How do Naaman’s servants persuade him to follow Eliseus’s instruction?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

They say he would have done a great thing if the prophet had asked it, so he should all the more follow the instruction to wash and be clean. Naaman then washes seven times in the Jordan as told, and his flesh is restored like a little child’s.

Chapter breakdown

Naaman is the Syrian king’s army general, a great and honorable man with his master. Through him the Lord has given deliverance to Syria. He is valiant and rich, but a leper. Robbers from Syria have carried a little maid captive from Israel, and she serves Naaman’s wife. She tells her mistress she wishes her master had been with the prophet in Samaria, who would certainly have healed his leprosy. Naaman goes to his lord and reports what the Israelite girl has said.

Syria’s king tells Naaman to go and promises a letter to Israel’s king. Naaman takes ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of clothing. He brings the letter to Israel’s king. It says Syria’s king has sent his servant Naaman so that Israel’s king may heal his leprosy.

Reading the letter, Israel’s king tears his garments and asks whether he is God, able to kill and give life, that a man has been sent to him to heal leprosy. He tells others to mark how the sender seeks occasions against him. Eliseus hears that the king has torn his garments and sends to ask why. He says to let Naaman come to him and learn that there is a prophet in Israel.

Naaman comes with horses and chariots and stands at Eliseus’s house door. Eliseus sends a messenger telling him to go and wash seven times in the Jordan: his flesh will recover health and he will be clean.

Naaman is angry and goes away. He says he expected Eliseus to come out, stand, invoke the name of the Lord his God, touch the leprous place with his hand and heal him. He asks whether Abana and Pharphar, Damascus’s rivers, are better than all Israel’s waters, so that he could wash there and become clean. He turns and goes away with indignation.

His servants come and address him as father. They say that if the prophet had asked a great thing, he would surely have done it; how much more should he follow the instruction to wash and be clean? Naaman goes down and washes seven times in the Jordan according to the man of God’s word. His flesh is restored like a little child’s and he becomes clean.

Naaman returns with all his train and stands before the man of God. He says he now knows there is no other God in all the earth but in Israel, and asks him to take a blessing from his servant.

Challoner’s separate note explains blessing here as a present.

Eliseus swears by the living Lord, before whom he stands, that he will receive nothing. Naaman presses him, but he still refuses. Naaman then asks permission to take two mules’ burden of earth from there, saying he will henceforth offer neither holocaust nor victim to other gods, but to the Lord.

Naaman asks Eliseus to entreat the Lord for one thing: when his master goes to Remmon’s temple to worship and leans on his hand, if Naaman bows there while his master bows, may the Lord pardon his servant for it. Eliseus tells him to go in peace. He departs in the spring time of the earth.

Challoner’s separate note says the prophet allowed a service Naaman owed his master by his office, rather than outward conformity to idol worship. His master leaned on him at all public occasions, so bowing with him was not in effect adoring idols. The note says onlookers did not understand it as idol worship, since Naaman had publicly professed worship of the only true and living God. It describes this as a civil service to his master the king, whose leaning obliged Naaman to bow at the same time.

Giezi, the man of God’s servant, says his master has spared Naaman the Syrian by receiving none of what he brought. Swearing by the living Lord, he says he will run after him and take something. He follows Naaman. Seeing him run after him, Naaman leaps down from his chariot to meet him and asks whether all is well.

Giezi answers that all is well and says his master has sent him: two young men of the sons of the prophets have just come from mount Ephraim, and he asks a talent of silver and two changes of clothing for them. Naaman says it is better to take two talents and presses him. He binds two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and puts them on two servants, who carry them before Giezi.

When Giezi arrives, it is evening. He takes the goods from the servants’ hands, stores them in the house and sends the men away. They depart. He comes in and stands before his master. Eliseus asks where he has come from, and Giezi says his servant has gone nowhere.

Eliseus asks whether his heart was not present when the man turned back from his chariot to meet Giezi. He says Giezi has now received money and garments to buy oliveyards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, menservants and maidservants. Naaman’s leprosy will cling to Giezi and his seed forever. Giezi goes out from him a leper, white as snow.

The story inside

A captive girl’s statement about the prophet in Samaria reaches Naaman’s lord and leads to a letter requesting healing from Israel’s king. The king tears his garments and suspects the sender’s intentions; Eliseus calls for Naaman to learn there is a prophet in Israel. At the house door, a messenger gives the Jordan instruction. Naaman’s anger follows his different expectation and comparison with Damascus’s rivers. His servants’ argument leads into seven washings and restored flesh. He returns, professes belief and offers a present, which Eliseus refuses even when pressed. Naaman asks for earth and pardon in the particular circumstance of his master leaning upon him in Remmon’s temple; Challoner separately explains the civil office. Giezi decides to obtain something from Naaman and invokes his master’s supposed request for two young prophets. Two talents, two bags, two clothing changes and two bearers lead to goods stored in the house. His denial of any journey meets Eliseus’s statement that his heart was present. The chapter ends with the sentence on Giezi and his seed, and his departure white with leprosy.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Naaman states the difference between what he expected and what he was told. He expected Eliseus to come out, invoke the Lord and touch the diseased place. The messenger instead tells him to wash seven times in the Jordan. His servants compare this instruction with a great task he would have accepted, and he follows the actual instruction. The source supplies this argument without an invented inner change or added sacramental explanation.
2
Naaman’s request concerning Remmon is specific. His master worships there and leans upon his hand; he asks pardon if he bows while his master bows. Eliseus says to go in peace. Challoner separately explains the civil service, Naaman’s public profession and how onlookers understood it. Keeping the complete note prevents the reply from being turned into an unrestricted permission.
3
Eliseus’s refusal and Giezi’s pursuit have distinct stated details. Eliseus refuses even after Naaman presses him. Giezi then invokes a supposed request from his master and obtains twice the talent he asks for, with two clothing changes. The narrated trip contradicts his later denial. Eliseus lists what money and garments could buy and announces leprosy upon Giezi and his seed; the account does not narrate those purchases.

