Context No. 3457 of 4322 · 2 Kings

2 Kings 5:1-5: in context

1Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria; he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little girl, and she waited on Naaman’s wife. 3She said to her mistress, “I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy.” 4Someone went in and told his lord, saying, “The girl who is from the land of Israel said this.” 5The king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” He departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing.

The story of Naaman's healing begins with an unlikely witness: a little Israelite girl, captured in a raid and made a slave in the household of the very commander whose army had taken her. This lowly child, who had every reason to resent her captors, instead speaks up with compassion: I wish my master were with the prophet in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy.

Her simple word of faith sets in motion the whole story of a great commander's healing. It is striking that God uses the least likely person, a captive slave girl with no standing at all, to point a great commander toward the God of Israel. She could have kept silent, or quietly wished her master ill; instead she witnessed to what she knew of God's power to heal. God often works through the small and overlooked to accomplish great things, and even in hard, unjust circumstances, a word of faith spoken in kindness can open the way for God to work wonders.

Am I willing, even in hard or lowly circumstances, to speak a simple word of faith and point others toward God, as the captive girl did for Naaman?

Sources

2 Kings 5:3: "She said to her mistress, I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy."
2 Kings 5:2: "The Syrians had... brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little girl, and she waited on Naaman's wife."
1 Corinthians 1:27: "God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong."