“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. 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.” 2 Kings 5:2-3 NLT
The healing of a foreigner, an enemy. Here in Kings, Jeremiah has this well told story about an Aramean General named, Naaman. I talk about this often, but the Bible doesn’t often mention other countries, at least not in a specific thread of the grand story of the messiah. So why is an enemy of Israel (invaders) and one their generals given quite a bit of Old Testament real estate? Remember, Naaman is an ancient “gentile,” a non jew. Here in this story you have a seven degrees of separation from Naaman’s own servant, slave girl to his proclamation of God being the true God. This is after his rather second-hand, non-hospitable treatment by the Prophet Elisha. Elisha may not have even cared if this general lived or died, he was just teaching Jehoram a lesson about the authority of God’s prophet and the king’s own lack of true relationship with Jehovah.
All of this may have just been reminder to Israel and even to modern Jews today – their job, their reason for being “God’s people,” was to bring the story of God’s grace through the messiah to the entire world! The Jews wanted to keep their special relationship with God only to themselves, even though their were unfaithful to him throughout history. Of course, we and all of humanity behave adulterously, the same way. God and the restoration of humankind is NOT for one particular people group. He’s not the Jewish God, nor the Christian God, nor the Black, Caucasian, European, Hispanic, Asian Native American or Persian God – He is God above, and for all humans! God is not the patriarchal, nor matriarchal, nor binary God – He is creator of all, for all, above all. Ol’ Naaman going down to the river to dip reminds me that no one is outside of God’s love and He sees them. Romans 5:10, even while we were yet enemies of God, we were reconciled to him through the death of His son.
Prayer
Dad,
I have always looked at this story for the miraculous perspective of connections and the path it takes for someone to find you, admit who you are and give their life over to you. I’ve not really focused on the fact that this “foreigner” fits quite nicely in the story of how far you will go to reach a human being. I am grateful for that because you came after me and I so desperately needed you to come after me. Thank you.