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Elisha, VIP's, and an Unnamed Little Girl!

The story found in II Kings 5 is one of the great stories in all of Scripture. It is so simple, so captivating, so rich in application, that it is often used in the program for children; either in Sunday-school or children’s church. And rightly so, for one of the main characters within the story is an unnamed little girl. But, this is also a great story for adults. It is especially a story for influential adults, adults who have experienced a measure of success in this world, for it a story of VIPs and, in this story, there are plenty of them.

In II Kings 5:1 - 8 we read:

Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. 2 Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 3 She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." 4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 "By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy." 7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!" 8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Make the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel."

In today’s world of international affairs where great men enter into heated debate with other great men we’ve reached the point where the common man in the street can name most of the key players with their associated titles.

In one corner we have President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In the other corner, we have the French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, German Defense Minister Peter Struck, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the middle of the ring we have Saddam Hussein who presently must be enjoying the fight. And outside the ring the whole world, many of whom are making wagers, is sizing up this heavy weight fight as it is being waged in the United Nations.

In Elisha’s day, things weren’t much different. The common man in the street was able to name most of the key political players in his world. There was King Jehoshaphat of Judah, Ben-Hadad II the king of Aram (Syria), and King Joram of Israel. But there was another name that was consistently being talked about on the grapevine. An Aramite commander by the name of Naaman was making a name for himself the old-fashioned way; by piling one victory on top of another. In fact, until recently, the king of Aram seriously considered him as the next Secretary of State.

Scripture tells us that this man was “great in the sight of his master and highly regarded” by the king as well as those under his command. He was a man who knew how to exercise authority and how to properly respond to it. He was a man who understood how to work through channels while adhering to protocol. ^[1] He was a man whose influence reached to the king himself simply because as the commander of the army he was good at what was required of him.

But, and this is no minor conjunction, he was man who had leprosy. He was a man of stature and great potential, but his military career, not to mention his life, was going nowhere fast. For in Naaman’s day, as in Jesus’ day, being a leper was like being a walking dead man. There was no medical hope for a better tomorrow nor was there any hope for a better tomorrow socially. In short, the future for anyone who had leprosy was grim.

Most of us don’t know the name of Josef de Veuster-Wouters nor do we know the name of Dr. Gerhard (Karl) Hansen. The former is better known as Father Damien, the man who lived and died for the victims of leprosy on the island of Molokai. In the mid-to-late 1800s a local notice found in Hawaii read:

All lepers are required to report themselves to the Government Health Authorities within fourteen days from this date for inspection and final banishment to Molokai.

When sent the lepers found themselves living in a world of no help, no hope, and no law. It was this world that Father Damien (1840 - 1889) chose as his place of service. He had carpentry skills and he had a temper, both of which were needed on the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Molokai where the lepers settled. His carpentry skills were used to provide shelter for the lepers, his temper was used to establish some measure of law in a lawless colony. He lived and worked among them from 1873 until 1889. In the end, he died among them as one of them – a leper. ^[2]

The latter name, that of Dr. Karl Hansen (1841 - 1912), refers to a Norwegian physician who isolated the deadly bacteria that causes leprosy in 1874. Consequently, leprosy is now known as Hansen’s disease. Though the bacteria was isolated in 1874, the drug dapsone wasn’t developed, or wasn’t ready for widespread use, until 1908. ^[3]

Obviously, this was a little too late for Naaman. Nevertheless, it’s easy to imagine the king of Aram bidding his most skillful physicians to attend to the needs of the nation’s most decorated commander. But no matter what they prescribed, it had no effect on Naaman’s skin condition. He continued to be ravaged by leprosy. Slowly, but surely, he was being reduced to an isolated and shunned outcast of society.

It was at this point that an unknown little girl, a captive, spoke up and suggested that her master go see “the prophet who is in Samaria.” This sincere recommendation, offered by a little girl who didn’t know enough not to make such suggestions, set in motion a chain of events that almost led to another round of international conflict.

Naaman, having exhausted the medical resources of Syria, swallowed his national pride and went to the king of Aram with the little girl’s suggestion. To convey the words of this captive to the king would be like one of us telling our personal physician that our maid has suggested that we go to Mexico for medical treatment. After all, at this point in time Israel was definitely on the decline. It was a no account nation that Aram raided at will which is exactly how the little girl was taken captive in the first place.

