HEBREW WORD STUDY – WASH SEVEN TIMES – RACHATSETA  SHEVA’   PE’AMIM   רחצת. שׁבע  פעמימ

II Kings 5:10: “And Elisha sent a messenger unto him saying: Go and wash in the Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shalt be clean.”

Why did God make Naaman do such silly stuff?  Why not just heal the old boy and get it over with. Of course, we know there is a matter of pride that needs to be dealt with here, and no question that pride can really prevent a healing. But could there be something more, something which is much deeper as well?

I have read in ancient Jewish literature that there lies a portal in the area of the Jordan River.  Gideon marked if off with a monument and archeologist claim to have discovered this monument.  (I read that in the Reader’s Digest a few years ago).  Elisha sent Naaman to wash seven times in this river to be healed. Naaman asked a good question, “Are not the rivers in Damascus better to wash in?” He was right; of course, if you want to get physically clean the muddy Jordan River would not be your first choice. Keep in mind that people did not take baths in those days to become physically clean. All bathing was ritualistic, so Naaman would have not really have been using the cleansing process for the sake of God Jehovah if he used the waters in Damascus as he would most likely be cleansing himself for the god Rimmon which some have suggested is the same god, Dagon, the fish-god or the god of the seas.

So let’s assume there is some sort of portal located near or in the Jordan. Not everyone who visits the Jordan gets healed like Naaman.  Naaman had to perform some ritual to open this portal, which in II Kings 5:10 is given in three words, he was to wash (Heb.rachas) seven (Heb.sheva’) times (Heb. pe‘amim) That word rachas or wash would have caught Naaman‘s attention as this could also be a Chaldean or Aramaic word which Naaman understood and which is spelled and sounds identical to the Hebrew word for wash (rachas) but in the Aramaic also means to trust in.

In other words, Naaman did not hear “wash seven times” but “trust seven times.”   Naaman might have thought he was asked to trust in the Jordan seven times and, blast it if he was going to trust some foreign waters and foreign God, he would trust the waters of his hometown and the waters of his god Rimmon.

Then he was told to trust in this seven times. The word seven (sheva) means just that seven and/or seven times, but it also has a double meaning and could also mean to take or make an oath. The writer should have left out the word pe’amim or times as the word sheva would have provided that idea unless of course, he intended to give a double meaning to washing or trusting seven times. The word rendered as times, pe’amim, comes from a Semitic root word Pa’am which means to move or footstep. In other words, he had to walk into the Jordan, bathe and then walk out and then back in bathe again and do this seven times, just as Israel had to march around Jericho seven times. That had to be a real act of faith. But soft, let’s turn back to that other meaning of seven which is to make an oath. Naaman had to make an oath to God each time he walked back and forth into the Jordan River. What type of oath was he to take or make? Your guess is as good as mine.

You know God asks us to do strange things all the time. Lift our hands in worship, sing before the Lord, dance before the Lord.  If God asks us to do some great and might think, we would do it, so what harm is there is lifting your hands, shouting out praise to the Lord?  Maybe I am being mystical but we might just be opening a portal to God’s presence.  Maybe some of these crazy things might be opening a portal to his power, peace, rest, etc. and we, like Naaman, just don’t realize it until we put our faith into action.

Perhaps God is saying to you and me what Hamlet said to Horatio, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Hamlet Act I Scene 5. Shakespeare.

So next time you hear this verse, stop and consider that the Apostle Paul might be sharing something even more intimate than we the surface understanding of this verse indicates. It is also speaking of our marriage relationship to Jesus and the intimacy that He longs so much to have with us that he endured the suffering of the cross in order to obtain it.

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