Elisha had been living at Mount Carmel.
Read 2 Kings 4:38-41
38 Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, ‘Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.’
39 One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild gourd plant and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. 40 The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, ‘Man of God, there is death in the pot!’ And they could not eat it.
41 Elisha said, ‘Get some flour.’ He put it into the pot and said, ‘Serve it to the people to eat.’ And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
Even more difficult to comment on! The plant was a relative of the cucumber family, but very bitter and with a strong purgative effect.
Here the ‘flour’ was equivalent to the ‘salt’ in 2 Kings 2:21. There is no mention of the power of God here, but as it was so obviously a miracle, no further comment was necessary.
Read 2 Kings 4:42-44
42 A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe corn, along with some ears of new corn. ‘Give it to the people to eat,’ Elisha said.
43 ‘How can I set this before a hundred men?’ his servant asked.
But Elisha answered, ‘Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: “They will eat and have some left over.”’ 44 Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.
Living in the UK, when reading ‘loaves of bread’ I immediately pictured large loaves, 10” to 12” (30cm) long and weighing 1¾ pounds, or 800g. However Elisha's loaves were what we here would now call ‘rolls’ – one by itself would not really be enough for a meal for one. To divide each roll into five portions and then serve one piece each would almost be insulting.
But the Lord knew exactly what to do (v43) – Jesus himself would do the same (Matthew 14:13-21). Here too the people would eat until they were satisfied and still there would be more. When the lord gives it is always ‘a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over . . . poured into your lap’ (Luke 6:38).
Now for the next chapter we need to set the scene. The land on the East side of the Jordan (Gilead) had originally been allocated to the tribes of Manasseh and Gad. The study in 1 Kings 22(b) covered the war in which King Ahab had been Killed, and as a result this territory was now currently ruled by the Arameans, who had their capital in Damascus. Although they had won the war, the people living there were still Israelites – simply their tax man had changed.
Also it meant that isolated villages could easily be raided by bands of Aramean soldiers without hope of help from Israel. (Fighting also often broke out over the prize city of Ramoth Gilead which controlled the main north-south trade route - a profitable source of Customs Duty.)
Read 2 Kings 5:1-2
1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.
Note ‘the Lord had given victory to Aram’. It seems this was with the sole intention of punishing Ahab (1 Kings 22:1-23)
Read 2 Kings 5:2-3
2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, ‘If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’
Obviously adults and boys should be left to work the land to keep it profitable, but girls could be taken. Here this poor girl had been taken back to Damascus and had been given to Naaman, no doubt for the raiders to gain favour with their leader. But here again we see the hand of God in this too.
Leprosy is still a terrible communicable disease. Yes there are now cures, but still people in the poorest parts of the world continue to be afflicted by it. In those days the only course of action was to isolate the sufferer. But Naaman was a high-ranking officer, close to the king (v18) and that must have been very difficult. Here also it may have only so far infected a small area of his body (v11).
The young girl had heard about, and was totally convinced of the power of Elisha, and I love the way she spoke: ‘if only my master . . . ’. That suggests to me she actually had a happy relationship with Naaman and his wife.
Read 2 Kings 5:4-6
4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 ‘By all means, go,’ the king of Aram replied. ‘I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’ So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: ‘With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.’
Obviously such a powerful prophet must be under the control of the king! And it seems the prophet himself was not mentioned in the letter.
Read 2 Kings 5:7
7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, ‘Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!’
It was a very uneasy peace between the two nations, and King Joram of Israel thought Ben-Hadad II, the king of Aram, was looking for trouble.
Read 2 Kings 5:8-12
8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: ‘Why have you torn your robes? Make the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.’ 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, ‘Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.’
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, ‘I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?’ So he turned and went off in a rage.
Naaman was truly a very important visiting dignitary. The least he expected was for Elisha himself to come out to greet him. Here a servant simply gives him his marching orders. And also he was expecting an instant miraculous cure – he wasn’t expecting to be told to go and wash in the local river. Of course he was enraged.
Read 2 Kings 5:13-14
13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, ‘My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, “Wash and be cleansed”!’ 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
Again we see something of this great man’s character – note how his servants address him ‘My father’, and how quickly he sees the sense in what they are telling him. Now relief floods over him like the waters!
Read 2 Kings 5:15-16
15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.’
16 The prophet answered, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.’ And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.
Now of course Elisha goes out to meet him and refuses to accept any suggestion that he had done anything worthy of reward. This was totally the Lord’s doing.
Read 2 Kings 5:17-19a
17 ‘If you will not,’ said Naaman, ‘please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord. 18 But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: when my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also – when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.’
19 ‘Go in peace,’ Elisha said.
In those days there was a deep seated belief that each land was controlled by the gods of the land. Here Israel’s God had demonstrated his superiority over any other god, and in order for Naaman to worship and serve this God, he would need to take some of the land back with him.
Then he could see another potential problem. Would God forgive him if he had to bow down to Rimmon as part of his duties?
Elisha set his mind at rest and so they all lived happily ever after? Sorry, no.
Read 2 Kings 5:19b-22
After Naaman had travelled some distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, ‘My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.’
21 So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running towards him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. ‘Is everything all right?’ he asked.
22 ‘Everything is all right,’ Gehazi answered. ‘My master sent me to say, “Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.”’
Now we see Gehazi’s true colours. He couldn’t bear the thought that ‘this Aramean’ had been allowed to go home peacefully, taking his treasures with him. He wouldn’t be too greedy, but this elaborate lie meant that he would easily get something good for himself.
Read 2 Kings 5:23-25
23 ‘By all means, take two talents,’ said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. 24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.
25 When he went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, ‘Where have you been, Gehazi?’
‘Your servant didn’t go anywhere,’ Gehazi answered.
Oh-oh, he was sure he hadn’t been seen, and he had made sure he had managed to hide away the considerable stash without being discovered. Perhaps he could simply bluff it out.
Read 2 Kings 5:26-27
26 But Elisha said to him, ‘Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes – or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves? 27 Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants for ever.’ Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous – it had become as white as snow.
Elisha understood the generous free gift of God in healing Naaman – and who knows how he might become a witness for God back in Damascus. Sadly, Gehazi only had eyes on making money out of this, and was punished accordingly.
There is a major section concerning Elisha to come, so before that we will look at one more ‘odd’ miracle before we end this study.
Read 2 Kings 6:1-7
1 The company of the prophets said to Elisha, ‘Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.’
And he said, ‘Go.’
3 Then one of them said, ‘Won’t you please come with your servants?’
‘I will,’ Elisha replied. 4 And he went with them.
They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe-head fell into the water. ‘Oh no, my lord!’ he cried out. ‘It was borrowed!’
6 The man of God asked, ‘Where did it fall?’ When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 ‘Lift it out,’ he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.
Firstly ‘It was borrowed!’. The iron age had brought in a metal that was much easier to source than bronze, although it required higher temperatures to smelt. Even so, the prophets probably lived a frugal life and axes were still expensive, and here it had been borrowed. To then lose it was a disaster. Elisha was full of compassion. It would need a miracle to find it again, and Elisha obliged. Here too the stick was simply symbolic, like the salt or flour. And the iron exe head floated near enough to the bank that it could be grasped.
How could Elisha simply perform miracles to order? You could ask the same of New Testament Disciples sent out to ‘heal the sick’ (Luke 9:2) The answer is also given in Luke 9:1 – the Lord ‘gave them power and authority’.
You can’t argue against that!
