NAAMAN LEARNS HUMILITY

3. What do we learn about the man Naaman?

³ In the tenth century B.C.E., Syria, which lay to the north of Israel, had an army chief named Naaman, who led the Syrians to victory.

Consider the example of Naaman.

Naaman was a prominent man, the chief of the Syrian army.

The name of one person who at first refused to obey is Naaman.

Naaman is an important Syrian military commander.

She is taken to Syria, where she becomes the servant of the wife of Naaman, the Syrian army chief.

Naaman has a bad disease called leprosy, which can cause some of a person’s flesh to fall off.

THE proud Syrian military commander Naaman and his servants here are on their way to Israel where Naaman hopes to be cured of leprosy.

She became a maidservant to the wife of Naaman, a valiant army chief under King Ben-hadad II. (2 Kings 5:1)

Though he was highly esteemed, Naaman had the loathsome disease leprosy.

2. Who was Naaman, and what did Jehovah’s prophet ask him to do?

² The Syrian military chief Naaman was afflicted with leprosy, but he was advised that in Israel there was a prophet of Jehovah who could cure him.

So Naaman and his entourage traveled to Israel and eventually came to the home of God’s prophet Elisha.

5:15, 16​—Why did Elisha not accept Naaman’s gift?

Elisha refused the gift because he recognized that the miracle of healing Naaman was performed by Jehovah’s power, not his own.

The leprous Syrian army chief Naaman had to show humility to follow the suggestion of a captive Israelite girl and seek a cure by going to Israel to find Elisha.

Instead of coming out of his house to meet Naaman, Elisha sent him this message: “You must bathe seven times in the Jordan that your flesh may come back to you; and be clean.” (2 Kings 5:10)

The man was Naaman, a captain in Syria’s army.

“Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Jehovah had given victory unto Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

Main characters: Naaman, Elisha, and an unnamed Israelite girl

Summary: The Syrian army chief Naaman is cured of a loathsome disease after an Israelite girl recommends that he see Elisha.

Consider an example involving Elisha and Naaman, the military chief of the hostile Syrians.

As you read this account in 2 Kings chapter 5, you will see that a captive Israelite girl urged that Naaman’s leprosy might be cured with help from Elisha in Israel.

Eventually she is brought to the wife of Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army.

In this enemy territory, far from her home in Israel, she becomes a servant of Naaman’s wife.

When Naaman is healed, he is so happy that he wants to give Elisha gifts of gold, silver, and fine clothes.

After Naaman leaves, Gehazi chases after him without telling Elisha.

THE mighty Syrian army chief Naaman has leprosy.

What is Naaman to do?

NAAMAN is grateful for being healed of his leprosy.

Well, eventually Naaman and his servants say good-bye and start off for their homes in Syria.

The Syrian military commander Naaman was someone who found it challenging to receive instruction from a lowly one.

But God’s instructions for a cure were relayed to Naaman through a servant.

The wisdom of those words is well borne out in the case of the Syrian general Naaman, who lived in the time of the Israelite prophet Elisha.

Naaman was a leper.

Through Elisha, the Syrian army chief Naaman was healed of loathsome leprosy.

Naaman wanted to present Elisha with a gift in appreciation for the miraculous cure.

After the Syrian army chief Naaman was healed of his leprosy, he offered gifts to the prophet Elisha, who refused them.

Gehazi said to himself: “As surely as Jehovah is living, I will run after [Naaman] and take something from him.”