In Second Kings, chapter five, verse one, the story of Naaman demonstrates the providence of God in verses one through fourteen, His saving power and grace in verses fifteen to nineteen, and His judgment upon sin in verses twenty through twenty-seven. Prominent in the narrative is that God’s grace and salvation are not limited to Israel but that He desired compassion on the non-Israelites and to know the one true God.
Naaman was in great power and favor with the king of Syria: Highly esteemed, both for his quality and success. He was the commander-in-chief of the Syrian king, who was a very great man before his lord, who held a high place in the service of his king and was greatly distinguished because God had given the Syrians salvation (victory) through him, was as a warrior afflicted with leprosy. He had been victorious in such battles as he had fought, which coming to pass through the permission or appointment of the Divine Providence, the sacred writer would have the Israelites look upon it as the Lord’s doing. Let Israel know that when the Syrians prevailed, it was from the Lord. He gave them success in their wars, even with Israel, and for Israel’s chastisement.
Naaman was a leper: This did not exclude him from the society of men in that country, where the Jewish law was not in force. But it was an enormous blemish upon him and likely to prove deadly with no cure for this disease, which is very common in Syria. There is an allusion to the difference between the Syrians and the Israelites in their views of leprosy. Whereas in Israel, they exclude lepers from human society. However, a man in Syria afflicted with leprosy could hold a very high state office in the closest association with the king.