Elisha Cures Naaman the Syrian of Leprosy, Not With Mighty Deeds, but by Simply Washing in the Jordan

Today we will learn and reflect on one of my favorite
stories in the Bible, when Naaman the Syrian general,
mortal enemy of Israel, was healed of his leprosy by
the Israeli prophet Elisha. Naaman, in the story, is not
asked to perform mighty deeds by Elisha, as befits an
ancient warrior and hero, but rather to perform the
rather simple task of washing in the shallow, muddy
Jordan River, to be cured of his leprosy.

Ancient readers living in their ancient warrior culture would pick up on
this contrast immediately, but modern readers often totally miss it. Which
makes this one of my favorite stories, since one of the themes of this
channel is that, when interpreting the Old Testament stories, you must
always remember that most ancient peoples lived in a warrior culture
much like that of the Iliad, where life was uncertain, when armies could
appear over the horizon, slaughter all the men of military age, and enslave
the women and children.
At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources used for this video.
Please feel free to follow along our PowerPoint script posted to
SlideShare. Please, we welcome interesting questions in the comments.
Let us learn and reflect together!

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Naaman Washing in the Jordan,
vs Mighty Deeds by Greek Heroes
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The story of Elisha healing Naaman of his leprosy is
referenced in the New Testament:

Jesus reminds us
in Luke, “There
were also many
lepersin Israel in
the time of the
prophet Elisha,
and none of
them was
cleansed except
Naaman the
Syrian.”

(REPEAT) We read about Naaman in 2 Kings: “Naaman, commander of the
army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his
master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man,
though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.”
The Scripture explicitly tell us Naaman was a mighty warrior, though
humbled by a disfiguring skin condition. I remember I went to high school
with a girl with a skin condition, even with modern medicine there was
little that could be one, and as you could expect, she looked worser the
older she aged, never marrying, never having a profitable career.
We read further in 2 Kings, “Now the Arameans, on one of their raids, had
taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served
Naaman’s wife.”

From the Iliad: “But the son of Cronus, Zeus, stole Glaucus’
wits away. He traded his gold armor for bronze with
Diomedes, the worth of a hundred oxen for just nine.”
We read about Naaman in 2
Kings: “Naaman, commander of
the army of the king of Aram, was
a great man and in high favor
with his master, because by him
the LORD had given victory to
Aram. The man, though a mighty
warrior, suffered from leprosy.”
“Now the Arameans, on one of
their raids, had taken a young girl
captive from the land of Israel,
and she served Naaman’s wife.”

This young slave girl from Israel was very fortunate
indeed, most pretty young girls captured in war were
forced to be concubines of their conquerors, we are
reminded of this cruel fact in the Iliad and in the
Torah. And the Iliad is about how warriors are fighting
over their concubines.

https://youtu.be/O67cmVRvBtA
We read further in 2 Kings, “This young girl
said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were
with the prophet who is in Samaria! He
would cure him of his leprosy.’”

This young girl was fortunate to be a beloved
household slave, often these slaves, though still
slaves, were treated as part of the family, particularly
if the family owned just a few slaves.

So Naaman tells this to the King of Aram, archenemy
of Israel, and he writes a letter, and Naaman goes to
the King of Israel with this letter of introduction, with
many talents of silver, and many shekels of gold, and
many fine garments to the King of Israel.

We read in 2 Kings, “When
the king of Israel read the
letter, he tore his clothes and
said, ‘Am I God, to give death
or life, that this man sends
word to me to cure a man of
his leprosy? Just look and see
how he is trying to pick a
quarrel with me.’”
Dead Man Restored to Life by Touching Bones
of Elisha, by Washington Allston, 1813

But Elisha knows what is happening. “When
Elisha the man of God heard that the king of
Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a
message to the king, “Why have you torn
your clothes? Let him come to me, that he
may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”
So Naaman came with his horses and
chariots and halted at the entrance of
Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to
him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven
times, and your flesh shall be restored, and
you shall be clean.”

