“May God deal with Abner, be it ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the Lord promised him on oath and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David’s throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beersheba.”   – 2 Samuel  3:9-10 

Then Abner said to David, “Let me go at once and assemble all Israel for my lord the king, so that they may make a compact with you, and that you may rule over all that your heart desires.”  So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace. -   2 Samuel  3:21 .

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2 Kings 5:10-12 -”Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”   But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.  Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.” 

“Wash yourself seven times.”  This story begins with a man who was not an Israelite. He was a Syrian, of a high position in his country. He was a general in the army of Syria, a country that Israel feared at the time.  Even so, this man was a leper. continue