Elisha, Naaman, 7 Times in Jordan II Kings 5

II Kings 5:14 "Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child and he was clean."

The captain of the Syrian army is a man of valour and an honorable man. It was by his hand that the LORD delivered Syria. It may be odd that the Lord would deliver Syria when Israel is his beloved so this seems a good place to put this verse from Proverbs.

Proverbs 8:15 "By me kings reign, and princes decree justice." In a verse before that it talks about the fear of the LORD. v13 "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate."

So we can conclude that not only does the LORD choose who will be king over Israel but also who will lead other nations as well. He is Lord of all the earth.

Naaman was a great and might man but he was a leper. In their raids, a young maiden had been captured and she served Naaman's wife. The young maiden knew of the leprosy and wished aloud that Naaman could get to the man of God in Israel. Word got back to Naaman and he, of course, had no clue who the man of God was that she spoke of so he wrote the king of Israel a letter.

Oh no, thought the king of Israel, Syria is devising some bad thing against us. He rent his clothes in dread and fear. Elisha heard that the king had rent his clothes and enquired to find out about Naaman. 'Send him to me.' The prophet told the king.

v8 "And it was so when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes that he sent to the king saying Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."

Naaman did come to Elisha and stood at his door but Elisha did not come rushing out to the man of means. He instead sent someone else to the door and had them tell Naaman go dip himself in Jordan seven times. That seemed ridiculous to Naaman, he complained citing the fine rivers they had in Damascus.

Naaman got mad and went away in a rage. Fortunately, a servant of Naaman got the man's attention and brought him to reason. If the prophet had told you to do something amazing, you would have done that, why not do as he said.

v13 "And his servants came near and spake unto him and said My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then when he saith to thee Wash and be clean?"

The man came to his senses and went down to Jordan dipping himself 7 times and was clean. He went back to Elisha and tried to give him some treasures but Elisha would take nothing, later explaining that it was not the time.

Gehazi on the other hand got greedy and ran after Naaman and asked something of him for some other folks but really intended to keep it. Elisha was not pleased.

v26 "And he said unto him Went not mine heart with thee when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards and sheep and oxen and menservants and maidservants? v27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee..."

Gehazi sinned in several ways.
-His first action was to covet the gifts. v20 Greed.
-He lied by saying it was for another. v22 v24
-He again lied to cover up his sin. v25

After all he had seen, surely he should have known that a prophet that could see things far off would see him take from Naaman.

Note: I said in another place that it seemed that Elijah did not stay around long enough, he was such an amazing individual but much is written about Elisha. In this line of thought, I can see some parallel with John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. John said that he must increase and I must decrease. John 3:30. So this story seems to me to be a picture or foretaste of Christ and the great things he would do.

Psalm 25:1 "Unto thee O LORD do I lift up my soul."

Keywords: Bible Study, Bible, Old Testament, Naaman, Elisha, Jordan. Naaman the leper dips himself in Jordan seven times as Elisha said and is healed.