The commentator John Gray says that “Naaman
drives up in his chariot to Elisha’s house, which we
gather not to be the seemly approach to a prophet.”
Which may not be so, isn’t that what mighty warriors
always do? After all, chariots were the taxicabs of the
Iliad, transporting our heroes to the frontlines of the
battle.

Achilles dragging the dead body of Hector in front of the gates of Troy, Franz Matsch, painted 1892

The paintings always show Naaman speaking with
Elisha, but the Scriptures say that Elisha did not come
out to meet Naaman, and the story does imply that
Naaman was insulted by this gesture.
Why wouldn’t Elisha come out and meet Naaman?

Elisha Refusing
Gifts from
Naaman, by
Pieter Fransz. de
Grebber, 1630

Elisha Refusing Gifts from Naaman, by Pieter Fransz. de Grebber, 1630
John Gray comments,
“Elisha’s response is to
stand on his own
dignity and send a
messenger to deal with
Naaman. This was a
somewhat exacting test
of the faith of Naaman,
and from the
brusqueness of the
prophet’s reply,”
“Naaman might well be
excused for taking it as
a studied insult.”

Elisha Raising the Shunammite’s Son, by Benjamin West, 1766
2 Kings continues, “But
Naaman became angry and
went away, saying, ‘I thought
that for me he would surely
come out, and stand and call
on the name of the LORD his
God, and would wave his
hand over the spot, and cure
the leprosy! Are not’ ‘the
rivers of Damascus, better
than all the waters of Israel?
Could I not wash in them, and
be clean?’ He turned and
went away in a rage.”

Not only would Elisha not come out to see Naaman,
but he also refused to perform some mighty sign that
all proper prophets do, like when Moses beat the rock
so water would flow out of it, a miracle also
performed by St Clement when imprisoned in the
mines by the Black Sea.

Many times have I heard preachers preach about the story of Naaman,
and they totally miss the point of how the mighty deeds of the ancient
heroes compare with the humble deed of washing in the Jordan.
The pagan stories of mighty heroes known to Naaman have been lost in
the sands of history, but we do know of many similar stories from ancient
Greece. Our first example of mighty deeds performed by Greek heroes
are the many mighty quests performed by Theseus, first King of a united
Athens, who performs many mighty deeds, including slaying the mighty
Minotaur, the monster with the head of a bull on the body of a burly
man.

Athenians Delivered to the Minotaur in the Cretan Labyrinth,
by Gustave Moreau, circa 1855
In Plutarch’s Life of Theseus, he
learns that the ancient
Athenians owed Minos, the
King of Crete, a ransom of
seven young men and seven
virgins to be fed to the
Minotaur, a ferocious half-
man, half-bull beast, a half
man with the head of a bull,
who lived in the maze below
the palace. The young men
and virgins of Athens drew
lots, but Theseus
volunteered without drawing
a lot, and all Athens “were
struck with admiration for
the nobleness and with love
for the goodness of the act.”

Ariadne and Theseus, by Jean Baptiste Regnault, late 1700’s Plutarch does not tell us
how the daughter of the
King of Crete falls in love
with Theseus, evidently
princesses just cannot
resist this hunk of a hero,
and Theseus, having
arrived at Crete, “having a
thread given him by
Ariadne, who had fallen in
love with him, and being
instructed by her how to
use it so as to conduct
himself through the
windings of the
labyrinth.”

Theseus Slaying the Minotaur
“Theseus escaped
out of it and slew
the Minotaur,
and sailed back,
taking along with
him Ariadne and
the young
Athenian captives.”

But soon after Theseus abandons Ariadne, as he does
most every woman in his life, and Plutarch’s Life of
Theseus tells the story of the many women in his life, and
how he is faithful to none of them, a hero of the worst
kind, a hero who only cares for himself. But Ariadne gets a
better match, as she marries the Greek god Dionysius.

