This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Life of Elisha” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 22, 1989.
About this sermon
Naaman makes his request and Elisha answers in careful positive and negative pairs, first in verses 15-16 and then in 17-19. The exchange shows gratitude still working out its own boundaries.
Sermon transcript
Tonight we will begin our picture reading in the New Testament with the book of Ephesians. It starts with the second chapter, verse 11. This is Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11 through the end of the chapter. Let’s hear the word of God. Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands, remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
But now, in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by it having put to death the enmity. And he came and he preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father.
So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a growing of God in the Spirit. Then turning back to 2 Kings 5, we read from verse 15 through verse 19.
When he, Naaman that is, returned to the man of God with all his company, he came and stood before him. He said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel, so please take a present from your servant now. But he said, As the Lord lives before whom I stand, I will take nothing. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. And Naaman said, if not, please let your servant at least be given two mules’ load of earth, for your servant will no more offer burnt offering, nor will he sacrifice to other gods but to the Lord.
In this matter, may the Lord pardon your servant when my master goes to the house of Rimen to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of women, and I bow myself in the house of women, the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.” And he said to him, go in peace. So he departed from him some distance.
Our Father, we are grateful to you for the order of your assembly, for the ordering of your church. For surely, Lord, you have given your spirit for the ordering of your people. and you have provided the word that we might have that infallible guide for our own good, for our own well-being. We thank you, our Father, too, that according to your spirit and in keeping with your word, that order which you have ordained for your church is one which you have supplied your church with servants, servants of the word, and then servants of your name, who shall then oversee the affairs of your people and guard the proclamation of the word. May it please you not only in this place, but throughout the land and in the world, As your church congregates, assembles, and takes shape, may it please you, Lord, to grant servants to your church who are blessed by your Spirit for the performance of those responsibilities given them. Lord, may it please you that we, your people, are ourselves encouraged by such oversight provided us. All of this we ask now through Jesus’ name. Amen.
We come to verses 15-19 of this marvel story in 2 Kings 5 regarding Elisha, the prophet of God, and Naaman, the leper, the Syrian, the captain in the army of Syria, who has made his way to the territory of Israel, wrapped through the promptings of a little girl’s servant who had been taken captive from the land of Israel, she having spoken to her mistress, her mistress to her husband, her husband to the king of Syria, the king of Syria to the king of Israel, and now the prophet of God to Naaman himself. We followed the movement of Naaman, and to this point his compliance then, finally, not without protest, his compliance with the word of the prophet, that he would wash himself seven times in Jordan, and then in light of that obedience to the word of God, graciously delivered from his leprosy and his uncleanness. That brings us up to date. Of course, as we have been reading all of this and preaching through it, we have been endeavoring to see this story, this very familiar story, in light of the revelation to which it points, that revelation that we find in Jesus Christ and his ministry to his people and specifically his ministry as it shall extend to the nations. Naaman is not a native Israelite, he’s a Gentile. And in this cleansing of a Gentile we see that pattern of things that shall be realized in and through Jesus Christ, as the nations themselves are blessed, and that in keeping with the covenant that has been made to Abraham, to Israel.
In time, the nations themselves shall be blessed through the seed of Abraham. All right, well, here we are then, verses 15 through 19. be the seed. We will divide the passage this way, verses 15 and 16 first, and then verses 17 through 19. And we are going to look at this division, or each division, in a double light. Look at it one way, then we’ll look at it another verses 15 and 16 in that initial blunt, that preliminary blunt. This is how we might describe these verses.
Naaman’s return to Elisha. Naaman’s return to Elisha. When he comes back to Elisha, that return by Naaman prefigures the gathering of the nations to Christ. Naaman going up from the Jordan to the house of Elisha prefigures the nations going up into the house of God, going up into the temple of the Lord, ascending Zion for that final and full blessing.
That then, the preliminary light in which we will view these verses. Now this gathering of the nations, the streaming of the nations up into the hill of the Lord, or unto the house of the Lord, underscores, as we have these verses unfold for us, the change that has taken place in the nations themselves as they are brought to God, as they come unto Christ, as they are brought unto Him, having been baptized into the name of the true and living God. Remember the waters of Jordan, anticipating the baptism experience for the nations. They will be washed, they will be cleansed. So Naaman is anticipating that marvelous cleansing of the nations, that baptizing of the nations. He comes up now, and as he comes, the nations are in him, and the changes that we observe The changes that we observe in him are those changes that we will in fact see in the nations themselves as they come to present themselves before their Lord.
First of all, a change that isn’t obvious from a surface reading of the text itself. Remember what we said about Naaman thus far. What does his name mean? What does the name of Naaman mean? It means pleasantness. It means pleasantness. Well, here is this man who has the name pleasantness, and he is afflicted by that which is pleasant at all.
He has been afflicted by leprosy. He has been defiled by this uncleanness, which is the contradiction of his name. The man who bears the name Pleasantness testifies to an unpleasantness in the corruption of his flesh. There is that contradiction in him.
But now you see, as Naaman comes, and the nations are coming in him up to the house of God, up to the place where the prophet of the Lord lives, there is this transformation that has occurred in him a confirmation of the name that he bears, a fulfillment of that name, in fact, the unpleasantness has been removed, and now his name can be appreciated in its fullest sense. His name formally was a testimony to Gentile folly.
For all of its aspirations and all of its dreams, for all of its self-importance, for all that it might have thought about itself, it is marred, it is corrupt, and its end is death. But now through regeneration, now through baptism, the man can become what he was intended to be. He can fulfill, and does fulfill, his name. All right, that change. Naaman, a man consistent with the name he bears.
But secondly, you’ll note that in The 15th verse, this change that has come about in Naaman is underscored for us in another way. How have things progressed thus far? If this chapter is a study in anything, it’s a study in servants. We have a little girl servant.
We have Naaman himself who is servant to the king of Syria. We have Elisha, who is a servant of God, but we also have Naaman, as he makes his trek to Israel, very much self-possessed, and as he enters this land which he considers inferior, he’s not servant to anyone.
In fact, as command is given to him by the prophet of God, his first response is not to submit at all, but to maintain his own position and refuse to submit. But now note what he says to the servant of God, to the prophet, to that one who in fact reflects the being and the person of God, that one in whom we see even the pattern of the truest and the most profound of prophets, the Lord Jesus Christ, the messianic figure, that one in whom redemption is found. Notice now Naaman’s response to this one who embodies all of that. So please take a present, he says at the end of verse fifteen, from your servant. So, man has finally submitted, yes, to baptism, to the waters of the Jordan, that now he is living a life in which he is confessing his continual servanthood to that one who embodies the form and pattern of the Messiah, of the Christ. So please receive this present from your servant, now. in Naaman, as he becomes a servant of the Christ figure in the story, namely, Elisha.
We have then that return by Naaman which underscores the change that has now taken place in him, and that change, how wonderfully evident it is to us. But, these verses, verses 15 and 16, also present to us Elisha himself. And Elisha’s actions here underscore the change that has now occurred in the divine disposition. We’ve had a change in Naaman, indicative of the change that is coming in the Gentile world, but we also have change that is portrayed for us in the actions of Elisha, and those actions by Elisha underscore the change that has occurred in the divine disposition. Note what takes place. Do you remember verse 10?
How when Naaman first came with his entourage, He stood outside the house, and Elisha didn’t even as much as come out to him. Instead he sent his servant, an emissary, to speak to Naaman. But now notice the change that has occurred in these verses. For while formerly Elisha dealt through an intermediary, Formally, he dealt from within his house, removed from Naaman, removed from that one who represented the nations, if you will, removed from the uncleanness, not only of Naaman’s leprosy, but of his Gentileness. But now, Elisha goes out to meet Naaman directly. For Naaman has returned with all of his company and he stands before Elisha. There is direct access now where formerly there was none.
The uncleanness has been removed and that is prerequisite to In order to be received directly into the presence of God, the uncleanness has to be removed. The nations must be cleansed. They must be healed. Remember that picture given us in the book of Revelation, the tree of life. It has the leaves of that tree portrayed for us as those through which then the nations themselves will be healed. The leaves are for the healing of the nations. The uncleanness, the leprosy must be removed. The nations must be cleansed. Their corruption must be removed. Righteousness must be conferred upon them.
That removed, that uncleanness, that unrighteousness removed, they then have direct access to God in Jesus Christ. And isn’t that precisely what is being spoken of and expounded for us in Ephesians chapter 2. Those formerly outside, those formerly set apart, those formerly unclean Gentiles having no place at all, they have been brought near through the work of Jesus Christ. so that in that work there might stand one new man, the middle wall of partition having been removed, the offense having been taken away, which was defined unto us in the law commence, administered through ordinances, which Christ has abolished in his election. Unto what end? that those Gentiles with the believing Jews, believing Israel, might be made into a house of God, a temple, a dwelling place in the Spirit.
