James Nisbet Commentary - 2 King 5:1 - 5:1

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James Nisbet Commentary - 2 King 5:1 - 5:1


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

THE ONE DRAWBACK

‘But he was a leper.’

2Ki_5:1

I. How often is it seen, in human experience, that a condition, otherwise of perfect prosperity, has one alloy, one drawback, which damages or spoils it for its possessor.—We need not confine our observation to lives of great men—written in history or written in Scripture—who have made peace or war, and left their names as the heirloom of one country, or the common property of all—and who yet, scrutinised keenly, have been objects rather of pity than of envy, by reason of some one blessing denied, or by reason of some one ‘sorrow added.’ ‘A great man and honourable with his master … a mighty man of valour … yet a leper’—might be the inscription, if we knew all, upon many of those celebrities of which (to quote the grand old saying) ‘every land is the tomb.’

But is it not so quite in common lives, quite in humble homes? Where is the house in which there is no one element of dissatisfaction—some uncongenial disposition, some unreasonable temper to be borne with—a particular thing that cannot be had or that cannot be done—a difficult task always recurring, a disagreeable future always menacing—a taste that cannot be indulged, or a whim that must be complied with—a dead weight of encumbrance always pressing, and a promised relief always ‘a little beyond’?

II. I propose the example of Naaman as a wonderful lesson in the treatment of drawbacks.—What an excuse had Naaman for a life of idle regret, absolute uselessness, and sinful repining! With what discomfort, with what distress, with what shame and mortification, must each act of his life, social, political, military, have been accomplished! How must he have felt himself the topic of remark or the object of ridicule, amongst all whom he addressed and all whom he commanded! Yet none the less did he do his duty, command his energies, and rule his spirit. Thou who hast in thy health, or in thy work, or in thy home, some like drawback—little it must be in comparison with his—go, and do thou likewise.

III. We take an onward step in our subject when we treat ‘the one drawback’ as ‘the one fault.’—Of how many persons within our own circle must we say, he is all this and that—he is industrious, useful, honourable, he is a great man with his master, he is serviceable to his generation—but he has one fault. Perhaps, he is just and upright, but he is unamiable. Perhaps he is kind and affectionate, but he is untruthful. Perhaps he is excellent in every relation except one. Perhaps he is strict with himself, inflexible to evil—but he is also ungenerous, censorious, suspicious, or even cruel. Perhaps he is charitable, indulgent, good to all—but he takes the license which he gives, and his character (in one respect) will not bear investigation. He is like the ‘cake not turned’ that Hosea speaks of—one side dough, the other side cinder: he was a great man, valorous and chivalrous—but he was a leper.

Yes, the one fault is in all of us—and we mean by it, the particular direction in which the taint and bias of evil in the fallen creature works its course and finds its outlet. It is idle, it is ridiculous, to profess ignorance that there is no such thing as perfection in the creature that has once let the devil in and tried to shut out God—and this is the true diagnosis of man, such as we see and show him—a broken vessel—a temple in ruins—in one word (for none can be more expressive) a fallen being. The one fault is in theological language, the besetting sin. Who has not one such?

IV. So, brethren, try this day the healing stream.—The disease which is upon us goes very deep and spreads very widely—it is past human cure, our own or our brother’s—there is but One Who has the secret of it, but One Who has the virtue. Forgiveness He offers, ere He offers the cleansing—forgiveness of the worst possible, ere He so much as inspects the malady. The double cure—first of the guilt, then of the power—this is the charm of the water which is blood, of the blood which is water.

Dean Vaughan.

Illustrations

(1) ‘Herein is the difference between the natural man and Naaman. Naaman knew himself to be a leper; he loathed his leprosy, and desired to be healed. Alas! how difficult it is to persuade the natural man, first to see, and then to bewail his leprosy; to understand that a creature can only be created to obey his Creator; and that when a creature’s nature is so corrupted as to render him unwilling and unable so to obey, then the creature is condemned, and in his unwillingness and inability bears the death-mark upon him.’

(2) ‘The frightful disease from which Naaman suffered must have been a terrible drawback to his happiness and prosperity. It was the occasion, however, of his greatest blessing. The special mercy of God flowed to him from that which probably he was accustomed to consider his special curse. And it often happens with ourselves, that the one thing which at one time seemed to mar our happiness is that to which we afterwards have occasion to look back as opening out for us the way of peace.’