2 Kings 5:1-14

This is about Naaman. He was quoted in the New Testament when Jesus made a direct reference to him.

Luke 4:27
“And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

Of course Jesus is making a point that nothing is impossible with faith. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”

Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Here we read about a miracle that was performed in the ministry of Elisha. Elisha followed Elijah. Elijah cast his mantle on Elisha so Elisha had a double portion of the spirit. Elisha was a prophet of God. It’s important to know that the miracles that took place actually came from God, not Elisha. Elisha was merely a prophet.

But read about a Syrian. He was a foreigner. The Bible says that by him the Lord had given deliverance to Syria. Think about it. God was the God of Israel – not the God of Syria. But yet He is the God of Syria because He’s the God of all the universe. So whether people acknowledge Him as their God or not doesn’t change the fact that He is God. You may profess to be an atheist, but that doesn’t change the fact that God is the God over everything.

What is leprosy?

Naaman was a man that was very important. It was because of him that Syria was successful in battle. He was a “man of valor”- he was courageous. The Bible says that he was an honorable man. But he was a leper.

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, or how important you are, you are still al leper.

In the Bible, leprosy is a type of sin. Leprosy causes a person’s body to rot away. It starts out small and increasingly grows. It will eat at the nerves and cause you to become numb. It will cause body parts to rot, decay, and fall off. If that’s not a picture of sin, I don’t know what is.