The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 55

oooaeion for it would not h11.ve arisen. The or she liar! merely p11.esed into his possession two together must h11.ve gre11.tly raised the by purchase, and thus become one of his reputation of the prophet, and have given wife's attendants. him 11.n influence beyond the borders of the Ver. 3.-And she said unto her mistren, Would God my lord wero with the prophet 111.nd of Israel ; at the 811.me time extending that is in Samaria ! literally, Oh that my lord the reputation of Jehovah as a great God we,·e before the prophet who is in Samaria I through man.y of the surrounding nations. Elisha bad a house in Sam11.ri11. (eh. vi. 32), where he resided oocasionally. For he would recover him of his leprosy, The Ver. 1.-ll'ow ll'e.a.man, 09.pt&in of the host " little maid " concludes from her sm11.ll of the King of Syria. The n11.me "Naa.man " experience that, if her master and the great is here found for the first time. It is miracle-working prophet of her own land thought t.o be de1·ived from th11.t of 11.n could be brought together, the result would A.rawiean god (Ewald), and appears in the be his cure. She has, in her servile con- later AraLic under the form of Noman, in dition, contracted an affection both for her which shape it is familiar t.o the students master and her mistre~s, and her sympathies of Arabian history. Benhadad, who had are strongly with them. Perhaps she had been wont in his youth and middle age t.o no serious pnrposo in speaking as she did. lead his armies into the field in person The words burst from her as a mere ex- (I Kings xx. 1-20; xxii. 31; • Ancient pression of good will. She did not contem- Monarchies,' vol. ii p. 103), seems now in plate any action resulting from them. bis old age to have found it necessary t.o "Oh that things could be otherwise than entrust the command to 11. general, 11.nd to e.e they are I Had I my dear master in my have made Ne.aman captain of his host. own country, it would be easy to accomplish Compare the similar practice (ibid., p. 101) his cure. The prophet is so powerful and of the ~ n monarchs. Was a great so kind. He both could and would recover man with his master, and honourable- him." Any notion of her vague wish being rather, hoooured, or held in esteem ( n61111µ,u.<T- carried out, being made the ground of a /Jhor, LXX.)-beoanse by him the Lord had serious embassy, was probably far from the given deliverance-literally, salootion, or girl's thought. But the "bread cast upon aafety ( ""'T'llplav, LXX.)-unto Syria. Pro- the waters returns after many de.ye." There bably he had commanded the Syrian army is no kind wish or kind utterance that in some of its encounters with the Assyrians, may not have a result far beyond anything who at this time, under Shal.m.a.ncser II., that the wisher or utterer contemplated. were threatening the independence of Syria, Good wishes are seeds that ofttimes take hut did not succeed in subjecting it. He root, and grow, and blossom, and bear fruit wa.s also a mighty man in valour-gi"bbor beyond the uttermost conception of those 1uiil, commonly translated in our version by who sow them. " mighty man of valour," does not mean Ver. 4.-And one went in, and told his much more than "a good soldier "-but he lord, saying. "One went in" is a possible we.a a leper. Leprosy had many degrees. translation; but it is simpler and more Some of the lighter kinds did not incapaci- n11.tural to translate "he went in," i.e. tate a man for military service, or unfit him Naaman went in, and told his lord, Den- for the discharge of court duties (ver. 18). hadad, the King of Syria. Thns and thus But there we.a always a danger that the said the maid that is of the land of Israel. lighter forms might develop into the severer Being "of the Is.nd of Israel," her words ones. had e. certain weight-she had mean ■ c,f Ver. 2.-A.nd the Syrian& had gone out by knowing-she ought to know whetilel' auoil companies; or, in marauding bands. No e. thing e.s the cure of leprosy by tbe inter- peace had been made after Ahab's expedition vention of a prophet was a possible occurrence against Re.moth-Gilead. Hostilities, there- in her country. fore, still continued upon the borders, where Ver. 5.-And the King of Syria said, Go re.ids were frequent, e.e upon our own to, go ; rather, Go, depart; i.e. lose no northern border in medimval times. And time; go at once, if there is any such had brought away oe.ptive out of the laltd of possibility e.s the maiden ilas indicated. Israel a little me.id. The marauding ex- "We see,'' Bahr says, "from the king's peditions of ancient times had for one of readiness, bow anxious he was for the their main objects the capture of slaves. restoration of Naaman." And I will send a In Africa ware are still carried on chiefi y letter unto the King of Israel, Letters he., l for tuis purpose. And she waited on Naa.ma.n's been interchanged between Solomon and wife. Either Naaman had led the expedi- Hiram, King of Tyre (2 Chron, ii, 3-11), a tion, and this particular captive had been century earlier; and the communications of Nligned to him in the divi&iun of the uoot7, king with king in the E11St, though some- ll1I, V, 1-27.) TIIE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS, 93