Syrian general; healed leper; Gentile believer
c. 850 BC · Old Testament
The commander of the Syrian army — a mighty warrior and leper — humbled by Elisha to dip seven times in the Jordan for healing, becoming a worshiper of the LORD. Jesus cited him as an example of God's grace to Gentiles (Luke 4:27).
Naaman was 'captain of the host of the king of Syria, a great man with his master, and honourable... but he was a leper' (2 Kings 5:1). For all his power and military success, he was unclean — leprosy was a devastating, isolating disease. His healing came through an unlikely path. (1) A captive girl. A young Israelite girl taken captive in Syria served Naaman's wife. She mentioned: 'Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria!' (2 Kings 5:3). (2) The journey. Naaman went to the king of Israel with a letter from his master, treasure, and clothing. The king of Israel feared a political setup. Elisha intervened: 'Let him come now to me' (2 Kings 5:8). (3) The humiliation. Naaman came with horses and chariot to Elisha's door, but the prophet didn't even come out. He sent a messenger: 'Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean' (2 Kings 5:10). Naaman was offended. He had expected ceremony. He had grand rivers in Damascus. The Jordan was muddy and small. He nearly left in rage. (4) The servants' wisdom. His servants reasoned with him: '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?' (2 Kings 5:13). Their words humbled him. (5) The healing. Naaman dipped seven times in the Jordan. 'His flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean' (2 Kings 5:14). (6) The conversion. Naaman returned to Elisha: 'Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel' (2 Kings 5:15). He offered gifts; Elisha refused, refusing to commercialize God's grace. Naaman asked permission to take two mules' burden of Israelite soil home for worship and asked grace for the symbolic situations he would face in his master's service. (7) Gehazi's failure. Elisha's servant Gehazi ran after Naaman to extract gifts. He was struck with Naaman's leprosy (2 Kings 5:20-27) — a sober contrast. (8) Jesus' use of Naaman. Luke 4:27 — Jesus cited Naaman in Nazareth: 'And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.' Naaman was a Gentile saved while Israel rejected the prophet. Jesus' point: God's grace extends beyond Israel — an offensive truth that nearly got Jesus killed (4:28-29). Naaman is one of the great pictures of conversion: humbled pride, simple obedience, transformed life, public confession.
Power without health
God uses the lowly
King of Israel fearful
No ceremony, just obedience
"If great thing, would you not have done?"
Sevenfold immersion
"No God in all the earth, but in Israel"
Gentile saved while Israel rejected
Naaman's significance: (1) He is one of the great OT examples of conversion — humbled pride, simple obedience, transformed life. (2) He shows God's grace to Gentiles centuries before the apostolic mission. (3) His sevenfold dipping in the Jordan typologically connects to baptism. (4) Jesus cited him to challenge Jewish exclusivism (Luke 4:27) — God's grace transcends ethnicity. (5) The contrast with Gehazi shows the danger of commercializing grace. (6) His servants' wisdom shows God uses the lowly to humble the great.
“Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.”— 2 Kings 5:15
Naaman was commander of the Syrian army — 'a great man with his master, and honourable' — but a leper (2 Kings 5:1). Through the witness of a captive Israelite girl, he sought healing from the prophet Elisha. Humbled to dip seven times in the Jordan, he was healed and converted: 'now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel' (2 Kings 5:15). Jesus cited him as an example of God's grace to Gentiles (Luke 4:27).
To humble him. Naaman expected ceremony — the prophet coming out, calling on the LORD, waving his hand, healing dramatically. Instead Elisha sent a messenger with simple instructions: dip in the Jordan, a muddy and modest river. Naaman's first reaction was rage — he had grand rivers at home. The humbling was as important as the healing. His servants reasoned with him; he obeyed; he was healed.
The sevenfold dipping in the Jordan typologically connects to baptism: water-immersion bringing cleansing. Naaman's healing was outward (flesh) and inward (faith). Christian baptism marks union with Christ — outward water, inward cleansing by faith. Naaman's pattern — humble obedience to a divinely-appointed way of cleansing — mirrors the believer's response in baptism.
Luke 4:27 — Jesus, in his hometown synagogue at Nazareth, cited Naaman as an example of God's grace to Gentiles: 'many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.' His point: God's grace transcends ethnic Israel. This was so offensive to his audience that they tried to throw him off a cliff (Luke 4:28-29). Naaman became Jesus' first example of his global mission.