2 Kings 5:8
And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
When the king of Israel tore his clothes in alarm and distress over the Syrian king's request to heal Naaman, Elisha sent word to ask why he was distressed and called for Naaman to come to him, so that Naaman and the king would know that there is a prophet in Israel. That prophet was Elisha in Samaria, who had Heaven's power to recover a leper, a power already known even in Syria through a captive little Israelite maid who believed her master could be healed by him. Naaman was a Syrian captain, a heathen and a leper, who had lived up to all the light he had, felt his need, opened his heart to instruction and was ready to receive grace, and in coming he was cleansed, enlightened and taught to know the true God. Many lepers in Israel were passed by and not cleansed while this foreigner received God's blessing, because Israel's unbelief and misuse of its privileges and spiritual advantages kept God from displaying His power for them. God favors those who value the light they have and respond to it in faith and need, even when they are heathen, over those with greater light and profession whose lives contradict it, a lesson Jesus Himself drew from Naaman's cleansing to show that God makes Himself known outside Israel when His own people reject heaven's light.
Elisha's Call to Naaman
When Elisha heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in alarm and distress over the Syrian king's request to heal Naaman of leprosy, he responded at once. He sent word to the king asking why he was distressed and directing the desperate king to bring Naaman to him. He called for Naaman to come to him, so that Naaman and the king would know that there is a prophet in Israel.
That prophet in Israel is Elisha in Samaria, who has Heaven's power to recover a leper. His wonderful miracles of healing were known even in Syria through a captive little Israelite maid serving Naaman's wife, who believed Naaman could be healed by that power and wished her master were with Elisha. In ministering with sympathy in that heathen home she was unconsciously fulfilling God's purpose in choosing Israel to be His witnesses. Elisha was one of the men God chose to do a special and important work, and his invitation to come to him shows that God's power displayed through faithful prophets is not for an unbelieving, hard-hearted people but for those who have hearts that can feel and faith that will grasp the evidences God gives.
Elisha's healing of Naaman stands as the precedent for cleansing a leper, for since Elisha's time no one with leprosy had been cleansed, so that Jesus' later healing of a leper was unprecedented. The account of the little Israelite maiden helping Naaman the Syrian captain shows that God has reasons for directing feet to a particular place because someone at that very place needs the help that can be given. As He sent the maiden to Naaman, He sends men and women and youth today as His representatives to those in need of divine help and guidance.
Naaman, Israel, and Faith
Naaman was a Syrian nobleman and captain, a heathen and a leper, who came to Elisha for help. Having lived up to all the light and opportunities he had received, he followed his convictions of right, felt his need of help, opened his heart to divine instruction, and was ready to receive God's grace. He was therefore cleansed, enlightened, taught divine truth, and brought to know the true God.
Many lepers in Israel were passed by and left uncleansed while this foreigner received God's blessing and power. Israel's unbelief, and its misuse and slighting of its privileges and spiritual advantages, kept God from showing the same favor and displaying His power for them. Their lives contradicted their profession, and that contradiction shut them out from what the receptive stranger received.
The account teaches that God favors those who value and respond faithfully to the light they have and recognize their need, even when they are heathen, over people with greater light, privilege, and profession whose conduct contradicts their profession. Those with little light who follow it may be more favored and accounted more righteous than people with great light who backslide and reject the truth. Greater light brings greater responsibility, so that knowing the truth yet not following it makes people proud, self-sufficient, hardhearted, and resistant to God.
Jesus used Naaman's cleansing to teach this lesson, showing that God's blessing was given to a receptive Gentile in faith rather than automatically to Israel. God makes Himself known among people outside Israel when His own people turn from Him and reject the light of heaven. This history was a terribly severe rebuke, opening corrupt lives and striking home wicked unbelief, exposing scorned reverence in those who would not believe in one come in meekness and lowliness, in poverty and sorrow, because they would have no one as king unless attended by riches and splendor and a grand and imposing army.