2 Kings 5:10, commentary and pictures

Elisha sent word to Naaman, the honored Syrian captain who was a leper, to wash in the Jordan seven times with the promise that his flesh would be restored and he would be clean.
The simple and specific direction tested his pride and faith, for he raged at being told to wash in a humble river instead of the rivers of Damascus and expected the prophet to heal him in a striking and dignified way.
When persuaded to do the small thing commanded, he submitted and washed and was made whole, showing that God requires humble, exact obedience even in littles.
His cleansing also brought him to know the true God, for though a heathen foreigner he followed the light he had and stood more righteous before God than those with greater light who misuse it in pride and unbelief.
He was the only leper cleansed in Elisha's time while many lepers in Israel were passed by, because Israel rejected God's warnings in hardness of heart.

The Command and Setting

Naaman was captain of the host of the king of Syria, a great man with his master and honorable because through him deliverance had been given to Syria, a mighty man in valor, but a leper. Elisha sent the instruction to him through a messenger, to go and wash in the Jordan seven times, with the promise that his flesh would come again and be restored and that he would be clean and healed of his leprosy. The command was simple and specific, and healing was to come through following the prophet's directions exactly as given.

This episode is the setting for the captive maid's faith that Elisha could recover Naaman through Heaven's power. God sent the little Israelite maiden to help Naaman the Syrian captain, and for that reason feet are directed toward a place because at that very place there is someone in need of the help and divine guidance that person can give. Work that is not of one's own choice is to be accepted as God's choice, and whether pleasing or unpleasing the duty that lies nearest is to be done. God still sends men and women and youth today as His representatives to those in need in the same way.

Humility Tested by Obedience

The instruction sent by messenger was simple and specific — go wash in the Jordan seven times — with the promise that his flesh would be restored and he would be clean and healed of leprosy, and that plainness tested his pride and faith and his willingness to obey rather than follow his own expectations. He did not obey at once but murmured, mortified and disappointed, and in passion and rage refused the humble course as beneath his dignity, resenting the lowly requirement. He had expected Elisha himself to come out to him and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and strike his hand over the place to cure him, and he counted Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel.

The Jordan was a humble river, while the rivers he desired were beautified with surrounding trees and groves where idols were placed and where many flocked to worship idol gods, so washing there would have cost him no humility. Washing in the rivers of Damascus would not meet the specific direction given through Elisha, and following the specified directions would humble his proud and lofty spirit. Persuaded by his servant to do the merely small thing commanded, he repented, submitted, and obeyed the prophet’s directions by washing. His faith was honored: he was made whole, his flesh was restored, and healing and blessing followed willing obedience.

The verse means that God requires humble, exact obedience in small things. It applies to perfecting Christian character by condescending to be faithful in the littles, which alone pleases God and wins love.

Grace Beyond Israel

Naaman's washing in the Jordan brought more than bodily cleansing, for the Syrian nobleman was also enlightened in divine truth and came to know the true God. Though a heathen and a foreigner, he lived up to the light he had received, recognized his need, did what he knew was right, and remained open to divine instruction and help. For that faithfulness he was counted more righteous and stood in a more favorable position before God than those who possessed greater light.

A person's standing before God depends not on how much light has been received but on how it is used. Those with less light who follow it faithfully may receive favor, while people with greater light, privileges, and claims to godliness may be rejected when they persist in unbelief, contradict those claims by their lives, misuse God's blessings, and become proud and self-sufficient, closing the way for Him to help them. While many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha, none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian, because the people had rejected God's warnings in unbelief and hardness of heart. Jesus cited that fact in the synagogue at Nazareth on the Sabbath, that Naaman was the only leper cleansed during Elisha's time, to show that no prophet is accepted in his own country and that God's blessing passed by unbelieving Israel to an outsider.

God's power was not worked for the salvation of an unbelieving, hard-hearted people in Israel, but was given especially to one who had a heart that could feel and faith that would grasp the evidences God was pleased to give. Christ used that history as a severe rebuke that opened corrupt lives and struck home wicked unbelief in those who scorned Him because He came in meekness and lowliness, in poverty and sorrow, as a common man, while they would have no king without riches and splendor and a grand and imposing army. That cleansing of Naaman was the only cleansing of a leper known since Elisha's time. That precedent made the lepers cautious about expecting Jesus to heal them, though one began to trust that Jesus could do what had not been seen since the days of Elisha.