Bibelkommentare

2Ki 5:1-7.

NAAMAN'S LEPROSY.

1. Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master--highly esteemed for his military character and success.

and honourable--rather, "very rich."

but he was a leper--This leprosy, which, in Israel, would have excluded him from society, did not affect his free intercourse in the court of Syria.

2-5. a little maid--who had been captured in one of the many predatory incursions which were then made by the Syrians on the northern border of Israel (see

1Sa 30:8; 2Ki 13:21; 24:2).

By this young Hebrew slave of his wife, Naaman's attention was directed to the prophet of Israel, as the person who would remove his leprosy. Naaman, on communicating the matter to his royal master, was immediately furnished with a letter to the king of Israel, and set out for Samaria, carrying with him, as an indispensable preliminary in the East, very costly presents.

5. ten talents of silver--£3421; 6000 shekels of gold; a large sum of uncertain value.

ten changes of raiment--splendid dresses, for festive occasions--the honor being thought to consist not only in the beauty and fineness of the material, but on having a variety to put on one after another, in the same night.

7. when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes--According to an ancient practice among the Eastern people, the main object only was stated in the letter that was carried by the party concerned, while other circumstances were left to be explained at the interview. This explains Jehoram's burst of emotion--not horror at supposed blasphemy, but alarm and suspicion that this was merely made an occasion for a quarrel. Such a prince as he was would not readily think of Elisha, or, perhaps, have heard of his miraculous deeds.

2Ki 5:8-15.

ELISHA SENDS HIM TO JORDAN, AND HE IS HEALED.

8-12. when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, . . . let him come now to me--This was the grand and ultimate object to which, in the providence of God, the journey of Naaman was subservient. When the Syrian general, with his imposing retinue, arrived at the prophet's house, Elisha sent him a message to "go and wash in Jordan seven times." This apparently rude reception to a foreigner of so high dignity incensed Naaman to such a degree that he resolved to depart, scornfully boasting that the rivers of Damascus were better than all the waters of Israel.

11. strike his hand over the place--that is, wave it over the diseased parts of his body. It was anciently, and still continues to be, a very prevalent superstition in the East that the hand of a king, or person of great reputed sanctity, touching, or waved over a sore, will heal it.

12. Abana and Pharpar--the Barrady and one of its five tributaries--uncertain which. The waters of Damascus are still highly extolled by their inhabitants for their purity and coldness.

14. Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan--Persuaded by his calmer and more reflecting attendants to try a method so simple and easy, he followed their instructions, and was cured. The cure was performed on the basis of God's covenant with Israel, by which the land, and all pertaining to it, was blessed. Seven was the symbol of the covenant [KEIL].