8365. 'For I, Jehovah, am your Healer' means that the Lord alone preserves them from evils. This is clear from the meaning of 'healing' as curing of and also preserving from evils; for when evils are meant by 'sicknesses', curing people of them and preserving them from them is meant by 'healing', [here] and also many times in the Word, such as in Moses,

I kill and I make alive, I strike and I heal. Deuteronomy 32:39.

In Jeremiah,

Heal me, O Jehovah, in order that I may be healed; save me, in order that I may be saved. Jeremiah 17:14.

In the same prophet,

I will restore health to you ¹ and heal you of your blows. Jeremiah 30:17.

In David,

His whole bed you have turned in his sickness. ² I said, O Jehovah, be merciful to me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against You. Psalms 41:3-4.

The same may be seen in many other places besides these, such as Isaiah 6:10; 53:5; 57:18-19; Jeremiah 3:22; 17:14; Hosea 6:1; 7:1; 11:3; 14:4; Zechariah 11:16; Psalms 30:2; and elsewhere. And since 'healing' had this meaning, the Lord also calls Himself 'a physician',

Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Matthew 9:12-13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:31-32.

Footnotes:

Ephraim was the second son born to Joseph in Egypt and was, along with his older brother Manasseh, elevated by Jacob to the same status as Joseph’s brothers. Thus when the tribes of Israel are named, Ephraim and Manasseh are named as patriarchs along with their uncles – Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin -- but Joseph is not. According to Swedenborg, Ephraim represents the intellectual aspect of the church, the part that explores and understands what is true – especially the true ideas that can be drawn from the Bible. Manasseh, meanwhile, represents the affectional aspect of the church, the part that feels and loves and cares. This plays into the best-known story of Ephraim’s life. When Jacob was old and nearing death, Joseph brought his two sons to be blessed. He presented Manasseh to Jacob’s right hand as the elder, and Ephraim to Jacob’s left hand. But Jacob crossed his hands and gave Ephraim the primary blessing. According to Swedenborg, Manasseh was the elder son because ultimately, what we love makes us who we are; our loves form our lives. So our loves are the most central, leading aspect of our human existence, with our intellect playing a secondary role. But as we develop, we need to reverse those. We can use our intellect to understand what is good and right and force ourselves to do it, even when our desires are for what’s selfish. If we stick to that out of a determination to follow the Lord and be good people, the Lord will eventually remove the selfishness from our hearts so we can truly love what is good. By having Jacob bless Ephraim above Manasseh, the Lord is telling us that we have to put our intellect first to pursue our spiritual journey.