========================================================================
  GLEANINGS FROM THE HISTORY OF NAAMAN
  by G.S. Byford
========================================================================

A collection of articles and writings by G.S. Byford from Gleanings From the
History of Naaman, covering various biblical topics and Christian teaching.

  Chapters: 7

------------------------------------------------------------------------
  TABLE OF CONTENTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    0. Gleanings From the History of Naaman
    1. Gleanings From the History of Naaman: Part 1
    2. Gleanings From the History of Naaman: Part 2
    3. Gleanings From the History of Naaman: Part 3
    4. Gleanings From the History of Naaman: Part 4
    5. Gleanings From the History of Naaman: Part 5
    6. Gleanings From the History of Naaman: Part 6

========================================================================
  CHAPTER 0: GLEANINGS FROM THE HISTORY OF NAAMAN
========================================================================


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 1: GLEANINGS FROM THE HISTORY OF NAAMAN: PART 1
========================================================================

"Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his
master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria:
he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone
out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a
little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress,
Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover
him of his leprosy. And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus
said the maid that is of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, Go to,
go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took
with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes
of raiment. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when
this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant
to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. And it came to pass, when
the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I
God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man
of his leprosy? Wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel
against me. "And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king
of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast
thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a
prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and
stood at the door of the house of Elisha." 2 Kings 5:1-9. A remarkable
illustration of the principle of grace is here set before us in great precision
and minuteness of detail. Divine purpose makes itself evident in every line of
the chapter. The ministry of Elijah had not succeeded in effecting any radical
improvement in Israel's condition (1 Kings 18:37; 19: 14). Elijah, in the great
scene on Carmel, had summed up the whole case for Jehovah as against Baal; and
the people had there confessed the supremacy of Jehovah. But their more
deliberate and formal answer we see disclosed in the message of Jezebel to the
prophet. The heart of the nation was not really turned back again; it was
unchanged. But in the chapter now before us the question is, Had the grace which
found its expression in Elisha's ministry softened their heart and turned it
again to the Jehovah of hosts, the God of their fathers? Clearly it was not so.
Yet it pleased God in His infinite wisdom to furnish this magnificent exposition
of the way in which grace delights to act, with its characteristic methods, and
its fruits, as also of its own essential principles. "For the grace of God that
bringeth salvation bath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in this present world," etc. (Titus 2:11-14). In 2 Kings 4 we have seen how this
grace is inexhaustible. "So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left
thereof, according to the word of the LORD." v. 44. But a more serious question
than that of poverty comes now into view; namely, of sin in all its guilt and
uncleanness, for "many lepers were in Israel"; yet were they indifferent to this
manifestation of it in their midst. The Lord Jesus in the day of His visitation
of His people witnessed to the excellence and efficacy of that grace in which He
came to them as the sent One of God, when, coming to Nazareth and entering their
synagogue, He read from the prophecy of Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord Goo is
upon Me," etc., and said, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears"
(Luke 4:21). Yet their hearts were closed against Him, their consciences were
not awakened, they refused to acknowledge their guilty and defiled condition and
their own deep need. "Many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus [Elijah]
the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all
they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath."
(Luke 4:16-29.) They stumbled at the sovereign grace of God. So it was in our
Lord's days, and so it is now. "For as ye [Gentiles] in times past have not
believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their [the Jews] unbelief:
even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may
obtain mercy." Rom. 11:30, 31. The meaning of the latter clause is that the Jews
refused the mercy shown to Gentiles, so that in the end they may come in also on
the basis of pure mercy. Grace displays itself to the unworthy where there is
the confession of our sins and the submission to the righteousness of God
instead of the establishment of our own (Rom. 10:3), and the acknowledgment of
the Lordship of Christ. The fact that there were many lepers in Israel in
Elisha's time was a testimony to the uncleanness of the nation in God's sight.
But instead of exercise of heart before God about it, there was none. Had
Jehovah not said: "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD Thy
God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His
commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon
thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth
thee"? Exod. 15:26. From the time that sin found an entrance into this world,
God has never ceased to plead with man, testifying to divine goodness in
Himself, but to ingratitude and rebellion in the creature. The many uncleansed
lepers in Israel in Elisha's day; the great multitude, in the days of our Lord,
of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the waters
of Bethesda's pool; the ten lepers of Luke 17; all alike bore unequivocal
testimony to the real state and condition of the nation, and the insufficiency
of ceremonial which, while contenting the people, did not meet the gravity of
sin before God. So with Elisha, as we have seen, there was a similar testimony
to the low estate of the people; yet was there the sovereign and waiting
goodness of God for any truly confessing their need. The great in Israel
discerned it not; yet, nevertheless, it could be known in its freeness and
efficacy by the "stranger" who came in the expectancy of blessing. This blessing
was in the land of Israel - there to be found - for it did not travel outside of
its own proper sphere as yet. God was not then making generous overtures to the
Gentiles outside the land, however sorely Israel might provoke Him to do so. The
Lord Jesus, of whom Elisha was but a type, would not allow Himself, as sent to
the lost sheep of Israel, to depart from the path of obedience; nor would He
distribute (without a protest) the children's food to dogs. For "Jesus Christ
was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises
made unto the fathers: and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy; as
it is written, For this cause I will confess to Thee among the Gentiles, and
sing unto Thy name. And again He saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people.
