What would you do if you were a captured slave in a foreign land, living among your adversaries? What would you do if the master of the house suffered from the dreaded, incurable disease of leprosy?

Would you tell your mistress about a possible cure in Israel? “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 5:3, KJV).

Would she even believe you? “And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel” (v. 4).

Would the master believe the secondhand report and pass it on to the king? Would the king believe? “And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment” (v. 5).

Surprisingly, something about the faith of this little maid compelled these people to believe her and take the necessary steps to seek the cure. “And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy” (v. 6).

At the next stage, fear and doubt arise. “And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me” (v. 7).

You may already know the rest: Elisha hears of the matter, summons Naaman, and instructs him to dip seven times in the Jordan. Naaman rages and turns away at first, but his servants reason with him. He obeys, dips seven times, “and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” (v. 14).

That’s the familiar part. But did you know Jesus mentions this healing? “And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4:27). Notice the key phrase: “none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.” Jesus reveals that, despite many lepers in Israel during Elisha’s time, none had been healed—only Naaman!

The implications are remarkable. This means the little captive maid, who set everything in motion toward God, had likely never seen a case of leprosy cured in her life! Yet she knew. She believed. And she lived with such consistent faith as a stolen child in a foreign land that, when she spoke of the cure, they believed her!

It reminds me of our faith today, as Peter sums it up: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9). Will anyone believe our report?

Agape

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