reading in the second half of verse 19.

But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not accepting from his hand what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” So Gehazi followed Naaman. And when Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is all well?” And he said, “All is well. My master has sent me to say, ‘There have just now come to me from the hill country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.'” And Naaman said, “Be pleased to accept two talents.” And he urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants, and they carried them before Gehazi. And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and put them in the house, and he sent the men away, and they departed.

He went in and stood before his master, and Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant went nowhere.” But he said to him, “Did not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow.

The Lord Jesus once told a story of two sons. The younger son took his father’s inheritance and squandered it with loose living. Once he came to his senses, he returned home, and his father showed him grace and forgave all that he did. The older son, however, despised his father and his father’s free grace. The very same thing is happening here. Gehazi ought to have rejoiced to see God’s grace given to sinners. He ought to have praised his Lord for His mercy. But instead, the witness of God’s grace to a filthy Gentile drew out the splinter of his pride. It drew out covetousness in this man.

You can sense how Gehazi despises Naaman in verse 20: “My master has spared this Naaman, the Syrian.” It’s not only Naaman he despises — he despises Elisha. My master spared him. He needs to pay for this. He’s just like the older brother: “This son of yours.”

It’s not so easy to see in English, but the author is doing something with the Hebrew word take. This whole chapter — up in verse 5, Naaman takes a bunch of money to get his healing; the Lord gives it to him for free. After his healing, verse 15, Naaman urges the prophet, “Take a gift,” and Elisha says, “I will not take it.” And then in verse 20, Gehazi says, “If my master won’t take it, I’ll take it.” In verse 22, he tells him, “Give me” — it’s the same word — “give me two talents of silver.” And Naaman says, “Take it.” And Gehazi takes it, verse 24. And then Elisha, in confronting his servant, says, “Now is not the time to take.” Take, take, take, take.

The pride in Gehazi’s heart hatches a plan to extract payment out of this Syrian. He lies. He puts words in the prophet’s mouth: If my master won’t take money, I will. I mean, Naaman doesn’t even need money — he’s got plenty of it. He won’t even miss it. And it’s God’s free grace to sinners that exposes the pride of Gehazi’s heart. Pride hates grace. Pride hates God for giving grace. And Gehazi determines he’s going to get — he’s going to take — what he deserves. Through this whole passage, God is give, give, give, give. And this just rubs the legalist wrong.

Elisha’s heart is grieved. “Where have you been, Gehazi?” And sin breeds more sin: Gehazi lies. “I’ve been nowhere.” But Elisha tells him, “It’s not the time to take. It’s the time to give.” Almost like the prodigal’s father saying to the older son, “You were always with me. All that I have is yours. Celebrate. Be glad. Be happy for your brother.” Gehazi, be happy for Naaman. But he cannot. His pride keeps him from it.

The contrast between these two is acute. Naaman, a great man whose problem is solved through the counsel of a little girl; to receive his healing, he has to become like her — a little child — humble. Gehazi, servant of the prophet of the Lord, accustomed to the ways of God, refuses to humble himself and rejoice in God’s free grace to sinners. One man leaves the prophet’s presence clean of his leprosy, and the other leaves the presence of the prophet covered in leprosy.

Application

PBC, this is the word of the Lord to you this morning. Are you like Naaman — seeking to commend yourself to God by your good works and your good intentions? Do you need to be humbled? Or are you like Gehazi — despising God’s grace to sinners, whose troubles are self-inflicted, seeking to get something for yourself because God hasn’t given you enough? You don’t know my problems. You don’t know how I suffer. I don’t care what you say — I’m going to get it myself. I’ll break every one of your rules to get what is mine.

I suspect there’s a little bit of both in all of us. And so the prescription is the same for all of us: to follow Naaman down the banks of the Jordan River, and there see our Lord Jesus Christ, humbled as a man, baptized in these very waters — not to make Himself clean, but to make you clean. And let us receive from Him the free offer of God’s grace. And let us rest in the finished work of His cross. And let us extend grace to all who need it. And let us seek, by God’s great help, to follow Him in all that He commands — trusting God will provide. God is good, and obedience to His commandments is a blessing. May the Lord make it so.

Let’s pray. Father, thank You for humbling us. And let the humility wrought in us by Your Holy Spirit produce in us good works, deeper and greater love for Jesus, and appreciation for His work, His cross, His patience. Let us see ourselves in light of Your holiness — never considering ourselves above Your commandments, never considering ourselves greater than another, but humble as Naaman was, so that we would be clean. In Jesus’s name. Amen.