| |
Bible Question: May
I please delve a little deeper into healing? The Lord promised His
people Israel in Exodus 15:26 and 23:25, 26 that they would not have
any diseases like the ones Egypt had. He also promised to take away
sickness from among them, if they listened to the Lord and worshipped
Him. We know that they did not stick to that condition at all times.
They were under law and we are under grace. Are we poorer than Israel
was concerning healing promises for the body? On the other hand,
must we draw the conclusion that we also miss His physical healing
because of lacking some conditions? Then the healthy ones could boast
and believe that they are perfect. Praise the Lord for our future
with Him without suffering!
Bible Answer: The
passages you have referred to are as follows:
| |
And
He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice
of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight,
and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes,
I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on
the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer." (NASB0
Ex. 15:26
But you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your
bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your
midst. There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your
land; I will fulfill the number of your days. (NASB) Ex. 23:25-26 |
None
of These Diseases. In
the first passage, God promised the nation of Israel that He would not bring
any of the plagues on them that He brought upon the Egyptians. The Greek historian
Herodotus says that the Egyptians were considered the healthiest nation
of their time. That is an important statement because it means that God really
humbled them. That probably explains why God used plagues upon the Egyptians.
It humbled and humiliated them. It also helps us understand God's promise. God
used a significant historical event in giving Israel a promise of health if they
would desire to obey.
The last passage is more fully explained in Deuteronomy
7.
| |
Then
it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments
and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with
you His covenant and . . . You shall be blessed above all
peoples; there will be no male or female barren among you
or among your cattle. The LORD will remove from you all sickness;
and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of
Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who
hate you. (NASB) Deut. 7:12-15 |
Both
of these passages encouraged the Israelites to be obedient also.
Exodus 23:25-26 does not say anything about the nature of the diseases;
but in Deut. 7:12-15 we discover that the diseases God referred to
were the ones He brought upon the Egyptians. We also discover that
He promised healing for disease but not freedom from disease. This
discovery is a very important fact. God can allowand has allowed a person
to become sick because of disobedience.
Israel's
Promise. In
Deuteronomy 25:58-61 God said that He would bring disease upon Israel if they
disobeyed.
| |
If
you are not careful to observe all the words of this law
which are written in this book, to fear this honored and
awesome name, the LORD your God, then the LORD will bring
extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe
and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.
He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which
you were afraid, and they will cling to you. Also every sickness
and every plague which, not written in the book of this law,
the LORD will bring on you . . . (NASB) Deut. 28:58-61 |
|
|
