✯✶✰☆ Jehovah Rophe ☆✰✶✯ ✯✶✰☆ The Lord Who Heals ☆✰✶✯ by Diane Stortz ~~ Exodus 15:26 "I am the Lord who heals you." ~~ From 2 Kings 5. "Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, had a bad skin disease. A young Israelite girl worked as a servant to Naaman's wife. "I wish Naaman could see God's prophet in Samaria of Israel," the girl said to her mistress. "The prophet would cure Naaman of his disease!" When Naaman heard this, he went to see his friend, the kind of Syria. "I have heard that I could be cured in the land of Israel," Naaman told the king. "The you must go there!" the king said. "I will send you to the king of Israel asking him to heal you." Naaman and his servants traveled to Israel in chariots. They took gifts for the king of Israel, along with the letter from Naaman's king. But the king of Israel didn't know how to make Naaman well! What is the king of Syria thinking by sending Naaman to me? he wondered. The prophet Elisha heard that Naaman had come to see Israel's king. "Send Naaman to me," Elisha told the king. "He will learn about God's power." So Naaman went to Elisha's house in his chariot. He got out and stood at the door and waited to see Elisha. But Elisha sent a messenger out to tell Naaman, "Go to the Jordan River and wash in it seven times. Then you will be cured of your skin disease." "What?" Naaman yelled to his servant, "I thought Elisha would come out and heal me right away! Why would I wash in the Jordan River? We have better rivers in our land!" Naaman turned and walked way from Elisha's house. "Come on! We're going home," he said. "Wait, please," said Naaman's servants. "Elisha has asked you to do a very simple thing. If he had asked you to do a hard thing, you would do it. So why not do this simple thing and be healed?" Naaman thought about that... He went to the Jordan River. He waded in and dipped himself under the water [seven] times! Naaman looked at his skin. His servants looked too. Naaman's skin was just like the skin of a brand new baby! The skin disease was gone--just as the prophet said would happen if Naaman obeyed! Naaman was well. God had healed him! ~~ When you get a cut or scrape, what do you do? First you wash the dirt and germs away with soap and water. Then [you] put a bandage on it. Eventually, the cut will heal and be gone. New skin will grow where the scrape was. If you get sick, what happens? ... [You may go] to see the doctor and [get] some medicine. Soon you will be feeling better, ready to start playing again! One of God's name is The Lord Who Heals. God made our bodies to be able to heal themselves in many ways when we are hurt or sick... God also uses doctors and medicines to help our bodies heal. And sometimes, as He did for Naaman, He heals us right away... God is our healer."
The kids who are 15 and older are receiving a series of letters on Judges! This month is Ibzan's story. There isn't a whole lot on Ibzan, but the mention of daughters reminded me of Jesus' love for women as well as men, and so shared a little more on this theme. For kids who are 13-16 and attend the same project, one teen is receiving the names of God series and the other teen is receiving the Judges series.
Dearest Friend,
Our next judge is Ibzan. There is not much written in the Bible about Ibzan, as it only says, "After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem," Judges 12:8-10.
Carolyn Roth says, "Most likely, Ibzan was a judge in the sense of making judicial decisions rather than being a war leader; i.e., fighting against a national enemy of Israel. There seems to be no single national threat to Judah during Izban’s tenure as a judge. Ibzan fathered 30 sons and 30 daughters... In order to support ... children, Ibzan would have been wealthy. Further, his adult name (Izban) meant “illustrious” or “splendid,” suggesting that he was a man of status in his tribe and perhaps in the larger nation. Unlike many Israelites who structured marriages for his children within the clan [or tribe of Israel], Ibzan found spouses for children outside his clan. This is one of the few times in the Old Testament that daughters were associated with a father on an equal basis as sons. Apparently, Ibzan valued his daughters as well as his sons... The noteworthy fact about Izban was that he married sons and daughters outside the clan. That piece of information suggests that he treated sons and daughters the same way."
The story of Ibzan, and his love for his daughters, reminds me of the example that Jesus Christ set for us. James Borland writes, "Jesus regularly addressed women directly while in public. This was unusual for a man to do (John 4:27). The disciples were amazed to see Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar (John 4:7-26). He also spoke freely with the woman taken in adultery (John 8:10–11).6 Luke, who gives ample attention to women in his Gospel, notes that Jesus spoke publicly with the widow of Nain (Luke 7:12–13), the woman with the bleeding disorder (Luke 8:48; cf. Matt. 9:22; Mark 5:34), and a woman who called to him from a crowd (Luke 11:27–28). Similarly, Jesus addressed a woman bent over for eighteen years (Luke 13:12) and a group of women on the route to the cross (Luke 23:27-31). [Additionally] Jesus’s regard for the full intrinsic value of women is seen in how he spoke to the women he addressed. He spoke in a thoughtful, caring manner. Each synoptic writer records Jesus addressing the woman with the bleeding disorder tenderly as “daughter” (references above) and referring to the bent woman as a “daughter of Abraham” (Luke 13:16). Bloesch infers that “Jesus called the Jewish women ‘daughters of Abraham’ (Luke 13:16), thereby according them a spiritual status equal to that of men.”
The New Year is coming soon. Last year I received a lot of responses to the following questions, and I wanted to share them again this year (I am asking all three for my older kids, and just the first two for the younger kids):
1) What is the most exciting thing from 2022?
2) What is the most sad thing from 2022?
3) What is your goal for the year 2023?
Letters are coming in fast now! So I also responded to letters, and included some mini updates about our lives, plus a lesson on the Arctic and Antarctic because the kids and I found it really interesting.
Happy Writing!
