Naaman washed (dipped) seven times in the Jordan River, and his leprosy disappeared. When I was a child that was the end of the lesson on Naaman and the application of the lesson to obedience. However, the lesson in scripture did not end with Naaman's dipping in the Jordan River.
Occasionally someone would discuss Gehazi's greed and the consequences of that greed. However, not even that is the rest of the story. Regarding our concept of obedience, the incident with Naaman takes a truly unexpected turn before Naaman returned to his homeland.
After washing (dipping) seven times in the Jordan River, after the leprosy disappeared, Naaman returned to the prophet's house with his entire company. Naaman made this confession to Elisha: "There is only one God in all the earth--the God of Israel! Please accept my present."
This may not seem to be much of a statement to us because we do not live in that time under the thought process of that age. Commonly people thought there were many gods. Commonly they thought those gods exerted their power in specific territories or geographical areas. Thus a "wise" person honored the predominate god of the area [but not to the exclusion of the other gods he/she honored]. [If you wish to see this thought process in scripture, examine Genesis 28:10-17 and take special note of verses 16, 17; also note 1 Kings 20:16-25 and take special note of verse 23 and verse 28.)
Naaman said (1) there is only one God [the God in Israel] and (2) that one God's territory is the whole earth [not just the territory of Israel, but the whole earth]. That is a powerful, significant insight!
Elisha refused to accept anything from Naaman.
Now entered a second concept that is foreign to most American Christians. It is the concept of holy ground. Most of us are familiar with the concept of "holy ground." We are familiar with the fact that God instructed Moses at the site of the burning bush to remove his sandals because he stood on "holy ground" (Exodus 3:5). We may be familiar with the instruction to Joshua in Joshua 5:15 also to remove his sandals because the place where he stood was holy. [It is possible what made the places holy in both instances was the fact that God's presence was displayed in that geographical place in a unique manner.]
It was prevalent in the idolatry of the Canaanite territory to seek to worship the gods on "high places." There was the conviction even in idolatry that some geographical places were holier than others. Even in Israel, Jerusalem became the "holy city" containing the "holy temple." Today, Jerusalem and the geographical area on which the temple stood is a hotly contested, highly sought after geographical place by two different religions.
Even to this day in many areas, certain mountains are regarded to be holy because those places hold a special significance to the gods of that area. The concept of geographical sites being uniquely holy is not at all strange to some people and some religions.
Naaman requested permission from Elisha (in verse 17) to take two mules' load of earth from Elisha's place back to Naaman's home. The explanation Naaman gave was this: (1) Naaman was Elisha's servant; (2) Naaman would not offer sacrifices to other gods; (3) Naaman would offer sacrifices only to the God of Israel who was Lord of the whole earth. Exodus 20:22-26 gave instructions to Israel on altar construction: (1) An altar was to be of dirt or (2) of uncut stone, and (3) an altar was not to have steps. [Also see Exodus 27:1-8 for a different set of instructions for the tabernacle altar of burnt offerings.]
Evidently from the gentile Naaman's thought process, if a person offered a sacrifice to Jehovah God, the living God who was Lord of all the earth, the person should have dirt from Israel to serve as the ground of his altar. (1) There is no indication that Elisha refused his request. (2) There is no indication that Naaman did not carry dirt from Israel back to his home. (3) There is no indication that Elisha lectured Naaman on the truth that there was no connection between dirt from Israel and worshipping the Lord of all the earth.
Then came the third happening that is foreign to the concept of obedience held by most of us. Naaman (1) who had been healed of his leprosy, (2) who said he would not sacrifice to idolatrous gods but only to the God of Israel, (3) who declared himself Elisha's servant made a request. The request seems strange to us because it began with a plea for the Lord God's pardon (1) for future actions (2) that seem inconsistent with Naaman's previous declarations. While Naaman would not worship any god but Jehovah God, the king [his master] worshipped another god. The king depended on Naaman to accompany him into that god's temple. As Naaman accompanied the king into this idolatrous place of worship, he showed appropriate respect by bowing. For these future actions, Naaman asked God to pardon him.
To Naaman, this was an act of respect for the king's conscience, but not an act of worship to the god. To us, that seems inconsistent. We typically make no such conscious distinction between respect for people and an act of worship. For us, with our concept of obedience, Naaman never should have entered the temple of an idolatrous god again in a time of worship.
Again, Elisha's response is striking. All scripture recorded was Elisha extending Naaman a standard farewell, "Go in peace." Immediately scripture stated Naaman left. There was no recorded admonition from Elisha to Naaman that such behavior would be inappropriate conduct for a healed person who knew the God of Israel was the only God of all the earth.
Perhaps our concept of obedience does not take into consideration all the factors the God of all the earth considers.
For Thought and Discussion
Link to Teacher's Guide
Lesson 7