And, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, 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."
So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean."
But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, "Behold, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leper.' Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.
And his servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, 'Wash, and be clean?'"
SHUNAMMITE BOY
Photograph taken by Mrs. Frank L. Goodspeed of Springfield, Mass., and used by her kind permission.
This is a charming picture of a modern Shunammite boy. Just so must have looked the son of the wealthy Shunammite of Elisha's day as he left her in the morning to follow his father in the harvest fields.
