to men the liberty which God has given them\ But we should neither abridge the Christian's liberty, nor extend it beyond its just bounds : and we apprehend that the passage before us will assist us materially in assigning to it its proper limits, and will itself receive the most satisfactory interpretation when viewed according to its plain and obvious import.
We propose then to consider, 1. The concession here made —
We do not hesitate to call Elisha's answer a con- cession. To regard it as an evasion of the question is to dishonour the prophet exceedingly, and to con- tradict the plainest import of his words. His answer is precisely the same as that of Jethro to Moses^; and must be interpreted as an approbation of the plan proposed to him. Let us consider then the true import of Naaman's question —
[Naaman proposed to continue in the king of Syria's ser- vice, and to attend him as usual to the house of Rimmon, the god whom his master worshipped : and as his master always leaned upon his arm on those occasions, (a practice common with kings at that time, even with the kings of Israel, as well as others'^,) he must of necessity accommodate himself to his master's motion, and bow forward when he did, in order not to obstruct him in his worship. This he proposed to do ; and liis communication of his intentions to the prophet must be under- stood in a two-fold view ; namely, ^s an inquiry for the regu- lation of Ms judgment, and as a guard against a misconstruction of his conduct.
The case was certainly one of great difficulty, and especially to a young convert, to whom such considerations were alto- gether new. On the one hand, he felt in his own mind that he should not participate in the worship of his master ; and yet he felt that his conduct would be open to such a construction. Having therefore access to an inspired prophet, he was glad to have his difficulty solved, that so he might act as became a servant of Jehovah, and enjoy the testimony of a good conscience.
Being determined, if the prophet should approve of it, so to act, he desired to cut off all occasion for blame from others. He knew how ready people are to view things in an unfavourable
a We conceive that few Christians in the world would have ap- proved of the statement in Rom. xiv. if it had not been contained in the inspired volume.
b Exod. iv. 18, " 2 Kings vii. 2, 17.