The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1898-08-07
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON vim. AUG. Fl. 2 KINGS
q: lila.
Golden Text: Heal he. o Lord, aud
Shall he Healed; Save Ne, snd Shall
BE saved."-Jsr. I7:I4-The Healing
of Naaman.

The section includes the story Of the
, healing OF Naaman and the sin OF Gehaz
In connection with II q Kings 5; l-ZD.
1. THE Sad Case OF the Damascus Gen.
eral- ]. Now Naaman (beautiful or
pleasant to look upon). captain of the
host" The commander-ln-chief of the Sy-
ria1 army. 'Of the king of Syria Ben
hadad III. WAS great man with his
master" The king. He had great tai
ents. strong personality; he had done
much for the king. and was therefore
very highly esteemed. by him the Lord
(Jehovah. as always when printed in cap
italsj had given deliverance unto Syria
Probably from Assyria, by means OF Is
| rael, whose forces had united with the
| Syrtans against the common enemy
Hence IT is said that Jehovah had given
the deliverance. But he was leper.
2. THE Syrians had gone out by COM
panies." "A part of the misery inflicted
| by the Syrians on Israel was caused by
| the forays in which their light-armed
bands. very much like the borderers on
the marches of Wales or Scotland. de
| scended upon the country and carried on
| plunder and captives before they could
be pur5ued."-Farrar
5. And she said unto her mistress"
Like Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Baby
lon, this captive girl becomes the instru-
ment of making Jehovah known among
| the heather. Would God" The word
MY lord CNaaman) were with the
! prophet that Is in Samarla-" This young
| girl must have often heard OF the mir
acies OF healing performed by Elisha. and
of his readiness to help those in distress.
S. And the king of Syria" Benhadad
II. Son or worshiper of the Syrian god
Hadad. Said. Go to-" Move. move on.
stir yourself. Il will send a letter unto
the king OF Israeli Probably Jehoram.
the son of Ahab. And took with him."
| To come before any one without gift
| when a favor was to be asked would have
been inexcusable rudeness. Ten talents
of silver" A silver talent is worth 1884.
in all $19.440 six thousands pieces Tor
shekels) OF gold" A gold shekel was
worth 1915. or in all 35s5OO.-Illustrsted
| Bible Treasury CNelson & Sons). "Shekef'
and talent" were both originally weights.
Ten changes OF raiment." The word
means costly robes suitable for festive
occasions.
| 6. That thou mayest recover him ot
his leprosy." Through the prophet at his
capital. He imagined that King Jehoram
would of course know all about such
man.
| Z. THE king rent his Clothes"
as an expression of intense grief and fear.
"Jehoram lived in perpetual terror of his
powerful and encroaching neighbor. He
seeketh a quarrel against me-" A pretext
for again invading the country.
| 8. when Elisha had heard"
| He probably had his home in Samaria, in
another part of the city q Kings 6: S2).
| Let him come now to me-" etc. How
| ever sinful the king had BEEN and how
ever powerless to help Naaman. yet truI
religion was not dead; and God would
| graciously show his power through his
prophet.
9. with his chariot" Chariotry. r. ",
chariots. He came with a gorgeous cor
tege and pomp, to show how great a man
| he damqr ding ban azIri a
! favor. And stood at the door of the
| little cottage, waiting, in his chariot, for
the prophet to come forth and humbly
ask the great man what he desired.
10. And Elisha sent a messenger unto
him." Why did not the prophet come
forth himself? % We need not think of
him as avoiding a leprous person. either
| from fear Of infection or from legal scru-
pies. (2) 1t was to teach Naaman that the
God Of the prophet was the superior of
the king OF Syria. Very likely he had re-
ceived different impression from the
fact that often Syria had defeated Israel
| IN battle. He did not understand that the
real cause of this was the sins of Israel
not the superiority of Syria's gods. Go
and wash in Jordan seven times" The
Jordan was twenty-five or thirty miles
away by the route he must travel
II. But Naaman was wroth." His an
ger arose from the very reasons on ac-
count of which the course of the prophet
was OcSl IOT nlLI1- III Inc plan was too
simple. 1t was absurd on the face of it.
There was nothing in the Jordan which
could help him. The physician who was
too polite to give disagreeable medicine
to his patient, and the man who refused
TO save a person from drowning because
he had not the pleasure of introduction -
were not gentlemen, but fools. Strike
his hand over the place" 1t is a very
common superstition that the hand of a
king waved over sore will cure It. In
the last century the king of England
touched for the kings eviI." or scrofula.
L. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers
of Damascus" The ALBANIA in no doubt
the modern Barabda," says Geo. Adam
Smith (which signifies cool in the Ara
bic, and clear in the Hebrew), 1.-THE river
to which the beauteous oasis of Damascus
owes its beauty and its very existence" :"
1t rises In the tableland twenty-three
} miles from Damascus, and flows through
the city in seven beautiful streams. Bet
ter than all the waters OF Israel" Truly
to the eye of man the Jordan can bear no
comparison with the rivers of Damascus
any more than the bare hills of Israel
with the garden forests OF the City OF
the Sum- Turbid and discolored from the
time 1t leaves the clear blue lake of Cali
| lee till 1t enters the Hfeless basin of the
Dead Sea-"-Tristram. May / not wash
in them and be clean?" Certainly, II
there was any healing power in the water
itself. But there was no divine word be-
hind that washing. and the bright Abana
could not wash away the leprosy.
L. And his servants (of1cers) came
| near" gently soothing Naaman's rage
and seeking to restore him to reason
They were naturally less blinded by ex.
citement and anger. Had bid thee dc
, some great thing" Perhaps some deed Of
, prowess. betting the mighty man OF
valor." or some fatiguing journey by way
; of piIKrimage-Cambridg Bible. How
much rather. then" etc. The ease and
simplicity OF the requirement was a rea
| son not for objecting, but for obeying. II
removed all excuses. Moreover. he had
, 10 cross the Jordan on his way home.
a. Then he went down. The long day.
, tourney to the Jordan. full OF thoughts
and perplexities. But this day was goot