The Commander Is Cleansed; the Servant Goes Out Diseased

The Hebrew tsara’at, translated “leprosy”, covers a range of skin diseases, not only what is now called leprosy, and in Syria it did not bar him from command. Jewish tradition made Naaman the archer whose chance arrow killed Ahab (1 Kings 22:34), which would make the “deliverance” a very specific one.

“By companies” means raiding bands, the small cross-border raids that went on between the set battles. The covenant Ahab made with Ben-hadad (1 Kings 20:34) evidently did not stop Syrian bands carrying off Israelite children.

“Would God” is 1611 English for “O that”, a wish; the Hebrew particle occurs only here and in Psalm 119:5. “Recover him” is literally “gather him”, the verb used when Miriam was received back into the camp after her leprosy (Numbers 12:14–15).

The Hebrew reads simply “he went in”, most naturally Naaman himself going to the king. The commander of Syria’s army carries a slave girl’s words to his master, “thus and thus”, and is believed.

Ten talents of silver is roughly three hundred and forty kilograms, and six thousand shekels of gold another seventy or so. Ten changes of raiment were festal garments, a prized gift. “Go to, go” is the king’s eager double imperative: be on your way.

“Now when this letter is come” is the standard turn in an ancient letter, marking the move from greeting to business; letters from Lachish and Arad use the same Hebrew word. The book quotes only the business, and the business names no prophet.

“Am I God, to kill and to make alive” echoes the LORD’s words in Deuteronomy 32:39 and Hannah’s song (1 Samuel 2:6). “Seeketh a quarrel” is what Ahab said of Ben-hadad in 1 Kings 20:7: the son reads a foreign letter with the father’s suspicion.

“He shall know” sets the goal of everything that follows. Naaman will say “now I know” in verse 15, and the knowledge Elisha promises is about who stands behind the prophet, not about the prophet himself.

Naaman stays in his chariot at the door of the house, a whole escort of horses crowded into a street. The posture matters because in verse 21 he will get down from the same chariot for Elisha’s servant.

Seven was the number of purification for a healed leper, who was sprinkled seven times (Leviticus 14:7). “Thy flesh shall come again to thee” promises restoration of what the disease had eaten away, not only an end to symptoms.

“Strike his hand over the place” uses the verb for waving, the same one used for the priest’s wave offering. Naaman expected a prophet to stand, name his God aloud and wave a hand over the sore, a ritual he could watch.

The Abana is usually identified with the Barada, which flows down from the Anti-Lebanon through Damascus and made the city an oasis. Beside those clear mountain streams, the Jordan is a small, muddy, winding river.

Servants calling their master “my father” is an unusual courtesy, the address Elisha gave Elijah as he was taken (2:12). Their argument turns on the brevity of the command, which is two words in Hebrew: wash, be clean.

“Dipped” is tabal, the verb used in Leviticus for dipping in the rituals of cleansing a leper (Leviticus 14:6). The Jordan lies far below Samaria, so “went he down” is literal as well as a picture of the proud man stooping.

Ahaziah had sent to Ekron as if there were no God in Israel (1:3). The Syrian commander now says there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. A “blessing” here means a gift, what a grateful man presses on his benefactor.

When Jacob pressed his gift on Esau, “he urged him, and he took it” (Genesis 33:11). The same verb is used here, and Elisha refuses. He repeats the oath he swore before the three kings (3:14).

Behind the request lies the idea that a god is worshipped on his own land’s soil. Naaman seems to plan an altar of Israelite earth in Damascus; the law itself allowed “an altar of earth” (Exodus 20:24). Two mule loads would be enough for a small altar.

Rimmon, “the thunderer”, was a title of Hadad, the storm god of Damascus; Zechariah 12:11 mentions a mourning for Hadadrimmon. The king leaning on his hand makes Naaman the royal aide, like the lord “on whose hand the king leaned” in 7:2. He says “bow” three times.

“A little way” renders a measure of distance used of Rachel’s death “a little way” from Ephrath (Genesis 35:16). Naaman has gone only a short distance when the next scene begins.

“Spared” means let off lightly, as though Elisha had failed to collect a debt. “This Syrian” may carry the resentment of a man whose people had been raided by Naaman’s troops, though that motive is an inference. He then swears on the LORD’s life to take what his master swore not to.

In verse 9 Naaman stayed in his chariot at Elisha’s door; now he steps down to meet Elisha’s servant. His greeting is “Is all well?”, shalom, the same question Gehazi carried to the Shunammite.

Mount Ephraim is the central hill country, where Bethel’s prophetic company lived, so the lie is plausible in its details. A talent of silver, about thirty-four kilograms, is an absurd sum for two young visitors, but Naaman does not question it.

The verse counts in twos: two talents, two bags, two changes of garments, two servants. “Be content” means “be pleased to”, a polite insistence. Naaman adds his own men to carry the silver, which makes the gift visible to witnesses Gehazi will need to lose.

“The tower” renders ophel, a hill or fortified mound, the word used for the Ophel ridge in Jerusalem. Gehazi takes the load before the carriers reach anywhere they might be seen, and sends them back.

Gehazi “stood before his master”, the servant’s posture of readiness, the one Elisha uses of himself before the LORD. The question “Whence comest thou?” is the kind of question God asks Adam and Cain, asked of someone who is known to have an answer.

“Went not mine heart with thee” is a compressed Hebrew idiom, literally “not my heart went”: Elisha was present in spirit when Naaman turned from his chariot. The list of goods is what the silver would buy, the whole estate of a landed man.

“White as snow” is the phrase for Miriam’s leprosy (Numbers 12:10) and for Moses’ hand at the burning bush (Exodus 4:6). “Cleave” is the verb that described Jehoram cleaving to Jeroboam’s sins (3:3): the disease now holds fast to Gehazi.