2 Kings 5:1-14 Commentary

How status works:

The kings in this story set up a stark distinction.  First, the narrator highlights the king of Aram’s many and great military victories.  Ordinarily, this is an ancient near-eastern literary device to demonstrate, according to the CEB Study Bible “that a country’s gods were able to give victory to their people in battle.” The impression we are meant to receive is that, through military prowess, we are dealing with a powerful king of a great country.

The inciting incident of this story is a powerful general with a skin disease and a servant girl who knows a guy. When Naaman brings the servant’s suggestion to the King of Aram, he takes control of the situation. Leveraging his status, he applies diplomatic pressure to get the deed done.  Never mind the whole things started with the recommendation of a servant girl who suggested all Naaman would need to do is ask.

While the king of Aram is busy applying political power, Naaman attempts a financial angle by attempting to win the prophet’s favor through one of our favorite status symbols, the gift of wealth: 150 pounds of gold, along with about 750 pounds of silver.

Aram comes to the table with military, political and financial pressure on the table.

Meanwhile, the king and prophet of Israel set an alternative example.  Over and against Aram’s military might, the king of Israel knows (or is, at least, supposed to know) what the narrator is at pains to express in the first verse: it is not Aram’s gods that granted victory but, rather, the God of Israel granting victory, even to a foreign army.  In contrast to the King of Aram’s political machinations, the king of Israel clearly knows the limits of his power.  He may be a sovereign but he is not The Sovereign. When the king of Israel reads his colleague’s request for healing, he is caught off-guard. Who is he to decree life and death?! And the king of Aram must know this so, by asking the impossible, isn’t he just trying to instigate an international incident?! The king’s fear is palpable in this text, as he rips his clothes.

While neither king is named in this story, Naaman and Elisha are named, which is a technique the author employs to draw our attention to a general and a prophet locked in an unexpected power struggle.  Naaman attempts to to win favor with cartoonish money bags.   But Elisha refuses to get sucked into the king’s political anxiety and he isn’t swayed by Mr. Moneybags either.

Naaman rides in with chariots and horses no doubt expecting an obsequious welcome.  Instead, Elisha sends a message with a servant, which is clearly a slight by any—Aramean or Israelite—rendering of the tale. Now the question is: (1) will Namaan get so caught up in the slight to his status that he will spite himself by not pursuing the healing? (2) how does Naaman weigh his self-respect against his health?

The fool’s gold of “difficult things.”

The answer to the above questions is (1) yes and (2) self-respect > health. As he storms off, he spouts off, “How come I didn’t get magic tricks and spectacle?  What he’s asked me to do is non-sensical and demeaning.”  As he stomps off, his servants chase after him.  I love the question they ask (in the CEB translation) “if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, wouldn’t you have done it?”

As an Enneagram 3, I resonate with that question.  I like to do difficult things. No. Strike that.  I like to be seen as someone who does difficult things.  I do not like to be thought of as someone who does demeaning things, who puts up with disrespect.  The far greater challenge is the one set out by Therese of Lisieux’s “small way,” an approach to discipleship that avoids grand gestures and attempts to engage the small and ordinary acts of daily life with such love and humility as to make them holy offerings of self-sacrifice.

Whereas Naaman wanted “magic” and “fireworks” and “pizzazz,” in actuality, the mode of healing is somewhat incidental to the story.  The key is that it challenges Naaman to lay his pride aside, along with his outer garments, on the banks of the river in order to pursue his healing.  According to the CEB Study Bible, “The more important point of the story concerns obedience to the prophetic word, not the physical means by which the healing comes.” That said, there’s a lot of resonance with washing seven times (a practice of ritual purification) and location (the Jordan is also where John the Baptist offers his baptism.)  Most importantly that these are both on offer to a Gentile.

Lectionary Connections that Serve the Moment:

We are very grateful that not all our readers are from the US. There is such wisdom to be mined from the people of God at all times and in all places.  That said, this Sunday’s lectionary readings fall against the backdrop of the 4th of July in the United States. Congregations often have traditions and expectations around how this national holiday is acknowledged (perhaps even celebrated) in church.

The impact of this text, particularly as it harmonizes with the epistle reading, may provide a good counter-point to the national festivities because of the way they, together broaden the categories of who belongs, who matters to God, who is being healed and made new through the covenant of God, the cross of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.

I could imagine, for example, highlighting Psalm 30 at the front end of the service. God redeems our lives from the pit. God replaces our tear-drenched pillows at night with the morning sun streaking through the gap in our curtains. Use the sermon to contrast this with the “American dream.”

Is there anything more red-white-and-blue patriotic than self-reliance?  Turns out Naaman had that in spades and he nearly missed the miracle only God could provide.

Is there anything more apple pie patriotic than self-confidence?  Paul (back when he was Saul) had plenty of it and traded it in so he could testify, “God forbid that I should boast about anything except for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Is there anything as rags-to-riches patriotic as self-determination? The Psalmist writes God—not himself—as the center and the hero of the tale he recounts in Psalm 30. The phrase “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” is not the same things as “I exalt you, Lord, because you pulled me up…Lord, you brought me up from the grave, brought me back to life from among those going down to the pit.”