And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud Him, all ye people. And
again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall rise to
reign over the Gentiles; in Him shall the Gentiles trust." Rom. 15:8-12. God, in
blessing Jew or Gentile, is ever true to Himself. The foolish conceit of the
Gentile no more will be allowed a place than the unbelieving pride of Israel. We
get both in this our chapter; and we find the prophet so instructed in the ways
of Jehovah that he rebukes• the one (v. 8), and refuses to acknowledge the other
(v. 10). A few words as to the leprosy itself may not be out of place here. Its
moral significance is plainly enough set before us in Scripture. No doubt
leprosy was more or less prevalent in Egypt and the East, and perhaps
particularly so in Syria. But God could not tolerate its presence in the camp of
Israel, as we learn from Numb. 5:1-4. God had taken the people at their word and
had consented to dwell among them (Exod. 15:2; 25:8). His presence could not but
judge all that was opposed to His holy nature. He would not be a consenting
party to His own dishonor. So too, when the ark of God was taken into Dagon's
temple, Dagon was judged (1 Sam. 5:4). They are commanded therefore to "put out
of the camp every leper," etc. Everything unsuited to His presence as in their
midst was to be put out of their camp, "for the LORD thy God walketh in the
midst of thy camp." Before very long, the children of Israel were called upon to
put this word into operation in regard to a very specific case of leprosy which
appeared in one of their three leaders (Mic. 6:4). "And the cloud departed from
off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron
looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.... And Miriam was shut out
from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought
in again." Numb. 12:10-15. She who had led the women of Israel in song after the
passage of the Red Sea (Exod. 15) is stricken by the just judgment of Jehovah
with leprosy, and is shut out from the camp. We know that Aaron the priest was
himself guilty likewise, although for obvious reasons not dealt with in the same
way. Still more awful was the divine visitation upon Uzziah, king of Judah,
recorded in 2 Chron. 26 These scriptures are sufficient to show that the
infliction of leprosy was the expression of God's righteous judgment of sin, and
also of His rejection of man - religious man - in his fleshly pretensions and
assumed competency to draw near to God, and in the refusal of the truth of his
actual condition. Sin, in its inward workings as known to God, made to appear
outwardly in all its repulsive, revolting character, is what is shown by
leprosy. Its manifestation in the flesh of the leper occupies the greater part
of Lev. 13, while the next chapter sets before us "the law of the leper in the
day of his cleansing." What is within displays itself in outward acts; yet it is
not these but the principle, or working, of sin itself that is signified by
leprosy. "As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;.." and
"the judgment was by one to condemnation," yet the law dealt with sinful acts
and condemned them. It failed to condemn sin in the flesh. Had it done so, it
would have had nothing more to say, for man is that and nothing else. But when
the holy One was upon the cross a sacrifice for sin, then sin itself was
condemned. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness [righteous requirement] of
the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit." Rom. 8:3, 4. The believer now knows to his comfort and deliverance that
as surely as Christ "was delivered for our offenses," so too He "was raised
again for our justification." Death and resurrection are God's remedy for sin,
and He requires submission to Christ (see Rom. 4:25; 14:9 Cor. 5:14-21). It must
be evident that when it is a question of what sin is before God, there can be no
distinction between Israel and the Gentiles. "There is no difference: for all
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." "The same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon Him." "He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the
priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. And the
leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and
he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All
the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean:
he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be." Lev. 13:44-46.
What God now calls for is the soul's bowing to His judgment of our state, and of
our sins, in Christ's death. Heart belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the
abiding efficacy of His precious blood that cleanses from every sin, gives
eternal forgiveness and peace.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 2: GLEANINGS FROM THE HISTORY OF NAAMAN: PART 2
========================================================================

The cleansing of this Syrian leper was indeed a wonderful witness to the
sovereign grace of the God of Israel - a witness not without blessing to the
Gentile, even if disregarded by His people. "The law of the leper in the day of
his cleansing," as set out in Lev. 14, was no longer known in Israel; for though
there were many lepers in the land, none of them was cleansed. And where was
either priest or sacrifice that God could own? The ministry of Elisha was
outside the nation's ritual, such as it then was. The altar of Elijah had
testified in its day (1 Kings 18), but where afterward do we read of it? It is a
serious thing when the ordinary channel of blessing, because of its defilement,
can no longer be made use of; for grace must maintain its own character of
holiness, and will be neither hindered nor defiled by human interference. So, as
we review the miracle now before us, we cannot but feel that for this reason it
was that Elisha avoided reference to the Mosaic rite. Let us now examine for a
little the details of our chapter as affording a representative case. "Now
Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his
master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria:
he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper." 2 Kings 5:1. Here we
have an experienced soldier, an able general, a successful man, justly esteemed,
honored, and rewarded, by his master. His name signifies "agreeableness," and
Jehovah had used him to bring victory to Syria in chastisement of His own guilty
people. We read, again and again, how in the time of the judges God was grieved
for the misery of His people, and raised up one and another to deliver them from
their oppressors. Not because Israel deserved deliverance, but because He pitied
them. So here the distressed condition of the Syrians had appealed to the tender
mercy of Jehovah. God had permitted Israel in the reign of Ahab to defeat the
Syrians repeatedly (1 Kings 20). "And there came a man of God, and spake unto
the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have
said, The LORD is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys, therefore
will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that
I am the LORD." v. 28. Three years later, however, when Ahab attempted to
recover Ramoth-gilead out of the hand of the king of Syria, Israel was scattered
and Ahab slain. Jehoshaphat, in guilty league with Israel's wicked king, was
nevertheless delivered, "so as by fire." Subsequently recovered, Ramothgilead
appears again in the possession of Israel, who used it as a military center.
