Naaman Washes Seven Times

“So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times ... and his flesh was restored and became like that of a little child.” — 2 Kings 5:14

In the country of Aram, there was a man called Naaman. He was the commander of the king’s army, a great and brave soldier. But Naaman had a terrible skin disease called leprosy. There was no cure for it.

Some time before, Aramean soldiers had raided Israel and taken a young girl captive. She was now a servant to Naaman’s wife. She was far from home, and she must have missed her family. But she cared about her master.

“If only my master would go to the prophet in Samaria,” she said to her mistress. “He would cure him of his leprosy!”

So Naaman told the king what the girl had said. “Go,” said the king of Aram, “and I’ll send a letter to the king of Israel.” Naaman set off with silver and gold and fine clothes as gifts.

When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes. “Am I God?” he said. “How can I cure a man of leprosy? He’s trying to start a fight with me!”

But the prophet Elisha heard about it. “Send the man to me,” he said, “and he will know there is a prophet in Israel.”

So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. But Elisha didn’t even come out. He sent a messenger to say, “Go and wash yourself seven times in the River Jordan, and your skin will be healed, and you will be clean.”

Naaman was furious. “I thought he would come out to me himself,” he said, “and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure me! The rivers back home in Damascus are better than all the rivers in Israel. Couldn’t I wash in them and be clean?” And he turned and stormed off in a rage.

But Naaman’s servants came up to him. “Sir,” they said, “if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? So why not do this simple thing, when he just says, ‘Wash and be clean’?”

So Naaman went down to the River Jordan. He dipped himself in the water once. Twice. Three times. Four, five, six times. And the seventh time he came up out of the water, his skin was healed! It was as smooth and healthy as a little child’s.

Naaman went back to Elisha with all his servants. He stood in front of him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel!”

Naaman wanted to give Elisha a present to say thank you. But Elisha wouldn’t take anything. God’s healing was a gift.

It all started with a little servant girl, far from home, who knew about the true God and wasn’t afraid to speak up.

Looking ahead to Jesus: Jesus told this story too. “There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet,” He said. “Yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4:27). God’s love reaches people in every country.

Read it in your Bible: 2 Kings 5:1–16

Dear God, thank you that you can heal and make people clean. Help me to be humble and to do what you say, even when it seems too simple. And help me to tell others about you, like the servant girl did. Amen.