Test your recall

How do the captive girl’s words lead to the letter, Naaman’s visit and washing, and how does Eliseus’s refusal of a present lead into Giezi’s pursuit and contradictory denial?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 38488–38508
4 Kings Chapter 5 Naaman the Syrian is cleansed of his leprosy. He professeth his belief in one God, promising to serve him. Giezi taketh gifts of Naaman, and is struck with leprosy. 5:1. Naaman, general of the army, of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable: for by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria: and he was a valiant man, and rich, but a leper. 5:2. Now there had gone out robbers from Syria, and had led away captive out of the land of Israel, a little maid, and she waited upon Naaman’s wife. 5:3. And she said to her mistress: I wish my master had been with the prophet that is in Samaria: he would certainly have healed him of the leprosy which he hath. 5:4. Then Naaman went in to his lord, and told him, saying: Thus and thus said the girl from the land of Israel.
Lines 38509–38516
5:5. And the king of Syria said to him: Go; and I will send a letter to 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; 5:6. And brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words: When thou shalt receive this letter, know that I have sent to thee Naaman, my servant, that thou mayst heal him of his leprosy.
Lines 38517–38526
5:7. And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his garments, and said: Am I God, to be able to kill and give life, that this man hath sent to me to heal a man of his leprosy? mark, and see how he seeketh occasions against me. 5:8. And when Eliseus, the man of God, had heard this, to wit, that the king of Israel had rent his garments, he sent to him, saying: Why hast thou rent thy garments? let him come to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel.
Lines 38527–38533
5:9. So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Eliseus: 5:10. And Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health, and thou shalt be clean.
Lines 38534–38542
5:11. Naaman was angry, and went away, saying: I thought he would have come out to me, and standing, would have invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me. 5:12. Are not the Abana, and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them, and be made clean? So as he turned, and was going away with indignation,
Lines 38543–38551
5:13. His servants came to him, and said to him: Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it: how much rather what he now hath said to thee: Wash, and thou shalt be clean? 5:14. Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child: and he was made clean.
Lines 38552–38556
5:15. And returning to the man of God, with all his train, he came, and stood before him, and said: In truth, I know there is no other God, in all the earth, but only in Israel: I beseech thee, therefore, take a blessing of thy servant.
Lines 38557–38558
A blessing.... a present.
Lines 38559–38566
5:16. But he answered: As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And when he pressed him, he still refused. 5:17. And Naaman said: As thou wilt: but I beseech thee, grant to me, thy servant, to take from hence two mules’ burden of earth: for thy servant will not henceforth offer holocaust, or victim, to other gods, but to the Lord.
Lines 38567–38575
5:18. But there is only this, for which thou shalt entreat the Lord for thy servant; when my master goeth into the temple of Remmon, to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand: if I bow down in the temple of Remmon, when he boweth down in the same place, that the Lord pardon me, thy servant, for this thing. 5:19. And he said to him: Go in peace. So he departed from him, in the spring time of the earth.
Lines 38576–38585
Go in peace.... What the prophet here allowed, was not an outward conformity to an idolatrous worship; but only a service which by his office he owed to his master: who on all public occasions leaned on him: so that his bowing down when his master bowed himself down was not in effect adoring the idols: nor was it so understood by the standers by, since he publicly professed himself a worshipper of the only true and living God, but it was no more than doing a civil office to the king his master, whose leaning upon him obliged him to bow at the same time that he bowed.
Lines 38586–38594
5:20. But Giezi, the servant of the man of God, said: My master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving of him that which he brought: as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take something of him. 5:21. And Giezi followed after Naaman: and when he saw him running after him, he leapt down from his chariot to meet him, and said: Is all well?
Lines 38595–38604
5:22. And he said: Well: my master hath sent me to thee, saying: Just now there are come to me from mount Ephraim, two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them a talent of silver, and two changes of garments. 5:23. And Naaman said: It is better that thou take two talents. And he forced him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, and two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants, and they carried them before him.
Lines 38605–38611
5:24. And when he was come, and now it was the evening, he took them from their hands, and laid them up in the house, and sent the men away, and they departed. 5:25. But he went in, and stood before his master. And Eliseus said: Whence comest thou, Giezi? He answered: Thy servant went no whither.
Lines 38612–38620
5:26. But he said: Was not my heart present, when the man turned back, from his chariot, to meet thee? So now thou hast received money, and received garments, to buy oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and maid-servants. 5:27. But the leprosy of Naaman, shall also stick to thee, and to thy seed for ever. And he went out from him a leper, as white as snow.