2 Kings 5:3, commentary and pictures

A little Israelite girl carried captive into Syria to serve Naaman's wife speaks from sympathy for her leprous master, remembering the healing power with Elisha and wishing her lord were with the prophet in Samaria because she is sure he would cure him. Her faithful conduct in a heathen home shows how a parent's teaching to honor God shapes a child's character and future usefulness. By directing the household to seek divine help she stands as God's witness and representative, showing that God sends even the young to those who need His guidance. Her wish leads to the cleansing and enlightenment of Naaman, a heathen nobleman and leper, who was receptive because he was true to the light he had, felt his great need, and was willing to seek and receive instruction. In contrast many lepers in Israel were left uncleansed because unbelief and misuse of greater privileges closed the door to help, teaching that standing before God depends on using the light received, a truth Jesus pressed home by citing Naaman's cleansing as a rebuke to those who rejected Him for coming in lowliness.

Captive Maid's Witness

The words are those of a little Israelite maid who had been carried away in a Syrian border raid after Ahab's death and made a servant to Naaman's wife in a heathen home. She had been taught by her parents to honor God. Her faithful conduct in captivity shows how a parent's example and teaching shape a child's habits, character, and future.

She spoke from sympathy for her master, remembering the miracles of healing wrought through Elisha and knowing that the power of Heaven was with the prophet in Samaria. Believing that by this power Naaman could be healed, she wished her lord were with him, confident he would recover him of his leprosy. She thus pointed Naaman's household toward the prophet in Samaria as a source of healing and directed her mistress and his household to seek him. By these words she acted as one of God's witnesses and His representative, fulfilling the purpose for which Israel was chosen as His people. Her example shows that God sends people, even the young, to those who need divine help and guidance.

Her wish was fulfilled when Naaman came to the prophet in Samaria at Elisha's house. Elisha met him standing in the open doorway with raised hand giving instruction. Naaman stood before him in the courtyard with both hands lifted in pleading respect. He had arrived with horse-drawn cart and attendants, with another horseman waiting under the trees.

Grace Beyond Israel

The maid's wish belongs to the story of Naaman, a Syrian nobleman and leper, a heathen who was cleansed through Elisha and enlightened in divine truth until he came to know the true God. His cleansing was not bodily healing alone but instruction that brought him into knowledge of God.

He was ready to receive that grace because he had been faithful to his convictions of right and to the light and privileges he had received. He felt his great need of help, and he was willing and open to seek help and receive instruction. That faithfulness, sense of need, and teachableness made him receptive to healing and to truth.

In Elisha's time many lepers in Israel were passed by and left uncleansed. Their unbelief closed the door of good to them and cut them off from the help offered through His prophets. They had misused, slighted and despised greater privileges, and their lives contradicted their profession. The Lord could not manifest His power in their behalf, lest they pervert precious tokens of grace to exalt themselves.

A person's standing before God therefore depends on how the light received is used. Even a heathen who lives up to the best light he has and does right as far as he can distinguish right from wrong is regarded with greater favor by God. Such a one is counted more righteous than God's chosen people when they backslide and sacrifice principle for convenience and worldly honor. Those with great light who forfeit it through unbelief are thereby only made proud, boastful, and self-sufficient.

Jesus cited Naaman's cleansing to show that although many lepers lived in Israel none of them was cleansed, while God's mercy had reached a foreigner. He used this history as a terribly severe rebuke that opened corrupt lives and wicked unbelief. That unbelief would not receive Him because He came in meekness and lowliness, in poverty and sorrow, and men would have no king unless attended by riches and splendor and a grand and imposing army. The power of God displayed through the faithful prophets was not for an unbelieving, hard-hearted people but for those who had hearts that could feel and faith that would grasp the evidences God gave.

The maid's direction to the prophet in Samaria thus stands as the precedent that a leper had been cleansed in Elisha's time. Since then such a healing had not been known. Sufferers in Jesus' day therefore did not expect Him to cleanse them.