2 Kings 5
Naaman, commander of the army of Aram (one of Israel's on and off enemies) became infected with Leprosy which may have been any undefined infectious skin disease and not necessarily what would be diagnosed as leprosy today.
Leprosy was and still is a very much feared disease and leper colonies are still around. In biblical times it would have been devastating, after all we saw in Leviticus and the books of the law that leprosy was actually covered in particular detail and lepers were ceremonially unclean, forced to live outside the community and cover their faces, ring a bell and shout "unclean" to make sure they did not infect any non sufferer.
So Naaman's career looked like it was over and he could look forward to a life of hardship and discrimination. However at some point in the past Aram had captured a young slave girl who was a slave to Naaman's wife, and the slave girl mentioned a prophet in Israel.
Naaman told the king of Aram (his boss) that he wanted to see the prophet in Israel. The king sent a letter to the king of Israel along with a gift of gold, silver and clothes (don't know why clothes? but there you go perhaps fashion?)
The letter basically said "I am sending Naaman the commander of my army to you to heal him of his leprosy"
On receiving the letter the king of Israel failed to see the joke and throws a bit of a fit - he is thinking that Aram is saying heal my man or there will be consequences!
Meanwhile Elisha the prophet heard about this, tells the king of Israel to get his act together and send Naaman down to him.
Naaman turns up at Elisha's house with his guards, chariots and the rest of the military clobber.
Elisha sent him a note - he did not even bother to get up and meet his guest, who carried a lot of weight politically and in military terms a guy with an army is a guy you don't really want to upset when he is waiting at your door!
The note told Naaman to go an wash in the river Jordan seven times and his medical condition would be cured
Naaman at this very impolite welcome goes off in a sulk - why should he wash in rotten Israel water, when his land has perfectly good rivers what is wrong with them.
Eventually his servants calm him down saying if the task that the prophet had given him had beeen particularly difficult or dangerous he would not have as big an issue, look it is a simple thing, stop whining and do what he says, what is the worst that could happen?
Naaman is cured, his skin is like a young boy again and he is delighted offering Elisha valuable gifts.
Elisha declined to accept any gifts from Arameans, instead Naaman is given some earth from Israel and he will worship only the God of Israel, but hopes that God will forgive him if he goes into the temple of the local god of Aram with his king .
In peace Elisha let him depart, but his servant, a guy called Gehazi decided that Elisha had been too lenient and went after Naaman asking for a gift of a talent of silver and 2 changes of clothes, Naaman doubled the silver on the spot.
Elisha asked Gehazi where he had been and challenged him for accepting gifts against God's wishes. Gehazi found that he was now a carrier of Naaman's leprosy, but washing in the river would not cure him.
There are some uncomfortable elements in this story - why was the slave girl not freed as part of the deal? What was so wrong about accepting a gift from Arameans?
Really I think Naaman's cure is just poor imaginative writing - If Tolkein had been writing this there would probably have been battles with goblins and orcs, a tremendous battle and after much suffering and sorrow Naaman would have been healed bathing in an Elven stream in Rivendell
I don't know if there are historical evidence for this chapter outside of the Bible - but to me the sheer anticlimax of the non meeting between Naaman and Elisha suggests truth to me, who would make up something that boring or easy?
On a personal note - thank you for following my rambles - I realise I seem to have dropped in frequency to about once a week, sorry about that.
I will try and get my act together a bit and publish more regularly, but frankly I am finding the history books actually more challenging to be interesting than the law. Who would have thought that was possible?
Sure there are a lot of stories but many of them just roll on by without me really having a reaction to them.
The situations are so far away from modern life that there is no real connection.
Naaman, commander of the army of Aram (one of Israel's on and off enemies) became infected with Leprosy which may have been any undefined infectious skin disease and not necessarily what would be diagnosed as leprosy today.
Leprosy was and still is a very much feared disease and leper colonies are still around. In biblical times it would have been devastating, after all we saw in Leviticus and the books of the law that leprosy was actually covered in particular detail and lepers were ceremonially unclean, forced to live outside the community and cover their faces, ring a bell and shout "unclean" to make sure they did not infect any non sufferer.
So Naaman's career looked like it was over and he could look forward to a life of hardship and discrimination. However at some point in the past Aram had captured a young slave girl who was a slave to Naaman's wife, and the slave girl mentioned a prophet in Israel.
Naaman told the king of Aram (his boss) that he wanted to see the prophet in Israel. The king sent a letter to the king of Israel along with a gift of gold, silver and clothes (don't know why clothes? but there you go perhaps fashion?)
The letter basically said "I am sending Naaman the commander of my army to you to heal him of his leprosy"
On receiving the letter the king of Israel failed to see the joke and throws a bit of a fit - he is thinking that Aram is saying heal my man or there will be consequences!
Meanwhile Elisha the prophet heard about this, tells the king of Israel to get his act together and send Naaman down to him.
Naaman turns up at Elisha's house with his guards, chariots and the rest of the military clobber.
Elisha sent him a note - he did not even bother to get up and meet his guest, who carried a lot of weight politically and in military terms a guy with an army is a guy you don't really want to upset when he is waiting at your door!
The note told Naaman to go an wash in the river Jordan seven times and his medical condition would be cured
Naaman at this very impolite welcome goes off in a sulk - why should he wash in rotten Israel water, when his land has perfectly good rivers what is wrong with them.
Eventually his servants calm him down saying if the task that the prophet had given him had beeen particularly difficult or dangerous he would not have as big an issue, look it is a simple thing, stop whining and do what he says, what is the worst that could happen?
Naaman is cured, his skin is like a young boy again and he is delighted offering Elisha valuable gifts.
Elisha declined to accept any gifts from Arameans, instead Naaman is given some earth from Israel and he will worship only the God of Israel, but hopes that God will forgive him if he goes into the temple of the local god of Aram with his king .
In peace Elisha let him depart, but his servant, a guy called Gehazi decided that Elisha had been too lenient and went after Naaman asking for a gift of a talent of silver and 2 changes of clothes, Naaman doubled the silver on the spot.
Elisha asked Gehazi where he had been and challenged him for accepting gifts against God's wishes. Gehazi found that he was now a carrier of Naaman's leprosy, but washing in the river would not cure him.
There are some uncomfortable elements in this story - why was the slave girl not freed as part of the deal? What was so wrong about accepting a gift from Arameans?
Really I think Naaman's cure is just poor imaginative writing - If Tolkein had been writing this there would probably have been battles with goblins and orcs, a tremendous battle and after much suffering and sorrow Naaman would have been healed bathing in an Elven stream in Rivendell
I don't know if there are historical evidence for this chapter outside of the Bible - but to me the sheer anticlimax of the non meeting between Naaman and Elisha suggests truth to me, who would make up something that boring or easy?
On a personal note - thank you for following my rambles - I realise I seem to have dropped in frequency to about once a week, sorry about that.
I will try and get my act together a bit and publish more regularly, but frankly I am finding the history books actually more challenging to be interesting than the law. Who would have thought that was possible?
Sure there are a lot of stories but many of them just roll on by without me really having a reaction to them.
The situations are so far away from modern life that there is no real connection.
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