2 Kings 5:11

11 But Naaman left in a rage, saying, "I thought that he would at least come out to me, pray to the Lord his God, wave his hand over the diseased spot, and cure me!

2 Kings 5:11 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 5:11

But Naaman was wroth with him
On more accounts than one:

and went away;
not to Jordan, but from the prophet's house, with an intention to return to his own country:

behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me
this he said within himself, making no doubt of it but that he would show him so much respect and civility as to come out of his house to him, and converse with him, or invite him into it and not doing this was one thing made him wroth: and stand; he supposed that he would not only come out, but stand before him, as inferiors before their superiors in reverence, but instead of that he remained sitting within doors:

and call on the name of the Lord his God:
he expected, that as he was a prophet of the Lord, that he would have prayed to him for the cure of him:

and strike his hand over the place;
wave his hand to and fro, as the word signifies, over the place of the leprosy, as the Targum, over the place affected with it; or towards the place where he worshipped the Lord, as Ben Gersom, toward the temple at Jerusalem; or towards Jordan, the place where he bid him go and wash, as Abarbinel; but the first sense seems best: "and recover the leper"; meaning himself, heal him by the use of such means and rites.

2 Kings 5:11 In-Context

9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariot and stopped at the entrance to Elisha's house.
10 Elisha sent a servant out to tell him to go and wash himself seven times in the Jordan River, and he would be completely cured of his disease.
11 But Naaman left in a rage, saying, "I thought that he would at least come out to me, pray to the Lord his God, wave his hand over the diseased spot, and cure me!
12 Besides, aren't the rivers Abana and Pharpar, back in Damascus, better than any river in Israel? I could have washed in them and been cured!"
13 His servants went up to him and said, "Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it. Now why can't you just wash yourself, as he said, and be cured?"

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. the diseased spot; [or] this place.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.