-18: Summary:Naaman is a great man with a terrible problem. He's a Gentile with leprosy. He has a skin-problem. His ethnicity and disease cast him as unclean in the eyes of observant Israelites. Thing is, the only cure for his skin (and ultimately, his sin) resides in Israel. The story then is one of unexpected compassion. Beginning with a remarkable little girl and ending with the great prophet, Elisha, this great but troubled Syrian discovers grace across ethnic and religious divides---grace that manifests the very heart of the God of Israel to him. He is no tribal god. He is the God of all the earth, the only true God and, in his eventual discovery of a cure, Naaman comes to make the great confession that, it seems, binds him to God and to the company of God's redeemed humanity. Elisha sends him home with a word of peace---a peace they little know will draw out the very blood of Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah and Savior of the world. Knowing Him helps in matters of skin.

.

-5a.

b-7.

-10.

-12.

-14.

-18.