Bacchus, aka Dionysius, and
Ariadne, by Titian, circa 1523
Theseus, whose ship is shown in
the distance, has just left
Ariadne on Naxos, when
Bacchus, aka Dionysius, arrives,
jumping from his chariot drawn
by two cheetahs, falling
immediately in love with
Ariadne. Bacchus raised her to
heaven. The constellation
Corona Borealis, Bacchus's
crowning gift to her, is shown in
the sky above her head.

And we remember the many mighty deeds of Odysseus,
performed before he can complete his decade long
journey back to the arms of his wife, the beloved
Penelope, from the walls of Troy.

Odysseus’ first great adventure is when he and his
men are trapped in the cave of the one-eye Cyclops
monster, who eats his men one at a time for dinner.
They get him drunk, drive a burning stake in his eye,
and sneak out tied to the bottom of his sheep.

Jacob Jordaens, Odysseus in Cave of Polyphemus, painted early 1700’s

When they escape to their boat, the Cyclops tries to
sink their boat by hurling boulders, but he misses,
since he can only hear them, he cannot see them.

Arnold Böcklin - Odysseus and Polyphemus, painted 1896

HJ Draper, Odysseus and the Sirens, 1909
Odysseus and his
crew must sail to
Hades, because
all Greek heroes
are bidden to
make the
obligatory trip to
the Underworld,
but they must
first sail past the
Sirens. Odysseus
is instructed,
“Therefore, sail
on, and stop your
comrades’ ears
with sweet wax
kneaded soft,
that none of the
rest may hear.”

Of course, the bad boy hero Odysseus instructs his
crew to tie him to the mast, so he can be tempted by
the seducing songs of the Sirens as they seek to lure
him to his death.

HJ Draper, Odysseus and the Sirens, 1909

Pieter Brueghel el Joven, Museum El Prado, Greek Underworld
In the Underworld, the ghost of
Tiresias prophesies to Odysseus,
“On the island of Thrinacia feed the
many cattle and sturdy flocks of
the Sun God.” “Of them, no young
are born, nor do they ever die.” If
you leave them unharmed, you will
still reach Ithaca, though you shall
see many hardships. But if you
harm the cattle, then I predict the
loss of ship and crew, and even if
you yourself escape, late shall you
return home with many troubles,
without your crew.”

Predictably, the crew eat the immortal cattle and die,
so Odysseus alone reaches his home in Ithaca, but
not before sorceresses and goddesses force him to
be their lovers for several years, before the gods
compel them to let Odysseus go.

The companions of
Odysseus rob the cattle
of Helios, Pellegrino
Tibaldi, 1556

Jan Brueghel the Elder - Odysseus and Calypso, 1616

We also have the story of Heracles, known to the
Romans as Hercules, who is also compelled to sleep
with sorceresses. Hercules is a mortal son of Zeus, or
Jupiter, since his mother is mortal. One mighty task
accomplished by Hercules is freeing Prometheus,
who the gods kept in chains for stealing fire from the
gods, giving it to men.

-
Prometheus and Hercules, by Christian Griepenkerl, 1878

Hercules performed other mighty deeds, in these
paintings he slayed the hydra monster and the
centaurs.

-
Hercules and the Hydra, by Antonio del Pollaiolo, 1475, AND Hercules Slaying the Centaurs, by Charles Le Brun

Some early Christians were sympathetic to the figure
of Hercules, we reflected on a work by St Justin
Martyr where he repeated the story told by
Xenophon on the lessons learned by the Stoic hero
Hercules as he encounters Ladies Virtue and Vice.

Perhaps the ancient warrior Naaman the Syrian was
expecting to be assigned a noble task to perform
rather than the simple task of washing seven times in
the muddy, shallow Jordan River. We also know that
many Greek heroes who were bidden to perform
mighty deeds were flawed characters, sometimes
with deeply flawed morals.

Elisha Raising the Shunammite’s Son, by Benjamin West, 1766
We read in 2 Kings
that Naaman’s
servants approached
and said to him,
“Father, if the prophet
had commanded you
to do something
difficult, would you
not have done it? How
much more, when all
he said to you was,
‘Wash, and be clean’?”

