HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 701
2 KING S 5
page 331
himself out again on the child. This time the boy
sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!
36 Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. “Call the
child’s mother!” he said. And when she came
in, Elisha said, “Here, take your son!” 37 She fell
at his feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed
with gratitude. Then she took her son in her
arms and carried him downstairs.
Miracles during a Famine
38 Elisha now returned to Gilgal, and there was
a famine in the land. One day as the group of
prophets was seated before him, he said to his
servant, “Put a large pot on the fire, and make
some stew for the rest of the group.”
39 One of the young men went out into the
field to gather herbs and came back with a
pocketful of wild gourds. He shredded them
and put them into the pot without realizing they
were poisonous. 40 Some of the stew was served
to the men. But after they had eaten a bite or two
they cried out, “Man of God, there’s poison in
this stew!” So they would not eat it.
41 Elisha said, “Bring me some flour.” Then
he threw it into the pot and said, “Now it’s all
right; go ahead and eat.” And then it did not
harm them.
42 One day a man from Ba al-shal i shah
brought the man of God a sack of fresh grain
and twenty loaves of barley bread made from
the first grain of his harvest. Elisha said, “Give
it to the people so they can eat.”
43 “What?” his servant exclaimed. “Feed a
hundred people with only this?”
But Elisha repeated, “Give it to the people
so they can eat, for this is what the Lord says:
Everyone will eat, and there will even be some
left over!” 44 And when they gave it to the people,
there was plenty for all and some left over, just
as the Lord had promised.
The Healing of Naaman
The king of Aram had great admiration
for Naaman, the commander of his army,
because through him the Lord had given Aram
great victories. But though Naaman was a
mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.*
2 At this time Aramean raiders had invaded
the land of Israel, and among their captives
was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. 3 One day the girl said to
her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see
the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of
his leprosy.”
4 So Naaman told the king what the young girl
from Israel had said. 5 “Go and visit the prophet,”
the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter
of introduction for you to take to the king of
5
5:1 Or from a contagious skin disease. The Hebrew word used
here and throughout this passage can describe various skin
diseases. 5:5 Hebrew 10 talents [340 kilograms] of silver,
6,000 [shekels] [68 kilograms] of gold. 5:13 Hebrew My
father.
Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts
750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold,* and
ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant
Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore
his clothes in dismay and said, “Am I God, that
I can give life and take it away? Why is this man
asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can
see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.”
8 But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that
the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay,
he sent this message to him: “Why are you so
upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn
that there is a true prophet here in Israel.”
9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house.
10 But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with
this message: “Go and wash yourself seven
times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will
be restored, and you will be healed of your
leprosy.”
11 But Naaman became angry and stalked
away. “I thought he would certainly come out
to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave
his hand over the leprosy and call on the name
of the Lord his God and heal me! 12 Aren’t the
rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why
shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So
Naaman turned and went away in a rage.
13 But his officers tried to reason with him
and said, “Sir,* if the prophet had told you to
do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have
done it? So you should certainly obey him when
he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’”
• Humility
2 K I N G S 5:13-15
Naaman was ready to walk off in a rage
because the “medicine” Elisha had
prescribed for Naaman’s leprosy was too
humiliating for a great warrior to take. Full
of pride and willfulness, Naaman could
not accept that he must, with simple faith,
bathe in the small, dirty Jordan River.
Sometimes people react to God’s offer
of forgiveness in the same way. Just to
believe in Jesus somehow doesn’t seem
significant enough to bring us eternal
life. What Naaman had to do to have his
leprosy washed away is similar to what
we must do to have our sin washed away:
Humbly accept God’s mercy. Don’t let
your reaction to the simplicity and humility
of true faith keep you from the cure you
need the most.