2 Kings 5:12

12 Whether Abana and Pharpar, the floods of Damascus, be not better than all the waters of Israel, that I be washed in them, and be cleansed? Therefore when he had turned himself, and went away, having indignation, (Be not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, and that I be washed in them, and be cleansed? And so when he had turned, and went away, having indignation,)

2 Kings 5:12 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 5:12

Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all
the waters of Israel?
&c.] Abana is, in the marginal reading, called Amana, and so the Targum; perhaps from the Mount Amana, from whence it sprung, a mountain in Syria ^F7, mentioned with Lebanon, ( Song of Solomon 4:8 ) . This river is thought to be the Chrysorrhoas of Pliny ^F8, and other writers; there are no traces of its name, or of the following, to be met with now; the only river by Damascus is called Barrady, which supplies Damascus and its gardens, and makes them so fruitful and pleasant as they be; it pours down from the mountains, as Mr. Maundrell

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 describes it, and is divided into three streams, of which the middlemost and biggest runs directly to Damascus, through a large field, called the field of Damascus; and the other two are drawn round, the one to the right hand, and the other to the left, on the borders of the gardens. Pharpar is thought ^F11 to be the river Orontes, which runs close to the walls of Antioch, and courses through its large and spacious plain, being numbered among the rivers of Syria; it takes its rise from Lebanon, and, sliding through the said plain, falls into the Syrian sea. Benjamin of Tudela ^F12 speaks of these rivers under their Scripture names; Abana or Amana as he says, passes through the city and supplies the houses of great men with water through wooden pipes; and Pharpar is without the city and runs among the gardens and orchards, and waters them. Farfar is also the name of a river in Italy ^F13:

may I not wash in them, and be clean?
as well as in Jordan; or rather, since they are better waters, and so not have been at this trouble and expense to come hither; or have I not washed in them every day? I have, and am I clean? I am not; which is the sense the several Jewish writers give ^F14:

so he turned, and went away in a rage;
in a great passion, swearing and cursing perhaps, ordering his chariot driver to turn and be gone at once.

F7 Tacit. Annal. l. 2. c. 83.
F8 Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 18.
F9 Journey from Aleppo, p. 122, 123.
F11 Cartwright's Preacher's Travels, p. 7, 8. Hiller. Onomast. Sacr. p. 908.
F12 Itinerar. p. 55.
F13 Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. l. 7. p. 1243.
F14 Ben Gersom in loc. & R. Joseph Kimchi, & R. Jonah in Ben Melech in. loc.

2 Kings 5:12 In-Context

10 And Elisha sent to him a messenger (And Elisha sent a messenger to him), and said, Go, and be thou washed seven times in Jordan; and thy flesh shall receive health, and thou shalt be cleansed.

11 Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, I guessed, that he would have gone out to me, and that he would have stood, and inwardly have called (on) the name of the Lord his God, and that he should have touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and should have cured me so. (And Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, I guessed, that he would have come out to me, and that he would have stood there, and inwardly called on the name of the Lord his God, and then he would have touched the place of the leprosy with his hand, and thus he would have cured me.)

12 Whether Abana and Pharpar, the floods of Damascus, be not better than all the waters of Israel, that I be washed in them, and be cleansed? Therefore when he had turned himself, and went away, having indignation, (Be not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, and that I be washed in them, and be cleansed? And so when he had turned, and went away, having indignation,)

13 his servants nighed to him, and spake to him, Father, though the prophet had said to thee a great thing, certainly thou oughtest to do it; how much more for now he said to thee, Be thou washed, and thou shalt be cleansed. (his servants came to him, and spoke to him, and said, Father, if the prophet had said to thee to do a great thing, certainly thou wouldest have done it; how much more now for that he hath simply said to thee, Be thou washed, and thou shalt be cleansed, or healed.)

14 Then Naaman went down, and washed him(self) seven times in Jordan, by the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored as the flesh of a little child, and he was cleansed (and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young child, and he was healed).