2 Kings 5: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, has leprosy, and a captive Israelite girl tells his wife about the prophet in Samaria. Naaman travels to Israel with a royal letter and rich gifts; he is angered by Elisha's simple order to wash seven times in the Jordan, but his servants talk him into obeying, and he is healed. He returns to confess that Israel's God is the only God, asks for Israelite soil, and asks pardon for bowing beside his king in the temple of Rimmon; Elisha refuses any gift and sends him off in peace. Elisha's servant Gehazi then chases Naaman down and gets silver and clothing by lying, and Elisha tells him Naaman's leprosy will cling to him and to his descendants.

Claim by Claim

1. 5:1
   • Naaman was the commander of the army of the king of Aram.
   • Naaman was a great man before his master.
   • Naaman was held in honor.
   • The reason for his standing was that through Naaman the LORD had given victory to Aram.
   • Naaman was a mighty man of valor.
   • Naaman had a skin disease.
   • The disease is set in contrast to his greatness.
2. 5:2
   • Aramean raiding bands had gone out.
   • They had carried off captive from the land of Israel a young girl.
   • The girl served Naaman's wife.
3. 5:3
   • The girl spoke to her mistress.
   • She wished that her lord were before the prophet who is in Samaria.
   • She said that the prophet would then cure him of his skin disease.
4. 5:4
   • Someone went and reported to his master.
   • The Hebrew does not name who went in and reported; the King James says 'one went in' while the Berean makes it Naaman.
   • He reported that the girl from the land of Israel had said thus and thus.
5. 5:5
   • The king of Aram said to go.
   • The king of Aram said he would send a letter to the king of Israel.
   • Naaman departed.
   • Naaman took with him ten talents of silver.
   • Naaman took six thousand of gold.
   • Naaman took ten changes of clothing.
6. 5:6
   • He brought the letter to the king of Israel.
   • The letter said that when this letter came to him, the sender had sent Naaman his servant to him.
   • The letter said the purpose was that the king of Israel should cure Naaman of his skin disease.
7. 5:7
   • The king of Israel read the letter.
   • The king of Israel tore his clothes.
   • The king of Israel asked whether he was God, to kill and to make alive.
   • The king of Israel said that this man was sending to him to cure a man of his skin disease.
   • The king of Israel told those present to know and see.
   • The king of Israel said that the sender was seeking a quarrel against him.
8. 5:8
   • Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes.
   • Elisha sent word to the king.
   • Elisha asked why the king had torn his clothes.
   • Elisha said to let the man come to him.
   • Elisha said the man would then know that there is a prophet in Israel.
9. 5:9
   • Naaman came with his horses and his chariot.
   • Naaman stood at the entrance of Elisha's house.
10. 5:10
    • Elisha sent a messenger out to Naaman.
    • The message said to go and wash seven times in the Jordan.
    • The message said his flesh would return to him.
    • The message said he would be clean.
11. 5:11
    • Naaman became angry.
    • Naaman went away.
    • Naaman said he had expected the prophet to come out to him.
    • Naaman said he had expected him to stand there.
    • Naaman said he had expected him to call on the name of the LORD his God.
    • Naaman said he had expected him to wave his hand over the spot.
    • Naaman said he had expected him to cure the diseased man.
12. 5:12
    • Naaman asked whether Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, were not better than all the waters of Israel.
    • Naaman asked whether he could not wash in them and be clean.
    • Naaman turned.
    • Naaman went away in fury.
13. 5:13
    • Naaman's servants approached him.
