03.34. Naaman the Syrian

Naaman the Syrian The history turns our attention to Damascus, an ancient city, the capital and residence of the monarchs of Syria, situated in a fertile region north-westward of Hermon and Lebanon. Let us leave the boundaries of the Holy Land to contemplate for a while the death-like shades of that heathen country. Thick darkness surrounds us. On every side the altars of idolatry are multiplied. Not the faintest ray of pure light, of the knowledge of the true God, relieves the awful gloom that covers this benighted people.

We might almost imagine them separated from the land of Divine revelation, of seers and prophets, by oceans or immeasurable deserts, instead of that mere ridge of mountains which divides Syria from Canaan. But a more formidable and impassable barrier was their national hatred against the laws and customs of Israel, their ancient and hereditary enemy. The pride of these heathens caused them to shut their eyes to the light of Judah, and to extinguish on their very frontiers any spark of heavenly wisdom that would have passed to them from thence. Yet the Almighty graciously designed to cast the torch of his truth into the very heart of this fenced country, and to establish beside the altars of their dumb idols, a new altar, to the glory of his name, Jehovah. Wherever he hath purposed to enlighten, who shall disannul it? His command, "Let there be light," scatters the thickest darkness. His grace and power, and his omnipotence, go forth together, and who shall withstand them?

God is not a God in heaven only, he is also a God among men, and will be known as such: he will be recognized as a God, who resides and governs in the middle of us; and, great in the smallest things, his guiding hand directs the most minute affairs. For this reason his works of grace proceed commonly through the intervention of human means; and he conceals his own sovereign control under the concurrence of a variety of apparently accidental and trivial circumstances. Nevertheless, he shows by the event, that all was Divinely arranged; and thus displays to us not only his work, but Himself as the all-governing, omnipotent, omnipresent Jehovah. These remarks will be confirmed by the present history. On the throne of Syria was seated the warlike Benhadad, the same who, in the lifetime of Elijah, had led the battle against Israel, and who commanded in person on the bloody field, where Ahab, whom God had rejected, fell, transfixed by an adventured arrow. Among the assemblage of grandees whom that mighty heathen prince had gathered about his person, there was one particular favorite, whose talents had raised him to the right hand of his king, and the renown of whose deeds had made him the idol of the people. His name was not less descriptive of his person, than of his official relations. He was called Naaman, which signifies well-formed, beautiful; a designation which afterwards indeed became a reproachful contrast to his figure and appearance. At present he was arrayed in the doubtful and perishable glory of earthly greatness; his brow was decorated with laurels gained upon the battle field; his breast glittering with the insignia of royal munificence and favor. The public voice proclaimed him the greatest commander of his age, and his acts were probably celebrated in popular songs. For the rest, Naaman was a heathen, born and educated in all the idolatrous blindness of his people: he had often, indeed, been providentially conducted into the land of Divine revelation, but had remained insensible to its light. Hitherto he had only visited this people, from whom his healing and salvation were to proceed, in the hostile attitude of a warrior; like too many in our day, who can tolerate and delight in any but those who, having access to the tree of life, and possessing the true riches, are the only people that can render them the services they stand in need of. Happy is it for us, that "it is God who worketh in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure;" that the will itself is vouchsafed of God as an earnest of its accomplishment. Happy is it for us, that the grace of conversion not merely solicits and invites, but that it operates with Divine energy, both seeking and making its subjects. Who would be saved were it otherwise? Naaman, likewise, was to experience this gracious power. That God, of whom he was at present ignorant, had great designs concerning him, however unfavorable appearances might be, and however conflicting the elements that opposed. The Lord governs in the human mind with the same almighty sway as in the kingdom of nature. He not only calls forth the stars in the canopy of heaven, but the very thoughts of our souls, and can bid them come and go at his pleasure. All hearts are in his hand. Obedient to his will the vast universe holds on its course; and man, the child of dust, with every insect and atom, are under his control. Such a connection banishes, indeed, the proud idea of national and individual independence; yet renunciation of all self-sufficiency in the creature tends but to our greater tranquillity. The only thought that can enable us to take a cheering survey of the world and its affairs, is that all things are sustained and guided by the hand of almighty power and infinite wisdom. What would become of the world, if its affairs were ordered by the will of man, and not by the will of God! At the period at which we next behold Naaman, a dark cloud had obscured his glory. Although he was the same distinguished hero as before, he was no longer an object of envy. Alas! the bitterness of gall had been infused into his cup of joy, his glory was corroded by a canker, which in an instant had brought down this man of prosperity and grandeur to a level with the most pitiable of the sons of men. Naaman was now become a leper! He was afflicted with that dreadful and disgusting disease which was employed to represent to Israel the most abominable thing under heaven—sin, and the healing of which was typical of salvation in Christ, the greatest of all blessings. His body, from the crown of his head to the soul of his foot, was one entire ulcer; his skin a lacerated, suppurating, inflamed sore. His comeliness was changed to disgust and horror, and his breath into that of deadly pestilence. Such was now the situation of a man, who so lately had been raised to the pinnacle of glory and earthly felicity. Who is there, however mean and wretched, that would exchange situations with Naaman?

How often we are inclined to think, "Such a one is reposing in the lap of prosperity; what a rich, what a great man is he!" But did we only know the misery that is often concealed beneath such splendor; we should be far from envying men their earthly distinctions. Be contented then with your temporal condition, however unpromising it may appear; a glittering exterior can add nothing to your happiness. Cease to covet any thing allotted to others. It is the peace of God alone that can impart real happiness; and to him who possesses this, a plain morsel of bread is sweet, and a cottage is as happy an abode as a palace.