The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #104255   Message #2134193
Posted By: Kent Davis
26-Aug-07 - 09:39 PM
Thread Name: Bible School songs
Subject: RE: Folklore: Bible School songs
My darling wife, as a child, attended a "Pentecostal" church in Southwestern Virginia. Sometime around 1970, she learned this song:

There was a man named Naaman,
There was a man named Naaman,
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he was made whole.

He was a leper,
He was a leper,
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he dipped, (dipping motion)
and he was made whole.

The song is based on II Kings 5, in which a Jewish slave girl tells Naaman, her leprous Syrian master, that the prophet Elisha could cure him. Elisha tells Naaman he will be cured if he dips 7 times in the Jordan River. At first Naaman refuses, having expected a more spectacular means of cure. He eventually obeys and is cured.
Part of the fun is getting the numbers of dips right. It is easy to lose count.

Anyone else remember this? I never heard it as a child, but have heard it many times as an adult.

Kent