Well, there was a change in the disposition then of God himself as Naaman returns to the of Elisha. But there’s also something else here, something somewhat subtle. You’ll notice that this story takes place on the background of an entire Old Testament legislation with regard to the matter of leprosy, its detection and its cleansing and provision upon cleansing for appropriate sacrifices and offerings, it might well be said that there’s nothing giving as elaborate treatment as the whole matter of leprosy in the Levitical legislation. If you turn to the book of Leviticus and you read chapters 13 and 14, it just goes on and on and on, and by the time you’re done with those two chapters, it’s, ah, get on with it, please. We’ve had enough of this.
Nothing is given such elaborate treatment as the whole matter of leprosy. Nothing is given more prescriptions. There’s no point at which you find the administration of the detail of law more painstakingly presented than at that point. And there’s nothing of it here. Nothing.
Now, it’s just not a matter of the fact that we are here in the northern territories of Israel during the time of the division of the kingdom. The real shrine is down in Jerusalem, and Elijah realized that he has no obligation to the administration that pertains to the cult and the shrine in Jerusalem. being conveyed to us here is that premonition of the change in the divine disposition.
So there will come a day, you see, when all of those prescriptions that we read of in chapters 13 and 14 of Ovidius will be completely and utterly irrelevant. Removed. Not taken out of the way. Abolished. in the fulfillment, in the fulfillment that has come about in the work of Jesus Christ.
Now, not only is that our entrance into this text, it is also the only vantage point from which we can view now Leviticus 13 and 14. What was Leviticus 13 and 14 all about? What was physical leprosy all about in this corruption of the flesh. And it is through the painstaking detail of the ministry of Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, His death, that that leprosy has now been removed.
That unquenched, that sin has been removed. that you have been washed, you have been cleansed, you have been sanctified from Jesus Christ. Okay, the absence of any legal requirement here, any reflection upon that Old Testament legislation anticipates the new administration in which all of those little requirements have been displaced by the fulfillment that is found in Christ.
All right, well that’s the first, that’s the first track through verses 15 and 16, and we’ve looked at them quite positively. Now we’ll flip the page and turn things over. See, it’s not just a matter here that you’re able to see the positive tavern of the nations coming.
But this is still a passage that appears in the Old Testament. And while We can look at things in a very, very good light, in a very positive light, anticipating the fullness of the day of Christ. Naaman’s return to Elisha, however, still reflects the circumstances of that old era and the persistence of the old world and man. We haven’t arrived yet. history must move on to the fulfillment in Christ we can’t stop with the prophets in the northern territories of Israel ministering in this fashion and meeting out little miracles piecemeal it’ll never do you can’t stop there so even here you have the testimony to the inadequacy of what is taking place through one as magnificent as Elijah. We haven’t reached home yet. Alright, so we have then those things that are not positive but rather place before us the reality of the old era, the old world, the persistence of that older administration. Here we have then Nehemiah.
He has the revenues of the old man. Where did he get the wealth that he brought with him? Where did he get that currency? Where did he get all of those possessions. He brings with him those things into this new circumstances, and now he wants to pay Elisha with them.
You see? Man is still acting like a man who belongs to the old world. He still looks at religion as something that is understood, seemingly, along economical lines. You pay for the best, and you pay well. Religion, after all, is an economical matter. It is measured in terms of income and outgo. To a degree, you see, it is that way not just for distant Gentiles, but also Israelites close at hand.
For they think along the same lines. You might recall the story of Saul in 1 Samuel 9. He’s going out to look for his father’s asses, you remember? And what does he say? Let’s take a little money so if we find the prophet, we can pay him for some advice. Saul’s not a Gentile, he’s a Jew. But he has the same attitude with regard to the administrations of the Lord.
The administration of religion. Religion based upon economy. economics. Now you have Elisha’s refusal. And Elisha’s refusal to accept anything underscores the gracious character of the salvation offered. And the fact that true religion breaks the pattern of world religion. It alone stands over against worldly religion which always, in the end, is a matter of money. Always, in the end, is a matter of money. Grace is God’s unmerited love, his undeserved favor. You don’t buy it. You can’t even pay for it. The gift that’s extended to us is a gift the value of which you cannot estimate. It is a gift given freely.