Coming back to our chapter, however, we read that Jehovah had granted
deliverance to Syria by one that was a leper. However great the victory, yet
Naaman could not get away from the bitterness and sorrow of his being "a leper."
This marred everything. Man in his best estate betrays the sin of his nature,
and the dreaded, inevitable end is constantly in his thoughts, and casts its
shadow on all earth's glory. Death! And after death, the judgment! The greatest
measure of worldly success and prosperity cannot shut out the gloomy prospect
from the soul. Indeed, they only increase its terror; for, while death itself
may come as a relief to the wretched and the poor, the wealthy and honored
naturally cling to what vainly satisfies them here, with nothing beyond but
eternal judgment! The soldiers of Naaman had brought into their lord's house one
who was indeed a messenger of mercy. A captive out of the land of Israel, this
little maid waited on Naaman's wife. "And she said unto her mistress, Would God
my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of
his leprosy." Seldom indeed is the heart of a proud rebel against God softened
or improved by adversity. Much less is found a nation, or any great part of a
community, truly humbled by reverses. Of such it can be said, "They cry not when
He bindeth them." Job. 36:13. And again at a later day it is written, specially
of Israel when suffering defeat at the hands of the same enemy, where we have
doubtless a prophecy of the yet more acute tribulation of the last days: "The
Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. And all the people
shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride
and stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn
stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join
His enemies together; t h e Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they
shall devour Israel with open mouth.... For the people turneth not unto Him that
smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts." Isa. 9:8-13. The gracious
ministry of Elisha, overlooked and despised by the great ones in Israel, had
found a response in the heart of one of Jehovah's "little ones" - the
unmistakable evidence that God had been at work. The "still small voice" bore
witness that "His mercy endureth forever," and had found its way to the heart of
the little maid that was "of the land of Israel." Grace with her had borne
fruit, both for God's glory and man's blessing. Naturally she might have brooded
over her wrongs, over the loneliness and misery of her now daily life. For
although in the midst of affluence and splendor, she might naturally have
regarded her lord with aversion, as being the direct expression of the power of
the enemy in the havoc wrought in Israel, separating her too from her home and
friends. Would it have been surprising if, instead, she had presented an
impassioned appeal for mercy that would give her back to the land of her birth,
to her friends, and to her home? Yet, on the contrary, her earnest desire was
that her master, and not herself, were with the prophet that is in Samaria! How
perfectly does grace deliver the soul from selfishness or self-occupation. How
it enlarges the heart and elevates the downtrodden and oppressed! Who can doubt
that there shone more true nobility of spirit in her than in her master, or in
the king of Syria? Grace, in that early day, foreimpressed its own character
upon the heart of the receiver (Titus 2:9-14). Surely, she had either witnessed
with others, or proved in herself, the power of grace to change the heart. For
it was not a studied part which she was acting, with selfish desires for her own
ultimate good, nor yet a mere submission to the inevitable, but a truly simple,
yea, almost passionate expression of what occupied her heart. Even for how long
previously, we cannot say. But we may say of her likewise, "She hath done what
she could." For whom was it done, as regards her feelings and intelligence? was
it for Naaman only? Was not the glory of God before her, however little she
might be conscious of it? Whatever brings true blessing to the soul, has God for
its source and its object. God's greatest and best gift has been His beloved
Son. When that Blessed One was about to leave the world, having finished the
work (as to His service of grace) given Him to do, we find the Spirit of God
bringing together and connecting the beginning with the end of His course, thus
giving us the object, the method of realization, and the results of His presence
in the world in relation to God, to man, and to Satan. "Now before the feast of
the passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out
of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He
loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into
the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him; Jesus knowing that the
Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and
went to God; He riseth from supper," etc. John 13:1-4. Blessing from God
received by man in faith, returns to God in worship. So too the Apostle Paul,
after tracing and expounding the ways of God with Israel and the Gentiles,
brings us to the same conclusion. "0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past
finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who bath been His
counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him
again? For of Him, a n d through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be
glory forever. Amen." Rom. 11:33-36. There was then a purpose of blessing for
Naaman in the heart of Jehovah. The leper was to be cleansed, but his heart was
also to be renewed by grace, so that he might be brought to God as a worshiper.
The first link in the chain of blessing seemed weak indeed, and all who were
used in the work seemed to have been chosen of God with a view to humbling the
pride of the Gentile. Man is slow to admit that there is any barrier between God
and himself but what he can set aside. The faithfulness and simplicity of the
little maid were admirable. The principles which guided her were in effect those
upon which the great Apostle of the Gentiles took his stand. The same power and
grace were active in each case. "And I, when I came to you, brethren, came not
in excellency of word, or wisdom, announcing to you the testimony of God. For I
did not judge it well to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling; and
my word and my preaching, not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith might not stand in
men's wisdom, but in God's power." 1 Cor. 2:1-5; J.N.D. Trans.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 3: GLEANINGS FROM THE HISTORY OF NAAMAN: PART 3
========================================================================

It might be deemed only natural that the king of Syria, on hearing of a possible
cure in the land of Israel for the leprosy of his servant, should address
himself to the king of Israel; but he need not have ignored the prophet so
entirely as to frustrate the mission, but for the overruling providence of God.
