Naaman in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

1. A son, i.e. grandson, of Benjamin (Genesis 46:21; Numbers 26:40; 1 Chronicles 8:4); reckoned in the Genesis genealogy as a "son" because he became head of a distinct family, the Naamites. Came down to Egypt with Jacob. 2. Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5). Identified by Jewish tradition (Josephus, Ant. 8:15, section 5) with the archer (1 Kings 22:34) who drew his bow at a venture, and wounding Ahab mortally was Jehovah's instrument in "giving deliverance to Syria." Benhadad therefore promoted him to be captain of the Syrian host and the lord in waiting nearest his person, on whose arm the king leant in entering Rimmon's temple (compare 2 Kings 7:2; 2 Kings 7:17). "But (for all earthly greatness has its drawbacks) he was a leper," afflicted with white leprosy (2 Kings 5:27). (For the rest, see ELISHA.) The case of Naaman was designed by God to shame Israel out of their half-heartedness toward Jehovah by a witness for Him the most unlikely. God's sovereign grace, going beyond Israel and its many lepers to heal the Gentile Naaman, Jesus makes to be His justification for His not doing as many miracles in His own country as He had done in Capernaum, an earnest of the kingdom of God passing from Israel to the Gentiles; Luke the physician (Luke 4:23-27) appropriately is the evangelist who alone records it.

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