2 Kings 5:1-27 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Bible Study & Commentary

Verses 1-27

2 Kings 5:1-Daniel : . Naaman Healed of his Leprosy.— This story, familiar to all, presupposes a time of peace between Israel and Syria. As in 1 Kings 20, the king of Syria addresses the king of Israel (unnamed here) as his vassal ( 2 Kings 5:6 ff.). Elisha was living in Samaria, apparently in his own house. Naaman, on being healed, returned to Elisha, who refused to take any present, using Elijah’ s formula ( 1 Kings 17:1 *). Naaman thereupon declared himself a worshipper of Yahweh (it is remarkable that 2 Kings 5:1 ascribes his victories to Yahweh), asking pardon if in his official capacity he bows himself before Rimmon (Ramman, the thunder-god of the Assyrians). Readers of Tom Brown’ s Schooldays will remember the not unnatural discussion amongst the boys as to why Elisha bade Naaman “ go in peace,” as though he approved his action. The phrase merely means “ farewell.” Gehazi pursued Naaman and returned to the hill ( 2 Kings 5:24); the word is Ophel, elsewhere in the Bible only applied to Jerusalem (p. 297), but also found on the Moabite Stone (1. 22; Driver, Samuel 2 , p. lxxxvii. renders “ the Mound” ). Elisha’ s rebuke ( 2 Kings 5:26 b) becomes in the LXX and Vulg. “ and now thou hast received money . . . and the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to thee.” As though the infection of the disease clave to the present which Gehazi had received.

12. p. 33. 2 Kings 5:17 . cf. 1 Samuel 26:19 f.

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Be the first to react on this!

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Arthur Samuel Peake (1865-1929) was an English biblical scholar, born at Leek, Staffordshire, and educated at St John's College, Oxford. He was the first holder of the Rylands Chair of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis in the University of Manchester, from its establishment as an independent institution in 1904. He was thus the first non-Anglican to become a professor of divinity in an English university.In 1890-92 he was a lecturer at Mansfield College, Oxford, and from 1890 to 1897 held a fellowship at Merton College.In 1892, however, he was invited to become tutor at the Primitive Methodist Theological Institute in Manchester, which was renamed Hartley College in 1906. He was largely responsible for broadening the curriculum which intending Primitive Methodist ministers were required to follow, and for raising the standards of the training.In 1895-1912 he served as lecturer in the Lancashire Independent College, from 1904 to 1912 also in the United Methodist College at Manchester. In 1904 he was appointed Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis in the (Victoria) University of Manchester. (This chair was in the Faculty of Theology established in that year; it was renamed "Rylands Professor, etc." in 1909.)Peake was also active as a layman in wider Methodist circles, and did a great deal to further the reunion of Methodism which took effect in 1932, three years after his death. In the wider ecumenical sphere Peake worked for the National Council of Evangelical Free Churches, serving as president in 1928, and was a member of the World Conference on Faith and Order held in Lausanne in 1927. He published and lectured extensively, but is best remembered for his one-volume commentary on the Bible (1919), which, in its revised form, is still in use.The University of Aberdeen made him an honorary D. D. in 1907. He was a governor of the John Rylands Library.... Show more

First published in 1919, Peake's commentary of the bible was a one-volume commentary that gave special attention to Biblical archaeology and the then-recent discoveries of biblical manuscripts. Biblical quotations in this edition were from the Revised Version of the Bible.... Show more

Scroll to Top

Group of Brands