Naaman

The grandson of Benjamin and son of Bela, who gave his name to the Naamite clan (Genesis 46:21; Numbers 26:38–40; 1 Chronicles 8:4, 7).

The commanding general of the Aramean army during the reign of Ben-hadad, king of Syria (2 Kings 5). The king respected him for his character and military successes even though he had leprosy. This did not exclude him from society, as it would have done in Israel (compare Leviticus 13–14). Ben-hadad's allowed him to bring gifts to the court of his very suspicious neighboring king. This king was probably Jehoram.

Elisha, the prophet, intervened and required an unlikely method of healing. The reluctant Naaman followed through. His servants said, "If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?" Naaman then confessed that the one true God is in Israel. He returned home with two mule-loads (the amount one mule can carry) of earth, thinking he could only worship this God on his ground (compare Exodus 20:24).

In Luke 4:27, Jesus reminds his synagogue listeners of how Naaman, a non-Israelite, was the only one of his time to be cleansed of leprosy.