There are not too many accounts of conversions in the OT. We don’t find many Gentiles who became Jews. There are several notable converts—Rahab and Ruth immediately come to mind. One of the only other converts from paganism to the worship of the true and living God is Naaman.

Any child who’s spend much time in Sunday school or at VBS knows the story of Naaman the Leper. This is probably one of the best-known episodes in the life of Elisha.

In this passage, we have an interesting contrast between a pagan Gentile who becomes a believer and a professing believer who acts more like a pagan Gentile. God tends to be quite tolerant and lenient toward those who don’t know any better, but he’s quite severe on those who do know better. The warning for us is that God might bring down severe chastisement upon us if we behave like the unsaved world.

Primarily, the passage shows us the great power of God that is available for those who believe his word.

Let’s consider several lessons/principles from the story.