COMPASSION FOR THE APPARENTLY INCURABLE
ELISHA: PROPHET OF COMPASSION AND CONFRONTATION
by Ron Ritchie
John Thompson:
I would like to start by saying how uncomfortable I felt about coming to
speak to you today. The more I thought and prayed about it, the more I was
aware that what I would be talking to you about was the very situation I
was afraid of. You see, I have what some would call the 1994 leprosy---I
have AIDS. But God is good.
In 1976 I was hit by a car, which left me a paraplegic. Eight years later
I had major back surgery in which I was given twenty-six pints of blood.
That is when I caught the HIV virus.
Now, I don't want to sound as if I don't struggle with different issues.
I have had to restructure all my expectations for the future because of
this disease. My thoughts of growing up, getting married, and having a family
are pretty much at risk.
The biggest issue I'm dealing with now is people's using this information
about me as a point of gossip instead of support. It doesn't really bother
me that people are given this information as long as they are responsible
enough to handle it. But here I am telling you about it, and I don't know
how it will be received.
One of the most important things I have tried to get across to people is
that I have never wanted to be treated any differently because of my disability
or because of this disease. One way that I may be able help you understand
where I am is to ask you, if tomorrow you found out you had AIDS, how you
would want to be treated. Would you want people to move to a different seat
at church, or to hear people whispering about you? Would you want to lose
your job? Would you want to be excluded from the normal, everyday activities
of life that you have always enjoyed? What I am talking about is real qualities
of good relationships.
The way I get through each day I stop to remember that God is in control.
A scripture that has meant a lot to me is Exodus 4:10-11. This passage tells
me that the Lord knew about my accident and my operations, and he knows
the end of the story. He knows my hurts and my longings. So I rest in the
sovereignty of his role in my life.
During Jesus' ministry he came upon many who were lame, blind, demon-possessed,
and stricken with the incurable disease of leprosy. One day, "...there
was a man full of leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and
implored Him, saying, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.'
And He stretched out His hand, and touched him, saying, 'I am willing; be
cleansed.' And immediately the leprosy left him." (Luke 5:12-13.)
We are surrounded by men and women who are at this moment suffering from
some incurable physical disease that eventually will lead to their untimely
and often painful physical death. To have an incurable disease like cancer
or AIDS leaves many with a heart filled with hopelessness, anger, frustration,
and fear---fear of living and fear of dying---because they have no one to
turn to for a cure. But others have come to the spiritual realization that
every one of us has been born with an incurable disease called sin, and
the present physical diseases are but the natural consequences of being
born into a fallen humanity inherited from our parents Adam and Eve. And
our Lord is willing to heal physically on this earth, many like the man
with leprosy who came to him for healing, as a symbol of how willing and
available he is to heal all of us spiritually from sin.
In the adventure ahead of us in 2 Kings 5:1-19, we are going to be reminded
once again by the ministry of the prophet Elisha that not only does God
love his people of Israel and Judah, but he has always loved the pagan world
that surrounds his people. He is always willing to bring physical and spiritual
healing to anyone who will place their faith in him as Lord and Savior.
Let's meet Naaman, the commander-in-chief of the army of Aram, a political
enemy of Israel.
Naaman: commander-in-chief of the army
2 Kings 5:1-6
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.
Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from
Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If
only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him
of his leprosy."
Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.
"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.
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."
Elisha ("God is His Salvation") was God's instrument of compassion,
a prophet who had been sent to speak God's word of truth, grace, and warning
to the northern tribes of Israel as well as to Judah, Moab to the east,
and Aram to the north (848-797 BC). His ministry foreshadowed that of Jesus.
In his time the government was corrupt and there was impending war with
Aram, but God continued to move him around to minister to the common and
at times hurting people within the spiritual remnant. He was called upon
to purify the spring in Jericho, provide oil for a new widow in debt, provide
a child for a barren wife, and when the child died, raise him from death.
Elisha then was used of the Lord to purify some poisonous stew and multiply
twenty loaves of bread for a hundred hungry prophets, with some left over
after the meal. (See 2 Kings 3-4. Does that story sound familiar? See Luke
9:12-17.)