    • They spoke to him.
    • They addressed him as 'my father'.
    • They asked whether he would not have done it if the prophet had told him to do some great thing.
    • They argued how much more he should do it when the prophet said to him, Wash and be clean.
14. 5:14
    • Naaman went down.
    • Naaman dipped himself in the Jordan seven times.
    • He did this according to the word of the man of God.
    • His flesh returned like the flesh of a young boy.
    • He was clean.
15. 5:15
    • Naaman returned to the man of God.
    • All his company returned with him.
    • He came and stood before Elisha.
    • Naaman said he now knew that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.
    • Naaman asked Elisha to accept a gift from his servant.
16. 5:16
    • Elisha swore by the life of the LORD, before whom he stands.
    • Elisha said he would not accept anything.
    • Naaman urged him to take it.
    • Elisha refused.
17. 5:17
    • Naaman spoke again.
    • Naaman asked that his servant be given two mules' load of earth.
    • Naaman said his servant would no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods.
    • Naaman said he would offer only to the LORD.
18. 5:18
    • Naaman asked that the LORD pardon his servant in this matter.
    • Naaman described his master going into the house of Rimmon to bow down there.
    • Naaman said his master leans on his hand.
    • Naaman said he bows down in the house of Rimmon.
    • Naaman repeated the request that the LORD pardon his servant in this matter when he bows down in the house of Rimmon.
19. 5:19
    • Elisha told him to go in peace.
    • Naaman departed from him.
    • Naaman went a short distance.
20. 5:20
    • Gehazi was the servant of Elisha the man of God.
    • Gehazi said that his master had spared Naaman the Aramean.
    • Gehazi said his master had not taken from Naaman's hand what he brought.
    • Gehazi swore by the life of the LORD.
    • Gehazi said he would run after Naaman.
    • Gehazi said he would take something from him.
21. 5:21
    • Gehazi pursued Naaman.
    • Naaman saw someone running after him.
    • Naaman got down from the chariot to meet him.
    • Naaman asked whether all was well.
22. 5:22
    • Gehazi said all was well.
    • Gehazi said his master had sent him.
    • Gehazi reported his master as saying that just now two young men had come to him from the hill country of Ephraim.
    • Gehazi said the two young men were of the sons of the prophets.
    • Gehazi asked for a talent of silver for them.
    • Gehazi asked for two changes of clothing for them.
23. 5:23
    • Naaman urged him to take two talents.
    • Naaman pressed him.
    • Two talents of silver were tied up in two bags.
    • Two changes of clothing were included.
    • They were given to two of Naaman's servants.
    • The servants carried them ahead of Gehazi.
24. 5:24
    • Gehazi came to the hill.
    • Gehazi took the goods from the servants' hand.
    • Gehazi stored them in the house.
    • Gehazi sent the men away.
    • The men departed.
25. 5:25
    • Gehazi went in and stood before his master.
    • Elisha asked him where he had come from.
    • Elisha addressed him as Gehazi.
    • Gehazi said his servant had gone nowhere.
26. 5:26
    • Elisha said his heart had gone with him.
    • Elisha said this was when the man turned from his chariot to meet him.
    • Elisha asked whether it was a time to take silver.
    • Elisha asked whether it was a time to take garments.
    • Elisha listed olive groves and vineyards.
    • Elisha listed sheep and oxen.
    • Elisha listed male and female slaves.
27. 5:27
    • Elisha said the skin disease of Naaman would cling to Gehazi.
    • Elisha said it would cling to Gehazi's offspring forever.
    • Gehazi went out from Elisha's presence.
    • Gehazi was diseased, white as snow.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

