Rest Brings Healing: מרפה: Marpeh

Hebrew reads from right to left and is a form of picture writing, like Chinese.  Each of the 22 letters is a picture of something, has a number, a color, and a corresponding musical note associated with it.  Interestingly, David’s harp had 22 strings.  He could literally play the music of the psalms on his instrument! 🥰

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Below are the Hebrew words for heal and relax:

[רפא]: Rapha-heal
[רפה]: Raphah-relax

Notice that they have two letters in common: Resh [ר] and Pei [פ] but each end in a different one.  [א,ה], “aleph” on the right, “hei” on the left.

Resh means “Head,” like the one on top of your shoulders.  It also means “Think or meditate,” because it is in the head (we hope 😉) where thinking and meditating takes place. It can also have a positional meaning, such as in Rosh Hashana-New Year, which literally means “Head of the year.”

[פ]. Pei is a picture of the mouth: You speak with your mouth.

[א]. Aleph” is a picture of “ox”. The ox was a sacrificial animal.  It can also mean head, as in leader.  As “Ox,” it speaks of Jesus’ sacrifice.

[ה] Hei is the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and is a picture of an open window.  It means, “Grace.”  More on this in a moment.

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The word pictures tell us a story and give us a glimpse from God’s perspective that you would never find in ANY definition.  “Heal,” to God means, “Think/meditate on, and speak of, Jesus’ sacrifice. That is how you “Heal.”  

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Raphah—rest–is the root word for Rapha–heal.  That speaks volumes, doesn’t it?  Raphah has this letter, hei [ה], at the end, [רפה] which is the far left, instead of this letter:  aleph [א]

“Hei,” as you read above, is a picture of an open window.  God says in Malachi 3 that from the windows of heaven He pours out blessings–Grace–on us!  “Hei” is the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  That’s why we say, “FIVE” is the number of GRACE! 💖

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Hei is pronounced like a prolonged breath out.  Just doing that makes you relax!  With all that in mind, what does the word, “REST [רפה]” mean to God?

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You see, relaxing is necessary to staying well.  Stress is a killer.  That is why God is constantly trying to get us to relax.  That’s why His favorite admonition is, “FEAR NOT.”  But we humans often find it difficult to let go and relax.  It is hard work for us, hence the verse that says “LABOR” to enter His REST.”

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Hebrew Grammar.

In Hebrew, whenever you add the letter “Mem [מ]” in front of a verb, it becomes a noun.  So let’s add, “Mem” to  the word “Heal: “Rapha.”  Heal now becomes “Marpé: healing [מרפא].”  In modern Hebrew, this is the word they use for “medicine.”

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Mem [מ] is a picture of water flowing, symbolic of spirits in general.  Most often, it typifies the Holy Spirit, which is determined by context.  Mem appears like this, “[מ]” at the beginning or anywhere in the middle of words in Hebrew but looks like this at the end of a word:  [ם].  It is called, “Final mem,” because it is ONLY used at the end of Hebrew words, though it is still the same letter and still means the same thing.

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Bottom line……………
If you want to avoid the need for healing in the first place:  ״Raphah-relax.”
That’s why, according to God, Rest Brings Healing!