Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife.
Our saviour's miracles were intended for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, yet one, like a crumb, fell from the table to a woman of Canaan; so this one miracle Elisha wrought for Naaman, a Syrian; for God does good to all, and will have all men to be saved. Here is, I. The great affliction Naaman was under, in the midst of all his honours, Kg2 5:1.
Commenting on 2 Kings 5:1-8
And the Syrians had gone out by companies,.... Not regular troops, but a sort of banditti of robbers, which made excursions into the land of Israel, to plunder and carry off what booty they could: and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; for boys and girls were a part of the booty of such robbers, whom they could...
a little maid--who had been captured in one of the many predatory incursions which were then made by the Syrians on the northern border of Israel (see Sa1 30:8; Kg2 13:21; Kg2 24:2). By this young Hebrew slave of his wife, Naaman's attention was directed to the prophet of Israel, as the person who would remove his leprosy.