Namaan the Leper

Namaan the Leper
2 Kings 5:1-16

Namaan was the captain of the soldiers of the king of Syria. He was an honorable man, and a mighty man of bravery, but he had a disease called leprosy, and so he was a leper.

The Syrians had captured many people from the land of Israel, and one of them was a little girl, who waited on Namaan's wife. And one day the little girl said to her mistress "Oh that my lord would go to see the prophet that is in Samaria! He would heal him of his leprosy." And so someone told Namaan all that the little girl had said.

And the king of Syria sent Namaan, with a letter, to the king of Israel. And Namaan took with him silver, and gold, and changes of clothing. And so he went to the king of Israel, but when the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sent to me so that I may heal him of his leprosy? Perhaps he is seeking a quarrel with me."

Now Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel tore his clothes, and so he sent word to the king that Namaan should come to him so that he would know that there was a prophet in Israel. And so Namaan came and stood at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying "Go and wash in the Jordan river 7 times, and you will be clean." But Namaan was very angry, and said "Look, 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 heal the leper'. Are not other rivers better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them and be clean?" So Namaan went away in a rage.

And his servants came near to him and talked to him, and said "my father, if the prophet had asked you to do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it? And so why not now, when he said to you Wash and be clean?" And so Namaan went down to the Jordan river, and dipped himself 7 times as the man of God told him to, and his flesh became again as the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And he returned to Elisha, he and all his company, and stood before him, and said "Look, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, take a blessing of your servant". But Elisha said "As the LORD lives before whom I stand, I will receive nothing." And Elisha refused to take anything.

Memory Verse: 2 Kings 5:16 "As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing."

Questions:
1. Who was Namaan, and what was wrong with him?
2. How did Namaan hear of Elisha?
3. What did the messenger of Elisha tell Namaan to do?
4. Why couldn't Namaan bath in any other river but the Jordan?
5. Why do you think Elisha would take nothing?

Answers:
1. Namaan was a mighty man, an honorable man, and the captain of the soldiers of the king of Syria.
2. A little girl who had been captured and was serving Namaan's wife said that Namaan should go to see Elisha so that he could be healed.
3. He told Namaan to go and dip 7 times in the Jordan river.
4. Because Namaan had to obey the words of Elisha, not just bath in any river.
5. Because he was a man of God, and accountable to him. Man cannot pay for the power of God.

Vicki C. Gross/Jan'03