Naaman was a successful, valiant and noble man. But he was a leper--and
that spoiled him.
What a blight that must have cast on his path! It must have haunted him
day and night.
He was a leper, and there was no physician in Syria who could help him.
It was an incurable disease, and I suppose he thought he would have to go
down to the grave with that loathsome ailment.
We read that several companies had gone down to the land of Israel and
brought back to Syria some poor captives. Among them was a little girl,
who was sent to wait on Naaman’s wife. I can imagine that little maid had
a praying mother, who had taught her to love the Lord, and when she got
down there she was not ashamed to own her religion. She was not ashamed
to acknowledge her Lord.
One day, while waiting on her mistress, I can think of her saying: “Would
to God your husband was in Samaria. There is a prophet in that country
who would cure him.”
“What! A man in Israel who can cure my husband? Child, you must be
dreaming. Did you ever hear of a man being cured of leprosy?”
“No. But that is nothing. Why, the prophet in Samaria has cured many
persons worse than your husband.”
And perhaps she told her about the poor woman who had such an increase
of oil, and how her two boys were saved from slavery by the prophet,
and also how he had raised the child of that poor woman from the dead,
adding: “If the prophet can raise anybody from the dead he can cure your
husband.”
This girl must have had something about her to make those people listen
to her. She must have shown her religion in her life. Her life must have
been consistent with her religion to make them believe her.
We read that Naaman had faith in her word, and he went to the king and
told him what he intended to do. And the king said: “I will tell you what
I will do. I will give you a letter to the king of Israel. Of course, if
any cure is to be effected, the king will know how to obtain it.”
Like many men nowadays, they believed, if a thing was to be got, it was
to be got from the king, and not from his subjects. So you see this man
starting out to the king of Israel with all his letters and a very long
purse. I can not find, just now, how much it was, but it must have been
something like $500,000. The sum was a very large one, likely. He was
going to be liberal. He was not going to be small.
Well, he got all his money and letters together and started. There was no
small stir as Naaman swept through the gates of Syria that day with his
escort. He reaches Samaria, and sends a messenger to the king, announcing
his arrival. The messenger delivers the letter to the king, and the first
thing he does is to open the letter and begin to read it.