Would not the king of Israel (if anybody) know all about it? And considering how
recently Naaman had harassed Israel's land and people, he must have thought a
little diplomacy was, doubtless, called for. "A man's gift maketh room for him."
Pro. 18:16. Certainly he did his best to get on good terms with the one whom he
thought most likely to help him in the matter, and we cannot be surprised at
this. The infidel spirit, however, shown by the king of Israel, was inexcusable;
but God is pitiful and was working in spite of hindrances. How many there are
today who, in touch with the people of God and familiar, it may be, with truth
in its outward expression, are found to be the greatest strangers to its power
and reality. "They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him," and
are enemies of the cross of Christ. Here, in the case before us, is evidently
set forth the present unbelieving state of the Jewish nation. God is owned in a
way-"Am I God, to kill and to make alive?"- but the witness and vessel of grace
is ignored-Elisha was forgotten. The "poor man," who by his wisdom delivered the
city, was not remembered by any one (Eccles. 9:14, 16). The prophet's ministry
stayed the hand of God in judgment, yet Israel's king ignored the prophet.
Although the king of Israel's words did not go so far as the attempt of Elymas
"to turn away the deputy from the faith" (Acts 13:8-10), they were yet the
outcome of the ceaseless activity of the devil in seeking to hinder souls from
getting blessing. But Jehovah interfered by His servant Elisha who "sent to the
king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and
he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses
and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha
sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy
flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." 2 Kings 5:8-10. With
the real or imaginary grievances of Israel, Elisha had nothing to do. But he
could not allow it to be said that Naaman the leper had come into the land of
Israel asking blessing and cleansing, and had returned disappointed. It was not,
however, the testimony for the moment that God dwelt in Israel; for Jeroboam,
its first king after the division, had cast the God of Israel behind his back
and discarded the priests of Jehovah. It remains for a yet future day for the
testimony to go forth (to the terror of all enemies) that the name of the city
shall be, from that day forth, "Jehovah is there." Naaman should indeed own that
(v. 15), but the measured utterance of the prophet was, strictly speaking, more
correct than the language of the one who had but just learned what it was to
have to do with God in grace. Jehovah had been cast out of Israel, and had not
returned to the nation. He had not, however, cast away His people on that
account. On the contrary, He had sent His servant in grace that it might be
manifest that there was a prophet in Israel. Man's way had proved distinctly
disappointing, but God graciously opened up a prospect of deliverance and
blessing, just as despair had, for the moment, taken possession of Naaman. A
like experience we see in the case of God's redeemed people at the beginning of
their history (Exod. 14), and indeed all the way through, as they will own in a
future day in words especially prepared for their use in Psalm 107 (see Hos.
14:1, 2). The word of God through the prophet to the king, arrests Naaman in his
perplexity, and-in its form of invitation, "let him come now to me"-is
suggestive of the present invitations of grace: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28. "In the last day,
that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come unto Me, and drink." John 7:37. "Let him that is athirst come. And
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17. It is the
more necessary to press these generous invitations at the present time, since
the god of this world is blinding the minds of them that believe not, lest the
glory of Him who invites, and their own deep need should be discerned. For the
time is near when the leper will be left in all his uncleanness in the outside
place, and the sinner who dies in his sins will be raised in order to appear
before the great white throne for eternal judgment. "And he saith unto me, Seal
not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that
is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy
still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is
holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with
Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:10-12. "And I saw
a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book
was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
fire." Rev. 20:11-15. Naaman responded to the gracious invitation in a very
ungracious spirit, only to find that pride must be humbled. He might make a
display of glory and self-importance at the king's palace, but it was altogether
out of place at the door of the house of Elisha. He might be a "great man with
his master, and honorable," but Elisha was not affected by the display of this
world's glory. He saw in him who stood at his gate an enemy of the people of
Jehovah, an unclean leper to whom he could not come out, seeing he was not a
priest (Lev. 14:3). And he had a sense of what was due to God, of what alone
could be efficacious for the leper. It is only in God's presence and in
subjection to His Word that we realize how completely sin separates us from God
and from His people. The thoughts of man are all wrong, both in regard to sin
and its remedy. The brief message of the prophet to Naaman was a disclosure of
what his real condition was in God's eyes. "And Elisha sent a messenger unto
him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again
to thee, and thou shalt be clean." Unclean, he needed to be cleansed. Up to this
point everybody had spoken of "recovery" (vv. 3, 6, 7, 11; compare with Lev.
