2 Kings 5
“Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor; but he was a leper.” In his household there is a little maid, a slave. She had been made captive in one of the late Syrian raids upon the land of Israel, and dragged away from her peaceful home to bondage in a foreign land. Hard seems her lot, yet she is happy, and has pity to spare for her leprous lord.
The secret of the little maid’s happiness is, that she knows the God of Israel; and in the largeness of her heart she utters the ardent wish, that her master were with Jehovah’s servant, the prophet Elisha, “for he would recover him of his leprosy.” Probably, she had never heard of a leper actually having been cured by Elisha, but it is the language of faith, setting no limits to Jehovah’s power, or to Jehovah’s mercy. What a sweet testimony in that idolatrous land!
The remarkable words of the Hebrew maid are soon reported to Naaman, and with the concurrence of the king, his master, he undertakes a journey into Samaria. He comes in the pride of his wealth and power, with large presents in his hand, ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment, and presents himself in lordly state at the door of Elisha. Full of his own greatness, he expects that the prophet will come out and personally perform a cure, which he thinks himself so well able to pay for. How then is he mortified when a servant is sent out to him with a simple verbal message to go and wash in Jordan! And what is Jordan? “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean?” Thus in his pride and wrath, the haughty leper turns away, refusing to accept a blessing that costs so little, and that puts so little honor on the receiver!
It was well for Naaman that he had faithful and prudent servants, who, without in the least degree trenching upon the respect due from them to him, were yet able and willing affectionately to remonstrate with him, and to show him the unreasonableness of his conduct. If some severe penance, some arduous labor, some long course of self-denial, some heavy price had been prescribed, would he not gladly have performed the conditions for the sake of the result? How much more, then, when the command was, simply, “Wash, and be clean?”
Convinced of his folly by this prudent appeal, the Syrian captain turns his horses’ heads towards the Jordan, and soon he perceives its stream in the distance gliding through the plain like a thread of silver. He alights on the brink, and according to the word of the prophet, dips himself in its waters. Six times he has immersed his body, but no change is perceptible; one plunge more completes the prescribed number: will it be successful, or only a mockery? His heart throbs with anxiety, as once more his white and scaly flesh is buried in Jordan’s tide; but oh! how quickly does he leap out! for he feels the tide of health thrill through his veins; his flesh has acquired the ruddy, healthful hue, of the flesh of a little child.
He humbly, and gratefully returns to the house of Elisha, and as he stands before his benefactor, he witnesses a good confession. “Behold I now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.... Thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto Jehovah.”
A beautiful illustration is thus presented to us of the simplicity and the freeness of gospel grace. Man in his pride and self-sufficiency would often be willing to “do some great thing” for the cure of his soul; but salvation is of grace; it is not to be bought with promises of reformation, nor with alms, nor with good works of any kind. It is offered without money, and without price.
Some cannot imagine how the believing on the Lord Jesus Christ can avail to save their souls; and they are ready to turn away to some Abana, or Pharpar of their own. But in this God is honored, that the channel of salvation cuts off all boasting from man. It is enough that God has ordained the remedy, and that He perceives its perfect suitability to the end required.
But he who, like Naaman, has been brought to try the Divine remedy, has proved its perfect efficacy. He has found that the cleansing fountain of Jesus’ blood has done more than merely purged away his sins. He gets a new life imparted to him, and that is life in resurrection, for he is made a partaker of the life of his risen Lord. A believer is not an old creature ended, but a new creature in Christ Jesus.
THE Apostle Paul told the saints at Ephesus, that they were God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:1010For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10).