A long, long time ago, there lived a man called Naaman. Naaman was a very important soldier. He commanded a large army in a foreign land. Many people had respect for him because he was a brave warrior. But Naaman had a big problem: his skin was very sick. The disease was called leprosy and there was no medicine for it.
One day, a little girl who worked in Naaman’s house said: “If only my master would go to the prophet in Israel! He can make him well.”
Naaman was determined to get well, so he listened to the girl. He made his way to Israel. Once there, he came to the house of the prophet Elisha. But Elisha didn’t even come out! Instead, he sent a messenger with a message: “Bathe yourself seven times in the Jordan River and you will get well.”
Naaman was surprised and also a little angry. “I thought the Prophet would do something special to make me well! Why should I bathe in this river? Our river at home is much better!” he said.
But his servants said to him: “Please, Lord, just do what the prophet said. It’s nothing difficult. Just try it!”
Naaman thought about it. Then he went to the Jordan River after all, even though he was skeptical. He immersed himself once, then again and again, until he was in the water seven times.
When he appeared for the last time, the amazing thing happened: The disease had disappeared! His skin was healthy again and as smooth as a child’s.
Naaman was overjoyed. He returned to Elisha and said: “Now I know that there is no God except the God of Israel!” Naaman realized that God is powerful and that he can heal all people.
What we can learn:
God can help us, even if we don’t expect it. We just have to trust him, no matter how strange it seems.
Bible passage
The story of Naaman and the healing bath can be found in 2 Kings 5:1-14:
“Naaman, the captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a highly respected man in the sight of his master, and greatly esteemed; for through him the LORD had given victory to the Arameans. But this man, a valiant warrior, was a leper. 2 Once the Arameans had carried off a young girl captive from the land of Israel on a raid; she had come into the service of Naaman’s wife. 3 And she said to her mistress, “Oh, that my master were with the prophet who lives in Samaria! He could free him from his leprosy. 4 So Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus has the girl from the land of Israel spoken. 5 Then the king of Aram said, “Well, go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he went and took with him ten talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold and ten changes of clothes, 6 and brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, “And now, as soon as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent you my servant Naaman, that you may rid him of his leprosy. 7 When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, that I can kill and make alive, that this man should send to me to free a man from his leprosy? For look, and see how he seeks a cause against me! 8 When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king and said to him, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel. 9 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariot and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Then Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and bathe in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean. 11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God and pass his hand over the spot and so free the leper! 12 Are not the rivers Abana and Parpar in Damascus better than all the waters in Israel? Could I not bathe in them and be cleansed? So he turned and went away in anger. 13 Then his servants came and spoke to him, saying: My father, if the prophet had asked a great thing of you, would you not have done it? How much more now that he has said to you: Bathe yourself and you will be clean! 14 Then he went down and was immersed seven times in the Jordan according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored as the flesh of a young boy, and he was cleansed.”
