Irredeemable
Naaman the Leper
The Servant Girl
Naaman's Wife
The King of Syria
The King of Syria
The king of Syria had been greatly blessed by Naaman, and therefore
had a vested interest in his recovery. The world has a way of investing in
people who can serve them until–when further service is impossible–they are
thrown away. This king of Syria, later revealed to be Ben-Hadad,[1]
is an enigma because he was clearly an enemy of Israel, but he had some sort of
affinity towards the Living God (2 Kings 8:7–8) while actively doing evil (2
Kings 6:24–25) and worshipping false gods (2 Kings 5:18). If we learn one lesson
from him before we look at anything else, he reminds us that people are
complicated and God’s work is myriad and mysterious as he sends the rain on the
just and the unjust.
Like many of the people prior to the gift of the Holy
Spirit, Ben-Hadad’s spiritual state is not easily discerned, but of all of the
enemy kings (save Nebuchadnezzar and Darius) faced by the Israelites and Jews,
this enemy king is most to be emulated. Why?
Spend For Others
For one, he was happy to spend for others. Imagine with me
for a moment that the cost to enter heaven were $1, and someone you loved
dearly was only $1 short, would you pay for their eternal blessing? If you
would–and I pray that you would–then we’ve set a precedent: people are worth
spending for (Romans 9:3).
If you’d spend $1, then how about $10? $100? $11,700,000?
More? Obviously the cost to enter heaven is perfection, so the analogy breaks
down, and our sins are costly and we can’t even pay for our own sins, let alone
for others (Psalm 49:5–9), but we can pay to get others closer to the one who
can ransom them.
We could look at Romans 5:6–8 for an examination of spending
for people we don’t love, but that’s not apt to this story because Ben-Hadad
loved Naaman, and he was willing to pay for his healing. Ben-Hadad–as much as a
pagan king can–loved Naaman and sought his highest and best usefulness. How
does Ben-Hadad show us that? Not by his words, but by his actions (James 2:15–16).
He put his money where his mouth was. Where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also. He showed us where his heart was by filling up what was lacking
in Naaman’s ability to be redeemed.
The Holy Spirit–through Paul–said it better than I can:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings
for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's
afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a
minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to
make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations
but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among
the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone
with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I
toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Ben-Hadad wouldn’t have been so deep or eloquent or clear,
but he knew he wanted Naaman healed and he knew he was willing to pay for it.
It’s difficult to put an exact price tag on what Ben-Hadad was willing to spend,
but we can get close enough to know it was a lot. He sent ten talents of
silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. A talent
weighed about seventy-five pounds, a shekel was just less than half an ounce,
and the clothing was certainly ornate and valuable. I don’t know we can accurately
put a value on the clothing, but silver and gold have standard weights so we
can be pretty accurate in our estimate that Ben-Hadad sent $900,000 worth of
silver and $10,800,000 worth of gold.[2]
Naaman was worth a lot to Ben-Hadad.
Now, I don’t want to give too much credit to this king,
because surely he was hoping to receive some gain for his efforts, but we
rejoice when the kingdom of heaven is furthered even for impure motives or
selfish ambition (Philippians 1:15–18). The king–almost certainly without
knowing it–was proving “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls”
(2 Corinthians 12:15).
A Sense of Urgency
Next, we’ll see that Ben-Hadad not only funded the trip, he
enhanced the urgency by saying “Go now!” He sends Naaman on his way right now,
immediately; other translations say “By all means go!” and “Go to. Go!”
There is no time to wait, to try another cure, to pray about
it, to see if he’ll recover naturally, to consider how God can heal such a man,
nor even time to count the cost. The cost had already been counted, Naaman’s
life is lost without a miracle.
It has been said that the devil’s favorite day is
“tomorrow,” so I wonder if Ben-Hadad was tempted to yell “Today is the day of
salvation! Stop talking and start seeking the cure!” When should someone flee
to Jesus for salvation? Right now! If redemption is possible we want to move
people in that direction as soon as we can!
If you tarry ‘till you’re
better, you will never come at all. ~ Joseph Hart
There are two reasons to “Go!” quickly to Christ, first
because you’re not promised tomorrow, and second because he’s worthy to be
served as soon and as early and as long as possible. Whether you are old or
young reading this, know that the best time to come to Christ was as soon as
you could hear his voice, the second-best time to come is right now! The best
time for Naaman to have sought the true and living God was when he found out
there was a true and living God, the second-best time, according to the king of
Syria, is now, “Go! Now!”
Love commands urgency; pleading, commanding, urging,
pushing, begging, warning, compelling, imploring people to seek the Lord while he may be found. If you tarry
‘till you’re better, you will never come at all! What are you waiting for! Go!
Now!
