8365. For I am Jehovah thy healer. That this signifies that the Lord alone preserves from evils, is evident from the signification of "to heal," as being to cure, and also to preserve from evils, for when "diseases" signify evils, "to heal" signifies a remedy and preservation from them, as also frequently in the Word, thus:
I kill, and I make alive; I smite and I heal (Deut. 32:39). Heal me, O Jehovah, that I may be healed; save me that I may be saved (Jer. 17:14). I will make healing to go up unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy plagues (Jer. 30:17). Thou hast turned all his bed in his disease; I said, O Jehovah, have compassion on me: heal my soul because I have sinned to Thee (Ps. 41:3, 4). Besides in many other passages, as Isa. 6:10; 53:5; 57:18, 19; Jer. 3:22; 17:14; Hosea 6:1; 7:1; 11:3; 14:4; Zech. 11:16; Ps. 30:2; and elsewhere. And as "healing" has this signification, the Lord also calls Himself a "physician":
Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matt. 9:12, 13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:31, 32).
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