(18) In this thing.--Touching this thing (but in at the end of the verse). The LXX. and Syriac read, "and touching this thing," an improvement in the connection.

To worship.--To bow down (the same verb occurs thrice in the verse).

The house of Rimmon.--The Assyrian Rammanu (from ram?mu, "to thunder"). One of his epithets in the cuneiform is Ramimu, "the thunderer;" and another is Barqu (=Bariqu), "he who lightens." Rimmon was the god of the atmosphere, called in Accadian, AN. IM ("god of the air or wind"), figured on bas-reliefs and cylinders as armed with the thunderbolt. His name is prominent in the story of the Flood (e.g., it is said Rammanu irmum, "Rimmon thundered"); and one of his standing titles is Rahicu ("he who deluges"). The Assyrians identified Ramman with the Aramean and Edomite Hadad. (Comp. the name Hadad-rimmon, Zechariah 12:11; and Tabrimon, 1Kings 15:18.) A list of no fewer than forty-one titles of Rimmon has been found among the cuneiform tablets.

Leaneth on my hand.--A metaphor denoting the attendance on the king by his favourite grandee or principal adjutant. (Comp. 2Kings 7:2; 2Kings 7:17.)

When I bow down myself.--An Aramaic form is used. The clause is omitted in some Hebrew MSS.

The Lord pardon thy servant.--Naaman had solemnly promised to serve no god but Jehovah for the future. He now prays that an unavoidable exception--which will, indeed, be such only in appearance--may be excused by Jehovah. His request is not, of course, to be judged by a Christian standard. By the reply, "Go in peace," the prophet, as spokesman of Jehovah, acceded to Naaman's prayer. "Naaman durst not profess conversion to the foreign cultus before the king, his master; so he asks leave to go on assisting at the national rites" (Reuss).

The Lord pardon.--In the current Hebrew text it is the Lord pardon, I pray. The LXX. appears to have had the same reading; but very many MSS. and all the other versions omit the precative particle. It is, however, probably genuine.

Verse 18. - In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant. Naaman is not prepared to be a martyr for his religion. On returning to Damascus, it will be among his civil duties to accompany his master to the national temples, and to prostrate himself before the images of the national deities. If he declines, if (like an early Christian) he will not enter "the house of devils," much less bow down before the graven image of a false god, it may cost him his life; it will certainly cost him his court favor. For such a sacrifice he is not prepared. Yet his conscience tells him that he will be acting wrongly. He therefore expresses a hope, or a prayer, that his fault, for a fault he feels that it will be, may be forgiven him - that Jehovah will not be "extreme to mark what is done amiss," but will excuse his outward conformity to his inward faith and zeal. That when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon. Riminon is probably derived from rum (רוּם), "to be high," and means "the exalted god," according to the gloss of He-sychins - Ράμας ὕψιστος θεός. It is wrongly connected with רִטּון, "a pomegranate," and should rather be compared with the Arabic Er Rhaman, "the Most High." The royal name, "Tab-Bitumen" (1 Kings 15:18), contains the root, as does also the local name (Zechariah 12:11), "Hadad-Rimmon." This last word gives rise to the suspicion that Hadad and Rimmon are merely two names of the same deity, who was called "Hadad" or "Hadar" as bright and glorious, "Rim-men" as lofty and exalted. To worship there, and he leaneth on my hand. Either Naaman's leprosy must have been recent, and he refers to the king's practice in former times, or there must have been far less horror of leprosy among the Syrians than there was among the Hebrews. And I bow myself in the house of Rimmon - before the image, or at any rate before the supposed presence of the god - when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing. The repetition of the clause indicates Naaman's anxiety on the subject.

5:15-19 The mercy of the cure affected Naaman more than the miracle. Those are best able to speak of the power of Divine grace, who themselves experience it. He also shows himself grateful to Elisha the prophet. Elijah refused any recompence, not because he thought it unlawful, for he received presents from others, but to show this new convert that the servants of the God of Israel looked upon worldly wealth with a holy contempt. The whole work was from God, in such a manner, that the prophet would not give counsel when he had no directions from the Lord. It is not well violently to oppose the lesser mistakes which unite with men's first convictions; we cannot bring men forward any faster than the Lord prepares them to receive instruction. Yet as to us, if, in covenanting with God, we desire to reserve any known sin, to continue to indulge ourselves in it, that is a breach of his covenant. Those who truly hate evil, will make conscience of abstaining from all appearances of evil.In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant,.... Which he next mentions, and on account of which he desires the prayers of Elisha for him, as the Vulgate Latin version; or it may be, this is a prayer of his own, put up at this time to the true Jehovah, in whom he believed:

that when my master: meaning the king of Syria:

goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon; the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing; the house of Rimmon was a temple of an idol of that name; what idol it was is not easy to say; the Septuagint version calls it Remman, thought by some to be the same with Remphan, Acts 7:43, a name of Saturn, said to be given him from a Greek word, which signifies to "wander" (q), he being placed among the wandering stars in the supreme heavens; which is not likely, for the word is certainly of a Syriac signification, and comes either from which signifies "high", and so the same with Elioun, the Phoenician deity, called the most high (r); or, as "Rimmon" is used for a pomegranate, this is thought to design the Syrian goddess, to whom this sort of fruit was sacred; or Juno, whose statue, in her temple at Mycenas (s), had a pomegranate in one hand; or rather this Rimmon was Jupiter Cassius, so called from Mount Cassius, which divided Syria from Egypt, who is painted with his hand stretched out, and a pomegranate in it (t); and may be the same with Caphtor, the father of the Caphtorim, Genesis 10:14 who might be deified after his death, their names, Rimmon and Caphtor, being of the same signification (u). But be this deity as it may, it was worshipped by the Syrians; and when the king of Syria went in to worship, he used to lean upon the hand of one of his officers, either being lame, or for state sake, in which office Naaman was; and his request to the prophet, or to the Lord, is, not for pardon for a sin to be committed; nor to be indulged in his continuance of it; not to worship the idol along with his master; nor to dissemble the worship of it, when he really worshipped it not; nor to be excused any evil in the discharge of his post and office; but for the pardon of the sin of idolatry he had been guilty of, of which he was truly sensible, now sincerely acknowledges, and desires forgiveness of; and so Dr. Lightfoot (w), and some others (x), interpret it; and to this sense the words may be rendered:

when my master went in to the house of Rimmon to worship there; which was his usual custom; and he leaned on my hand, which was the common form in which he was introduced into it:

and I worshipped in the house of Rimmon, as his master did, for the same word is used here as before:

in as much, or seeing I have worshipped in the house of Rimmon, have been guilty of such gross idolatry:

the Lord, I pray, forgive thy servant in this thing; the language of a true penitent.

(q) A "vagari", Hesychius. (r) Vid. Selden. de Dis Syris Syntagm. 2. c. 10. (s) Pausan. Corinthiac. sive, l. 2. p. 114. (t) Achilles Tatius, l. 3. Vid. Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 2. p. 934. (u) See Clayton's Origin of Hieroglyphics, p. 113. (w) Works, vol. 1. p. 86. (x) Vid. Quenstedt. Dissert. de. Petit. Naaman. sect. 21, 22.