We’ve made our way to the book of 2 Kings in our series on the Most Misused Stories of the Bible. This week, we’re going to be looking at 2 Kings 5:1-19, the story of Naaman being healed of leprosy. Now many of you might be familiar with this story, but how it’s misused is a little bit more obscure. It’s not quite as obvious as David and Goliath’s siren song to slay the giants in your life. Rather, this week’s misuse stems from our hermeneutic, or system of interpretation. You see, on the face of it, the story of Naaman is pretty straightforward. He’s got leprosy, then he goes to Elisha, and he’s ultimately healed and transformed into a follower of God. There are even pretty obvious preaching points that are readily applicable to all of us too: the connection between leprosy and sin and the problem of Naaman’s pride. But these obvious connections make the same error. They don’t first take into account the context and purpose for which this passage was written.

You see, we tend to hyper-focus on the character and symbolism of Naaman. He’s the main character and the one that ends up being transformed by the power of God. Surely, we can learn something from him. Therefore, we find ourselves gravitating toward examining him, his actions, and his reactions for timeless, spiritual truths that we can then apply to our lives. But when we do that, we treat this text as if it were a stand-alone or independent text. Naaman could have been any person at any time in history, and our conclusions would still be the same. Naaman ceases to be Naaman, a real, historical figure with a particular context, but rather becomes an object lesson, almost theoretical or hypothetical in nature.

As we expand our perspective to the overarching sweep of 2 Kings, to the time in which it was written, and to the particular audience for which it was written, we begin to see a deeper story that points to God’s covenantal faithfulness when the ancient original reader would have had profound doubts about God’s faithfulness to His covenant. Once we establish what the passage would have meant to its original audience, then we can see how it points to the ultimate fulfillment of God’s covenant with His people in the person and work of Jesus. And then, and only then, are we on solid theological footing to apply this passage to our lives. We tend to play fast and loose with that first step. Some come this Sunday to see how we can see God’s covenant faithfulness in the story of Naaman. See you Sunday!