The Captivity "Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper.

When our story begins, Naaman, a great general, had delivered his country from Israel, and brought home with him a little Hebrew girl, who was so beautiful and sweet in her ways that he gave her to his wife on his return from the war.

One would think that if Naaman and his wife loved this little girland I am sure they didthey would have sent her back to her home, for she must have had a heartbreaking time of it at first; but people were not kind in that way in those days.

She must stay through it all, and wait on Naaman's wife, and see her weep and Naaman's strong face grow sadder every day.

She must stay through it all, and wait on Naaman's wife, and see her weep and Naaman's strong face grow sadder every day.

Is it not quite sure that when Naaman selected from his captives a little girl to wait on his wife, he would take the most beautiful one?

Now we can go a step further, and ask what made her beautiful in such a way that Naaman thought she would please his wife.

When people are hopelessly ill, they are willing to try anything; a drowning man will catch at a straw, and Naaman caught at this little straw of hope that the wind of war had blown across his path.

I shall not follow the story further, except to say that because Naaman went in such a proud spirit, Elisha used every means to make him humble.

Naaman went home cured of his leprosy, with some earth to make an altar of, and all his gold and silver and fine garments, except what the foolish Gehazi got from him by lying.

How Naaman proposed to act when he should get home and be forced to go with the king into the temple of Rimmon, you will find discussed in the second chapter of the second part of "School Days at Rugby."

But I care a great deal more for our little maid than for Naaman.

Naaman was a reasonable man.

We can imagine the great Naaman taking her in his arms with tears, and saying, "What can I do for you, my little maid?

And as she heard the story of Naaman's cure, and of Elisha and the Jordan, her mind went back to her native land and to her home, and a great longing filled her heart to see it again, and to live the old life with her parents and brothers and sisters.

He cured Naaman of leprosy and performed many wonderful deeds, chiefly beneficent in character.

Naaman the Syrian, when he went into Israel to Elisha to be cured of his leprosy, took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment, (2 Kings v. 5.)

and the dark youth turned to go away like Naaman, in a rage.

We have bathed in the Jordan, like Naaman, and been made clean; let us now see whether Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, are better than the waters of Israel.

If it had not been common for servants to acquire property over which they had the control, the servant of Elisha would hardly have ventured to take a large sum of money, (nearly $3000[A]) from Naaman, 2 Kings v. 22, 23.

4, 5, and between Naaman "the Captain of the host of the king of Syria" and the same person.

He was guilty of fraud in procuring a large sum of money from Naaman, and of deliberate lying to his master, on account of which Elisha seems to have discarded him.

If it had not been common for servants to acquire property over which they had the control, the servant of Elisha would hardly have ventured to take a large sum of money, (nearly $3000[A]) from Naaman, 2 Kings v. 22, 23.

"And none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

Save is not here a transitive verb, for Hazor was not saved in any sense, but utterly destroyed; nor is Naaman here spoken of as being saved by an other leper, but as being cleansed when others were not.