The Way
Naaman's Seven Times
The Jordan where a great general was humbled
Story
Naaman, commander of the army of Aram, was a great warrior whom his king valued highly, but he had leprosy. In his house a young girl taken captive from Israel served Naaman's wife. The girl said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his disease.”
Naaman came with his horses and chariots, loaded with silver and gold, and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha did not even come out, but sent a messenger to say, “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan.” Naaman turned away in anger and said, “I thought he would surely come out, wave his hand and heal me. Aren't the rivers of Damascus better than the waters of this land?”
Naaman's servants came to him and calmed him: “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it? Why not do it when he only says, Wash?” Naaman went down to the Jordan and dipped himself in the water seven times. When he rose from the water the seventh time, his skin was clean, like the skin of a young child. Naaman went back to Elisha and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.”
Walk this scene on the map →Words of God and the Prophets
Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be clean.
Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.
If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.
As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept anything.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: 2 Kgs 5:1–19
Background
The rivers of Damascus that Naaman compared, the Abana and the Pharpar, were clear rivers flowing down from the Anti-Lebanon range and Mount Hermon. The lower Jordan, by comparison, is a narrow, winding, muddy-colored river.
Pause and Reflect
Is there some small thing I am not obeying because of my pride?