13:45). The thoughts of men today, and especially of religious men, are set upon
recovery, improvement, reformation, whether by moral or scientific means. But
the Christian has learned that the flesh cannot be improved. "That which is born
of the flesh is flesh." John 3:6. "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it
is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7. "In Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith
which worketh by love." Gal. 5:6. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2
Cor. 5:17. How humiliating for the proud Syrian to hear the words, "Go and wash
in Jordan seven times." The remedy was simplicity itself-"Go and wash." Yet did
it imply that he was in his leprous condition unclean, so that the man of God
could not tolerate him in his presence.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 4: GLEANINGS FROM THE HISTORY OF NAAMAN: PART 4
========================================================================

"But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will
surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and
strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and
Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not
wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his
servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had
bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather
then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped
himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and
his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." 2
Kings 5:11-14. It was not alone the simplicity or the brevity of the message
sent out to Naaman which stumbled that "great" and "honorable" man; but Elisha
refused to acknowledge the glory which distinguished him among men as of any
account before God. His gifts, too, which would have made way for him in his own
sphere, were altogether valueless in the presence of God. It is a great and
fundamental truth of the gospel, and that which staggers the pride of man, that
"there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God." As long as man keeps away from God, differences can be made and maintained
for whatever they are worth; but God has decreed that no flesh shall glory in
His presence; and where a soul is consciously in the presence of God, there is
as little inclination as there is power to maintain the conventional
distinctions of men. The light of God entering the soul gives it to bow to the
truth of God's Word and to own its authority. "Then Job answered the LORD, and
said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will lay mine hand upon my
mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed
no further." Job 40:3-5. "Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that Thou
canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee. Who is he
that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I
understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech
Thee, and I will speak: I will demand of Thee, and declare Thou unto me. I have
heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee: wherefore
I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Chap 42:1-6. Only in one of two
positions can man stand in God's presence-either as a repentant sinner bowing to
God's righteous judgment of him, or as a worshiping saint justified by faith.
All attempts to establish a character or a righteousness to satisfy even oneself
must break down. The instructions as to leprosy in Israel (Lev. 14) illustrate
this, as we have seen before; but what is so exceedingly important and
interesting to notice in the cleansing of Naaman is that in the absence of all
ritual God yet required that which signified the entire submission of the soul
to death, and the obedience of faith. Israel has long ceased to be the executive
of God's righteous government of man in the world, and it refuses the mercy and
grace in which the blessed Son of God came to them. The present testimony is one
of sovereign grace, and addresses itself to the whole world. "Paul, a servant of
Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (which
He had promised afore by His prophets in the holy Scriptures,) concerning His
Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: by whom we have received grace and
apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name." Rom.
1:1-5. But if God has rejected the fleshly confidences of Israel (Jer. 2:37),
still less could He regard with favor the boldness of religious profession which
would ignore the difference between Israel and the Gentiles, and, taking
advantage of the unbelief of the former, would at least claim equality with, if
not superiority to, anything of which Israel could boast. Nothing among Gentiles
has ever had the shadow of divine authority to plead in justification. The
objection of Naaman witnessed that the carnal mind is indeed enmity against God,
that it entertains nothing but contempt for what God may have established or for
what meets with His approval upon earth. Naaman was disposed to prefer the
waters of Syria to those of Israel. We may be sure there were no inherent
qualities in either for cleansing from leprosy. All such virtue rested in the
word of God, and this demands the obedience of faith. The river of Jordan
doubtless had its typical import, but then was not the time to reveal it. We who
now know something of the precious truth that in the death of Christ we have
also our death to sin might be disposed to dwell somewhat on this part of the
history; but, as the 6th of Romans has its typical counterpart, not here but in
Josh. 3 and 4, we pass on and would seek to learn the purpose of God in dealing
thus with this Syrian leper. Do not the words of the leper himself supply the
answer? "Behold. I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call
on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover
the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the
waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went
away in a rage." We see here how ready the human mind is to reason about the
divinely simple hut efficacious way of blessing for man's deep need, instead of
bowing thereto in simple trust in God's unerring wisdom and gracious means.
Naaman attached importance to his thoughts-how vain are the thoughts of man
(Psalm 94:11) -and (lid not disguise his contempt for the people and land of
Israel. He betrayed the very same spirit which in an earlier day had brought the
judgment of God upon his nation (see 1 Kings 20). The mind of the flesh is
enmity against God, and displays itself in this way-that, where obedience of
faith is required, intellectualism is ready to question. But "He [God] giveth
not account of any of His matters" (Job 33:13). The gospel is preached among all
nations "for the obedience of faith," and the simple and lowly receive it and
get the blessing. So in the case before us it was the servants of Naaman who, by
their remonstrance with him as he turned away, helped their master; and so also
had the little captive maid been used of God at an earlier stage. The simple,
cogent reasoning of the servants proved its superiority to the vain thoughts of
Naaman, disclosing at the same time their affectionate solicitude for their
master's welfare which was truly touching. They put before him how he had
nothing to lose, but everything to gain, by complying with the prophet's
instructions. The very simplicity of the gospel is what first stumbles the soul.
The "Wash, and be clean" of this chapter strikingly points to the "Believe...
and thou shalt be saved" of the New Testament. There is a kind of desperation of
soul, the result of trying human schemes of reformation, only to be
disappointed, in which the Spirit of God works for the bringing of the soul to
give up its own thoughts and way, and unreservedly cast itself upon the mercy of
God. If not, indeed, faith of an exalted order, yet still it is faith. "If I
perish, I perish," said Esther; so similarly, the answer of the twelve apostles
to the Lord's challenge exhibited the same character of faith. "From that time
many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus
unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are
sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." John 6:66-69. Peter
confessed his faith in Christ, and his love for Christ; but it was not knowledge
or intelligence which held the disciples. They could not better themselves
elsewhere. "To whom shall we go?" By whatever means the sinner is brought to
believe in God and to cast himself upon Christ for salvation, the result is ever
the same. It was not the healing virtue of the waters of Jordan which Naaman
proved, but the virtue of the prophet's word, and that Israel's God was indeed a
Savior God. "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that
He should repent: bath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and
shall He not make it good?" Numb. 23:19. "His flesh shall be fresher than a
child's: he shall return to the days of his youth." Job 33:25. That which washed
away the leprosy of Naaman cleansed his soul from its unbelieving utterance.
