Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 5
The king of Aram wanted Naaman’s visit to Elisha to be friendly. That king genuinely wanted Elisha’s help to cure Naaman. He even politely wrote to Israel’s king, Joram, to ask him to introduce Naaman to Elisha.
However, Joram could not trust the king of Aram, whom he knew only as an enemy. When Joram read the letter, it caused him a great shock. The letter asked Joram to arrange for Naaman to be well again. Joram knew that he himself could not cure Naaman. There were already people in Israel with the same illness that Naaman had (2 Kings 7:3; Luke 4:27) – nobody had cured them. Joram did not believe that any doctor or holy man of any religion in Israel could do it. Only God, who has power over life and death, could do it, Joram said. Joram considered that as unlikely as if God caused a dead person to recover (compare 2 Kings 4:8-27 and 8:1-6). However, God really was doing such powerful things in Israel during Joram’s rule. The Bible gives us several examples to show how powerfully God was working through Elisha. So Joram was speaking from an attitude of unbelief. He refused to believe what God was doing.
So, Joram believed that Aram’s king was preparing for another terrible war. Joram even tore his own clothes to express how sad he felt. In his opinion, the king of Aram was demanding that he must do something impossible. Of course, Joram must fail in that task; he could not succeed. When he failed, the king of Aram would be extremely angry. He would call his army commanders together and they would gather a vast army to attack Israel. If they caught Joram, they would kill him – or, they would punish him severely.
Next part: Elisha tells Joram to send Naaman to him (2 Kings 5:8)
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