Naaman healed of leprosy

Naaman is the commander of the army of Aram, highly regarded by his king, a valiant soldier, and the reason given for his victories is unexpected: because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He also has a skin disease.

The chain that brings him to Israel starts with a captive. Aramean raiders had taken a young girl from Israel and she serves Naaman's wife, and she says: if only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy. A slave taken in a raid recommends a cure to the household of the man whose army took her.

He goes about it as a general would, with a letter from his king to the king of Israel, ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The king of Israel tears his robes and asks whether he is God, to kill and to bring back to life, and concludes he is being picked for a quarrel.

Elisha sends a message telling him to go and wash seven times in the Jordan.

The reaction is the human centre of the episode. He goes away angry, and what he says is entirely understandable: I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Damascus has clear rivers off the mountains; the Jordan at that point is a muddy stream.

His servants talk him round with an argument that is close to affectionate: my father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you to wash and be cleansed. He dips seven times and his flesh is restored, like that of a young boy.

He goes back and offers a gift and it is refused. He then asks for something odd and specific: as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, because he will never again make offerings to any god but the LORD. And he asks in advance to be forgiven when he has to accompany his king into the temple of Rimmon and bow there. He is told to go in peace.

Gehazi runs after him, invents a request for a talent of silver and two sets of clothing, and gets the disease.

The cargo of soil is the strangest request in the episode and it is theologically revealing. Gods in that world were tied to territories, so a foreign convert wanting to worship the God of Israel in Damascus asks for enough Israelite earth to build an altar on. Nobody corrects him. He is sent away with his mule-loads of dirt and a blessing, having made a request that assumes something about God that the rest of these books spend their length arguing against.

The chain of people who make the healing happen is worth following, because not one of them is important. An Israelite girl taken captive in a raid and working as a slave for Naaman's wife mentions a prophet in Samaria. Naaman's own servants talk him out of storming off in a rage. Elisha never comes to the door.

The king of Israel's reaction to the letter is panic: am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? This fellow sends someone to me to be cured of his leprosy! He tears his robes and assumes it is a pretext for war.

Naaman's anger at being told to wash in the Jordan is entirely about status and about rivers: are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?

Gehazi's greed at the end, chasing the departing convoy for silver and clothing, ends with the disease transferring to him.