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The Slave Girl

II King 5:1-19

Have you ever heard the country named Syria? Certainly yes, maybe from the news on newspapers or on radio, sometimes we still heard people talk about Syria. This is one of the most ancient countries in the world. This country is placed in Middle East and toward North Israel. Long time ago, Syrians used to bring their soldiers to fight Israel. Every time they came to Israel, they fired houses, killed innocent people, and seized hundreds of people to make them their slaves.

One time, the Syrians fought the Israel villages and seized some people and brought them back to Syria. In those seized people, there was a little girl. When she was sold to be a slave, a commander named Naaman, bought her back to help out inside the house. Can you imagine, a little girl as you are, was living happily with her family and her parents' protection; suddenly she was seized, brought to a strange place, and sold to be a slave; it's very pitiful. Everyday she had to work hard but couldn't have any wage. Probably every night, she cried her eyes out because she missed her home, her parents, and her brothers and sisters in her family.

This girl was very sad and lonely because she had to live with strange people who had different descent and language. Moreover, those people were the enemies of her nation. Since she was a slave, she had to do her master's orders. She had to work day and night, and she didn't know when she could come home. You must be very sad if you have to live in that situation, aren't you? Not only sad but you probably blame God and hate your master. However, this slave girl was different. She missed her family, missed her country, but she didn't blame God for her pain. She didn't hate the Syrians or hate her master because she believed in God and had God's love. Therefore, she worked very hard, and she gradually considered her master's family as her own family.

One day, there was someone who told this slave girl that commander Naaman had leprosy. When she knew that, she didn't look down or disgust him as most of Israelites usually did to a leper; on the other hand, she felt sorry for him and wanted to find a way to heal him. She remembered there was a great doctor in her country, the prophet Elisha. Prophet Elisha was the man of God, he usually taught God's Words and healed many people. The girl believed this prophet could heal the leprosy. With this thought in her mind, she came and discussed with the commander's wife. Commander Naaman had been ill for a long time; therefore, whenever he heard someone told him a good doctor, he would try anything to come there to heal his sickness. He had spent a lot of money, tried many medicines, but he's still sick. Leprosy was a painful disease, difficult to heal, and everyone disgusted it. Therefore, Naaman was very embarrassed and felt unpleasant with this illness. Now, he heard that there was a doctor in Israel who could heal this leprosy; Naaman was very happy; right away, he came to the king of Syria and asked for permission to come to Israel to heal his illness.

With the king's permission, Naaman brought a group of servants with chariot and some presents to go to prophet Elisha's house. But, when he and his servants stood at the door of Elisha's house, the prophet didn't come out but he sent a messenger to Naaman, saying: "God and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean." But Naaman became furious and went away. He said, "I thought that prophet will come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy, but he tells me to wash on Jordan seven times! Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Jordan; so why I have to come over here and wash to be healed? I can wash in my river to be healed!" Naaman turned and went away in rage; he decided not to follow Elisha's instruction. He probably thought the prophet wanted to humiliate him.

The servants were worry when they saw their master was angry and didn't want to wash on Jordan as Elisha said. They were afraid that their master might let go a chance to heal. Therefore, they came near, tried to speak nicely to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he only told you to do a simple thing that is to wash on the river seven times. This is so easy, father, you should try and see." Listening to what his servants said, Naaman thought it over. He saw it's reasonable. Since he had spent a lot of time to come here; now, there was only a small thing to do; if he was proud and wouldn't do it, everything became nothing.

Thought so, Naaman stopped his pride and angry; he was quiet to wash on Jordan River. After washing up, he still felt pain at infected wounds. He was a little bit disappointed, but his servants tried to encourage him. They said: "The prophet said you must wash seven times, so you should be patient and continue washing." Naaman had no other way except to do exactly what prophet Elisha had said. He washed the second time, third time, and then forth, fifth, but still not healed completely yet. Probably, he was washing and whining at the same time: why it has to be seven times; if the water in this river was miracle, then washing three or four times would be enough. But no, God wanted to teach this Syria commander the lesson about humble and obey. He must condescend and obey the Lord of Perfect Power, and then he can experience God's power.

Naaman patiently washed seven times on Jordan. After the seventh time, Naaman examined his arms, legs, and all his body again and saw that his flesh was healed completely, it looked nice as the child's flesh, and it's exactly as what the prophet had said. He knew this was the power of the Lord of Perfect Power. Very happy, he jumped on his horse and commanded for everyone to return to Elisha's house. He came in front of Elisha's face and said: "Sir, now I know that there is only one God of Israel in this world." Naaman said so to show that he knew the gods who he had worshipped in the past were nonsense gods; they didn't have any power. Only God has been the Perfect Power, He is above all the things people worship. Do you understand that? Therefore, we only worship God and no one else.

A good commander, swaggering, but when he experienced God's power, he bowed down and honored God. He proclaimed to prophet Elisha: "Form now on, I will offer any sacrifice to other gods except to the Lord." That meant when Naaman came home, he would remove all the temples of other gods which he had worshipped before; since he knew there was only one God, the Lord, who should be worshipped.

God had used a little weak girl to do a great work for Him. Through this girl, God had saved a Syria commander from leprosy and also saved his soul. God had chosen this girl into His plan, because He knew she honored and obeyed Him. God knew that she would talk about God to other people, especially to the foreign master who she might hate him. God knew this girl had a kind heart and had true faith in God.

Have you ever thought that God can use you in His work? God uses everyone who loves Him and be ready to follow His words. You don't have to wait until you have grown up and graduated from college to serve God. Right now, you can be chosen by God, if you love God and ready to obey His teaching.

QUESTIONS:

  1. What country was the commander Naaman? What illness did he have?
  2. Who introduced prophet Elisha to him?
  3. How did prophet Elisha heal him?
  4. Why did the girl want to help her master to heal his illness?
  5. What should we do if we want God to use us?

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Written by Minh Nguyen
Translated by Ngo Ngoc Di



© 2003 Vietnamese Christian Broadcast and its Audio Content Provider. Used With Permission.