Lessons on the Servant Girl of Naaman's Wife~ 2 Kings 5
Part 1/3
This is a lesson I did for the children at a Missions Conference. I liked it so much, I decided to write one for my blog. I followed a similar outline for a previous lesson concerning the woman with the issue of blood where we looked at The Problem, The Plan, and The Product. I pray this will be a blessing to others as we take a look at this nameless girl.
Only three verses refer to the servant girl of Naaman's wife, 2 Kings 5:2-4, but though she had only a seemingly small part, her influence played a much bigger role. We will look at verse 1 first and our heroine will be along soon in verse 2 (part 2).
The Problem
2 Kings 5:1
Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.
The first character we are introduced to is Naaman whom had quite the resume. He was captain for the Syrian army. He was a great man with his master: in other words, the boss liked him a lot. I thought about this in relation to what the bosses we know today like to see in those under them, and here are a few words that come to mind: Reliable. Trustworthy. Honest. Confident. Naaman was most likely these things as well as a good worker who got the job done. The Bible tells us he was honourable and had valour.
But, he was a leper.
I can imagine Naaman must have defined himself by this disease that plagued him. Many of us have a "...but she was a..." or "...but he was a...", but we would not list it among the describing words of ourselves. In my case, my story would write: "Senja wife, mother of three kids, missionary to Hungary, who loved to sing and be artistic, but she was a diabetic." Hmmm, no, I don't normally define myself by my chronic illness and only talk about it when asked. Yet here we see Naaman's leprosy listed in his profile. I visualize others respecting him because of his position, but taking cautious steps away if his proximity became too close for comfort. The disease must have been a terrible ordeal for Naaman, especially for being one in command.
I looked up the incidences of leprosy in the Bible and found nothing good about the disease itself. The only good thing was being healed of it. Leviticus 13:45 shows us the leprous individual was to announce being unclean to others and verse 46 says, "All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean:he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be." I know what this reminds me of. Sin. Isn't this what sin does to us? It makes us unclean and separates us from God. He cannot be where sin is. I think of Christ's words on the cross as He took on a Him the sin of the world: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)
I know you're wondering "what about the servant girl? Isn't this blog post about her?"
Well, we will be introduced to her in Part 2, The Plan.
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