Rav Meir of Premishlan zy”a (quoted in Sefer Divrei Meir) explains this pasuk by citing the Gemara (Brachos 34B) that says that when Rav Chanina ben Dosa would daven for a sick person, he would say which ones would die and which ones would live. He asks that it is understandable why he said which people would live, but why did he say which ones would die? Why did he choose to tell over bad news?
He answers that the Gemara’s intention is that these words were actually part of Rav Chanina’s tefillah. He would say that “this one” – referring to this Jewish choleh – should live, while “this one” – referring to a gentile – should die in his stead. In this way, he transferred the decree of death from a Jew to a gentile.
This concept was seen by Rav Meir himself. A man once came to him and told him that a family member needed a refuah. Rav Meir told him with his ruach hakodesh, “There is a non-Jew who lives in your relative’s neighborhood. That man will die from the sickness and your relative will live.” And so it was.
In this vein, Rav Meir explains the words we recite on the Yomim Noraim: “U’tefillah u’teshuva u’tzedakah maavirim es ro’ah hagezeirah.” (Teshuva, tefillah and tzedakah remove the bad decree.) The word “maavirim” literally means to “pass over”. He explains that the decree is not cancelled. Rather, it is passed on from Jews to non- Jews.
With this in mind, he explains the pasuk that says that Hashem will “remove from you all sickness... and lay them upon your enemies.” If a harsh decree of sickness must be fulfilled, Hashem will place it upon our enemies, rather than upon us.
