Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but [he was] a leper.

II Kings 5:1 NKJV

Where to begin the account of Naaman… We could begin in the camp of the Syrian army, the arch enemy of Israel, where Naaman served as general in successful wars with Israel. We could begin with Naaman as a Gentile, outside of the kingdom of God, and brought into it by grace through faith, because God desires for all to come to repentance.* We could begin with the honor, wealth, and greatness of Naaman who was favored by his king and people because he had won many heroic military victories. We could begin with the one who gave these victories to Naaman and the Syrians, the Lord Himself.

In one verse of Scripture, the Lord reveals much to us about Naaman the Syrian general. He was among the greatest men in the land of Syria. He was mighty, a man of valor and renown. Perhaps Naaman was to Syria what a general like Patton or MacArthur was to the United States in the 1940s. It is hard to find a more glowing description of a mighty warrior in the Scripture than that which is given to Naaman. But there was one problem.

Naaman was a leper.

Consider some of the greatest minds of our lifetimes such as Steve Jobs or Stephen Hawking.** Jobs was a man of terrific talent in engineering and business alike. He reached the very highest peaks of success and stayed there for some time. He was respected throughout the world, his company was the envy of the business world and a model for business schools. There was just one problem: Steve Jobs had pancreatic cancer.

Stephen Hawking was given a brilliant mind in mathematics and physics. In his lifetime, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a recipient of the highest civilian award in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. But there was a problem: Stephen Hawking had ALS.

Men with great gifts of the mind, military strength, political prowess, scientific discovery, theological understanding, even gifts of preaching are all subject to the effects of the fall and sin, disease and death. Disease and death do not discriminate but come upon all of us, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. “Naaman was as great as the world could make him, and yet the basest slave in Syria would not change skins with him.”***

Dear friends, you may achieve more than you ever dreamed possible in this life. The whole world may love you, honors may come in from every continent, financial concerns may leave your thoughts forever, but nothing that you do can save you from the effects of the fall and the sin that you have committed. Naaman had everything a man could want, but Naaman was a leper. Sickness and death will come upon you and me and all mankind. We need someone who is perfect, holy, harmless, and undefiled to come, save us from the sting of death, and make us righteous. Christ Jesus is that Savior and His word calls you to repent and believe in Him.

Lord willing through II Kings 5 we will consider that continuous call of the Word of God, the call of the gospel which is a sovereign call, a simple call, and a successful call.

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*II Peter 3:9. See also Galatians 3 and the Gentiles sharing the faith of Abraham.

**While brilliant in business and engineering, Jobs followed closely the false and hopeless religion of Buddhism. Brilliant in mathematics and physics, Hawking was very foolish when it came to his theories and beliefs/lack thereof around God and the origin of the universe. “The fool has said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).

***Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible. II Kings 5.

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