Irredeemable
Naaman the Leper
The Servant Girl
Naaman's Wife
Naaman’s Wife
Naaman’s Wife gets only two verses and we don’t know much
about her, but there is just enough here to know that she is worthy to be
praised. Any military wife will tell you that being married to a soldier–especially
a general–is a full-time and difficult job. Late nights, long trips, curt
responses, necessary secrecy, constant worry; it takes a special kind of woman
to be a good wife of a military man. Many years ago my dear wife took to
telling me that dinner was “classified,” because so often I had to tell her I
couldn’t disclose what I was working on at the office or why my constant trips
were necessary.
Naaman’s wife was in a unique position when the servant girl
told her that there was a prophet in Israel that could heal her husband.
Truth, No Matter the Source
First, Naaman’s wife had to have faith that the girl was
telling the truth. Like many terminal diseases, hopelessness can breed despair
that leads to desperation and ignoring reason. There is a whole healing-tourism
movement where people will spend their life’s savings to seek their health or
the health of a loved one by flying thousands of miles to a faith healer.
Naaman’s wife doesn’t exhibit this blind despair, but she is
also faced with the conundrum of trusting this little girl. There was a lot at
stake in believing there might be a remedy over a hundred miles away which was at
least a journey of ten days round trip. Why did she believe the girl? Perhaps the
girl’s conduct was impeccable, her service was unmatched, and her faith was a
shining light to Naaman’s wife. Maybe she had told the stories of Elisha’s
raising of the boy? What else could that little girl have trained her mistress
to know about God?
Truly this little girl embodied the idea of the starry
cluster long before Amy Carmichael coined that term, and long before Daniel
wrote, “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky
above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars
forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). Naaman’s wife listening to and believing the
word of truth from this girl’s mouth made all the difference in this story.
How much truth is lost not because it’s not preached, but
because it’s not heard? It’s not enough to hear the truth, you must believe it,
and Naaman’s wife believed it, regardless that it came from a completely
unexpected source.
The Titus-Two Woman
Titus chapter two tells the elder women to train the younger
women; it has long been pointed out that this is not measured in age, but in
maturity. The girl, though younger in age, was greater in maturity, and Naaman’s
wife, though decades older than the girl, was newer in maturity. I continually
praise that little girl for her faithfulness, and I praise Naaman’s wife for
humbling herself to understand the Psalm,
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and
infants you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy
and the avenger. ~ Psalm 8:1–2
Naaman’s wife humbled herself to receive the Word of the Lord from a little girl and to see that
God doesn’t measure character by what’s on the outside, but what’s on the
inside. God thrives in the practice of saving through unlikely means. Hosea
declared, “I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by
horsemen” (Hosea 1:7). If Hosea was writing about this little girl, he might
have added, “The Lord will save
them by a little slave girl.”
Wife, Respect Your Husband
Naaman’s wife had to care enough about her husband to relay
the message. If you’re a Christian reading this, you probably instantly think,
“Well of course she would want the best for her husband!” If you instantly
thought that, then you’re not to be faulted, and I’m sure it’s because you’re
surrounded by godly examples of service and hope. But the whole world is not
seeking the welfare of their neighbors. In the last six months I’ve heard three
different homeless or addicted women say–unsolicited–if they could afford to
hire a hitman against their husband or ex-husband, they would do it.
Consider how easy it would be for bitterness to take over
this woman’s heart and for her to say, “Serves him right for always being gone!
And another thing, who knows where he got this disease, may he suffer long and
may it be a miserable death! He’s getting repaid for what he’s done to me for
so many years!” Maybe she wondered if he had contracted this disease from a
random Moabite or Amalekite girl. Our culture says, “What happens in Vegas
stays in Vegas.” Surely Naaman’s soldiers had similar sayings about their
exploits. We know the truth is that what happens on escapades will be judged in
eternity; actions have consequences.
Would you fault Naaman’s wife if she had held Naaman’s
leprosy against him? What if Naaman denied her accusations? Easy, she just
doesn’t believe him and responds like Job’s wife, “Do you still hold fast to
your integrity?!” (Job 2:9). Bitterness can invent all sorts of sins and once
you believe them, there is no way for the accused to defend themselves. How can
you repent of something that you’ve only done in someone else’s imagination?
Naaman’s wife could have reduced her husband to a mere
title: Leper! Labels strip away our
humanity and have a terrible way of ostracizing us from one another. They blind
us to seeing people as eternal souls meant to be loved and cherished, transforming
them instead into perpetrators to be feared and enemies to be avoided. Naaman’s
leprosy–which had already strained the marriage physically–could have easily divided
them spiritually and emotionally.
She could have proved these verses,
It is better to live in a corner
of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. ~ Proverbs 21:9, 25:24
A continual dripping on a rainy
day and a quarrelsome wife are alike; to restrain her is to restrain the wind
or to grasp oil in one’s right hand. ~
Proverbs 27:15–16
She who brings shame is like
rottenness in his bones. ~Proverbs 12:4
It is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman. ~ Proverbs 21:19
But, by the grace of God, she did not prove those verses.
Whether Naaman had contacted the disease accidentally or through sin he needed
his wife to respond in a loving and God-honoring way.
I bet we’d have another adage if this story had gone
differently,
It is better to die of leprosy
than be married to a woman scorned.
Instead, she proved herself to be an excellent wife, and I
would posit that she has become the “crown of her husband” (Proverbs 12:4), as
she could have ended this story right here by remaining silent in her
bitterness, and in so doing she would have defiled many.
Maybe she was discipled by this little girl on how to love
her husband well and seek his highest and best usefulness? Maybe the girl had
shared Proverbs 31:12, “She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her
life.” We will have to wait until we get to heaven to learn the answer to this
question, but I wonder if Naaman’s wife wasn’t led to trust the Living God
first in this family, and subsequently sought the salvation of her husband?
Would she have said amen to 1 Peter 3:1?
Wives, be subject to your own
husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a
word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure
conduct.
Had she begun to learn the lesson to be a friend to her
husband[1]
blessing him with her prayers and seeking his highest and best usefulness? Had
she grasped the power of a submissive wife as described by Titus 2:5? How do
you know, o wife, whether you will save your husband (1 Corinthians 7:16)?
Wives have striven against their husbands from the beginning
(Genesis 3:16). They don’t naturally want to put “obey” in their wedding vows. They
kick against the goads of winning their husbands without a word. And the
husband of the contentious wife may wonder why the Holy Spirit needed to come
to convict him when he has his wife ready and willing to show him every wrong
he has ever committed.
The more I read the passage the more I am convinced that the little Israelite girl had done far more to bless more people than just Naaman, as Naaman was blessed by a helpful and fruitful wife long before he sought Elisha who pointed him to God. But these were not the only helpers on Naaman’s journey towards redemption.
[1]
The word here is philoandros, not a sacrificial love but the
affectionate caring love of a friend. See Titus 2:4.
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