2 Kings 5:2

_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._ A little maid - who had been captured in one of the many predatory incursions which were then made by the Syrians on the northern border of Israel (see the notes at 1 Samuel 30:8; 2 Kings 13:21; 2 Kings 24:2). By this young Hebrew slave of his wife, Naaman's attention was directed to the prophet of Israel as the person who would remove his leprosy. Naaman, on communicating the matter to his royal master, was immediately furnished with a letter to the king of Israel, and set out for Samaria, carrying with him, as an indispensable preliminary in the East, very

1-8 Though the Syrians were idolaters, and oppressed God's people, yet the deliverance of which Naaman had been the means, is here ascribed to the Lord. Such is the correct language of Scripture, while those who write common history, plainly show that God is not in all their thoughts. No man's greatness, or honour, can place him our of the reach of the sorest calamities of human life: there is many a sickly, crazy body under rich and gay clothing. Every man has some but or other, something that blemishes and diminishes him, some allay to his grandeur, some damp to his joy. This little maid, though only a girl, could give an account of the famous prophet the Israelites had among them. Children should be early told of the wondrous works of God, that, wherever they go, they may talk of them. As became a good servant, she desired the health and welfare of her master, though she was a captiv...

Verse 2 Kings 5:2. _THE SYRIANS HAD GONE OUT BY COMPANIES_] גדודים _gedudim,_ _troops_. When _one hundred_ or _two hundred_ men go out by themselves to make prey of whatever they can get, that is called, says _Jarchi_, גדוד gedud, a troop. They had gone out in marauding parties; and on such occasions they bring away _grain, cattle_, and such of the inhabitants as are proper to make _slaves_. _A LITTLE MAID_] Who, it appears, had pious parents, who brought her up in the knowledge of the true God. Behold the goodness and the _severity_ of the Divine providence! affectionate parents are deprived of their promising daughter by a set of lawless freebooters, without the smallest prospect that she should have any lot in life but that of misery, infamy, and wo. _WAITED ON NAAMAN'S WIFE._] Her decent o

No peace had been made on the failure of Ahab’s expedition 1 Kings 22:1. The relations of the two countries therefore continued to be hostile, and plundering inroads naturally took place on the one side and on the other....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 5:1 THE CURE OF NAAMAN'S LEPROSY. HIS GRATITUDE; AND THE SIN OF GEHAZI, The historian continues his narrative of Elisha's miracles, commenced in 2 Kings 2:1; and gives in the present chapter a very graphic and complete account of two which were especially remarkable, and which stood in a peculiar relation the one towards the other. One was the removal of leprosy; the other, its infliction. One was wrought on a foreigner and a man of eminence; the other, on a Hebrew and a servant. The second was altogether consequential upon the first, without which the

AND THE SYRIANS HAD GONE OUT BY COMPANIES,.... Not regular troops, but a sort of banditti of robbers, which made excursions into the land of Israel, to plunder and carry off what booty they could: AND HAD BROUGHT AWAY CAPTIVE OUT OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL A LITTLE MAID; for boys and girls were a part of the booty of such robbers, whom they could sell for money, see Joel 3:1. Jarchi and Kimchi say she was a girl of Naaron, a city so called: AND SHE WAITED ON NAAMAN'S WIFE; being either made a present of to the general by those plunderers, or was bought by him of them for his wife's service....

4. NAAMAN AND HIS HEALING CHAPTER 5 _ 1. Naaman, the leper (2 Kings 5:1)_ 2. The testimony of the maid of Israel (2 Kings 5:2) 3. The message to the king of Israel (2 Kings 5:5) 4. Naaman and Elisha (2 Kings 5:9) 5. Gehazi; His sin and punishment (2 Kings 5:20) The story of this chapter is peculiarly rich in its spiritual and dispensational meaning. Naaman, captain of Ben-hadad, the King of Syria, was a Gentile. He was no common man. In all his greatness and might, with all the honors heaped upon him and wealth

NAAMAN HEALED OF HIS LEPROSY. This story, familiar to all, presupposes a time of peace between Israel and Syria. As in 1 Kings 20, the king of Syria addresses the king of Israel (unnamed here) as his vassal (2 Kings 5:6 ff.). Elisha was living in Samaria, apparently in his own house. Naaman, on being healed, returned to Elisha, who refused to take any present, using Elijah's formula (1 Kings 17:1 *). Naaman thereupon declared himself a worshipper of Yahweh (it is remarkable that 2 Kings 5:1 ascribes his victories to Yahweh), asking pardon if in his official capacity he bows himself before Rimmon (Ramman, the thunder-god of the Assyrians). Readers of _Tom Brown's Schooldays_ will remember the not unnatural discussion amongst th

COMPANIES. marauding bands. Compare 2 Kings 6:23....

_had gone out_by _companies_ R.V. IN BANDS. The idea is of plundering parties, who made forays upon their neighbours. So we have in 2 Kings 6:23, -The _bands_of Syria came no more into the land of Israel", and in 2 Kings 13:20, -The _bands_of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year". The LXX. has μονόζωνοι, in the sense of -girt up", -lightly equipped", -ready for warfare". _a little maid_ These marauders carried away captives as well as spoil. The phrase -waited on", which follows, is literally -was before". Servants are said, when in their service, to -stand before" their masters. See below, verse 25....