2024-12-11

Naaman Takes a Bath

Naaman is an Old Testament character that we encounter in 2 Kings 5. The Bible story centers around the commander of the army for the king of Aram who has an Israelite girl as a slave, and when he finds out that he has leprosy, he travels to Israel at the suggestion of that slave to seek out Elisha and get a cure. He is told to dip into the Jordan River seven times, and though he initially rejects the idea, but his servants convince him that he has come all this way so he might as well try it. He does and is cured. There are subplots dealing with the money that Naaman brought to pay Elisha, the King of Israel is fearful of what might happen if Elisha can’t cure the man, and greed.

For the VeggieTales retelling, the main story is that Bob the Tomato is having Laura the Carrot help around the stage by giving directions, but she continually does whatever she wants rather than doing what Bob has requested. She improvises what backdrops to put for the musical number, and the lighting– she keeps making mistakes because she won’t follow the notes and does things her own way.

This ties in with Naaman, who doesn’t want to do what Elisha gives as the cure, and, in the show, tries all different things to get rid of his “leopard seeds”. There’s a nod to not seeing Elisha directly when Naaman comes, which is in the Biblical account, but no treatment of the subplots– they focus totally obeying what is told, even when it might not make sense.

I found the songs to be entertaining, and the key point well emphasized, but wondered that they didn’t take advantage of the part about Gehazi’s greed by taking the money, which was also a point of obedience.

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Peter Plum

Here's one fruit that isn't afraid to be called a fruit in among the VeggieTales! Peter and his wife Penny Peach write about VeggieTales episodes as only they can, a fellow fruit, er... vegetable.

View all posts by Peter Plum →

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