The Healing Verse That Is Really Not About Healing

When we magnify healing above health we tend to become irresponsible eaters, who disregard what we put into our bodies, but we still expect God to bail us out by healing our bodies from the effects of unhealthy practices, especially bad eating. The Holy Bible consistently teaches us to put health over healing, but many preachers have learned to either ignore or twist Scriptures about health. One of the leading Bible verses that Christians often spin to put healing above health is...

Exodus 15:26 (New King James Version), “ 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.”

From the clause, “I am the LORD who heals you”, we get “Jehovah Rapha” as one of the so-called names of God in the Hebrew Bible. However, within the context of the rest of Exodus 15:26, “Jehovah Rapha” should not be translated to say, “I Am the LORD who heals you”, or “I Am the LORD your Healer”.

What God really said in this verse is that if the Israelites would follow His word, He would put on the Israelites none of the diseases that He brought on the Egyptians during the plagues that came upon Egypt, leading to the Exodus. How could there be “healing” where there was no disease or sickness to begin with? A better rendering of “Jehovah Rapha” has to mean “I Am the LORD who gives you health”, or “I Am the LORD your Health”.

The Lord kept this promise by keeping the the Israelites free of disease for the 40 years they journed in the wilderness. We read in Deuteronomy 8:4 , “ Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.”

We also read in Psalm 105:37 , “ He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes.” Not one of them got sick or diseased. They were so healthy they did not need healing. The only exceptions were those times when the Israelites incurred illness as divine punishment for rejecting God's way. (See Numbers 11:4-6,10,31-33; 12:1-10 .)

It is worth noting that throughout the time they were disease-free, the Israelites also ate according to the health menu that God prescribed in the Dietary Code of Leviticus Chapter 11 . The reason for their divine health was not all miraculous; it was not all on God. The people contributed to their own healthcare by adhering to the Maker's diet.

The practical lesson of the title “Jehovah Rapha” is for the Bible believer to prefer health to healing by eating naturally grown whole foods, drinking fruit juices and purified water. Then in those rare instances of sickness, divine health insurance can kick in, as God restores the body to health.

The Bible is consistent in teaching that health is better than healing. We are to pursue health first and foremost, and to only seek healing as our backup. The Lord wants to be our Health first, and our Healer second. What a witness it would be if Bible believers were known for their excellent health rather than being the ones standing in the prayer line in need of repeated healings?