Week 17 2 Kings 5
Naaman was an outsider – an Aramean – a non-Israel guy. So generally-speaking he was in the broad classification of being foreign & oppositional & a danger to Hebrew life and health. An enemy. But he travelled to Israel in search of a miracle.
It’s hard to know whether he thought he would definitely get his miracle or whether he was just thinking I’ve-got-nothing-to-lose. But he did have at least three expectations: a) I thought (Elisha) would come out to meet me! b) I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and c) (I expected him to) call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me. (Naaman also threw in a water-quality comparison question – aren’t the Abana River and the Pharpar River of Damascus better than all the rivers of Israel put together? – but that was more an annoyed add-on.)
Anyway when Elisha didn’t a) meet him personally or b) wave his hands or c) publicly call on God Naaman was furious. He could also have been a bit self-conscious about his degenerative disease. Maybe irritated at coming to his ethnic-inferior cap-in-hand. Used to giving orders and now having to take them.
But when Naaman’s expectations didn’t materialize he came this-close to going home. Losing his status. Becoming a social outcast. Dying prematurely. Because of what he thought.
Lucky for Naaman that one of his men respectfully floated the idea of giving his expectations a second thought.
Note: quote from 2 Kings 5:11-12 (NLT)