An Advocate
The king of Syria was not a perfect king nor a follower of
the living God, yet he did do many things right. One of the greatest gifts God
has given to men is someone to ally with, to plead our case, to be our
intercessor, and to help us open doors we couldn’t open ourselves. Ben-Hadad
proved this by being Naaman’s intercessor.
Imagine if Naaman had gone to Samaria of his own volition
and approached the king of Israel stating, “I’m here because I heard there is a
prophet in Israel who can heal me.” Imagine the whispers and the pointed
fingers and the snarled lips. They know who he is, they recognize him, they have
learned to fear him, and they have learned to hate him. Imagine the
accusations, “You’re here as a spy!”, “You’re looking for more little girls to
steal!”, “You’re here as an enemy of Israel!”, “You’re here to get stoned!”, and
“Yeah! We’ll end your leprosy…by ending your life!”
Naaman needed a letter of introduction and a powerful ally. The
king of Syria does not disappoint: he says, “I will send a letter to the king
of Israel.” This letter becomes Naaman’s lifeblood, without it he would have
been perceived as a spy, and his chances of receiving grace and help in his
time of need would be greatly diminished.
Consider another letter written by the Apostle Paul and
given to a man named Tychicus to carry to a far-off church (Colossians 4:7–9).
This letter explicitly tells the church to welcome a man named Onesimus with open
arms–and more so–it tells his owner, Philemon, to receive him back–not as a
runaway slave–but as a brother (Philemon 1:15–16). During the entire journey
from Rome, I imagine Onesimus would badger Tychicus to confirm that he still
had the letter and that it was still safe.
The letter to Philemon, comprising so few words it is not
even broken into chapters, was Onesimus’ entire hope. Without it–as a runaway
slave–he legally could be executed as a warning to other slaves. Now, of course
his hope was in the living Christ for his eternity, but his earthly hope was
that God was using his friend Paul’s influence and network of Christian
brothers to plead his case before his earthly master.
Some people would call this “the good-ole-boy club,” where
“it’s not what you know, but who you know,” and they would say so
disparagingly. Indeed, this system can be horribly abused when connections are
based on partiality and cliques rather than merit and love. But, God’s church
is built on networks and who you know. One of the first things I do when I move
is contact that nearest Baptist association; God has blessed us abundantly
through this networking, but the allies we have in our conventions, synods,
associations, alliances, and churches is nothing compared to our greatest ally.
The wisest bumper sticker I ever read said, “I am not, but I
know I Am!” The great I Am, if you know him, is pleading your
case even as you’re reading this. His will is your sanctification, your highest
and best usefulness, and his glory. Robert Murray M’Cheyne, who accomplished so
much for Christ, knew that he was pleaded for continuously,
If I could hear Christ praying
for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes
no difference. He is praying for me.
And one of my favorite hymns puts it this way,
Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
a great high priest whose name is love
who always lives and pleads for me. ~
Charitie Lees Smith
I love the question D. James Kennedy would use to open an
evangelistic conversation, “If you died tonight and God said, ‘Why should I let
you into heaven?’ how would you respond?” It’s a question that cuts right to
the heart of the matter.
There are lots of ways to point that question to Jesus.
Going back to Shai Linne’s song Penelope Judd, I love how he tells the
story of a little girl who goes on a journey to meet the king. Penelope is from
the land called “mud,” and she is wholly unfit to enter the palace. When she
knocks on the door her only hope becomes the invitation she is carrying, which
she quickly presents.
Likewise, in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, the scroll
becomes the most prized and important possession to meet the true king. In
Bunyan’s story a man is cast from the very gates of heaven when it is
discovered he does not have an invitation, which had been freely offered at the
cross; his lack of a scroll reveals that he had not come by way of the cross.
Reader, do you have assurance of salvation purchased in the
cross of Christ? Is he pleading your case ready to stand at the gates of heaven
to welcome you in? Are you pleading the case of lost sinners continually before
the throne of grace? Are you interceding before men for the help of Christ’s
church? When a saint moves to a new city or church, as is common in our modern
world, a letter of recommendation can be the difference between a thriving
ministry in a new church and starting from scratch and wasting years earning
trust. It grieves me that so many churches and pastors think these letters are
just old-fashioned nonsense.
It was not nonsense to Naaman or Onesimus or John Bunyan or
me. The church has a lot to learn from the king of Syria, and I pray you will
learn that lesson well.
Because of the faithfulness of Ben-Hadad, Naaman now has this letter of introduction that is going to keep him safe, lead him to the right people, and hopefully cure his leprosy. In urgent obedience Naaman takes the letter straight to the king of Israel.
[1]
The Bible probably refers
to his title rather than his name, history tells us his name was likely Hadadezer.
[2]
At the time of this writing.
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