Last week, we studied Adonay, which means Lord, Master. It was first introduced as Moses was pleading with Yahweh at the burning bush to send someone else in his place to free the Israelites from Pharaoh.
How did you see the lordship of God displayed in Exodus 4?
I saw that God has a plan for us, and the events in our lives and the things we have gone through have a purpose in God’s plan.
She pointed out that Pharaoh’s headdress had a cobra on it. Did anyone else see the symbolism?
God had Moses throw the shepherd’s staff down, and it turned into a snake. Moses picked the snake up by the tail, and it turned back into a staff.
Moses=shepherd Pharaoh=snake
Jesus=shepherd Devil = snake
Moses was reluctant to do what God was asking, at the same time as he was calling him Lord, which means master. Have you ever been in the same position? What stopped you or delayed you from doing what God asked you to do?
As I have said before, me sitting here teaching is a testament to what God wanted me to do, because I would happily let someone else take over. I am not an “in front of people” person.
Our key verse was Psalm 16:2: “You are my Adonai, without you, I have nothing good.”
How does that verse make you feel or think about all that you have now and all that you have gone through to get to this point?
For me, it was a realization that nothing I have, I would not have without God. My children, the husband that I have now, and where we live now. And what it took to get us to this point is humbling.
This week, we will be studying Yahweh Ropheka. She has Rophe in the book. Rophe is the root word of Ropheka. The verb rophe has been used 67 times in the Old Testament and brings an idea of bringing wholeness or healing to disease whether that be to water, land, cities, body, broken hearts, mind, spirit, or covenants. The subject of the verb is always close to the Lord, signifying His ability to restore what has been tarnished.
This particular name was only used one time in scripture in Exodus 15:26, and it is a self-proclaimed name by God.
The Israelites had just crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and witnessed God’s power through the parting of the sea. Not to mention, they had seen the plagues that the Egyptians suffered through that inevitably led Pharaoh to agree to their release and escape. They were traveling for three days without finding water. When they came to the place of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink, so they started complaining to Moses, asking what they were supposed to drink.
It’s not like they had been walking through lush grass and shady trees; they were walking through dry, pebbly ground, with nothing to see but hills in the distance. This was enough to make the best of us weary and tired and very thirsty. The water at Marah was bitter. The soil was a source of niter, also known as potassium nitrate, which is great for gunpowder and fertilizers. In other words, there is no way to make this water drinkable.
Moses cried out to Yahweh, who showed him a piece of wood to throw into the water. Moses did, and the water became sweet. Here, Yahweh laid out some rules and laws to live by, and there he tested them. He told them that if you listen and obey what I am telling you to do, then you won’t suffer any of the diseases that he made the Egyptians suffer because I am Yahweh Ropheka.
They just witnessed God’s power in the plagues. They saw firsthand the torment of the Egyptians and how the plagues affected them. At this point, I am sure they were willing to be obedient, like many of us are when we see something horrific happen and we don’t want to fall to the same fate.
God is our healer.
If we jump to Numbers 21, we will see another story of the Israelites and their complaining. I think my children could fit in among the Israelites with their whining.
Numbers 21:4-9 says, “Then they moved from Mount Hor, following the road that goes to the Red Sea, in order to get around Edom. The people became impatient on the trip and criticized Elohim and Moses. They said, “Why did you make us leave Egypt, just to let us die in the desert? There’s no bread or water, and we can’t stand this awful food!”
The Israelites are whining and complaining about God and Moses. “Why did you just bring us here to die in the desert?” So God sent poisonous snakes to bite the whiners, and they died. When people realized what was happening, they came to Moses, repented, and asked him to pray to Yahweh. Yahweh told Moses to put a bronze snake on a pole, and if they got bitten, they could look up to it, and they wouldn’t die.
Scholars believe the snake was made of bronze to match the redness of the poisonous “fiery” snake, and it was set high and lifted up so that anyone who had been bitten could look up and see it.
John 3:14-15 says, “As Moses lifted up the snake on a pole in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. Then everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.”
God was pointing to Jesus even then.
The remedy was simple. Look up in faith, and you will be healed immediately. God’s healing in the snake bite was not delayed. It was immediate and complete.
The Israelites would connect their poisonous snake to that of the snake that was the deceiver in the Garden of Eden. And now a bronze snake was lifted up for the healing of Israel, made in the likeness of the fiery snake but without the poisonous bite.
