AND SHALL CAUSE HIM TO BE THOROUGHLY HEALED. This is a sign that permission has been granted to physicians to heal blows and wounds that are visible on the surface. However, it is in God’s hand to heal any illness which strikes inside of the body. It is thus written, For He maketh sore, and bindeth up (Job 5:18). Furthermore, Scripture tells us concerning King Asa, yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians (II Chron. 16:12).

In general then, when Israel is perfect, constituting a large number, their affairs are not conducted at all by the natural order of things, neither in connection with themselves, nor with reference to their Land, neither collectively nor individually, for G-d blesses their bread and their water, and removes sickness from their midst, so that they do not need a physician and do not have to observe any of the rules of medicine, just as He said, for I am the Eternal that healeth thee.

And so did the righteous ones act at the time when prophecy [existed], so that even if a mishap of iniquity overtook them, causing them sickness, they did not turn to the physicians, but only to the prophets, as was the case with Hezekiah when he was sick. And Scripture states of Asa, king of Judah, by way of rebuke, Yet in his disease he sought not to the Eternal, but to the physicians. Now had the practice of consulting physicians been customary among them, why should the verse mention as a sinful act Asa’s consulting the physicians, since his guilt was only because he did not also seek G-d?...For he who seeks the Eternal through a prophet, will not consult the physicians. And what part do the physicians have in the house of those who do the will of G-d, after He has assured us, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee, whereas the physicians are concerned mostly with food and drink, warning against certain foods and commanding him to eat others. Thus also the Rabbis said: “During all the twenty-two years that Rabbah reigned, Rav Yoseph did not call even a blood letter to his house”, and they also say by way of proverb: “A house wherein the commandments are not observed is open for the physician.”

This is also the meaning of their saying: “People should not have to take medicaments, but they have become accustomed to do so.” That is to say: had they not accustomed themselves to taking medicines, people would become sick according to the degree of punishment corresponding to their sin, and would be healed by the will of G-d, but since they accustomed themselves to medicaments, G-d has left them to natural happenings.

This is also the intent of the Rabbis’ interpretation: “And he shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. From here you deduce the principle that permission has been given to the physician to heal.” They did not say that “permission was given to the sick to be healed” by the physician, but instead they stated that since the person who became sick comes to the physician to be healed, because he has accustomed himself to seeking medical help and he was not of the congregation of the Eternal whose portion is in this life, the physician should not refrain from healing him; whether because of fear that he might die under his hand, since he is qualified in this profession, or because he says that it is G-d alone Who is the Healer of all flesh, since [after all] people have already accustomed themselves [to seeking such help].

Similarly, we will say regarding health and sickness. A man is placed under a duty to trust in the Creator in this, while working on maintaining his health according to the means whose nature promotes this, and to fight sickness according to the customary ways, as the Creator commanded "and he shall surely heal him" (shmos 21:19). All of this, without trusting in the means of health or illness that they could help or hurt without the permission of the Creator. And when one puts his trust in the Creator, He will heal him with or without a means, as written "He sends His word and heals them" (Tehilim 107:20). It is even possible that He will heal him through something that is normally very harmful, as you know from the story of Elisha and the bad water, that he healed their damaging properties with salt (Melachim II 2:19), and similarly "And G-d showed him a tree and he tossed it into the waters [and the waters became sweet]" (Shmos 15:25), And the midrash tanchuma there explains that this was a bitter, oleander tree. Another example, "let him smear crushed figs on the boils, and he will heal" (Yeshaya 38:21) (and figs normally damage even healthy flesh - PL). And you already know of what happened to the pious king Asa when he trusted in the doctors, and removed his trust in G-d regarding his illness, the sharp rebuke he received for this (i.e. because he did not pray to be healed). And the verse says: "For He brings pain and binds it; He wounds, and His hands heal." (Iyov 5:18).