Dipping “seven times in Jordan,” his lowly submission was complete; so was his
cleansing. “His flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he
was clean.”


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 5: GLEANINGS FROM THE HISTORY OF NAAMAN: PART 5
========================================================================

"And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood
before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the
earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy
servant. But he said, As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive
none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused. And Naaman said, Shall there
not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for
thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto
other gods, but unto the LORD. In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that
when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth
on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in
the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing. And he said unto
him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way." 2 Kings 5:15-19. It is
not to be supposed that the man of God was ignorant of or indifferent to the
struggle that had been going on in the heart of Naaman, between faith and
unbelief. It was in reality a conflict between God and Satan for the possession
of a soul. The Spirit of God had brought it to a happy termination. Human
instrumentality, insignificant and unpretentious in this case, had been largely
made use of; but the chief actors had not, up to this point, discovered
themselves. We cannot but admire the wisdom and propriety with which Elisha
carried himself all the way through, standing aside while the conflict was in
progress, as a servant that "knoweth not what his lord doeth." He has but to
deliver Jehovah's message without addition or diminution, as becomes one
entrusted with a ministry of reconciliation. But the mind of man reveals its
disappointment and dissatisfaction with the gospel of the grace of God, and
manifests, as in Naaman's case, its open rebellion against the means prescribed
by God to induce the sinner to give up his own thoughts and the reasoning of
unbelief. The ambassador has faithfully to deliver the message committed to him,
and to leave the result with God. It is not his to try and make it palatable by
giving up what arouses opposition. He knows that at all times God is well
pleased when His beloved Son is well spoken of, and the gospel faithfully
preached. "For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved,
and in them that perish: to the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to
the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but
as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ." 2 Cor. 2:15-17. A spirit of
earnest sincerity, witness of a love that seeks in order to save and bless,
underlies the gospel, which in itself rarely fails to attract. "Let him come now
to me," awakened hope in the heart of Naaman; but the more peremptory command,
"Go and wash," destroyed those hopes which had been wrongly placed. "Behold. I
thought," revealed the pride of a corrupt heart which in the matter of salvation
would dictate terms to God; but the light of God had nevertheless truly dawned
upon him, and so eventually we hear his confession of it in the words, "Behold,
now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel." What an
amazing discovery! And in what a way of grace to make it! The only God in all
the earth had been found of a poor Gentile leper-found too in Israel's land,
while certainly Israel's king acknowledged Him not. "But Esaias is very bold,
and saith, I was found of them that sought Me not; I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after Me. But to Israel He saith, All day long I have stretched
forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." Rom. 10:20, 21. Well
might the great Apostle of the Gentiles, with a heart full of love for his
brethren after the flesh, seek to use such a marvelous fact for the blessing of
some of them. "For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the
Gentiles, I magnify mine office: if by any means I may provoke to emulation them
which are my flesh, and might save some of them." Rom. 11:13, 14.. And will not
God use it effectually in a day which is yet future, in answer to the prayer of
an afflicted and repentant remnant (Isa. 64:12; 65:1)? Then will assurance and
certainty, as the result of God's work in the soul, take the place of "vain
thoughts," fruits of a darkened understanding which had repelled grace and
insulted Jehovah and His servant. "Better things... and things which accompany
salvation," we may say, were now to appear in the case before us; and these were
wonderfully similar in character to those fruits which rejoiced the heart of the
Apostle Paul as he marked their development in his beloved Thessalonians. "We
give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father." 1 Thess.
1:2, 3. The Thessalonian converts had believed the gospel which Paul preached,
responding heartily and in all simplicity to the grace presented. They had borne
fruit in like character to that divine grace which had visited them. And, in its
measure, it was so with Naaman. One hardly knows which to admire most-the
generous devotion of the cleansed leper pressing his gifts upon Elisha, or the
faithfulness in which the latter refused all that was offered, declining to
enrich himself by compromising the testimony of that free yet sovereign grace of
which he had been the channel. The tribute of the Gentiles has been rendered to
God's earthly people in the past, and will yet again be rendered to Israel in
the future (compare 2 Chron. 9:23, 24. with Psalm 72). These gifts shall come
with acceptance to the earthly dwelling place and altar of Jehovah. But at this
time Israel was unbelieving and contemptuous of the grace represented by the
ministry of Elisha, so that no glory could in truth accrue to Israel, or indeed
to any but to Jehovah Himself. It would be better and more excellent for the
Syrian to return to his own land, and build an altar to Jehovah there, as in
coming millennial days when God shall have accomplished all that He has ever
promised for Israel, it shall be said, "In that day there shall be an altar to
the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof
to the LORD." "In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and
the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the
Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third
with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the
LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the
work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance." Isa. 19:19, 23-25. Truly God has
given in His Word many a pledge and guarantee of blessing which awaits not only
Israel, but the world, when there shall be the universal acknowledgment of
Jehovah, and subjection to His order then established in power on the earth. How
perfect is divine workmanship! He who had but a little before spoken
disparagingly of "the waters of Israel," now begs for two mules' burden of
earth! Had it been suggested to him earlier as an essential condition to his
cleansing, he might have regarded it as an unnecessary incumbrance; but in his
altered state of mind, the very soil of the land of Israel was sacred to him,
where he had come to know God as Jehovah Rophi-"that healeth thee" (Exod.
