2 Kings 5

But such as are in covenant have their mercies sweetened with God's love, and they swim to them in the blood of Christ. As Naaman said to Gehazi (2 Kings 5:23), Take two talents, so says God to such as are in covenant, Take two talents; take health, and take Christ with it; take…

Use 1. If so, then how sad is it to be the child of an idolater? It had been sad to have been one of Gehazi's children, who had leprosy entailed upon them (2 Kings 5:27). The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you, and to your seed forever.

This is that which we call original sin; (Psalms 51:5). In sin did my mother conceive me. Adam's leprosy cleaves to us, as Naaman's leprosy did cleave to Gehazi (2 Kings 5:27). This original concupiscence is called,

(1.) If he smiles upon them in prosperity it is love: they have the world not only with God's leave, but with his love. God says to every child of his, as Naaman to Gehazi (2 Kings 5:23), Be content take two talents: so says God to his child, I am your Father, take two talents.…

He is Pater Familias, the father of the family. Therefore Naaman's servants called their master father (2 Kings 5:13). And the centurion calls his servant son (Matthew 8:6).

If Christ had commanded us some great matter, would not we have done it? (2 Kings 5:13) If the Prophet had bid you do some great thing, would you not have done it? If Christ had enjoined us to have given him a thousand of rams, or to have parted with the fruit of our bodies, wou…

He who is to play upon a lute must strike upon every string or he spoils all the music: God's commandments may be compared to a ten-stringed lute, we must obey God's will in every command, strike upon every string, or we can make no good melody in religion: the badger has one fo…

3. He opposes not complexion-sins; such as the bias of his heart carries him more strongly to; as lust, or avarice. He says of his constitution-sin as Naaman (2 Kings 5:18). In this thing the Lord pardon your servant.

In Abraham's family, his bond-men and servants were circumcised, and made members of the Church of GOD. And in Moses' days Jethro Moses' father in Law, a Priest of Midian, obtained this at Gods hands, to be joined unto Gods Church: and so was Ruth the Moabite, Ruth 1.16: and Naa…

The Lord puts away the wicked like dross (Psalm 119:119). The greatest man in the world wanting holiness, is res nihili, like Naaman, who was captain of the king's host, and a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper (2 Kings 5:1). A wicked man may be higher than others in nobili…

Job would not despise the cause of his handmaid (Job 31:13). Naaman a great man, respected the counsel of his servants (2 Kings 5:13). Fourthly, all believers must be one heart and mind (1 Corinthians 1:10).

4. When we reprove a man directly (as at the length Nathan did David, You are the man (2 Samuel 12:7)), we must so carry ourselves, as that the party may see himself rather reproved by God, than by us: and not to proceed bluntly to work, to rebuke and censure at the very first:…

When there was a great famine for three years and a half, there were many widows in Israel, whose want of food Elijah was not commanded to relieve, but he was sent to a woman, who belonged to a foreign nation, Zidon, (1 Kings 17:9.) In like manner, Elisha healed no lepers among…

And those Enemies of God we read of Psalm 66:3, who through the Greatness of God's Power, submit themselves to him, or, as it is in the Hebrew, lie unto him, that is, yield a counterfeit Reverence and Submission: So of a gracious Gratitude, as in the Children of Israel, who sang…

This is represented in what we are told of Naaman's Cure of his Leprosy, by his washing in Jordan, by the Direction of the Prophet; which was undoubtedly a Type of the renewing of the Soul, by washing in the Laver of Regeneration. We are told, 2 Kings 5:14, That he went down, an…

Thus you find in Acts 8. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, &c. the Eunuch at that very instant when he was reading the Prophet Esay, has an Interpreter, one among a thousand, that joins his Chariot, just as his mind was by a fit occasion prepared to receive the first light of the knowledge of…

It was a question only to draw a confession from Cain of what he had done. There is a like question of Elisha to his servant Gehazi when he had run after Naaman and had gotten a reward from him (2 Kings 5:25): Elisha says to him, from where do you come, or where have you been? H…

Therefore Solomon built his dwelling for pleasure there in the forest of Lebanon, as some conceive, though others think it was built at Jerusalem, and gets the name of the forest of Lebanon for the pleasantness thereof. As for Amana, we read not of it, except it be that which is…

