Objection: Psalm 103:3 Is Poetic Hyperbole
The objector obviously believes that God’s promise in Psalm 103:3 to heal all your diseases is too good to be true. Thus, it must be “hyperbole” and a mere poetic device. The Psalms, after all, were the words to songs sung in Israel. (The poetic argument is similar to another objection handled elsewhere.)
However, God made the same promise in Exodus 15:26 to put “NONE of the diseases upon you” that He put upon the Egyptians. If you don’t have to suffer ANY diseases, God must heal ALL your diseases. And the problem for the objector is that Exodus 15:26 is NOT Hebrew poetry; it’s prose! So it cannot be poetic hyperbole.
The MANY cases where Jesus “healed them all” is also related in prose in the gospels, so these cannot be poetic hyperbole either. Jesus said that He always did the will of the Father, so the healing of ALL was the will of the Father, consistent with Psalm 103:3, Exodus 15:26 and other passages.
If the objector is correct, he would have to be
If you can dismiss Psalm 103:3 as poetic hyperbole, will you next dismiss Psalm 23 as poetic hyperbole and assert that the Lord does NOT cause you to not lack, does NOT lead you, does NOT restore your soul, and so on? Could we not use this same “poetic hyperbole” objection to invalidate anything we don’t feel like believing in Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon?
Psalm 103:3 at face value is entirely consistent with Scripture; it does not need to be explained away.
See also: