Expectations

II Kings 5: 1-3, 7-15 (October 10, 2010)

1) The Text

5Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

7When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.” 8But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”

9So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” 11But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. 13But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. 15Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.”

2) The Context

The two books of Kings were originally one. They continue the story of the monarchy begun in 1-2 Samuel. 1 Kings begins with the enthronement of Solomon and the death of David. 2 Kings continues the story of the monarchies of Israel and Judah. It covers the period from about 850 BC to about 585 BC when Israel fell to the Assyrians (in 721 BC) and Judah to the Babylonians (586 BC). While these books read like a political history, they trace the apostasy (i.e., a total departure from one's religion) that led to the loss of national identity and autonomy.

3) Interpretation

The background to this intriguing story is the history of conflict between Israel and Syria (Aram). The fact that the king of Aram is willing to ask for help from the king of Israel on behalf of Naaman indicates the high regard in which the general is held. He is a mighty warrior, through whose courage and foresight Aram has won many victories over neighbouring nations, including Israel. Therein lies a problem that will manifest itself further on in the story. The fact of the defeat of Israel by Naaman’s army is inferred by the identification of Naaman’s wife’s slave as an Israelite: ‘Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel’ (v. 2).

But the most important issue is that a terrible affliction has now incapacitated Naaman. The disease limits his capacity as commanding general and is viewed with personal dismay by his benefactor, the king of Aram. The solution comes from a highly unlikely source. The Israelite slave girl in Naaman’s household offers what is likely to be the only possible hope for a cure. She tells her mistress that there is a prophet in Samaria who could cure the leprosy. The prophet is Elisha, who is a fierce opponent of the worship of other gods, including the gods of Aram. The help comes from a female slave who represents a nation which Naaman’s armies have defeated in the past. Thus, Naaman will have to overcome his pride to ask Elisha to cure his disease.

Yet there is no other choice, so he sets off armed with a letter of referral from the king of Aram to the king of Israel. He will need to humble himself. But when Naaman presents the letter to the king of Israel, we find that the letter mistakenly asks the king himself to cure Naaman. The king of Israel is suitably terrified. He knows he is not capable of such healing, but does not wish to offend the powerful king of Aram. Fortunately, his distress is communicated to Elisha, who suggests that Naaman be sent to him ‘that he may learn there is a prophet in Israel’. In other words – a true prophet of the true God. This is the beginning of a series of ‘come-downs’ for Naaman. He is sent from the royal court to the humble abode of the prophet. When he arrives he expects to remain outside on his camel while this prophet comes to him. But the prophet just sends a message by a servant. The instructions are so simple: ‘Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.’

Naaman cannot take this. He had pictured himself instantly cured as the prophet waved his hand over him. He also resists the idea that a river of Israel might have more curative properties than rivers in his own Syria. None of it is happening the way he expected for a man of his station in life. So he turns it down. Again the advice of humble servants turns out to be the wisest: ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’ So he does wash, and is cured.

While Naaman remained self-sufficient and ‘closed off’ to the healing help of God, he could not be helped. But the story is not simply one about humility. It is about the surprising and unexpected way of God in the world and our openness to that way. It is about our expectations being undone as we engage with a God who does the unexpected. And above all it is about the healing being totally the gift of God, neither initiated nor controlled by human action.

The first surprise in this story is that God would heal this Aramean at all. The second is that this God entrusts his message to servants for its conveyance. The final surprise concerns what Naaman is told to do – bath in the Jordan. The ways of God seem to respect neither personnel nor proper protocol, and they are not to be controlled in any way. Here is a God whose word and spirit move to their own tune, and with surprising effect, on whomever they will.

4) Thought Exercise

What expectations of yours have been “undone”?

Where do you find God in the unexpected?