5:1

"Syria" here translates Aram, a kingdom centered on Damascus, north-east of Israel; the two states fought each other repeatedly through this period. "Leprosy" translates a Hebrew word covering a range of disfiguring skin conditions, not only the disease called leprosy today. In Israel it made a person ritually unclean and barred them from normal contact with others; in Syria it evidently carried no such penalty, since Naaman still commands the army.

5:2

These were small cross-border raiding parties rather than an army at war; carrying off captives to work as household slaves was a normal part of such raids.

5:3

Samaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel, and also the name of the surrounding region.

5:5

A talent was a weight of roughly seventy-five pounds (about thirty-four kilograms), so ten talents of silver is around three quarters of a ton. "Six thousand pieces of gold" means six thousand shekels, perhaps a hundred and fifty pounds of gold. Sets of clothing were treated as portable wealth in the ancient Near East and were a standard high-status gift. The total is an enormous royal payment.

5:7

Tearing one's own clothes was a public, formal gesture of grief, horror or dismay, the recognized way of showing that something terrible had happened. The king reads the letter as a deliberate trap: an impossible demand that will give Syria a pretext for war.

5:8

"Man of God" is a standard title for a prophet, a person recognized as speaking and acting on God's behalf. It is a description of an office, not a compliment.

5:9

Arriving with horses and chariot is a display of rank. Chariots were expensive military equipment, and a commander traveling in one is making his standing visible.

5:10

The Jordan is the main river of Israel, though a modest and often muddy one. "Clean" translates a word meaning ritually pure, fit to take part in worship and ordinary community life, not simply washed.

5:11

Naaman is describing the healing ritual he would recognize from other religions: the holy man appears in person, speaks his god's name aloud, and passes his hand over the diseased place. He is offended by being handed instructions through a messenger instead.

5:12

The Abana (or Amana) and Pharpar flowed down from the mountains through Damascus: clear, fast, snow-fed streams watering a famously green oasis city. Naaman's complaint is that they are visibly finer than the muddy Jordan.

5:13

"My father" is a respectful form of address to a superior or master, used here by servants to their commander. It says nothing about family relationship.

5:15

In older English a "blessing" could mean a present, and that is its sense here, Naaman is offering the payment he brought. Speaking of oneself as "your servant" instead of "I" was ordinary polite speech when addressing someone of higher standing.

5:16

"As the LORD lives" is a standard oath formula, roughly "I swear by the living God." "Before whom I stand" uses the language of a servant standing in attendance on a master: Elisha is describing whose household he belongs to.

5:17

Gods in the ancient Near East were commonly thought of as attached to particular territories. Naaman wants Israelite soil to take home to Damascus, presumably to build an altar on, so that he can worship Israel's God on Israel's ground. A burnt offering was an animal killed and burned whole on an altar; "sacrifice" covers offerings of which parts were eaten by the worshipers.

5:18

Rimmon was a god worshiped at Damascus, a form of the storm god Hadad. The king "leaning on my hand" describes a formal court role: the chief attendant on whose arm the king physically supports himself in public, a position of high honor. Naaman is asking about the bow he will have to make while performing that duty.

5:19

"Go in peace" is the customary formula for dismissing someone, roughly "go, and all is well between us." The Hebrew does not say whether Elisha is granting Naaman's request or simply letting him go.

5:20

Gehazi swears the same formal oath Elisha used in verse 16. As Elisha's personal attendant he was expected to speak and act on his master's behalf, which is exactly what makes the lie he is about to tell believable.

5:21

Climbing down from a chariot to greet a servant standing on foot is a marked courtesy from a far higher-ranking man. "Is all well?" translates a greeting built on the word shalom, which asks after someone's whole situation, not just their mood.

5:22

The "sons of the prophets" were groups or guilds of prophets who lived together in communities associated with a senior figure like Elisha; they depended on gifts and support from others, so the request Gehazi invents is a plausible one. Mount Ephraim is the hill country of Ephraim, the central highlands of Israel.

5:23

Two talents of silver weighed something like a hundred and fifty pounds, hence the need for two servants to carry it, one bag each.

5:24

The Hebrew word is Ophel, meaning a swelling or mound; it can refer to a hill or to a fortified rise, and here marks a spot near Elisha's house in Samaria.

5:25

"Whence comest thou" simply means where have you come from.

5:26

In Hebrew the "heart" is the mind and inner self rather than the seat of feeling, so Elisha is saying his awareness was present at the scene. The list that follows (olive groves, vineyards, livestock, slaves) is what a fortune in silver was normally converted into: the estate of a substantial landowner.

5:27

"Seed" in older English means offspring or descendants. "White as snow" describes the flaking, whitened patches of skin that the Hebrew word for this condition covers.