Things Hard to be Understood | by Rob Thiele | Volume 28, Issue 2 | March - April 2022
With all the passion of a newly made convert, Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, declared to Elisha, the man of God: “Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.” He added: “…thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto Yahweh”. Then, in almost the next breath, he anticipates the time when his duty to the king of Syria will take him with the king into the Temple of Rimmon, and he seeks divine pardon. Is this a terrible compromise? Is Naaman failing in this circumstance to manifest the courage of his convictions?
Let us consider.
The little maid of Israel, Naaman and the king of Syria
It was the unwavering faith of the household servant of Naaman and his wife, “a little maid”, still with an unbroken connection in her heart to “the land of Israel” (2 Kings 5:2,4), which set in train a process that l…
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