Transcript Lesson 3 for July 18, 2015 This week we studied how a pagan man like Naaman was converted to the truth. We.

Lesson 3 for July 18, 2015
This week we studied how a pagan man
like Naaman was converted to the truth.
We read how God use people in that
process.
“Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of
Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of
his master, because by him the Lord had given
victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor,
but a leper.” (2 Kings 5:1)
Naaman had all he need both physically and
socially:
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He was a general in the Syrian army.
He was noble and very rich (“a great man”).
The king held him in high esteem.
He was being used by God.
He was extremely brave.
But he had a “small” problem: he was a leper.
God used Naaman’s need for healing to lead him
to those who could guide him to the eternal life.
Jesus followed the same method with some
other sick people during His ministry.
“And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a
young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. Then
she said to her mistress, ‘If only my master were with the prophet who
is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.’” (2 Kings 5:2-3)
That captive girl wasn’t overwhelmed by the
adversity. On the contrary, she testified to God
wherever He led her.
 She didn’t forget God.
 She didn’t think badly of those who forced
her to be a slave.
 She was filled with God’s love, so she
empathized with her sick master.
 She believed that the prophet could heal
Naaman, although he was a foreigner.
 Her parents taught her that there’s nothing
impossible for God.
“And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a
young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. Then
she said to her mistress, ‘If only my master were with the prophet who
is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.’” (2 Kings 5:2-3)
“The parents had discharged their responsibility
well, and the result was this wonderful testimony in
behalf of Israel’s God in a land that knew Him not.
Naaman learned of a power beyond the power of
men because a faithful father and mother in Israel
had brought up their child to love and trust the
Lord.”
SDA Bible Commentary, on 2 Kings 5:3
“So it was, when Elisha the man of God
heard that the king of Israel had torn his
clothes, that he sent to the king, saying,
‘Why have you torn your clothes? Please let
him come to me, and he shall know that
there is a prophet in Israel.’” (2 Kings 5:8)
Elisha was called to the prophetic ministry
by Elijah, as God ordered him to do
(1K. 19:16).
Elisha received a special blessing when he
saw Elijah leaving: “a double portion of your
spirit” (2K. 2:9).
He worked miracles with the power of the
Holy Spirit. Some of those miracles were
similar to Jesus’: resurrections, food
multiplication, healing…).
Elisha didn’t meet Naaman who came with
pomp, splendor and riches. He instead sent
him the message of Salvation.
The glory of the miracle shouldn’t be to the
prophet but to God.
“And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, ‘My father, if the
prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How
much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?’” (2 Kings 5:13)
Naaman’s pride diminished after each
step he took.
1. He accepted advice from a foreign slave.
2. He was misunderstood by the king of
Israel.
3. The prophet didn’t meet him.
4. He was asked to bathe in a dirty river.
When the prophet didn’t meet Naaman and
asked him to bathe in the Jordan River
instead of doing some magical act to heal
him, he exploded in anger.
In that moment, God use one of his servants
(who was as pagan as him) to defeat his
pride.
“And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and
stood before him; and he said, ‘Indeed, now I know that there is no God in
all the earth, except in Israel… for your servant will no longer offer either
burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord.’” (2 Kings 5:15, 17)
Naaman was fully converted. Nevertheless, some reminiscence of his old
beliefs remained (2K. 5:17-18).
Naaman learnt two important lessons: having faith and obeying God.
Naaman learnt a third lesson
when Elisha rejected his gifts:
salvation is by grace.
“The conduct of the captive maid, the way that
she bore herself in that heathen home, is a
strong witness to the power of early home
training. There is no higher trust than that
committed to fathers and mothers in the care
and training of their children. Parents have to
do with the very foundations of habit and
character. By their example and teaching the
future of their children is largely decided…
The parents of that Hebrew maid, as they
taught her of God, did not know the destiny
that would be hers. But they were faithful to
their trust; and in the home of the captain of
the Syrian host, their child bore witness to the
God whom she had learned to honor.”
E.G.W. (Prophets and Kings, cp. 20, pg. 245-246)