My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
Our next set of names (#4 through #22) are considered His compound names, which typically uses His primary name and attaches a specific descriptor to it. These are the names that originally got me chasing this topic, and now it has developed into a much bigger study than the original intent, but I digress, for I have already mentioned this!
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly was a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
| 16 |
| JEHOVAH RAPHA (THE LORD YOUR HEALER) |
| Exodus 15:26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.” |
| This name of our God speaks of the Lord’s ability to control disease over His creation. After having just reviewed His name as Jehovah Naheh, The Lord that strikes, this name also is somewhat related to disease and His people. Moses speaks of the Lord not placing any of the diseases on His people that He placed on the Egyptians. It seems Moses is placing the responsibility of the Egyptians being diseased on the Lord and that God controls who receives disease. I do not often think of the Lord as the One placing disease on anyone, and yet the passage here speaks of Him doing that very thing! Let’s remember the context of the passage that gives us this wonderful name. It is immediately after the Israelites are delivered from the Egyptians, when they saw the Red Sea collapse on their enemies, drowning Pharoah and his armies. The people of God, not yet in covenant relation with the Creator of the Universe, have experienced a rollercoaster ride of experiences, from being kept safe from ten plagues, to escaping from the most powerful nation on earth and being delivered (again) by the hand of God from certain capture at the shores of the Red Sea. This was incredible! The hand of the Lord had been exposed over and over again in miraculous ways, favoring this family of a wandering shepherd named Abraham. After all the action and tense rescues, the people of God venture into a journey to the promised land. Three days into the journey, the people of God again come to a “fork in the road”. They have not had any water for three days, and when they did find water, it was bitter. At this point the Lord allowed a circumstance to occur that would reinforce a needed revelation. Not so much a revelation of the nature of God as the great Healer, though precious as it is, but a revelation of the people themselves in relation the the One who has rescued them. The people easily forgot God. The people of God easily, or shall we say naturally, turned bitter against God. This reaction of the people is a revelation of their hearts, if they were so inclined to receive it, of their relation with the One who rescued them. Upon coming to an oasis that provided a false hope of relief from thirst, the people did not go to the Lord, as Moses did, for direction or deliverance. They went to Moses to complain. I believe this occurrence was provided to the people of God as a way of exposing to them their own bitterness. And they were a bitter, grumbling people, complaining of the immediate circumstance, looking short term and not to Who was guiding them. Let’s admit this of ourselves, for we often complain to someone of God’s dealing in our lives, as those in our passage did, when we should go directly to Him with our concerns. The passage continues, emphasizing obedience to the will of God, but note that it is after the miracle was performed, after the bitter water was made sweet. God, in His ever patient manner provides a solution after the people’s leader cries out to Him. After the solution is provided, obedience is spoken of. For obedience would become the central theme of discussion in a short time. The fledgling community would come to a mountain called Sinai soon, and enter into a covenant with God based on obedience. Out of obedience will come success, for Moses is teaching the people here of a general truth of the blessing resulting from hearing God’s Word and doing it. In closing, and in relation the the name of God we are looking at, please note that the log that Moses was shown, and that he threw into the bitter waters, could be translated as a tree. This reference to a log/tree being used to heal the water, leads me to think of the crucifixion, of Jesus hanging on a tree, and that the bitterness of our lives has been healed if we look to Him. The tree/cross of Christ is the instrument God has used to provide us with sweet water, the solution to our bitter lives. We may be a complaining lot, but God has acted, He has provided the solution, He has given us the sweet water of salvation in it’s greatest sense. 1Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. Yes our God is JEHOVAH RAPHA (THE LORD OUR HEALER) When Moses spoke of this name, it was in the immediate context of water for physical existence. We now know that as the healer, He had a much greater salvation than simply provided drinkable water for a thirsty nation. He is good! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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2 responses to “Names of God – JEHOVAH RAPHA (THE LORD YOUR HEALER) – 16”
Apostle Paul was also instructed by the LORD JESUS not to go to Jerusalem because they would not believe his preaching. Mostly the ELITE of the Jews.
But he went.
“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”
John 18:36
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And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Revelation 18:4,5
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