If you remember in the Garden, the first “sting” of a serpent was felt, and it was said that the Seed of the Woman would crush his head and he would bruise their heel. Genesis 3:14-16 This is a foretelling of Christ.
So first the snake had to be made of bronze, in the likeness of the one that was biting them. Then the snake had to be put on a pole and set up as a sign. Lastly, to be healed, they had to look up in faith at the snake to receive immediate healing. This is why a snake on a pole is used as a symbol of salvation and of healing.
Romans 8:3 says, “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.”
Back to what was said in Exodus 15:26, “if you will listen carefully to Yahweh your Elohim and do what he considers right, if you pay attention to these commands and obey all his laws, I will never make you suffer any of the diseases I made the Egyptians suffer, because I am Yahweh Ropheka.”
When Braxton’s hairball (I call it that because I refused to call it the “c” word) started, I went looking in scripture for God’s name that was associated with healing. I always knew it was Jehovah Rapha, which is just a different translation of Yahweh Ropheka. But when I found the name and read the passage, it just struck me differently this time, as things do when you are in the storm. No one gave God this name. This name was God telling us who he is. I clung to this name hard during the past few months. I prayed using this name like I never had before. I felt empowered when I called on this name, and I felt peace when I prayed using this name.
I believe that God has given us these names in scripture to show us who he is. He gives us these names so that we know how we can call on him and how we can relate to him. He wants a relationship with us. He doesn’t want us to just know about him, but he wants us to know him, to walk with him, to call on him when we need something, or just to chat. He wants us snuggled up next to him like we would snuggle up to our daddies.
Yahweh Rophkea is our healer. Just as we would turn to our physical daddy for a broken heart or a Band-Aid, our heavenly Father is the mender of the broken heart and the healer of all wounds.
Psalm 147:3, “He is the Rophe of the brokenhearted. He is the one who bandages their wounds.”
Isaiah 31:26, “Then the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun. The light of the sun will be seven times as strong, like the light of seven days. When that day comes, Yahweh will bandage his people’s injuries and heal the wounds he inflicted.”
Jeremiah 30:17, “I’ll restore your health and heal your wounds,” declares Yahweh.”
His healing isn’t just of broken hearts and boo-boos.
He is the healer of mental afflictions. Look at Jonah 2. Jonah was inside the fish and cried out to Yahweh. He says, “In my distress, he answered me. From the depths of my watery grave, I cried for help, and you heard my cry.”
He renews spiritual fatigue. Psalm 23:1-3, “Yahweh is my Roeh. I am never in need. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside peaceful waters. He renews my soul. He guides me along the paths of righteousness for the sake of his name.”
He heals anxieties and worries. John 14:27, “I’m leaving you peace. I give you my peace. I don’t give you the kind of peace that the world gives. So don’t be troubled or cowardly.”
Philippians 4:6-7, “Never worry about anything. But in every situation, let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks. Then God’s peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ Yeshua.”
Yahweh Ropheka is our ultimate, one-stop-shop healer. When we place our life, our faith, in his hands and fully trust in his power, we will be amazed at what he can do. My family is a walking testimony to that.
I had a choice when we faced “it looks like cancer” and “there’s a 9/10 chance this is cancer”. I could crawl under a rock and cry, or I could turn it all over to Yahweh Ropheka. We could lie down in defeat, or we could look up to the one who could heal.
We chose to look up. We chose to rely on faith. We chose to obey God and his commands and allow Yahweh Ropheka to do what he does, heal. And he did.
I don’t take it lightly that he chose to heal Braxton. I know that there are others who have prayed the same prayers, and their healing wasn’t done on earth, but in heaven. I know there are others who are mourning while we are rejoicing. I don’t know why one healing is done on earth, and another is done in heaven.
What I do know, God is our healer. His healing isn’t every once in a while; it is always. The healing, however, isn’t always how we want it. Sometimes the healing is in death, or a move, or a removal of a friendship or relationship, or in placing you in a new church that pours into you and binds up the wounds that the last church left. God’s healing is perfect and complete.
Let me encourage you, when you are sick, suffering, and in need of healing of any kind, look up. Look up in faith and call on our healer, Yahweh Ropheka. Listen and obey his commands, and allow him to heal you.
Have a great day with Jesus.
