Please read the passage before reading the commentary.
Naaman. the army commander of the king of Aram, was a leper. He had a skin disease. It did not keep him from commanding an army or from living at home. He was also a pagan. He also had an Israelite slave girl.
He was high-born and very important in the society of his day, but he only prospered when he listened to people who had little or no authority. It was the slave girl who sent him to the prophet of Israel for healing. It was his servants who counseled him to do the simple thing that Elisha had told him to do. When he listened to them, he was cured.
By his obeying the command of the prophet, Namaan came to have faith in God. He resolved to commit his life to God. He even brought back to his home dirt from the land of Israel so that he could stand on the holy ground of Israel when he worshiped God.
It was in the simplest of things that Namaan showed his faith in God. Hie did not have to undergo any mighty work, unless you consider his change of heart towards God a mighty work. He did not have to go on long arduous journeys or give away his money in alms or build magnificent buildings.
The prophet also had a servant. Although he is not mentioned in the passage above, he is part of the story. He was an Israelite, but he gave his heart to money. He is contrasted with Namaan. As a result of his greed, he inherited the leprosy of Namaan.
I like to think of myself as being a good person. You probably think much the same way about yourself. It is not that we’d be wrong, but the lesson of this reading is that often it is people we least suspect who have faith more In God than we have. The story of Namaan should challenge us to examine how we live the faith we have in God.
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