As I mentioned in the previous post, I preached today on 2 Kings 5. Because I had not decided on which element I would focus for the sermon when I made the original post, I thought I would follow up here.
I choose to focus on the fact that in this passage God continually speaks through people far down the social ladder. Elisha’s message is not delivered by Elisha, but by his servant. When Naaman balks at following Elisha’s instructions, it is Naaman’s servant who points out that Naaman would have done something difficult if Elisha had asked, so he shouldn’t hesitate to do something easy. And the most powerless figure, the Israelite slave girl, is the one who has the solution to Naaman’s problem in the first place.
This last figure is particularly interesting. She has three strikes against her as far as people in the ancient Near East were concerned. She is a woman, she iss a foreigner, and she iss a slave. Yet she is the one through whom God speaks to Naaman initially. Without her, we would have had no story to put in 2 Kings 5.
One additional element caught my eye in the passage. This is the notice in v.1 that Yahweh had given Syria military victories. I found that to me a remarkable comment for two reasons. From the historical side, it represents a break from the standard Iron Age understanding that Yahweh was limited to Israel. And from the theological side, this had to be a bit of a jab at Israel, since a large number of Syria’s victories had come against Israel. The idea that Yahweh is fighting against Israel is very muted here, but it is certainly present. It will come out later in full force, especially in the prophetic ministry of Jeremiah.