03.37. Sold at Market

Sold at Market

We may first turn our attention to a heathen marketplace, that of Damascus, where it is very possible that our little maid was exposed for sale. But be that as it may; whether with a multitude of other unhappy people, violently torn from their homes, and driven like cattle to the market, this child was also appraised and sold, or whether she was handed over at once as a present to Naaman’s wife, of two other things we cannot well doubt, namely, that she must have suffered extreme anguish, and that the particular providence of God was in this event. There must have been a time, when her young heart was well nigh broken, when she thought upon her father and her mother, and her distant and beloved home. She falls, however, into the hands of Naaman’s wife; and how, but by the providence of Him who called the universe into being? This child proves to her mistress as a messenger from heaven; and not to her mistress only, but to Naaman: and hereby events transpire which were to interest his household, and his prince, and the Syrian nation, and king Jehoram, and all Israel; yes, and ourselves also. Such Divine disposals, beginning often in sorrowful events, and often in little things, it behooves us seriously to consider. What is here presented to us may serve to shed a light on what is dark in our own experience, and may furnish us with the reason why the Almighty, instead of granting directly the blessings we may have implored, and the assistance we may have earnestly desired, has appeared to shut up our path, and to appoint to us sorrow upon sorrow.