Small People Make a Big Difference, and the Good News That Cannot Be Kept Secret

The Great Man With No Solution — and the Nameless Girl With One

The reading from the Prophets for Parashat Metzora is from 2 Kings 4:42-5:19, and in years where it is read together with Parashat Tazria as a double portion the typical reading is from 2 Kings 7:3-20. In this Article I would like to look at both stories beginning with the story of Naaman and draw from each a small, but important lesson:

This verse sets the stage. The introduction of the hero of this story is that he was a great and honorable man — in the eyes of his master. There is only one small problem: this great general of Assyria has leprosy. He is very sick with a terrible, incurable, infectious illness.

The second important person of this story is actually a young slave girl that Naaman captured in his wars with Israel. A person without a name. A captive. She has a solution for this great man's problem — but she can't even talk to him. The best she can do is talk with the wife of Naaman, her mistress:

A great man doesn't just pack his bag and travel to another country. Naaman needs a referral letter from his king to the king of Israel — like our prime minister and the President of the United States. If the President says "jump," the prime minister jumps. So Naaman arrives with chariots and gifts at Elisha's estate. And Elisha doesn't even come to the door. He sends his servant with this message:

Naaman is furious. He expected a grand production and ceremony. Instead he's sent to a little ditch called the Jordan.

His servants convince him: "What do you have to lose, master? Here we are at the Jordan. Go on and enter the waters and immerse yourself seven times." And he does. And when he comes out the seventh time with skin as clean as a baby's, he is so thankful — for listening to the direction of his slaves, the young poor Israelite girl that serves his wife, and the servants that drive his chariot. The whole story is how the small people, the slaves who have God and hear God's commands, have such a great advantage over the great people of the world.

As James says:

The Four Lepers Who Had Good News They Couldn't Keep to Themselves

In the second story we find that the city of Samaria was under military siege for months. The hunger was so bad that two women decided to eat their babies (see 2 Kings 6). Four leprous men outside the city walls discussed their situation. Inside the city the hunger was just as bad. Their only hope was to go to the Assyrian camp. If the Assyrians kill them, they will be out of their misery. If the Assyrian army has mercy on them and gives them food, they will survive for a few more days.

So these four lepers start dragging their feet toward the Assyrian camp. They arrive — the place is abandoned. The food is hot on the tables. The cooking pots are full. The tents are intact. The wealth the Assyrians gathered on their march is lying there in their luggage. The four leprous men eat and eat and eat. They fill their pockets with loot. They start digging in the ground and hiding more of the Assyrian plunder.

And then, late at night, already filled with food and wealth:

"This day is a day of good news" — "besorah" in Hebrew, "evangelion" in Greek. The same word that in the New Testament is translated as "Gospel." The Christian translators invented a word, "gospel" — not even English, from the Germanic "Gotspil" meaning "God's story" — in order to make a distinction between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. In the Old Testament you have "good news." In the New Testament you have "Gospel." No "good news." No "gospel" in the Old Testament. This deliberate disconnect hides the fact that the same word carries through from the lepers of Samaria all the way to the apostles of Yeshua.

If you have received the good news and don't share it, soon it will become like cheese that you have been keeping in your refrigerator. It will rot and spoil and make your refrigerator smell bad. Share! Share! Share! Don't miss the opportunities to share the good news!