Naaman was commanded to dip seven times in the Jordan River as a test of faith and obedience to God’s word spoken through the prophet Elisha. The method was humbling and seemingly unimpressive, designed to confront Naaman’s pride and demons/”>demonstrate that healing comes only by God’s power, not by human expectation or prestige.
Naaman was a commander of the Syrian army, highly respected, but he had leprosy. A captive Israelite girl told Naaman’s wife that a prophet in Samaria could heal him. Naaman went to Elisha, who didn’t even come out to meet him:
“Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.’”
(2 Kings 5:10)
Naaman was offended:
“Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?”
(2 Kings 5:12)
But his servants urged him to obey:
“My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it?”
(2 Kings 5:13)
Naaman finally obeyed:
“So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God… and his flesh was restored.”
(2 Kings 5:14)
The number seven often represents completeness in Scripture. God required Naaman to fully trust and obey, not partially or on his own terms.
Naaman’s healing was physical, but it also led to spiritual transformation:
“Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.”
(2 Kings 5:15)
Naaman’s experience teaches that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and that true faith submits to God’s ways even when they seem simple or beneath our expectations.
