Elisha heals Naaman, knows about Gehazi’s greed, floats an axe head, forsees the outcome of yet another siege of Samaria by Ben-had (II) and Hazael’s betrayal: 2 Kings 5−8:15

Bad things aren’t always permanently bad.

Take Naaman, for example. he was a mighty warrior:

^{2 Kings 5:1} through him, the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.

It’s interesting that he was allowed to keep his position of commander with this disease.

While leprosy had been associated with sin (look what happened to Miriam, for example), the focus in this account isn’t on the disease, but on the healing.

He was referred to Elisha by a captured Israelite girl from a raid into Israel. He was healed, when he (eventually) accepted bathing in the Jordan River without so much as speaking to Elisha directly (or even having Elisha waves his arms over him to deliver healing).

And the result?

^{2 Kings 5:15} Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.

It’s similar to when Jesus healed a man born blind. He wasn’t blind because of any particular sin, but he was healed for a purpose:

^{John 9:3} Jesus answered. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.