Jehovah Rapha: the LORD that healeth thee

Jehovah Rapha is the name many believers use for God as their healer. It comes from Exodus 15:26, where God told Israel I am the LORD that healeth thee. In plain words it means the LORD who heals, or the LORD your healer. God spoke it in the desert, right after He turned a pool of bitter water into water people could drink.

From a victory song to bitter water

Exodus 15 opens with music. God had just led Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground, and Pharaoh's army had been swept away behind them. Moses led the people in a song of praise, and his sister Miriam picked up a timbrel, a small hand drum, and led the women in dancing (Exodus 15:20). It was the happiest day the nation had ever known.

Then they walked into the wilderness of Shur, a stretch of dry land east of Egypt. Day one passed with no water. Then day two. Then day three. Imagine a huge crowd of families, with small children and animals, under a desert sun. When they finally found water, it was undrinkable.

And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.

Exodus 15:23

Marah means bitter. The people turned on Moses and asked What shall we drink? (Exodus 15:24). In three days they had gone from singing to complaining. Most of us know how fast that can happen.

A piece of wood and sweet water

Moses did not argue with the crowd. He took the problem to God.

And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

Exodus 15:25

"Shewed" is the old spelling of showed. A statute and an ordinance are rules or decrees. "Proved them" means God tested them, to see whether they would trust and obey. God did not move the people away from Marah. He fixed the water right where they stood, and then He spoke the words that give this name its meaning.

And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Exodus 15:26

To hearken means to listen closely and obey. The promise came with a condition: keep listening to God and walking in His ways. The "diseases" of Egypt most likely points back to the plagues God had just sent on Pharaoh's land. In effect God was telling them that He was not there to make them sick. He was there to make them well.

Right after this, the story adds a gentle surprise. The very next stop was an oasis, a green spot in the desert with water: they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees. Threescore and ten is seventy. Relief was just down the road.

Rapha: to mend, repair and make whole

The name Jehovah Rapha joins two Hebrew words. Jehovah is an English form of God's personal name, YHWH, which the King James prints as LORD in capital letters. Rapha is the Hebrew verb for healing. Strong's dictionary, a standard word list for the King James Bible, says its basic picture is to mend, as if by stitching something torn, and from there to cure. The King James translates it heal, cure, repair and physician. In Genesis 50:2 the same word describes the physicians of Egypt.

It is a wide word. Elisha used it when he said God had healed these waters at Jericho (2 Kings 2:21). Second Chronicles 7:14 uses it for a whole land being healed when people turn back to God. So in the Bible, healing is bigger than bodies. It means making whole whatever has been broken.

There is one more detail. In Exodus 15:26 the Hebrew is YHWH rophe'ekha, a form that means the LORD your healer, describing who God is and what He keeps on doing. That is why some books write the name as Jehovah Rophe. The spelling "Jehovah Rapha" became popular in teaching and songs, but it is not printed as a name in the King James the way Jehovah-jireh is.

Healing in the psalms

Later writers prayed and sang about the same God. These verses are good to read alongside Exodus 15:

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

Psalm 103:2-3

He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

Jeremiah 17:14

Iniquities are sins. Notice that Psalm 103 puts forgiveness and healing side by side, and Psalm 147 talks about a broken heart, not a broken bone. Jeremiah's prayer is short enough to memorize and honest enough to pray on a hard day.

Psalm 103 also begins with a reminder to forget not all his benefits. Benefits are good gifts. People in pain tend to remember only the hurt, which is natural. The psalm invites you to make a list of what God has already done, because remembering past help makes it easier to trust Him with what is still hurting.

Bringing your bitter places to Jehovah Rapha

Everyone runs into a Marah sooner or later. It might be an illness, a body that hurts, anxiety that will not quit, a friendship that went sour or a family where every conversation tastes bitter. Like Israel, you might hit it right after a high point. That does not mean God has left you.

Moses shows the first step: he cried out to God. You can do the same, with your body, your mind and your relationships. God still heals, and He works in many ways: through prayer, through time, through people who care for you, and through doctors, nurses and medicine. The Bible honors all of these. Asking God for healing never means you should skip treatment, and if healing is slow in coming, it does not mean your faith has failed. Paul himself was told My grace is sufficient for thee (2 Corinthians 12:9) when his trouble stayed.

• Name the bitter water in your life right now, and tell God about it in your own words.
• Pray Jeremiah 17:14 each morning this week, and keep up the care your doctor or counselor has given you.
• Think of someone who is sick or hurting, and pray for them by name. Then send them a message so they know.

The LORD That Healeth Thee is name 20 of the 70 in the book. Just two chapters later in Exodus, Moses built an altar after Israel's first battle, which leads to the next name, Jehovah-nissi, the LORD is my banner. For more names that speak to hurting people, see the names of God for healing page.