4-"
LANDMARK
[Written for Zion’s Landmarks.]
H’aaman the Syrian-
(See 5t'i chapter 11th verse Book of Kings.)
Naaman represents the sinner upon
v/hom special grace of God is be
stowed in his cleansing. And many
lepers were in Israel in the time of
Eiiseus the prophet, and none of
them was cleansed saving Naaman
the Syrian, (Luke 4:27.) And
when they of the synagogue hoard
these things they were filled with
wrath. And people are yet filled
with wi'atii when the doctrine of
God’s discriminating grace is taught.
ind righteousness. Abraham was
Th y might have said then as they
often say now, that God was unjust
not to cleanse all the lepers, but we
know that he did not do it, for Christ
has so taught us. And Christ at an
other time thanks the Father that lie
had hid these things from the wise
and prudent and revealed them unto
babes, because it seemed good in his
siglit to do so. We know also that
God chose Abraham and took him
from his father’s house, in which they
worshipped idols, and led him into
Canaan and b]c.Ssod him and multi- i
pTica hi^eed)^ -wneWno diner i:ifafi~or
family was so blessed. These are
hard truths to which the carnal mind
is enmity, but let us be careful not to
war against them lest w’e be found
fi'^htine: against God,
Syria represents the world, the
flesh, the land of darkness, our own
works or righteousnes.s, from which
by God’s discriminating grace or
election we are translated into the
land of promise, the kingdom of light
chosen and led from Ur of the Chal
dees into Canaan ; from the other
side of the flood, from his father’s
house where they served other ^ods.
It was election that caused him to be
separated from the idolatry of bis
father’s house, and from the destruc
tion of a polluted land and led him
into another country and caused him
to sacrifice to another God, where he
v/as protected, and where kings were
reproved for liis sake, saying touch
not mine anointed. It was this also
that separated Lot from Sodom wliilst
0 inhabitants of that polluted city
were destroyed with fire and brim
stone. It was this election or pur-
posCj taat separated iluth from the
polluted land of Iiloab and brought
her into Bethlehem Judah to the feet
and bed of Boas. And also this
election that provided the word of
the little Jewish maid to reach the
ears of the sufl'eriiig leper, Naaman,
in the land of Syria.
Naaman was a great man with his
ma'ster, the King of Syria. The
land of darkness has its king; the
apostle calls him “the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now
w’orketh in the children of disobe
dience: Among whom also we all
had our conversation in times past in
the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the de
sires of the flesh and of the mind,” etc,
Paul was in the service of this king
when he was going afoot 150 miles
to Damascus with letters of authority
• t/
to bring the poor lambs of Jesus that
were bound to Jerusalem to be pun
ished. But the king in Israel not
only rules in Israel but he rules also
in all the kingdoms of the heathen,
and with him there is power and might
so that none can withstand him.
Therefore we find that Paul was here
taken from the service of the prince
of darkness and placed in the service
of the prince of light. His old
prince might kick and demur and
contend, but he (Paul) is taken as a
lawful captive and led away from
darkness to light to fight for another
king. And he fought to the end ;
he fought the good fight; he kept
the faith up to the time of his de
parture to the land that is very far
off to see the king in his beauty.
Naaman was an honorable man,
but that did not keep him from being
a leper ; and he was a brave man, a
man of valor, but notwithstanding
all this he was an incurable leper—
at least there was no doctor or herb
or stream in Syria that could cure
him. But he was one whom God
purposed to cleanse, though he was
away off in the land of Syria. The
means are subordinate to the end;
the means are effectual, and are al
ways in time. The -Jews did not
send the little maid down to Naaman’s
house to hunt him and to tell him of
the prophet in Israel, for they did
not know of it, and had they have
known of it, it is very likely that they
would have rather poisoned him than
healed him, for they knew him only
as a powerful enemy. Nor did the
Syrians when they captured her in
one of their raids into the land of
Israel do it that she might bear the
her words. Nor did the Jews and
Gentiles at Iconium, w’hen they com
bined with their rulers to stone and
despitefully use Paul and Barnabas,
design to glorify God by using such
means to make them fly unto Lystra
and Derbe and unto the region that
both round about there, to preach
tlie gospel of Christ, but tlieir de
sign was to stop the preaching of it.
