Have you ever been afraid and in retrospect realized it was completely unnecessary? King Joram was terribly afraid, but his fear was born of his own spiritual bankruptcy. Joram having read a letter hand delivered by his enemy’s supreme commander tore his robes. He acted out his fear. Elisha acting from spiritual maturity sent a rebuke to Joram and a call to that enemy commander.
The commander, known in that era as Naaman, had a spot of leprosy. While he was valiant, well respected, and held a post among the highest in Aram the splotch was a blotch upon him. Surreptitiously pitied at parades and dinners, courts and battlefields, like pink eye in our time people would squint and squirm, “Can I catch it?”
[Read more…] about Elisha’s rhetorical rebuke: Why have you torn your robes?