Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king
of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him
the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in
valor, but he was a leper.
And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and
I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took
with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten
changes of raiment.
And he brought
the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come
unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that
thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.
And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that
he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that
this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore
consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
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.
But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He
will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD
his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of
Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a
rage.
And his servants came near, and spake unto
him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great
thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he
saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according
to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the
flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and
stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God
in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a
blessing of thy servant. Listen To Sermon On This PassageApril29,2007 Pastor Mark Boyd. Secondary Passage
Luke 16
And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two
mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt
offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD.
In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into
the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow
myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon,
the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing.
But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man
of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not
receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I
will run after him, and take somewhat of him.
And he
said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now
there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the
prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of
garments.
And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and
bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid
them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.
And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned
again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and
to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen,
and menservants, and maidservants?