II Kings 5:14

Then went he down - He felt the force of this reasoning, and made a trial, probably expecting little success. Like unto the flesh of a little child - The loathsome scurf was now entirely removed; his flesh assumed the appearance and health of youth; and the whole mass of his blood, and other juices, became purified, refined, and exalted! How mighty is God! What great things can he do by the simplest and feeblest of means!

Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan--Persuaded by his calmer and more reflecting attendants to try a method so simple and easy, he followed their instructions, and was cured. The cure was performed on the basis of God's covenant with Israel, by which the land, and all pertaining to it, was blessed. Seven was the symbol of the covenant [KEIL].

Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God,.... He listened to the reasoning of his servant, and his passion subsided, and did as the prophet ordered him: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child; clear and fresh, soft and tender as an infant, quite new flesh: and he was clean; from the leprosy, and all the filthy symptoms of it.

Two more of Elisha's miracles are recorded in this chapter. I. The cleansing of Naaman, a Syrian, a stranger, from his leprosy, and there, 1. The badness of his case (Kg2 5:1). 2. The providence that brought him to Elisha, the intelligence given him by a captive maid (Kg2 5:2-4). A letter from the king of Syria to the king of Israel, to introduce him (Kg2 5:5-7). And the invitation Elisha sent him (Kg2 5:8). 3. The method prescribed for his cure, his submission, with much ado, to that method, and his cure thereby (Kg2 5:9-14). 4. The grateful acknowledgments he made to Elisha hereupon (Kg2 5:15-19). II. The smiting of Gehazi, his own servant, with that leprosy. 1. Gehazi's sins, which were belying his master to Naaman (Kg2 5:20-24), and lying to his master when he examined him (Kg2 5:25). 2. His punishment for these sins. Naaman's leprosy was entailed on his family (Kg2 5:26, Kg2 5:27). And, if Naaman's cure was typical of the calling of the Gentiles, as our Saviour seems to make it (Luk 4:27), Gehazi's stroke may be looked upon as typical of the blinding and rejecting of the Jews, who envied God's grace to the Gentiles, as Gehazi envied Elisha's favour to Naaman.