--- title: "2 Kings 5 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary" description: "Read 2 Kings 5 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unt" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings/5" --- [ Read](/kjv/2-kings/5)[ Commentary](/study/2-kings/5)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/2-kings/5) Audio 1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, *but he was* a leper.*** 2 And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.* 3 And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord *were* with the prophet that *is* in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.** 4 And *one* went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that *is* of the land of Israel. 5 And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand *pieces* of gold, and ten changes of raiment.* 6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have *therewith* sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. 7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, *Am* I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. 8 ¶ 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. 9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. 11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.*** 12 *Are* not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.* 13 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? 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. 15 ¶ And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that *there is* no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. 16 But he said, *As* the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take *it;* but he refused. 17 And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD. 18 In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, *that* when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing. 19 And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.* 20 ¶ But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, *as* the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him. 21 So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw *him* running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, *Is* all well?* 22 And he said, All *is* well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments. 23 And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid *them* upon two of his servants; and they bare *them* before him. 24 And when he came to the tower, he took *them* from their hand, and bestowed *them* in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.* 25 But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence *comest thou*, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither.* 26 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? 27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper *as white* as snow. [2 Kings 4](/study/2-kings/4) [2 Kings 6](/study/2-kings/6) ## Commentary To verse 1 *THE ONE DRAWBACK* **‘But he was a leper.’** ** [2 Kings 5:1](/kjv/2-kings/5/1)** ****I. How often is it seen, in human experience, that a condition, otherwise of perfect prosperity, has one alloy, one drawback, which damages or spoils it for its possessor.**—We need not confine our observation to lives of great men—written in history or written in Scripture—who have made peace or war, and left their names as the heirloom of one country, or the common property of all—and who yet, scrutinised keenly, have been objects rather of pity than of envy, by reason of some one blessing denied, or by reason of some one ‘sorrow added.’ ‘A great man and honourable with his master … a mighty man of valour … yet a leper’—might be the inscription, if we knew all, upon many of those celebrities of which (to quote the grand old saying) ‘every land is the tomb.’ But is it not so quite in common lives, quite in humble homes? Where is the house in which there is no one element of dissatisfaction—some uncongenial disposition, some unreasonable temper to be borne with—a particular thing that cannot be had or that cannot be done—a difficult task always recurring, a disagreeable future always menacing—a taste that cannot be indulged, or a whim that must be complied with—a dead weight of encumbrance always pressing, and a promised relief always ‘a little beyond’? **II. I propose the example of Naaman as a wonderful lesson in the treatment of drawbacks.**—What an excuse had Naaman for a life of idle regret, absolute uselessness, and sinful repining! With what discomfort, with what distress, with what shame and mortification, must each act of his life, social, political, military, have been accomplished! How must he have felt himself the topic of remark or the object of ridicule, amongst all whom he addressed and all whom he commanded! Yet none the less did he do his duty, command his energies, and rule his spirit. Thou who hast in thy health, or in thy work, or in thy home, some like drawback—little it must be in comparison with his—go, and do thou likewise. **III. We take an onward step in our subject when we treat ‘the one drawback’ as ‘the one fault.’**—Of how many persons within our own circle must we say, he is all this and that—he is industrious, useful, honourable, he is a great man with his master, he is serviceable to his generation—but he has one fault. Perhaps, he is just and upright, but he is unamiable. Perhaps he is kind and affectionate, but he is untruthful. Perhaps he is excellent in every relation except one. Perhaps he is strict with himself, inflexible to evil—but he is also ungenerous, censorious, suspicious, or even cruel. Perhaps he is charitable, indulgent, good to all—but he takes the license which he gives, and his character (in one respect) will not bear investigation. He is like the ‘cake not turned’ that Hosea speaks of—one side dough, the other side cinder: he was a great man, valorous and chivalrous—but he was a leper. Yes, the one fault is in all of us—and we mean by it, the particular direction in which the taint and bias of evil in the fallen creature works its course and finds its outlet. It is idle, it is ridiculous, to profess ignorance that there is no such thing as perfection in the creature that has once let the devil in and tried to shut out God—and this is the true diagnosis of man, such as we see and show him—a broken vessel—a temple in ruins—in one word (for none can be more expressive) a fallen being. The one fault is in theological language, the besetting sin. Who has not one such? **IV. So, brethren, try this day the healing stream.**—The disease which is upon us goes very deep and spreads very widely—it is past human cure, our own or our brother’s—there is but One Who has the secret of it, but One Who has the virtue. Forgiveness He offers, ere He offers the cleansing—forgiveness of the worst possible, ere He so much as inspects the malady. The double cure—first of the guilt, then of the power—this is the charm of the water which is blood, of the blood which is water. Dean Vaughan. **Illustrations** (1) ‘Herein is the difference between the natural man and Naaman. Naaman knew himself to be a leper; he loathed his leprosy, and desired to be healed. Alas! how difficult it is to persuade the natural man, first to see, and then to bewail his leprosy; to understand that a creature can only be created to obey his Creator; and that when a creature’s nature is so corrupted as to render him unwilling and unable so to obey, then the creature is condemned, and in his unwillingness and inability bears the death-mark upon him.’ (2) ‘The frightful disease from which Naaman suffered must have been a terrible drawback to his happiness and prosperity. It was the occasion, however, of his greatest blessing. The special mercy of God flowed to him from that which probably he was accustomed to consider his special curse. And it often happens with ourselves, that the one thing which at one time seemed to mar our happiness is that to which we afterwards have occasion to look back as opening out for us the way of peace.’ ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings/5#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings/5#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings/5","name":"2 Kings 5 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings/5#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read 2 Kings 5 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unt","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings/5#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings/5"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings/5#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","name":"the church pulpit commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings","name":"2 Kings"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings/5","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-kings/5","name":"5"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```