In 2 KINGS 5:1, We are introduced to Namaan, a man at the top of his game. His very name means "pleasantness." He was an Aramean among Arameans, much as Paul was a "Hebrew of Hebrews." (Philippians 3:5) King Ben-hadad II of Damascus, ruler of Aram, regarded Naaman so highly that he trusted the man to command his army. He was a valiant soldier, seen by his countrymen as a deliverer and conqueror of nations, a great leader to be hailed along with their gods Rimmon, Baal, and Ishtar.
Naaman's reputation, fortune, and religion, however, had failed to give him the one thing he desired most—a cure for the leprosy that threatened his future with mutilation, blindness, isolation, and death.
In 800 B.C. lepers were viewed with fear and loathing. Dignitaries and officials who had once courted Naaman would now avoid him. Though mighty in battle, Naaman was losing field to the decay in his own body. His warrior code would prefer death by sword to wasting away at the mercy of this corrosive disease.
During one of Aram's many raids on its enemy Israel, a young Jewish girl had been abducted, separated from home and family, and pressed into slavery in Naaman's household. From her comment to her owner's wife, we can see God's mercy reflected in the girl: "I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy" (2 Kings 5:3).
That Naaman even considered the advice of an Israelite servant girl indicates he was essentially out of options. Aramean prophets and physicians worked for the king. (Edersheim, The Bible History, Old Testament) Naaman routinely accompanied King Ben-hadad to the temple of Rimmon to worship. (2 Kings 5:18) The priests of Rimmon and royal physicians had surely exhausted their prayers, spells, and most odorous potions to summon a miracle cure for their national hero.
Desperate for deliverance, Naaman asked Ben-hadad if he could go to the prophet in Samaria. The Aramean ruler, anxious to save this most valued commander, sent him into Israelite territory with instructions for King Jehoram to cure him.
The Jewish king, who equated curing leprosy with raising someone from the dead, wailed and tore his robes in despair. No one could cure this disease. Jehoram suspected treachery. After all, Aram was his enemy. He assumed Ben-hadad was setting him up by asking the impossible, and provoking war so he could plunder Israel.
King Jehoram's distraught cries reached Elisha the prophet, who sent for Naaman in order that "he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel" (2 Kings 5:8). Jehoram was an evil king who worshiped false gods, but he had seen Elisha's God work miracles before (2 Kings 3:20). He readily dispatched the Aramean.