Hence we read that common and successive name of the kings of the Philistines, Ahimelech, which signifies the King my Father. Secondly; the master of a private family is likewise a father, and that not only with respect to his children, but to his very servants: and therefore, (…

Indeed, even superiors are to receive reproofs from their inferiors with meekness, as they would any other token of kindness and goodwill. Naaman when he turned away from the prophet in a rage, yet hearkened to the reproof which his own servants gave him, and was overruled by th…

My Mother, says Solomon to Bathsheba (1 Kings 2:20). I find also the title of Sir or Lord, used: a title of honor (1 Samuel 24:12; 2 Kings 5:13; Judges 18:19; 2 Kings 6:21; 1 Corinthians 4:15; 1 Timothy 5:1; Genesis 22:7; Genesis 27:18; Matthew 21:30; Genesis 31:35). 2. By using…

1. When servants watch their times to go where they please, and their master not know it: as when their masters are seriously employed, or abroad, or in bed. Thus that wicked servant Gehazi watched his time to run after Naaman, thinking that his master should not know it (2 King…

First spiritual comfort for their soul, that so they may the better bear their infirmity: then such things as may for the present give them ease and refreshing, and also, if it please God to add his blessing, work a recovery. The care of the Centurion for his sick servant is in…

3. Such a course, though it may quiet the conscience and the mind, the rational concluding part of the soul, yet it does not sweeten the heart with rest and gracious contention. The answer it receives is much like that Elisha gave Naaman, Go in peace (2 Kings 5:19); it quieted h…

Wherever you are, God is with you. As the prophet said to Gehazi, Went not my heart with you? (2 Kings 5:26) — meaning his prophetical spirit. The Lord's Spirit goes along with us wherever we go, he observes what we do.

Has God bidden me keep my heart with all keeping, and shall I let it run at large without any restraint and regard? It is my debt, and I must pay it, or I shall answer it at my peril in the great day of accounts; it is not only commended but commanded (2 Kings 5:13): If the Prop…

We must keep all, Conatu, licet non eventu, it is our labor, though not our success. Those that dispense with any commandment voluntarily and willingly, have never yet learned the way of true obedience to God (2 Kings 5:17-18): In this thing the Lord pardon your servant, that wh…

'Tis said of the adulterous woman (Proverbs 30:20) she eats (that is, her stolen bread in secret, Proverbs 9:17) and wipes her mouth (which argues 'twas foul and filthy) and says, I have done no wickedness — she will sin to avoid the scandal of her sin. When Gehazi had taken a r…

God might have said, you shall lie in Hell so many thousand years to feel the smart of your sin; and if he had bid you do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more when he says, wash and be clean — that I may allude to that of Naaman's servant to him (2 Kings 5…

His servants seasonably and wisely checked the carelessness of his own safety and recovery; Had the Prophet commanded you some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more when he says, wash and be clean (2 Kings 5:12-13)? The greatest labor should have been undertaken…

Uncharitableness is a leaven that sours the whole lump (1 Corinthians 5:8). It sours your good qualities; Naaman was an honorable man, a mighty man in valor — but he was a leper (2 Kings 5:1); that 'but' was like a dead fly in the ointment — it spoiled all the rest. So it may be…

you must know that there are strange passages in GODS prouidence, he is able to bring things to passe, though you know not how it should be. See his prouidence 2 Kings 5. The Woman there, the Shunamite, she beleeued the word that the Prophet had said, that there should bee seaue…

Let them be spared in this one thing, and in all other they will be exact enough. This is the Composition that Naaman would have made in the Matters of Religion, 2 Kings 5:18. And it is that which many trust to.

Demas: Yes, my name is Demas; I am the son of Abraham. Christian: I know you; Gehazi was your great-grandfather, and Judas your father, and you have trod in their steps; it is but a devilish prank that you use: your father was hanged for a traitor, and you deserve no better rewa…

None may better take the comfort of these things than believers; for they have the best right to them, they hold all in Capite; and they have the dew of a blessing distilled. Take two talents, said Naaman to Gehazi, 2 Kings 5:23. So says God to a believer, take two talents, take…

Secondly, another act that faith puts forth, is, that faith does believe the truth of all that grace God there offers, when it has searched it out, then it believes the truth and goodness, of all the holy will and grace of God therein offered, though it does not immediately take…