2 Kings 5:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
2 Kings 5:8
And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular construct
God
הָאֱלֹהִ֗יםha.'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
heard
כִּשְׁמֹ֣עַkish.Mo.a'
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
king
מֶֽלֶךְMe.lekh-
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Yis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
rent
קָרַ֤עka.Ra'
H7167
to rend · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
clothes
בְּגָדָ֔יוbe.ga.Dav
H899
a covering · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
sent
וַיִּשְׁלַח֙vai.yish.Lach
H7971
to send away · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
king
הַמֶּ֣לֶךְha.Me.lekh
H4428
a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
saying
לֵאמֹ֔רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
rent
קָרַ֖עְתָּka.Ra'.ta
H7167
to rend · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
clothes
בְּגָדֶ֑יךָbe.ga.Dei.kha
H899
a covering · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
come
יָבֹֽאya.vo'-
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
know
וְיֵדַ֕עve.ye.Da'
H3045
to know (properly · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine singular
is
יֵ֥שׁyesh
H3426
there is or are (or any other form of the verb to be · cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
prophet
נָבִ֖יאna.Vi'
H5030
a prophet or (generally) inspired man · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Israel
בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽלbe.Yis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · preposition + proper noun, a place name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 11:8 And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow th…
2 Samuel 3:31 And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. An…
1 Kings 17:24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.
1 Kings 18:36-37 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham,…
2 Kings 1:6 And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus…
2 Kings 5:3 And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.
2 Kings 5:7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, t…
2 Kings 5:15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 5:1-8
Our saviour's miracles were intended for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, yet one, like a crumb, fell from the table to a woman of Canaan; so this one miracle Elisha wrought for Naaman, a Syrian; for God does good to all, and will have all men to be saved. Here is,
I. The great affliction Naaman was under, in the midst of all his honours, Kg2 5:1. He was a great man, in a great place; not only rich and raised, but particularly happy for two things: - 1. That he had been very serviceable to his country. God made him so: By him the Lord had often given deliverance to Syria, success in their wars even with Israel. The preservation and prosperity even of those that do not know God and serv…
ELISHA SENDS HIM TO JORDAN, AND HE IS HEALED. (Kg2 5:8-15)
when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, . . . let him come now to me--This was the grand and ultimate object to which, in the providence of God, the journey of Naaman was subservient. When the Syrian general, with his imposing retinue, arrived at the prophet's house, Elisha sent him a message to "go and wash in Jordan seven times." This apparently rude reception to a foreigner of so high dignity incensed Naaman to such a degree that he resolved to depart, scornfully boasting that the rivers of Damascus were better than all the waters of Israel.
Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 5:8
Let him come now to me - Do not be afflicted; the matter belongs to me, as the prophet of the Most High; send him to me, and he shall know that I am such.
John Gill on 2 Kings 5:8
And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes,.... And upon what account:
that he sent to the king, saying, wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? and thereby expressed so much concern and distress:
let him come now to me: meaning Naaman the Syrian leper:
and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel; able in the name of the Lord to work miracles, which he should be sensible of and acknowledge, to the glory of the God of Israel, by the cure that should be wrought upon him; and hereby he taxed the king of Israel with ignorance or neglect of him as a prophet.