And now Elisha was about to get involved with this pagan general from Aram
who had leprosy. Aram was a small country situated at the northeastern corner
of Israel, and it later became modern Syria. A century earlier King David
had conquered Aram and collected taxes from them. At the time of the rule
of King Joram (Israel's ninth king, who reigned 853-842 BC), Aram was ruled
by King Ben-Hadad II, who kept growing stronger and bolder and eventually
became a thorn in the side of Israel, leading to a war between the two nations
(841 BC; see 2 Kings 6:8-7:20). Meanwhile Aram would boldly send out raiding
parties into Israel's territory and take food, supplies, and men and women
who were to be used as slaves.
The commander-in-chief of King Ben-Hadad II's army was Naaman ("Pleasantness").
This valiant soldier had been rewarded with a victory in an earlier battle
by the hand of Jehovah, which placed him in a position of high esteem in
the eyes of his king. (Only God knows the heart of each individual, and
he knew the heart of this general, as he would later know the heart of a
Roman centurion named Cornelius [see Acts 10]. And he is willing to offer
salvation to all who call upon his name.) But for Naaman, in the words of
Charles Dickens in the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities, "It
was the best of times, it was the worst of times...."---for he had
leprosy.
Everyone in that day knew that leprosy was a terminal illness, like so many
that we hear about today. It was a disease that eventually isolated one
from all the common joys of life: family, friends, and community life. Naaman's
case of leprosy apparently was not so advanced that he was in fear of losing
his high-ranking position immediately, but he knew as everyone did that
it was just a matter of time. He also knew that in spite of his rank, position
of respect, and power in the Aramean kingdom, he was personally helpless
to do anything but wait for death. He was a good man, but he had leprosy!
And he was a good man, but in the sight of God he was a sinner like all
the other good men and women of every generation. "...For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God...." (Romans 3:23). No matter
how nice non-Christians are, they are still sinners in the sight of God,
and they need to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Now earlier, bands of Aramean soldiers had raided an Israelite village,
and they had taken a young girl captive. In time she was placed in the home
of Naaman and became a servant of his wife. Once she heard about her master's
illness, she said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the
prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." What
a wonderful woman of faith. She had heard about Elisha and perhaps had even
seen him in Samaria, the capital. She surely had heard about his many miracles,
especially the purification of the poisonous food and the raising of the
Shunammite's dead son, which gave her the faith and courage to say to her
mistress, "The Jews believe in Jehovah, the one and only living God,
a God of compassion and healing. And if your husband would put his faith
in him, he could be healed. And our God has placed among us his prophets
who minister on his behalf, and all your husband has to do is 'show up'
in Israel---not as an enemy, of course, but as a man who desires to be healed
by God. Why don't we see what happens---it's certainly worth a try!"
God puts his people in the right place at the right time. You never know
how God will use you as a witness to his glory and power, even to bring
healing and salvation to many, regardless of whatever uncomfortable circumstances
and captivating situations you may find yourself in at the time.
Many years later (586 BC), a young man named Daniel and his three friends
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego would be taken captive by the Babylonians
led by King Nebuchadnezzar, and would become witnesses for Jehovah in a
pagan nation. One day Daniel's three friends were arrested because they
would not bow down to the golden image that the king had set up to be worshiped.
As a result they were cast into a furnace of blazing fire. Then the king
looked into the fire and saw four men walking around unharmed, and the appearance
of the fourth was like a son of the gods. So the king asked Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed-nego to walk out of the fire; and when they did, they did not even
have the smell of the fire on their persons. "Nebuchadnezzar responded
and said, 'Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has
sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating
the king's command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship
any god except their own God.'" Then he made a decree that anyone in
his kingdom who spoke against this God of Israel would be destroyed. (See
Daniel 3.)
