2 Kings 5:7-17

7 When the king of Israel read the letter, ¹he tore his clothes and said, "²Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But ³consider now, and see how he is seeking a quarrel against me."

8 It happened when Elisha ⁴the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."

9 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha.

10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "⁵Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean."

11 But Naaman was furious and went away and said, "Behold, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.'

12 "Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and ⁶went away in a rage.

13 ⁷Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "⁸My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much * more * then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean '?"

14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and ⁹his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and ¹⁰he was clean.

Gehazi's Greed

15 When he returned to the man of God with all his company, and came and stood before him, he said, "Behold now, ¹¹I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel; so please ¹²take a present from your servant now."

16 But he said, "¹³As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, ¹⁴I will take nothing." And he urged him to take it, but he refused.

17 Naaman said, "If not, please let your servant at least be given two mules' load of ¹⁵earth; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering nor will he sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD.

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2 Kings 5:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 5

This chapter gives an account of the leprosy of Naaman the Syrian, and of the cure of it by Elisha; how he came to hear of him, and the recommendation he had from the king of Syria to the king of Israel, 2Ki 5:1-8, who, coming to Elisha's house, was ordered to dip himself seven times in Jordan, which made him depart in wrath; but one of his servants persuaded him to do it, and he did, and was cured, 2Ki 5:9-14, upon which he returned to Elisha, and offered him a present, which he refused, 2Ki 5:15-19 but Gehazi, his servant, ran after him with a lie in his mouth, and obtained it, and returned to his master with another, for which he was smitten with the leprosy of Naaman, 2Ki 5:20-27.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 15

1. Genesis 37:29
2. Genesis 30:2; 1 Samuel 2:6
3. 1 Kings 20:7; Luke 11:54
4. 1 Kings 12:22
5. John 9:7
6. Proverbs 14:17; Proverbs 16:32; Proverbs 19:11
7. 1 Samuel 28:23
8. 2 Kings 2:12; 2 Kings 6:21; 2 Kings 8:9
9. 2 Kings 5:10; Job 33:25
10. Luke 4:27; Luke 5:13
11. Joshua 2:11; 1 Samuel 17:46, 47; 2 Kings 5:8
12. 1 Samuel 25:27
13. 2 Kings 3:14
14. Genesis 14:22, 23; 2 Kings 5:20, 26
15. Exodus 20:24

Footnotes 5

[a]. Lit "an occasion"
[b]. Lit "said"
[c]. Another reading is "Amanah"
[d]. Lit "he and"
[e]. Lit "blessing"