2Ki 5:6-7
When the king of Israel (Joram) received the letter of the Syrian king on Naaman’s arrival, and read therein that he was to cure Naaman of his leprosy (ועתּה, and now, - showing in the letter the transition to the main point, which is the only thing communicated here; cf. Ewald, §353, b.), he rent his clothes in alarm, and exclaimed, “Am I God, to be able to kill and make alive?” i.e., am I omnipotent like God? (cf. Deu 32:39; 1Sa 2:6); “for he sends to me to cure a man of his leprosy.” The words of the letter ואספתּו, “so cure him,” were certainly not so insolent in their meaning as Joram supposed, but simply meant: have him cured, as thou hast a wonder-working prophet; the Syrian king imagining, according to his heathen notions of priests and goëtes, that Joram could do what he liked with his prophets and their miraculous powers. There was no ground, therefore, for the suspicion which Joram expressed: “for only observe and see, that he seeks occasion against me.” התאנּה to seek occasion, sc. for a quarrel (cf. Jdg 14:4).