Naaman's wife told her husband what the servant girl from Israel had said
about a man named Elisha in Samaria who was a prophet of the one and only
living God Jehovah. So Naaman had an audience with King Ben-Hadad II, and
the king greatly encouraged him to take time to visit the prophet, and was
even willing to write a letter of introduction on his behalf. So Naaman
put together a caravan and took what appears to have been most of his life's
savings in order to pay for his healing: 10 talents (750 pounds) of silver,
which in this modern market is worth about $63,360, and 6,000 shekels (150
pounds) of gold, which in this modern market is worth about $838,000. (Now,
the value of the ten suits depends on whether he bought them at the Men's
Wearhouse or Nordstrom's!)
Naaman also took the letter addressed to Joram, the king of Israel, that
King Ben-Hadad had written on his behalf. It said, "With this letter
I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy."
A quick fix. How many terminally ill people do you know personally or have
you heard about who have gathered up their life's savings and headed off
to Lourdes of France, the Philippines, or Mexico to be healed by some holy
water, sleight-of hand operation, or new miracle drug turned down by the
medical community in the US but claimed by other countries as a cure-all?
Naaman was willing to try anything at this point of his life---even the
God of Israel. So with his caravan, his money, and his suits, his letter
from the king, and a heart filled with hope, he headed off to Israel.
There is a prophet in Israel
2 Kings 5:7-12
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!"
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? Have the man
come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel." So
Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's
house. 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."
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. 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.
Joram, King of Israel, son of the late Ahab and Jezebel (who at that time
was still alive), was sitting in his palace when he was told that a man
had just arrived with a letter from King Ben-Hadad of Aram. He opened the
wax seal and read the words, "With this letter I am sending my servant
Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy." When the king
read these words his heart became filled with fear, and he tore his robes
in grief. He immediately realized that he was not God, only a king. "Am
I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow put me in
this impossible position? I have no power to cure leprosy! He is setting
me up to fail. It's a no-win situation that will result in another war with
Aram."
In contrast to King Joram, Elisha the man of God was delighted. Since most
of the children of Jehovah were bowing down to Baal, he had time to minister
to a pagan general who was willing to check out the God of Israel. So he
said, "Send him to me so that he will know that there is a prophet
in Israel." And Elisha was not just any old prophet; he was a prophet
of the one and only living God Jehovah. For Jehovah, in spite of the apostasy
in Israel, was still available to make his saving grace and power known
through his prophets to all who were interested. And Naaman was interested,
for he knew that you could have a great kingdom, a great name, a great rank,
and a great bank account---but leprosy would turn all that, and you, into
dust.
So Naaman received the message from King Joram that Elisha the prophet of
God would be willing to see him. He got up into his chariot and ordered
his men and the other chariots to follow him, and headed off in the direction
of Elisha's home. But once he arrived, instead of being met by the prophet
himself, he was confronted by one of the prophet's servants who gave him
a simple message: "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and
your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." (Seven is the
number of perfection; God created the universe in seven days. It is the
stamp of the work and healing of God.)
The general was piqued: "Yes, it is true that I have leprosy. Yes,
it is true that it is incurable. But at the same time, let's keep everything
in perspective: I am a valiant soldier, loved and respected by my king and
our people. I have journeyed at my own expense more than a hundred miles
over mountains and through valleys to get to your city of Samaria, to see
the prophet of the God of Israel. And he sends me a lowly servant to tell
me to dip myself seven times in a mud hole!"
Today we can hear the proud voices of the world: "I will not kneel
in front of a horrible Roman cross on which Jesus has been hung and has
died!" But we are told in God's word, "Everyone who is proud in
heart is an abomination to the LORD...." (Proverbs 16:5). All this
proud man wanted was some quick magic: "I thought that he would surely
come out to me and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over
the spot, and cure me of my leprosy. Besides, my rivers at home are cleaner
than this Jordan mud hole." So he turned and in essence said, "
Nuts to this," and rode away in anger and pride. He really did need
both physical and spiritual cleansing.
In the San Francisco Chronicle of June 11 was an article, "Americans
under a Magic Spell" by Molly O'Neill of the New York Times.
She wrote:
Like the lady who vanished and then reappeared at the wave of
a wand, magic is back....
Americans are increasingly enchanted with products and notions that promise
a simple route to transformation, salvation or cure....
...Lionel Tiger, a professor of anthropology at Rutgers University
in New Brunswick, N.J. [said that]...sleight-of-hand and escape artists,
spiritualists and mediums appear whenever society feels powerless or overwhelmed....
George Rosenbaum, a market research executive in Chicago, looks at current
fads and sees a society hungry for simple belief systems.
"The rise of tattoos, which are magical amulets, the explosion of state
lotteries and legalized gambling, which both court Lady Luck, are manifestations
of this hunger," he said.
The diverse phenomena share one characteristic, Rosenbaum said: "They
are simple convictions. None require soul-searching or serving a demanding
or complicated god. Each requires, and in turn yields, a simple 'yes' or
'no,' which is the hallmark of magical thinking."
Today's "time-pressed, high-tech society," he said, "makes
people want to short-circuit complicated, rational decision-making and put
their faith in a simple belief system."
Now, however, Naaman's pride would be replaced by humility before the prophet
of God....
Faith results in physical and spiritual healing
2 Kings 5:13-19
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'!"
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.
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."
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.
"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. 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."
"Go in peace," Elisha said.
These servants must have had conversations with the young Israelite woman
who had been working in the household of Naaman, and in time she certainly
would have told them about her wonderful and compassionate God, the one
and only living God Jehovah. They apparently were so convinced that the
God of Israel lived that they were willing to approach their master in a
humble and respectful manner, addressing him as "father." And
then they appealed to his sense of reason: "If the prophet had told
you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? Of course you would
have, because you are a valiant warrior, the great commander-in-chief of
the Aramean army. How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and you
will be cleansed'! If the end result is your healing, then it's no big deal!"
King David had written a century earlier of the spiritual cleansing that
he desired after his sin with Bathsheba. He approached the only living God
of Israel with a humble heart full of faith and cried out to him (Psalm
51:1-7),
"Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Thy compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin....
Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."
"So [Naaman] 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." This proud and glorified man of valor, this
powerful and fearsome man of power, humbled himself first by listening to
the advice of a humble young Jewish girl who was his captive servant, and
then after his rage calmed down, by listening to the reasonable advice of
his humble servants. He probably stripped down before his troops, drivers,
and servants; walked down the muddy banks of the Jordan; and stood for a
moment looking at the muddy water, then at the sores of his leprosy. Then
in a humble moment of faith, with the words of the man of the God of Israel
echoing in his ears, in the power of God he slowly walked into the water,
stood for a moment or so, and then began to dip himself: once, twice, three
times...four, five, six times, and finally seven times. As he came up for
the seventh time he looked at his body, and to his amazement his flesh was
restored and clean like that of a young boy!
Naaman came out of the muddy water of the Jordan with his heart racing with
joy and humility. He looked up to heaven and gave thanks to the one and
only living God Jehovah. He showed his new skin to his troops, drivers,
and servants; and as all gathered around him he rejoiced in this newly discovered
God, the God of Israel. He then got dressed and ordered his men to drive
him to the home of Elisha, the man of God. He stood before Elisha healed
and cleansed of leprosy and said, " Now I know that there is no God
in all the world except in Israel." Here was a man who lived in a pagan
world and had been taught to bow before all kinds of pagan idols throughout
his life. He was aware that every nation had their gods who were supreme:
Baal in Phoenicia, Chemosh in Moab, Moloch in Ammon, Rimmon in Aram, and
Jehovah in Israel. Some of the idols were personal in nature and some were
only to be bowed before in public ceremonies. It was obvious that he had
called upon many gods from his position of power and influence, and yet
not one of them was able to heal him of his terminal illness. Now at last
he was set free from the slavery of the demon worlds by the God he had just
found because of his healing. Jehovah, the God of the Jewish nation, was
not just another god. Now Naaman understood that he was the one and only
living God of the whole world.
Jesus would use this story to rebuke the Jewish leaders in his home town
of Nazareth who had rejected him as their Messiah. He said, "And there
were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet
not one of them was cleansed---only Naaman the Syrian" (Luke 4:27).
