Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-12-17
&eadiug TOR the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
[ (Original.1

CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
(orglnall
NAAMAN, THE SYRIAN.
Two other facts in the history of Naaman,
the Syrian, are worthy of our consideration.
They are contained in the 18th and 18th
verses of the 5th chapter II Kings. They
are as follows: "And Naaman said, shall
there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy
servant two mules burden of earth for
thy servant will henceforth offer neither
burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods,
but unto the Lord. QS) In this thing the
Lord pardon thy servant, that when my
worship there, and he leaneth on my hand,
and bow myself in the house of Rimmon /:
when I bow myself in the house of Rim
mon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this
thing" There is. in this passage, some
thing curious and hard to explain. The
first difficulty we encounter is contained IN
the words 1.-TWO mules burden of EARTH"
Some think that Naaman desired Elisha to
give him as much earth as two mules could
carry. It is thought that he desired the
earth for the purpose of building an altar
unto the Lord. The latter clause of the
seventh verse is thought to favor this view.
This view takes it for granted that elisha
was asked to give Naaman two mules bur
den of earth. This seems to have been the
view taken by those who made the com
monty received English version of the Bible,
but it is by no means certain that such is
the case. Naaman had but a moment be-
fore these words were uttered, urged Elisha
to receive of him blessing. This blessing
consisted in part, or in whole, of the ten
talents of silver, six thousand pieces (proba-
bly shekels) of gold and ten changes of raj
ment. Elisha absolutely refused to accept
any part of this lordly present, remunera-
ton or blessing, as it is translated. Naaman
finding that Elisha could not be prevailed
on to receive the offered blessing, then said,
s'Shall there not then, pray you, &C."
These words may, with equal correctness,
be translated thus: ."And Naaman said, II
not, still 1 pray you let there be given to
ly is that Naaman asks Elisha for the privi-
lege of giving his servant (Elisha's servant)
two mules burden of earth. The difficulty
as to what is meant by the two mules bur-
den of earth still remains. If we adopt the
view that Naaman desired to give Gehazl,
or some other servant of Elisha, two mules
burden of earth, then we may we'll suppose
that Naaman calls the ten talents Of silver,
and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten
changes of ralment, 1.-TWO mules burden OF
earth" In the Bible gold and silver are
sometimes spoken of as clay, and dust and
mire. A heather writer says gold and sill
yer are only certain kind of clay. The
probability is that the ten talents of silver
and six thousand pieces of gold were car
ried on the backs of mules. The weight OF
the money was very considerable. The
silver weighed about two hundred and tWen-
n.,o ~ dc n1 tho crn16 Qhnnt
eleven hundred pounds. The two together
weighed about thirteen hundred pounds.
The half of this would be six hundred and
fifty pounds-a heavy burden for mule.
We are not informed as to what reply Elisha
gave to this request of Naaman. The prob
ability is that he denied it, In fact, we are
sure that Gehazi, if he be the servant to
whom Naaman desired to give the blessing,
got nothing.
The next difficulty is in the eighteenth
verse, and the difficulty is in understanding
whether Naaman asks for pardon for sins
already committed, or for pardon for sins
which he will be forced by his official posi-
ton to commit in the future. In other
words, the difficulty is to determine wheth-
er Naaman asks the Lord to pardon him for
having, in the past, bowed himself as Il
worshiper in the house of Rimmon, or to
grant him pardon for doing this in the fu-
ture. Or, to state it otherwise, does Naa-
man ask for pardon for what he has done,
or does he ask for pardon for what he was
going to do? The latter was evidently the
view taken by the translators, but the
eighteenth verse may be translated thus:
"For this thing the Lord pardon thy SER
want, for that when my master hath gone
into the house of Rimmon to worship there,
and he hath leaned upon mine hand, that
also haze 6oUed myself in the house of Rim
mon; for my worshiping in the house of
Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in
this thing" This is the translation of Dr.
Lightfoot and is consistent with the Hebrew
text. It does not get rid Ofall the difficulty,
but certainly it is not beset with so much
difficulty as the usual translation is. If we
admit that Naaman asked for indulgence
in what he seems to have regarded sin 1T
is scarcely possible to harmonize the answer
of Elisha with truth. How could Elisha
bid him 60 in peace, if he declared that he
was going to engage, only apparently in the
worship of Rimmon, no matter who Kim
mon was.
The translation given by DIR. Lightfoot
faYors the opinion that Naaman was, If not
fully convinced that he had been
SHINING in worshiping Rimmon. Whether
Naaman, as some of the Jews think, became
q proselyte to the Jewish religion or not, no
one certainly knows. We hear no more of
him after he left Elisha Sin peace" except
what occurred between him and Gehazi. 1t
seems that Naaman determined in his mind
to offer no sacrifice and to do no homage to
any of the gods of Syria. For having WOr-
SHIPPED Rimmon he asked the Lord to par
don him. His confession of past sins and
prayer for pardon were uttered in the pres
ence and in the hearing of Elisha, and Eli-
sha so far approved of his conduct as to bid
him depart in peace.
To suppose that Naaman proposed to Wor-
ship the Lord and yet to appear TO worship
Rimmon; to suppose that he designed de-
ceiving Benhadad, orWhoever was his mas
ter, and having avowed his purpose to BIZ
sha, Elisha approved of it so far as to bid
him 60 in peace, is to make Elisha favor the
abominable system ofgranting indulgences.
1t is evident that a great change of heart
took place in Naaman. When told by the
prophet to 60 to Jordan and wash seven
times, he went away in furious rage. He
gave vent to his wrath by speaking Of Eli
sha as an unmannerly boor, and the river
Jordan as contemplate when compared
with ALBANIA and Parphar. He continued to
nurse his wrath and give vent to his hatred
for the manner in which he had been treated
by the prophet until his servant intimated
to him that his course was unwise. He
then obeyed and received the promised
blessing-he was healed.
The prayer of Naaman is often quoted to
prove that we desire God to grant us pardon
before hand for sins, which, for worldly
reasons, we think we are obliged to commit
No doubt we all favor the idea of Gods
granting US indulgence to sin, but we cam
not be sure that this was Naaman'S sin.
HEROES NEEDED.-These are the men
and women who are just now needed; men