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| Naaman the Syrian and the Jordan. No Other Stream Has the Same Healing Power.
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28. Naaman the Syrian and the Jordan. No Other Stream
Has the Same Healing Power.
Should any one object to the expression “He smote
the water,” on account of the conclusion we arrived at above with
respect to the Jordan, that it is a type of the Word who descended for
us our descending, we rejoin that with the Apostle the rock is plainly
said to be Christ, and that it is smitten twice with the rod, so that the people
may drink of the spiritual rock which follows them. The
“smiting” in this new difficulty is that of those who are
fond of suggesting something that contradicts the conclusion even
before they have learned what the question is which is in hand.
From such God sets us free, since, on the one hand, He gives us to
drink when we are thirsty, and on the other He prepares for us, in the
immense and trackless deep, a road to pass over, namely, by the
dividing of His Word, since it is by the reason which distinguishes
(divides) that most things are made plain to us. But that we may
receive the right interpretation about this Jordan, so good to drink,
so full of grace, it may be of use to compare the cleansing of Naaman
the Syrian from his leprosy, and what is said of the rivers of religion
of the enemies of Israel. It is recorded of Naaman4943
that he came with horse and chariot, and
stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a
messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash seven times in the Jordan,
and thy flesh shall come again unto thee, and thou shalt be
cleansed.” Then Naaman is angry; he does not see that our
Jordan is the cleanser of those who are impure from leprosy, from that
impurity, and their restorer to health; it is the Jordan that does
this, and not the prophet; the office of the prophet is to direct to
the healing agency. Naaman then says, not understanding the great
mystery of the Jordan, “Behold, I said that he will certainly
come out to me, and will call upon the name of the Lord his God, and
lay his hand upon the place, and restore the leper.” For to
put his hand on the leprosy4944
and cleanse it is a
work belonging to our Lord Jesus only; for when the leper appealed to
Him with faith, saying, “If Thou wilt Thou canst make me
clean,” He not only said, “I will, be thou clean,”
but in addition to the word He touched him, and he was cleansed from
his leprosy. Naaman, then, is still in error, and does not see
how far inferior other rivers are to the Jordan for the cure of the
suffering; he extols the rivers of Damascus, Arbana, and Pharpha,
saying, “Are not Arbana and Pharpha, rivers of Damascus, better
than all the waters of Israel? Shall I not wash in them and be
clean?” For as none is good4945
| 4945 Matt. xix. 17; Mark x. 18; Luke xviii.
19. |
but one, God the Father, so among rivers none is good but the Jordan,
nor able to cleanse from his leprosy him who with faith washes his soul
in Jesus. And this, I suppose, is the reason why the Israelites
are recorded to have wept when they sat by the rivers of Babylon and
remembered Zion; those who are carried captive, on account of their
wickedness, when they taste other waters after sacred Jordan, are led
to remember with longing their own river of salvation. Therefore
it is said of the rivers of Babylon, “There we sat down,”
clearly because they were unable to stand, “and
wept.” And Jeremiah rebukes those who wish to drink the
waters of Egypt, and desert the water which comes down from heaven, and
is named from its so coming down—namely, the Jordan. He
says,4946
“What hast thou to do with the way of
Egypt, to drink the water of Geon, and to drink the water of the
river,” or, as it is in the Hebrew, “to drink the water of
Sion.” Of which water we have now to speak.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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