Chapter 20—Naaman
This chapter is based on
2 Kings 5
.
“Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great
man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had
given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but
he was a leper.”
Ben-hadad, king of Syria, had defeated the armies of Israel in the
battle which resulted in the death of Ahab. Since that time the Syrians
had maintained against Israel a constant border warfare, and in one of
their raids they had carried away a little maid who, in the land of her
captivity, “waited on Naaman’s wife.” A slave, far from her home, this
little maid was nevertheless one of God’s witnesses, unconsciously
fulfilling the purpose for which God had chosen Israel as His people.
As she ministered in that heathen home, her sympathies were aroused
in behalf of her master; and, remembering the wonderful miracles of
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healing wrought through Elisha, she said to her mistress, “Would God
my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover
him of his leprosy.” She knew that the power of Heaven was with
Elisha, and she believed that by this power Naaman could be healed.
The conduct of the captive maid, the way that she bore herself in
that heathen home, is a strong witness to the power of early home
training. There is no higher trust than that committed to fathers and
mothers in the care and training of their children. Parents have to do
with the very foundations of habit and character. By their example and
teaching the future of their children is largely decided.
Happy are the parents whose lives are a true reflection of the
divine, so that the promises and commands of God awaken in the
child gratitude and reverence; the parents whose tenderness and justice
and long-suffering interpret to the child the love and justice and long-
suffering of God, and who by teaching the child to love and trust and
obey them, are teaching him to love and trust and obey his Father in
heaven. Parents who impart to the child such a gift have endowed him
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