So through this there may come that admonition to the church for the church age. Freely you have received, freely give. There might even be an anticipation of the rhythm of the church in its missionary activities. I know the philosophy present. You send out missionaries to another place where the gospel has not been received or the church is not strong. And the demand that is being made in our generation is, you may go, you may stay. That’s the only way you’ll respect the gift given to you. The only way you’ll encourage them to appreciate the ministry.
I’m not so sure that there isn’t a better reason, always opposite, rising out of the page description. We send our missionaries to give the word freely, without charge. Without charge. Not a church location. And the church must be instructed in stewardship. That’s true. Maybe it is. A difficulty is that, as the word has gone out to the ends of the earth, the churches that have been established haven’t always been so willing to pay their own way, or to pay for their taxes, or whatever. They haven’t learned stewardship well. But that doesn’t exonerate us. It’s seen in other places. What about the whole matter of evangelism? Have you been shocked? Freely you’ve received, freely give. Have you been shocked?
The team comes to town. They have the map. They have the tapes, the three-ring binder. They have all of the notes. They can put it in front of you. You all go, you sit down, you save your money. Why for $300 it will keep you high for the rest of your life. For $300, they teach you how to win.
Friends, something is wrong. These are pretty curious. Something is wrong. Well, There you have it, verses 15 and 16. The new age prefigured, the old age still hanging on. Verses 19 through 20, and we’ll hurry up here. I realize that these verses are problematic, and they’re not easy, but let’s Consider a few thoughts here as we try to resolve the difficulties.
Verses 19 through 20, we have the request by Naaman. He’s been, in a sense, put off by Elisha. No, I don’t want anything from you. Naaman says, well, then give me a couple of loads of dirt. Verse 17. All right. Verse 18. He is saying, please forgive me in this matter, which is certainly going to take place when I get home. That is verse 18. Verse 19, you have Elisha blessing the man. Go in peace. We are a little bit befuddled.
We got the dirt, we got this wild prayer on the part of Naaman, understand when I do this in the house of women with my master, the king. we have a life of their raising his hands as if it’s all you want to go away. Name is request and prayer request verse seventeen prayer eighteen positively anticipate the life of the redeemed nation of God, the Church of Christ living in the midst of a world that is hostile to it. That’s first of all, that’s the positive light.
Naaman’s request for the two loads of dirt is for the purpose of constructing now a portable earthen altar. A portable earthen altar. That’s why he wants the dirt. He’s going to take it with him, upon which then he can offer sacrifices to the true God.
Now, his request for a transportable shrine, this transportable altar, is an indication of a coming day, a yet future day, when worship, though of Israel, though of Israel, will not be bound. to Israel, will not be restricted to Israel. There is a day that’s here, and there is a when the true worshippers come, who worship in spirit and in truth, not in burials amongst the Samaritans, not in groups, where that proper and true shrine is, but wherever.
Even here. Even here. Okay? Now, his prayer, verse 18, must be viewed, first of all, positively. I know that’s hard for us to accept, but there is a good light in which to see it. It’s reflective of the condition under which the redeemed will be constrained to live.
Even those in public office and in governmental service, Christians they are. Yet in governments that are utterly secular, humanistic, those that are even dedicated to that which is not the truth, they find themselves in those positions and they find themselves there as servants. These are then alien strangers, exiles if you will, in their own native lands, who nonetheless are laboring for the good of those native lands in which they find themselves present. They are not revolutionaries. They are not those who are seditious. And in this light, the appropriateness of Elisha’s benediction, verse 19. It is utterly Go in peace. Go in peace. As it is now for those who those servants of Christ find themselves in alien circumstances.
But there’s also the other light. In conclusion, Raymond’s request in prayer reflects negatively the provisional character of the Old Testament administration. You see, Naaman still is constrained to ask, make his request in relationship to altars and burnt offerings. Why?
There’s coming a day when there won’t be altars. This is no altar. And some people will be shocked about the table. This is not an altar, it’s a table. We don’t have sacrifices here. Comes a day when sacrifices and altars of this earth are completely irrelevant. You don’t need them anymore.
So you see, Naaman, in his request, is still bound by that older world. His prayer, verse 18, it falls short. It falls short as that standard in the coming era in which the ultimate demand will be made upon the servants of God who, for the sake of their conscience and for the sake of the testimony that they bear before God, cannot be those upon whom caves lead, cannot be those who die in healing and profane trials. It’s an accommodation for the coming. If they come today, even the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ will in fact pay with their lives, because they are guilty. Goodbye.
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