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Captive Maid Shows Concern for Naaman, November 19
The Syrians ... had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little
maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. And she said unto her mistress,
Would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would
recover him of his leprosy.
2 Kings 5:2, 3
.
“Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was ... a mighty man in
valour, but he was a leper.”
Ben-hadad, king of Syria, had defeated the armies of Israel.... 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 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 with a
treasure more precious than the wealth of all the ages, a treasure as enduring as
eternity....
The parents of that Hebrew maid, as they taught her of God, did not know the
destiny that would be hers. But they were faithful to their trust; and in the home
of the captain of the Syrian host, their child bore witness to the God whom she
had learned to honor.
Naaman heard of the words that the maid had spoken to her mistress; and,
obtaining permission from the king, he went forth to seek healing.—
Prophets and
Kings, 244-246
.
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