times in the river Jordan, and thou shalt be healed, and be clean of
thy leprosy."
This was a message from his master Elisha, who was not coming out to
see the great captain! The Syrian chief was filled with anger at the
man who dared to send him away from the prophet's door as if he were a
beggar, and he exclaimed,--
"I thought he would surely come out to see me, and stand and call on
his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal me. Are not Abana
and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?
May I not wash in them and be clean?"
Springing into his chariot, he grasped the reins, and shook them as he
brought his whip fiercely down on the horses' backs, causing them to
leap forward from the door. The horses galloped swiftly through the
narrow streets, and out by the gate in the city wall, and down the road
to the plain, the guards and servants of the great captain following
after him as quickly as they could. Naaman considered that he had been
mocked by this foreign prophet, and was galloping back to Syria as
quickly as he could.
But horses cannot gallop for ever, however angry their masters may be;
and when at length they came to a walking pace, Naaman began to talk
with his friends about the insult he had received from the rude old
prophet. Why should _he_ bathe in the Jordan River, where the water
was clay-white and often muddy, when he had his own rivers of Abana the
golden and Pharpar the sweet, brimming with the finest water in the
world? His friends did not answer him in his wrath; but they soon
reached the ford of crossing, and if he would not bathe in the Jordan,
he would have to ride through it, for there was no bridge. Then one of
his friends gave him this piece of very good advice.
"My father," he said, "if the prophet had told thee to do some hard
thing, thou wouldst have done it. How much more shouldst thou obey him
when what he commands is such a little thing as this?"
Naaman's rage had passed off with the lashing of his horses and his
furious driving, but his terrible leprosy remained. Was he going back
to his master with the disease still upon him, to tell him that he had
not done what the prophet had told him because it was too easy? There
was the white river rushing past at his feet. To ride so far and then
refuse to wash would seem very foolish; so he changed his mind, and
stopping his chariot at the water's edge, went into the stream and
bathed, and to his surprise and delight was at once healed of his
leprosy, so that his skin became like that of a little child.
It was with a changed heart that he turned his horses' heads and drove
slowly back out of the valley, and up the road to the hills down which
he had just come clattering in his anger. When next he stood at the
door of the prophet's little house all the pride was gone out of him.
"Now I know," he said to the prophet, "that there is no God in all the
world but in Israel. I pray thee to take a present from thy servant."
Elisha stood before him in worn cloak and sandals, his head covered
with a striped kerchief, his eyes bright and piercing. The camels were
there, laden with presents in their saddle-bags.
"As God liveth, before whom I stand," exclaimed the old man, "I will
take nothing."
Gold and silver, fine clothing, sweet spices, scented oils, had no real
value for him. They were only a few of the many things he could quite
well do without. This Syrian chief had obeyed what was really the
command of the living God, and that was much more important. The
Syrian pressed him to take something, but the poor prophet would have
nothing. Naaman then asked leave to carry away two mule loads of earth
from Samaria, saying that he would never again offer sacrifice to idols
after the manner of his own people, but would sacrifice to God only.
Again Naaman shook the reins and cracked his whip as the horses sprang
forward with the light chariot, the wooden wheels clattering on the
stones. Outside the city walls his servants scraped the earth together
until they had filled two mule-sacks, and then the small band of
Syrians, shouldering their spears, set out on the homeward road.
Soon the eyes of the Syrian drivers saw the green palm-trees, the
spires of glittering brass, and the white walls of Damascus. They were
back again in their own country, bringing no camel-loads of plunder, no
droves of stolen cattle, no chains of weeping slaves--only two sacks of
earth from Samaria, and a chief with a healthy body and a grateful
heart. If his wife was glad to see him, so also was the little Jewish
maid; and we need not doubt that she would not be much longer a slave,
but free--set free as a sign that Naaman the Syrian had a grateful
heart for his little friend who had sent him to be healed by the
prophet of Israel.
THE END.
End of Project Gutenberg's Children of the Old Testament, by Anonymous