15:26). When God is known thus as a Savior God, to build an altar to Him (in a
manner of speaking) is the suited thing to do. Now ' that Christ has come, God
can only be truly owned and worshiped as a "just God and a Savior" when He is
known as One who, in the death of His Son, has laid a righteous and adequate
basis for the everlasting deliverance and blessing of man. So also did Jacob, at
an earlier day, when bidden by God to "Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there:
and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee." "So Jacob came to
Luz,... that is Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And he built
there an altar, and called the place El-bethel; because there God appeared unto
him, when he fled from the face of his brother." Gen. 35:1, 6, 7. Grace
manifested in Christ removes man's abilities, sets before him an object to be
worshiped, and supplies both motives and methods such as God can acknowledge and
accept. To have learned only that "there is no God in all the earth, but in
Israel" could but bring sorrow to Naaman; for he dwelt not there, but in Syria.
But this was not all that he had learned. He had learned the true character of
God Himself, who had established him in the position of a worshiper, cleansed,
accepted, and welcome to draw near, even as the heirs of promise. Naaman was to
go back to his own land with all the riches he had brought. They had been
refused, but he had been cleansed and accepted. The same God who had delivered
Israel from the bondage of Egypt and set Himself before them as the one object
of worship, had been revealed to Naaman with the same result. To Israel, He had
given the ten words which proclaimed His holy jealousy against all false gods;
and then he adds, "An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me, and shalt
sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and
thine oxen: in all places where I record My name I will come unto thee, and I
will bless thee." Exod. 20:24. "And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray
thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will
henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor, 'Sacrifice unto other gods, but
unto the LORD. In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that when my master
goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and
I bow myself in the house of Rimmon,... the LORD pardon thy servant in this
thing." vv. 17, 18. The revelation of God as He has declared Himself, the
association of His name with the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, is
that which gives the character of truth to worship; while the passing away of
all forms and ceremonies now rendered obsolete by the death of Christ requires
that worship rendered to a God as now revealed in Christianity should be
spiritual. "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when ye
shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye
worship ye know not what: we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God
is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
John 4:21.24. .t, The question then arises, Who are they who are thus Elisha
could but stand aside and refrain from hindering where he had no authority to
sanction. For such a work was quite outside the revealed ways of God with
Israel, and apart from all that had hitherto been made known, whether of leprosy
and its cleansing, or of worship and its essential requisites. Yet surely Elisha
was here a type of God's righteous Servant who, when here on earth, in the same
place and in similar circumstances, acknowledged the faith which God had wrought
in the heart of a stranger and accepted the worship (as unconventional as that
of Naaman) which was rendered to Him by the cleansed Samaritan of Luke 17:11-19.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 6: GLEANINGS FROM THE HISTORY OF NAAMAN: PART 6
========================================================================

While grace thus manifested its presence and character by positive fruits in a
way acceptable to God and cheering to the heart of His servant, the evidence of
an exercised conscience bore convincing testimony to the reality of the change
which Naaman had experienced. The circumstances before us are not the portrayal
of the case of one breaking with old associations, or departing from evil
habits, but of one returning a changed man to his responsible position in the
service of the king of Syria. Worship of Jehovah, and obedience to Him, would
not be easy in the midst of idolatrous surroundings; and already, before his
return to Syria, Naaman contemplated in a very different way to formerly the
circumstances and requirements of his honorable position. To be closely
associated with his royal master on all state occasions, and to take part in the
worship of Rimmon, had hitherto been congenial to his feelings, and indeed
flattering to him as a distinguished courtier. But the very thing which formerly
ministered to his pride is now distasteful, and becomes an act of sin calling
for judgment if not pardoned. "And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed
from him a little way." 2 Kings 5:19. What had changed? Only the heart of
Naaman. What made the difference? The light had broken in upon his soul. A new
moral standard was set up within him. "The entrance of Thy word giveth light,"
and all outward action must conform to the purity of that which had established
its own authority within him. It was not a law from without, requiring obedience
under promise of blessing, or putting a restraint upon him with pain and
penalties in case of disobedience. Nor was it only the divine authority of that
word to which he had reluctantly submitted, but the revelation had been one of
grace. Jehovah, the only God in all the earth, had interested Himself on his
behalf-himself, a miserable. unclean Gentile leper-and when the great ones of
Israel would have sent him away, Jehovah had sent His servant with the message,
"Let him come now to me." Obedience of faith receives the blessing, and grace
impresses its own character upon the receiver. "For the grace of God that
bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He
might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works." Titus 2:11-14. In Naaman's case there was but a limited
display of grace, and personal to himself, having reference solely to his own
bodily condition. It was not calculated to lift him out of himself, and did not
set before him a "blessed hope." But the grace which came by Jesus Christ, and
is now in the presentation of the gospel, has appeared in all its fullness,
bringing salvation for all men, and opening up a prospect of glory and blessing
of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the center and effulgence. It is impossible
that such grace should visit the soul and leave it unchanged. Once received, it
teaches; and so it was with Naaman. Divine wisdom characterized Elisha's reply.
