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TWO TRUCK LOADS OF DIRT Ken
Graydon Every Tanakh story has layers of meaning. It’s like a diamond with many facets. That is why our walk of faith is dynamic, the lessons we get from the CREATOR of the Universe are the ones we need to get today. Many of the spiritual and development practices around us, encourage us to live in the NOW, do not live in the past, which you cannot change, do not live in the future, which may never happen, as we envisage it. Live NOW, in the constant presence of ETERNAL. We are going to look today at a story you should have heard many times. It’s about the healing of Naaman. Kings 2 Chapter 5 Chapter 5 1 Now Naaman, the general of
the king of before his lord and respected,
for through him had the Lord given victory to Naaman’s name means, pleasant or beautiful, at
least before he got leprosy. He was a national hero in the pagan country
of 2
Now the Arameans went out in bands and
captured from the girl, who ministered to
Naaman's wife. 3 And she said to her mistress, "The supplications for my master
should be that he go before the prophet who is in This tells us a lot about Naaman. This young girl
is a slave and, you would imagine, had no reason to help Naaman. He had
obviously treated her well and she wanted a good result for him. 4
And he came and told his master, saying, "In
the following manner has the girl from the land of letter to the king of of silver and six thousand
gold pieces, and ten suits of clothes. 6 And the letter came to the king of to you, behold I have sent
Naaman my servant to you, and you shall cure him of his zaraath. This is the first misunderstanding. The young girl
had said ‘go to the prophet’ but the king of 7 And it was when the king of he rent his garments, and
said, "Do I have power from God to put to death and to bring to life, that
this one sends to me to cure a man of his zaraath? Just know now and see that he
is looking for a pretext against me." The king of 8
And it was when Elisha the man of God
heard that the king of garments, that he sent to the
king, saying, "Why have you rent your garments? Let him come to me
now, and let him know that there is a prophet in Elisha is telling his king “this is my
department, send him to me.” ETERNAL brings people together [this
group is an example] so that the right people, the right abilities, the
right teachings are available. We must always be ready to say ‘this is
not for me to handle – I’ll pass it on.’ 9
And Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and he stood at the
doorway of Elisha's house. 10 And Elisha dispatched a messenger to him,
saying, "Go and immerse yourself seven times in the become clean." 11 Now
Naaman became incensed, and he went away, and he said, "Here I thought
that he would come out to see me, and he would stand and call in the name of
YHVH his God, and he would raise his hand toward the spot and cure the
mezora." 12 Are not Amanah and Parpar, the rivers of myself in them and become
clean?" And he turned and went away in anger. Naaman is looking to have his ego massaged at the
same time as his healing is done. He’s turned up at Elisha’s house
with his full bodyguard, marching bands and probably his own chef.
He’s looking for a major event here. What does Elisha do? He sends a
servant out with a simple message. Naaman has got to be brought low
because ETERNAL cannot bless us if we are full of pride. 13 And his servants approached
and spoke to him and said, "Master, if the prophet spoke to you to do a
difficult thing, would you not do it? And surely since he said to you,
'Immerse yourself and become clean.' " This is the second time that Naaman is helped by a
lowly person, who cared about him, not because he is powerful but
because he is hurting. 14
And he went down and immersed
himself in the the word of the man of God:
and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young lad, and he became
clean. 15 And he returned to the man of God, he and his entire camp; and he
came and stood before him: and he said, "Behold, now I know that
there is no God in all the earth except in And now, accept a gift from
your servant." Naaman having been humbled and healed, now wants to
pay for the healing. He cannot understand that ETERNAL’s blessings are
freely available. 16
And he said, "As the Lord before Whom I have stood,
lives, I will not accept." And he urged him to accept, but he refused. 17 And
Naaman said, "Now, if only your servant be given a load of earth as
carried by a team of mules, for your servant will no longer offer up a
burnt-offering or a sacrifice to other deities, but to the Lord. Naaman is seeing ETERNAL as the “God of the 18
For this thing may the Lord forgive your servant; when my master comes to Beth-Rimmon to
prostrate himself there, and he leans on my hand, and I will prostrate myself in
Beth-Rimmon; when I bow in Beth-Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your
servant for this thing." 19 And he said to him, "Go in peace"; and
he went some distance away from him. Elisha’s answer is very ambiguous. Is he saying
‘make up your own mind’ or is he saying ‘it’s ok to go with your
master to his ‘g-ds’’? 20
And Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man
of God, thought, "Here my master has stopped Naaman, this Aramean, from
giving, by not taking from his hand what he brought. As the Lord lives, I
will run after him and take something from him." 21 And Gehazi
chased after Naaman; and Naaman saw him running after him, and he leaned over
off the chariot toward him, and said, "Is all well?" 22 And he said,
"All is well. My master sent me, saying, "Here, just now two youths have come to me
from prophets. Please give them a
talent of silver and two suits of clothing. 23 And Naaman said,
"Please take two talents. And he urged him and he tied two talents of silver in
two pockets, and two suits of clothing. And he gave his two servants, and
they carried them before him. 24 And he came to a secret place, and he took
[them] from their hands, and he deposited them in the house. And he dismissed
the men, and they went away. 25 And he came and stood before his
master, and Elisha said to him, "Where are you coming from, Gehazi?" And
he said, "Your servant has gone neither here nor there." 26 And he
said to him, "Did my heart not go when a man turned around off his chariot toward
you? Is it time to take the silver, and to buy clothing and olive trees and
vineyards and sheep and cattle and slaves and maidservants? 27 Now Naaman's
zaraath shall cling to you and to your children forever." And he
went away from before him, stricken with zaraath, [white] as snow. Gehazi tells himself that Elisha was foolish not to take payment for the healing “after all the guy could afford to pay” and he goes to collect some reward. As he gets closer to Naaman’s convoy Gehazi decides that really he needs the clothes and money so he lies to Naaman. Then, as liars do, he had to tell another lie to Elisha. Elisha sees the truth and tells Gehazi – this is why you will have leprosy. All the things Gehazi planned to get by his lies and theft are rendered out of reach by this disease. This story
offers us some interesting contrasts, the greedy and deceitful servant
of Elisha and the pious and sincere foreigner. ETERNAL had given Is the “go in peace” blessing to Naaman an acknowledgement that out of Israel the only way he can be a worshipper of ETERNAL is through his adapting the local rules? Naaman
taking the truck loads of dirt is seen as a real sign of his sincerity
in wanting to worship the God of Israel. Remember Psalm 137 which was
the basis of the song “By the rivers of QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
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