Rapha as a theological category A biblical-constructive reading of Old Testament healing narratives toward an articulation of healing as a site of God’s work
Abstract
Word studies in Indonesian theology often remain lexically atomistic, so that their findings never rise to the level of theological claims. This study makes the root rapha the axis of a biblical-constructive reading of Old Testament healing narratives. The method is a semantic-field analysis of the distribution of the subjects and objects of rapha rather than an etymology, guarded against illegitimate totality transfer and followed by canonical synthesis. The findings show that the objects of rapha exceed the human body: water (2 Kgs 2:21–22), land (2 Chr 7:14), a ruined altar (1 Kgs 18:30), a nation’s apostasy (Hos 14:4), and Egypt (Isa 19:22). Its subject is almost always YHWH; healing may be withheld as judgment (Isa 6:10) and is paired with wounding (Deut 32:39). Isaiah 53:5 inverts the category: healing comes through the wound. Rapha is therefore not a medical predicate but a predicate of restored order. Divine healing is articulated as a site of God’s work, where his governance over creation and covenant becomes legible. Healing ministry thus widens beyond individual bodies while yielding to divine freedom.
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