He neither sanctioned a relapse into idolatrous practices, nor imposed the law
of Moses upon a Gentile. "Go in peace," left him free to follow the leading of
that light and grace which had entered his soul. The display of grace was
perfect according to God's own character and way. But now we are given to see
the counter working of the adversary of God and man. "But Gehazi, the servant of
Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master bath spared Naaman this Syrian,
in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I
will run after him, and take somewhat of him. So Gehazi followed after Naaman.
And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to
meet him, and said, Is all well? And he said, All is well. My master bath sent
me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young
men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and
two changes of garments. And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he
urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of
garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.
And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them
in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. But he went in, and
stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi?
And he said, Thy servant went no whither. And he said unto him, Went not mine
heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it
a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards,
and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? The leprosy therefore of
Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever. And he went out from
his presence a leper as white as snow." 2 Kings 5:20-27. A solemn picture
indeed! needing but little in the way of explanation. We have seen that the same
malignant power of Satan was actively working in many ways to prevent the
reception of the blessing. Defeated in that, he uses the most suited instrument
to his hand to give God the lie, and to rob Him of His glory. That instrument
was found in the service of the man of God-one who dwelt in his house and had
doubtless seen many other displays of grace, but who was himself absolutely
indifferent to Jehovah's glory, and unaffected in heart by all that he had been
privileged to witness. He only saw in this recent example an opportunity of
enriching himself at the expense of the testimony. See how contemptuously he
speaks of the one whom God had blessed! and how profanely he makes use of
Jehovah's name to sanction the infamy which he proposed! "Behold, my master hath
spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought;
but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him." As we
have before seen, grace received imparts its own character to the receiver; and
not only so, but having its source and spring in God's love as now manifested in
Christ, it takes its course of blessing through the saints, making them channels
of blessing to others, and returns to God in worship. This is true now of saints
individually (see John 7:37-39), as it will also be manifested corporately in
the Church's relations to the millennial earth, as we see in Rev. 22:1-3. The
reverse of this is to be seen in the case of such as have become familiar with
truth as to its outward expression and the present ways of God in grace, while
themselves strangers in heart to the power and reality of either. Just as Naaman
had exhibited the fruits of grace received in tenderness of conscience and
devotedness of heart, so did the unrenewed heart of Gehazi display itself in all
the horrible repulsiveness of nature. Satan works most readily and effectively
upon the religiously instructed mind. It is those who have learned about God or
the Lord Jesus Christ. and who have thus some knowledge of the truth, that are
more efficient servants of the devil than are those who have not such knowledge.
The sin of Gehazi has been the sin of Christendom. In the early days of the
Church's history, the new testimony to the name of Jesus was maintained with
such power and earnestness, and so abundantly blessed by the Holy Ghost in this
same city of Samaria, that there was great joy in that city. Grace was there
again asserting itself, and also maintaining its own proper character. But just
as the covetousness of Gehazi betrayed him into the hands of Satan for the
corrupting of the testimony, so in that early day the same evil principle
manifested itself in New Testament times in one who had the reputation of being
called "the great power of God," who also "believed" and was baptized, and was
admitted into the Christian profession. Such was Simon Magus (Acts 8), a
professed believer, but who was proved to have "neither part nor lot in this
matter," for his heart was not right in the sight of God. These tactics of the
devil are more effective than open opposition-interfering with the action of
grace, and corrupting the motives and testimony of such as proclaim it. But
there was in the early history of the Church the spiritual power and energy of
the apostles, which exposed and judged these evil ways, and for the moment
restrained its fuller development as manifested in later days. The natural man
is ever ready to turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and to use the
Christian profession as a means of exalting and enriching himself, holding
godliness to be a means of gain; and the lordship of Christ is practically, if
not formally, denied. With Gehazi it was not alone the cupidity disclosed, nor
the falsehood and deception practiced, that exposed the offender to the
withering rebuke of the prophet and the swift and solemn judgment of God, but
the occasion-"Is it a time to receive," etc. God had drawn near to His revolted
people in grace, which could neither be monopolized by Israel, nor patronized or
purchased by the Gentile. Elisha as a spiritual man entered fully into the mind
of God and refused the gifts Naaman would have pressed upon him. Yet his servant
had thought it a time to enrich himself by grasping at that which his master had
refused. The moral application to the present day is obvious. It is not here
unbelieving Israel forbidding that the gospel should he preached to the
Gentiles, but the corrupt professor, the wicked servant, doing his utmost, and
using his knowledge and position as a servant in the house, to counteract the
work of God in the soul, and mar the testimony of grace so as to belie its true
character. No sin is more heinous and deadly than sin against the grace of God,
as seen in those who deny the Lord that bought them, and who bring upon
themselves swift destruction. There were many lepers in Israel when Naman was
cleansed. One more was added to the many. "And he went out from his presence a
leper as white as snow." Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this
text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation
corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to:
BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.


========================================================================
Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/gleanings-from-the-history-of-naaman/
========================================================================