As the Jews, when they crucified
Christ, thought to destroy his words
and works, only rather furthered
them. As when Paul was persecuted
and at last was sent to preach the
gospel at Rome. When they whipped
and imprisoned Paul and Silas it was
not that their words should reach the
ears of the jailor and his household,
but rather that their words should
cease altogether.
But the little maid wnns there in
due time, that her W’ords should
reach the ears of this leprous Gentile.
Salvation is of the -Jews; through her
captivity salvation is come to the
Syrian ; and so all Israel shall be
saved as it is written. There shall
But he takes with him a letter
from his king to the king in Israel,
(but it Avas not to the king that the
little maid’s words directed him, bnc
to the prophet,) and ten talents of
silver and six thousand pieces of gold
and ten changes of raiment. Put
this wealth would have cured liim as
well in Syria as in Israel; but he
must be taught that it is without
money and without price, Naaman,
when he met with the unexpected re
buff from the king in 1, must
have felt somewhat like the Israelites
did at the Red Sea, that his trouble
had all been for nothing, but that lie
grew rather worse for his pains. It
i.s true that the king in Israel tvas the
anointed of the Lord, as Saul was,
but he does not represent the an
ointed as David was; Saul Avas an
ointed once and out of a vial, bu:
David twice and out of a horn ;
sliowing in Saul's case that his king
dom should not endure, and in David’s
that it should. The laAV is the an-
corny out of Sion the Deliverer and
aAvay ungodliness from Ja
I ointed of the Lord, but it is anointed
I to destroy and execute ; in it there
cob, that is, the Deliverer shall no^
come out of the flesh, the laAv or our
OAvn works or righteousness, or even
our faith, if that faith is a production
of the flesh, for in it is nothing good
and nothing good can come out of
It.
message of cleansing to Naaman ; it
AA'as far from their hearts to honor
the prophet in Israel by the raid and
the capture and carrying aAvay,
the little maid. But they did, never
theless ; they were at the expense,
peril and trouble of going for and
carrying the little maid into tlieir
OAvn land that Naaman might hear
The little maid’s words Avere Avords
in season : “ Would God my Lord
were with the prophet that is in Sa
maria ! for ho would recover him of
his leprosy.” The w'ords were con
veyed to the ears of the sick man,
the man who had used all the medi
cines of Syria in vniin. I will Amn-
ture to say that all the herbs that
grew in that great country that pos
sessed any healing qualities Avere
used, all the doctors, the best and
most learned, but none of them had
the balm, for the balm grew in
Gilead and the physician Avas there,
and not in Syria, Avho could cleanse
the leper. And we may Avell believe
that Naaman, Avho had all the means
for a cure that any man could have
in Syria, had used all the means that
he knew of or could hear of and had
at last given up or despaired of ever
being healed, so that the little maid
spoke and told him, though an enemy
of the prophet in Samaria, it must
have been good ncAvs !—ho avus pre
pared to receive it then, and not un
til then—his necessities urged him
and he is led out.
i is no mercy, but it delivers the debtor
I over to th-f^heriff and to prison, y*
But the leper Avas not to be de
ceived by the Avords of tlic little
maid, and the rebuff of the king only
prepares him to go to the right place
for a cure and to appreciate it Avhen
it came. And it was so Avhen Eli
sha, the man of God, had heard that
the King of Israel had sent his
clothes, that be sent to the king, say
ing, Wherefore hast thou sent thy
clothes ? let him come noAv to me ami
he shall knoAv that there is a prophet
in Israel. So Naaman came with his
horses and Ins chariot and stood at
the door of the house of Elisha.
And he sent a messenger to the leper,
saying. Go and wash in Jordan seven
times and thv flesh shall come a^aiu
O
to thee and thou shalt be clean. But
Naaman Avas wroth and AA-ent aw'aj
and said, Behold, I thought he avUi
surely come out to me and stand, and
, call on the name of the Lord his
j God ami strike his hand over tin;
i place and recover the leper. Are
; not Abana and Rharpar, rivers of
: Damascus, better than all the waters
of Israel? may I not wash in them
I and be dean ? So ho turned and
: Aveut aAvay in a rage. The cleansing
j Avas not to come as Naaman expected
I it, for he Avished it in a Avay that
! Avould honor him, but it could not be
I
j that Avay and cleanse him. What a
I comfort it is to us to knoAV that Ave
[received the cleansing in a way we