The Church Fathers
Naaman was suffering from leprosy, and when he heard that a prophet who lived under the command of Jehoram, king of Israel, could cure him, he left and proceeded to the country of the healer and went to the house of Elisha, because he had learned that he was the prophet who could aid him in his distress and that he had to ask him to be healed. But Elisha did not go out to meet him or speak to him. He informed him through a messenger: If he wanted to be healed, he had to wash his body in the Jordan seven times. Now a question rises: Why did Elisha prevent Naaman from seeing him and did not allow him to come into his house? In the first place, because he had served Ben-hadad in his wars. In fact, the prophet knew that the king of Aram had killed many children of Israel, and how Naaman had destroyed their lands and how his hands were stained with innocent blood, for he was the commander of the army and had received full authority over the Arameans. In the second place, because he was stopped by the corruption of leprosy. Elisha knew that the Law prescribed that no leper could be approached or touched.Naaman, as a consequence, was enraged. Blaming and accusing Elisha, he left [saying] that he would have never thought to come to a prophet just in order to see him act mysteriously and that he certainly did not expect such words. He believed that his healing would be accomplished through a simple imposition of the hands. So he blamed Elisha and said, "Why did he not come out to meet a man of power who had come to his house? And why did he prevent me from seeing him, and why did he not judge me worthy of speaking to him? And why did he not heal me with the remedy he uses and which is easy and effortless for me? On the contrary, he sends me to the Jordan, as though that river may really purify me; but are not the rivers of my land, the Amana and the Pharpar, sufficient for such purification?" It is not surprising that he had such thoughts and rebelled, the man who had heard with his own ears and compared the words of the prophet. A man who had made his career in the army could not have access to the mystery hidden in that unusual healing. Therefore Naaman was sent to the Jordan as to the remedy capable to heal a human being. Indeed, sin is the leprosy of the soul, which is not perceived by the senses, but intelligence has the proof of it, and human nature must be…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Elisha — God his salvation, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, who became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:16-19). His name first occurs in the command given to Elijah to anoint him as his…
Gift — (1.) An gratuity (Prov. 19:6) to secure favour (18:16; 21:14), a thank-offering (Num. 18:11), or a dowry (Gen. 34:12). (2.) An oblation or proppitatory gift (2Sa 8:2, 6; 1Ch 18:2, 6; 2Ch 26:8; Ps.…
Naaman — Pleasantness, a Syrian, the commander of the armies of Benhadad II. in the time of Joram, king of Israel. He was afflicted with leprosy; and when the little Hebrew slave-girl that waited on his wife…
Elisha · .Heals Naaman the leper — .Heals Naaman the leper
Intercession · .The king of Syria for Naaman — .The king of Syria for Naaman
Joram · his leprosy — his leprosy
Leprosy · .Naaman — .Naaman
Mourning · .Ripping the garments — .Ripping the garments
Naaman · 4. A Syrian general, healed of leprosy by Elisha — 4. A Syrian general, healed of leprosy by Elisha
Prophets · Extraordinary: Often endued with miraculous power — Extraordinary: Often endued with miraculous power
Readings, Select · NAAMAN THE LEPER — NAAMAN THE LEPER
Rending · .Of garments, an outward sign of affliction — .Of garments, an outward sign of affliction
Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 5:1-19
Curing of Naaman from Leprosy. - Kg2 5:1. Naaman, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian king, who was a very great man before his lord, i.e., who held a high place in the service of his king and was greatly distinguished (פּנים נשׂא, cf. Isa 3:3; Isa 9:14), because God had given the Syrians salvation (victory) through him, was as a warrior afflicted with leprosy. The ו has not dropped out before מצרע, nor has the copula been omitted for the purpose of sharpening the antithesis (Thenius), for the appeal to Ewald, 354, a., proves nothing, since the passages quoted there are of a totally different kind; but חיל גּבּור is a second predicate: the man was as a brave warrior leprous. There is an all…
Elisha had no respect for King Joram (3:14), but he sent the message because of the opportunity for a testimony to the Lord’s power.
Rashi on 2 Kings 5:7
“Am I God?” The [first] ‘ה’ is voweled with a ‘פתח’ to indicate that it is a question.
He is looking for an excuse. He is looking for a pretext to attack me.5Because he was so involved in his evil ways, it did not occur to Yehorom to seek help from Elisha the prophet.—Metzudas Dovid He is looking for an excuse.
[מִתְאַנֶּה is] an expression of “false accusation [=עֲלִילוֹת דְּבָרִים].”6Devarim 22:14.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
