#106: The Captor Listens to the Captive
And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.”
II Kings 5:4 NKJV
Some time ago I was discussing the deity of Christ and the Trinity with visitors at our house. Without turning to the passage, I referenced the account of John 14:7-11. In explaining the context, I told the group that “Andrew” asked Jesus to show them the Father. One of my sons immediately jumped into the conversation to tell me it was not “Andrew” but rather “Phillip.” Turning to the text I found my son, of course, was correct. It is a joy for my wife and me to see our children remembering details of Scripture at times better than we do.
Listening to one’s own children is probably not hard to imagine. But what about a great general of a violent and pagan country listening to the counsel of one of his captured slaves, a mere child? That would be a highly unusual event for sure. Why would Naaman bring such an idea as this young girl had to the attention of his king? Might he not look foolish in the eyes of the one who favored him and held him in high esteem?
The reality of Naaman’s incurable leprosy led him to take actions that in normal circumstances he might be embarrassed to take. He was willing, if his king allowed it, to look for help and healing from the nation they were raiding and subduing. In such a desperate situation, Naaman would consider anything and any cost to be healed of the terrible disease. By God’s sovereign decree over all His creatures and all their actions, a young woman and a slave in Naaman’s house would by her godly words, have an impact on the actions of a great general who was her captor and her nation’s enemy. Naaman went to the king of Syria and relayed the words of the young girl from Israel.
Leprosy in the Bible is a visible manifestation of the inward reality of sin. It is often used by God as a direct punishment for sin as we will see later in this chapter.* Captives to our sin, we rot away in unrighteousness and will one day descend into hell, suffering and perishing for all eternity. To escape God’s wrath and curse for sin, we must be cleansed, healed, forgiven. We need salvation! In Jesus’s day Israel sent the lepers away; no one would go near them. They were unclean and could not be helped. The lepers knew their time was short and they would soon perish in misery. So when Jesus came preaching repentance and the kingdom of God with great power and healing, the lepers put aside all ordinary decorum and came to Jesus for help. Many lepers were healed by Jesus. Like Naaman and the lepers in Jesus day, sinful man should likewise pursue, at all cost and against all opposition, the remedy for the curse of sin. Sinful man should not rest until He has received Christ and eternal life through Him.** But unlike the leper who cannot turn his eyes away from his terrible condition, the sinner can and so often does suppress the truth in unrighteousness. He will often turn away from the one who saves sinners.
The desperate state of Naaman the captor caused him to listen to the words of healing from the young girl he captured. May we see our desperate estate of sin and misery and listen to the one the world despised, rejected, and killed, even Jesus Christ whom God raised from the dead, and trust in Him alone for salvation from our sin and healing for our broken-hearts. It was after all for the desperate state of sinful man that Christ came to Earth:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19 quoting Isaiah 61:1-2).
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*Consider also Miriam’s leprosy for speaking against Moses in Number’s 12 and King Uzziah’s leprosy for disobeying God in II Kings 15.
** How can Christ Jesus and eternal life be received? Repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved (Acts 16:35-40).
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