But, the king had run out of solutions of his own. Hence, he penned a letter of introduction to the king of Israel. He followed protocol, his intent was to do things in the right way for the sake of this valiant soldier. It was also his intent to introduce Naaman to the right people, those with connections, for he figured that it was who you knew that really counted in life.

The wording, however, left something to be desired. Or perhaps the king didn’t fully understand who was actually recommended by the girl. Or maybe the confusion was with the recipient of the letter. For the letter, in part, read:

“With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you (perhaps not meaning the king of Israel personally) may cure him of his leprosy.”

Well you can see how the king of Israel could take this to mean him personally; especially if the king tended to be paranoid. He read the letter, perhaps having had a bad day already, and took it as international provocation. He felt the king of Aram was just itching for a fight and this was his way to provide the excuse needed to launch an attack, as if he needed an excuse.

“What,” he bellowed, “does he think I’m God? Does he think that I can kill and make alive? He’s just looking for an excuse to invade us!”

While the VIPs took a simple matter and turned it into an international crisis, while tensions increased between the two nations, there was a little girl in the background who had watched her master pack up all sorts of gifts, monetary and otherwise, and head toward her native land.

She knew that to a large extent that this trip of his was of her doing. If the mission failed she’d be embarrassed, which was okay, but her God would be discounted as just another impotent god among gods. That thought, which wasn’t okay, prompted her to pray that Naaman would indeed be healed by the prophet in Samaria. It prompted her to pray that things would work out for good and not for evil.

As she prayed, as the VIPs bungled international relationships, God communicated to Elisha, perhaps through the grapevine, that his help was needed. Consequently, he sent a message to King Joram suggesting that the king send this commander from Syria to him. Needless to say, the king was greatly relieved and with much enthusiasm gave Naaman directions to Elisha’s house.

There are at least three lessons we can learn from this part of the story. First, in Aram, or Syria, we have a nation closed to the land of divine revelation. It was not simply a mountain ridge that separated Syria from Israel, though one does, it was a more formidable barrier. It was the barrier of national hatred against the laws and customs of God’s people. It was also the barrier of pride that told the Syrians that they had no need of the God of Israel. Across this barrier, God sent a little chatterbox of a girl who couldn’t help but talk about what God had done through the prophet Elisha. Through her, God began breaking down the barriers.

Second, despite all the bungling by the VIPs in this story, despite all of their influence, despite all of their plans, despite all of their intentions, and despite their paranoid behavior, God’s will was done. Things must have looked bleak for both Naaman and his world as the king of Israel overreacted to his letter of introduction but God calmly worked through the chaos and brought order to the situation.

Third, we need to note that Elisha consistently blessed the lives of others by asking a very simple question of them. He habitually ask, and he did it here, though not directly, “What can I do for you?” In this story, he essentially said to the king of Israel, “How can I help you? Why don’t you send this fellow down to my house and perhaps God will bless him through me.”

Granted, you’re not Elisha and neither am I, but the question he consistently asked others is one that we can be asking of those around us. What can I do for you today? How can I help you? It’s a simple question. It’s a question that all servants ought to be asking of those they serve. Yes, like it or not, we are servants.

9 ¶ So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." 11 But Naaman went away angry and said, "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 of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage. 13 Naaman's servants went to him and said, "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, `Wash and be cleansed'?" 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

15 ¶ Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant." 16 The prophet answered, "As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, he refused. 17 "If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD. 18 But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also--when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this." 19 "Go in peace," Elisha said.

[1] Protocol: 1. The forms of ceremony and etiquette observed by diplomats and heads of state. A code of correct conduct. 2. The first copy of a treaty or other such document before its ratification. 3. A preliminary draft or record of a transaction. 4. The plan for a course of medical treatment or for a scientific experiment. 5. A standard procedure for regulating data transmission between computers.

[2] In 1977 Father Damien, a Roman Catholic Missionary, was named “venerable” by Pope Paul VI. This is the last step before becoming a saint within the Catholic church. To the lepers on Molokai, he was a saint everyday of their lives.

[3] For the scientist among us, and/or those in the medical profession , dapsone is C₁₂H₁₂N₂O₂S.

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