“My Name Is Jehovah Rapha!” Exodus 15:26

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(All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)

“…I am the LORD who heals you…”! That’s what God told the Israelites shortly after they had been delivered from many years of slavery in Egypt. The setting is found in Exodus 15:22 through 25:

     So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea....And they went three 
     days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came 
     to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they 
     were bitter....And the people murmured against Moses, saying, 
     “What shall we drink?” So he cried...to the LORD, and the LORD 
     showed him a tree...[which] he cast...into the waters [and] the 
     waters were made sweet.  There He made an ordinance for them.  
     And there He tested them.

That ordinance (test) is described in the next verse, our featured Scripture, Exodus 15:26:

     “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do 
     what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and 
     keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you 
     which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who 
     heals you.”

“I am the LORD who heals you.” What God said was, “I am Jehovah Rapha”!

  • Jehovah (YHWH or Yahwey) has been studied in the June 5th Gem (and others), so we won’t go into a depth study. Jehovah means “the self-existant One” or “the One by whom all things exist.”
  • Rapha in the Hebrew is רָפָא (pronounced raw-faw’ ). According to Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew Definitions it means “…to heal, make healthy….”

God sure did bring diseases on the Egyptians!

  • With the third of ten plagues poured out on the Egyptians, lice covered every man and beast! (see Exodus 8:16, 17).
  • The fifth plague struck all the animals! The LORD struck the “…cattle…horses… donkeys…camels…oxen…and…sheep…[with] a very severe pestilence….And all the livestock of Egypt died…” (see Exodus 9:3, 6).
  • The sixth plague brought “…boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” (see Exodus 9:9).
  • The tenth plague was the worst! “And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt…both man and beast…” (see Exodus 12:12; 29).
  • The seven other plagues did not cause various diseases to wrack the bodies of the Egyptians and/or their livestock, but they sure caused great harm to land and to normal life! I think they felt like diseases to the Egyptians!
     ✡    The first plague – All water in Egypt turned to blood! 
           (see Exodus 7:17, 18).

     ✡    The second plague – Frogs invaded the land! (see Exodus 
           8:2-4).

     ✡    The fourth plague – Flies everywhere! (see Exodus 8:16).

     ✡    The seventh plague – Hail destroying all of the flax 
           and barley crops, and any man and beast left out in the 
           fields! (see Exodus 9:18, 19).

     ✡    The eighth plague – Invasion of locusts which destroyed 
           every green thing, including the wheat and spelt crops! 
           (see Exodus 10:4-6; also Exodus 9:32).

     ✡   The ninth plague – Thick darkness throughout the land! 
          (see Exodus 10:21-23).
  • And don’t forget, the entire Egyptian army drowned in the Red Sea when they tried to recapture the fleeing Israelites! (see Exodus 14:26-29).

None of these plagues touched the Israelites, for God protected them! But Egypt was devastated! And (although we don’t have space to go into it) each plague was also a judgment upon a god or gods of the Egyptian pantheon!

So when the LORD made the ordinance (test) for the Israelites to obey Him, deeply imbedded in their minds were the plagues they had witnessed – His punishment on Egypt, plus their own deliverance!

“…I am Jehovah Rapha.” “…I am the LORD who heals you.” Does God still miraculously heal today?

Let’s first look at some relevant Scriptures on the subject:

  • Psalm 30:2 – “O LORD my God, I cried out to You, and You have healed me.”
  • Psalm 103:2, 3 – “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; who forgives all your iniquities, and heals all your diseases.”
  • Proverbs 4:20-22 – “My son, give attention to my words…keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.”
  • Isaiah 53:5 – “…He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.”
  • Jeremiah 17:14 – “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed, save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise.”
  • Matthew 17:20 (Contemporary English Version) – “Jesus replied: ‘…I can promise you this. If you had faith no larger than a mustard seed, you could tell this mountain to move from here to there. And it would. Everything would be possible for you.’ ”
  • Luke 1:30, 37 – “…the angel said…, ‘…with God nothing will be impossible.’ ”
  • Mark 16:17, 18 – Jesus said to His disciples, “…these signs will follow those who believe…they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
  • John 14:12 – Jesus said to His followers, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
  • I Corinthians 12:1, 8, 9 – “Now concerning spiritual gifts…the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all….to one is given…gifts of healing….”
  • James 5:14-16 – “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up….Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
  • I Peter 2:24 – Jesus “…bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed.”

There are many more Scripture verses that could be cited! But these twelve will do for now.

Yes, I believe in healing and other miracles today, by the power of the Holy Spirit! I have seen miracles happen (see, for example, the Gem posted on February 2, 2016 – Jehovah-Rapha – II).

A group of us are praying three mornings every week, from 6:30 to 8:00 AM at our church, Macedonia Baptist in Newnan, Georgia. We are praying for God’s heaven-sent, very much needed, revival! We need God to send revival soon! I have studied revivals through history, and one thing (of many) they have in common is miracles of healing! I invite you to join us, whereever you are, and pray for revival to come!

We need the Lord’s revival!
(See II Chronicles 7:14)