OT Characters: Naaman (CLEAN Series)

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/clean-podcast-7-ot-character-podcast-56-naaman/">website</a>.</p><p><strong>Scriptural study: 2 Kings 5:1-19</strong></p><ul><li>Note: Naaman is also mentioned in the NT (Luke 4:27).</li><li>Syria = Aram = Syria, not Assyria</li><li>His qualities:<ul><li>Leadership</li><li>Courage</li><li>And the flaw of leprosy (both visible and humiliating).</li></ul></li><li>Physical <i>and</i> spiritual health are found in the land of Israel (not Syria, where false gods are worshipped).</li><li>See how God works through circumstances, through people, through conversations!</li><li>Naaman is willing to pay! He knows that cleansing is worth it! (Do we?)</li><li>He proceeds to the king of Israel, to whom this looks like a trap.</li><li>Elisha finds out what has happened, and invites Naaman to come to him (v.8).</li><li>Elisha's instructions are humbling. In the presence of Naaman's entourage, to follow the prophet's instructions would have been humiliating.</li><li>Instead of responding in humility, Naaman has a strong and negative emotional reaction. Furthermore, his reasoning is defective.</li><li>He received some sound counsel – again, from a servant (v.13). Notice the role servants play, as opposed to the roles of the powerful!</li><li>The miracle leads to his conversion.</li><li>It is also a nice prefiguring of baptism, as the early Christians did not fail to notice (Irenaeus of Lyon, fragment 34).</li><li>He was probably already circumcised so didn’t need to be circumcised again!See<a href="http://discoverarchive.vanderbilt.edu/bitstream/handle/1803/3895/Circumcision%20in%20the%20Ancient%20NE.pdf?sequence=1"><strong>Circumcision in ancient Syria</strong></a><strong>.</strong></li><li>Naaman requests a double load of Israelite <i>dirt</i> – so that he may worship "in" the land of Israel.</li><li>The problem of his accidental bowing when his master enters the temple of the god Rimmon could be a problem, but Elisha tells him to go