Another astounding detail in the story most
preachers miss is how remarkable it is that his slaves
would challenge their master, especially since their
master was a general, one of the most powerful men
in their kingdom, and that this powerful general
would listen to the criticisms of his slaves. This
implies that Naaman, though he had Jewish blood on
his hands, was also a good man, who showed
compassion to his slaves.

Roman mosaic depicting slaves performing agricultural tasks

Elisha and the Shunammite woman, by Jan Pynas or Tengnagel, 1624
We read in 2 Kings,
“So Naaman went
down and immersed
himself seven times
in the Jordan,
according to the
word of the man of
God; his flesh was
restored like the flesh
of a young boy, and
he was clean.”

Most commentators and scholars agree, the disease
of leprosy in the Bible not only includes the disease
of leprosy, but any serious skin condition.

But St Ephrem the Syrian seeks a spiritual
definition: “Sin is the leprosy of the soul, which
is not perceived by the senses, but intelligence
has the proof of it, and human nature must be
delivered from this disease by Christ’s power
which is hidden in Baptism. It was necessary
that Naaman, in order to be purified from two
diseases, that of the soul and that of the body,
might represent in his own person the
purification of all the nations through the bath
of regeneration, whose beginning was in the
River Jordan, the mother and originator of
baptism.”

Caesarius of Arles sees this washing of
Naaman in the Jordan as a foreshadowing
of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan: “Elisha
sent Naaman to the river Jordan because
Christ was to send the Gentiles to
baptism. Just as Elisha did not touch
Naaman himself or baptize him showed
that Christ did not come to the Gentiles
Himself but through his apostles.”
“Naaman, who prefigured the Gentiles,
recovered his health in the same river that
later Christ consecrated by His baptism.”
The Baptism of Christ, by Andrea del Verrocchio
and Leonardo da Vinci, 1480

Naaman had brought with him much gold and silver
and other costly presents, that was how you
supported the prophets and temples in the ancient
world, and if you were generous to the gods, perhaps
the gods would bless you in return, healing your
ailments, sending propitious omens your way, and
issuing beneficial oracles when you face difficult
decisions.

Priestess of Delphi
(1891) by John
Collier, showing
the Pythia sitting
on a tripod with
vapor rising from a
crack in the earth
beneath her
View of Delphi with Sacrificial
Procession by Claude Lorrain, late 1600’s

But Elisha refused to accept these gifts, as the God of
Israel heals without needing gifts. But his servant
Gehazi had second thoughts, later he caught up with
Naaman, and announced that the prophet had
changed his mind!

Elisha
Refusing
Gifts from
Naaman,
by Pieter
Fransz. de
Grebber,
1637

St Ephrem teaches us that “after
Gehazi had returned from his
meeting with Naaman,” “Elisha
inquired purposefully, ‘Where do
you come from?’” “If Gehazi had
repented and swore, he would have
been forgiven; but if he denied that
he had secretly received money, the
leprosy of Naaman would cover him
conspicuously.” Which, indeed, is
what happened. Elisha and his dishonest servant, from
Preceptive Illustrations of the Bible, 1901

DISCUSSING THE SOURCES
The Ancient Christian Commentary on each of the books of the Bible is
our favorite, they include commentary by both Eastern and Western
Church Fathers. The Westminster series is one of the better historical
critical commentaries, although they are out of print, you can pick up
used copies inexpensively.
And, of course, we consulted Plutarch, although the Life of Lysander we
found in the dreaded Dryden translation, also the excellent translation of
the Odyssey.
And we also have a video on Book Reviews of the Ancient Greek
historians and philosophers.

To find the source of any direct
quotes in this blog, please type in
the phrase to the search box in
my blog to see the referenced
footnote.
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Elisha Cures Naaman the Syrian of Leprosy, Not With Mighty Deeds, but by Simply Washing in the Jordan

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Elisha Cures Naaman the Syrian of Leprosy, Not With Mighty Deeds, but by Simply Washing in the Jordan