In this he was explaining to the Jews that God had been willing to cleanse
that generation of Jews of their incurable leprosy and their incurable sin
of idolatry, but none of them had come to the prophet Elisha in faith to
be cleansed. But when the pagan general came to the prophet, the Lord saw
his heart of faith and was willing to cleanse him physically and spiritually.
Later Jesus himself would bring healing to those with leprosy during his
ministry. These healings would become a testimony of our Lord's messiahship
to the Jewish priest, who would have to go back to the Law (Leviticus 13),
have the former leper examined, pronounce him clean, and offer certain sacrifices
(Leviticus14). In one case Jesus healed ten men who had contracted leprosy,
and only one former leper came back and thanked him. And he was one the
Jews hated---a Samaritan. (See Luke 17:11-19; see also Matthew 8:1-4.)
"Please accept now a gift from your servant." Elisha set the general
straight right away. We cannot purchase or pay for God's favor. He is a
God of mercy; and our salvation (spiritual and sometimes physical) is a
gift from the God of grace, "not as a result of works, that no one
should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). This same salvation is offered to
the rich and poor alike if they will but humble themselves before God. So
Elisha's response was, "As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve,
I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, he refused
the personal gift, which may have been the entire $90l,360 in silver and
gold (in this modern market) as well as the invaluable ten new suits.
This new worshiper of the one and only living God Jehovah then asked the
prophet Elisha, "...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." He wanted
to take a load of earth with him out of the land of Israel and sprinkle
it on Syrian soil to make it holy so that he might be able to offer sacrifices
upon it to the God of Israel. He was still a slave to polytheistic superstition,
and he thought that no god could be worshiped in a proper and acceptable
manner except in his own land.
And because Naaman's knowledge of God was still adulterated with superstition,
he was not yet prepared to make an open confession before men of his faith
in Jehovah. So he asked Elisha, the prophet of the living God, "...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." Naaman was a new believer, but he still had certain
pagan responsibilities to fulfill with the king once he arrived home. One
of those duties was to accompany the king to the pagan temple of Rimmon,
the god of rain and thunder, and simply provide support to him when he bowed
to the god, which unfortunately made him bow also. But in his heart he would
no longer bow to this god. So he wondered, "How will God look upon
this outward act? Will he forgive me?" Elisha assured him that the
Lord would see his heart; though he was involved in the rituals of his culture,
God understood who he was now. By God's power Naaman would eventually become
a mature believer and a witness of Jehovah. Therefore he said, "Go
in peace." Elisha had to trust the God of Israel who had saved this
pagan general to also guide him in his new relationship with God.
My Italian Catholic grandmother Nana became a true follower of Jesus Christ
at age seventy and was cleansed of her sin, but she still had scores of
old religious rituals and just as many questions about her new faith. One
day that I will always remember, I arrived at her small home in "Little
Italy," the heartland of Catholicism in south Philadelphia. Nana informed
me that though she still had respect for Mary, she no longer found herself
praying to her but only to Jesus. Then she asked me if I thought she should
leave the church that she had attended and served all her life, for it had
really been a place where her social needs had been met. I told her that
until the Lord moved her heart to leave that congregation, perhaps she should
stay where she was and use that position to witness of the love and grace
of her savior Jesus Christ. In time she decided to stay in her local church
of some fifty years, until she stepped into eternity to meet her God, Jesus,
a few years later.
Leprosy was an incurable physical disease in the ancient world. Sin has
always been an incurable spiritual disease in every generation since the
fall of Adam. The only way any of us can ever experience spiritual healing,
and many of us physical healing, is to turn with a humble faith to the one
and only living God, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, and say, "Lord,
if you are willing, you can make me clean." And as willing as our Lord
was to cleanse the man with the physical disease of leprosy, he is even
more willing to cleanse all of us from our sin against him. For he is our
compassionate Lord who once said and continues to say to all who are willing
to listen, "It is not those who are well who need a physician, but
those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance." (Luke 5:31-32.) There is no forgiveness of sin without
the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one we can come
to in order to be spiritually and physically cured as Naaman was.
Catalog No. 4375
2 Kings 5:1-19
Third Message
Ron Ritchie
August 7, 1994
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