Reference: Medicine
Fausets
The physicians in Genesis 1 were Egyptian embalmers. Physic was often associated with superstition; this was Asa's fault, "he sought not unto Jehovah but to the physicians" (2Ch 16:12). Luke "the beloved physician" practiced at Antioch, the center between the schools of Cilicia (Tarsus) and Alexandria. Ecclesiastes (Ec 12:6) uses language which under the Spirit (whatever Solomon knew or did not know) expresses scientific truth: "the silver cord" is the spinal marrow, white and precious as silver, attached to the brain which is "the golden bowl." The "fountain" may mean the right ventricle of the heart, the "cistern" the left, the "pitcher" the veins, the "wheel" the aorta or great artery. The "wheel"' however may mean life in its rapid motion, as Jas 3:6, "the wheel of nature." The circulation of the blood is apparently expressed.
The washing's, the restriction in diet to clean animals and the prohibition of pork, the separation of lepers, the laws of marriage and married intercourse (Leviticus 15), the cleanliness of the camp (De 23:12-14), and the comprehension of all varieties of healthful climate in Palestine, account for Israel's general exemption from epidemics and remarkable healthiness. The healing art in the Old Testament seems mainly to consist in external applications for wounds, etc. balm abounded in Gilead, and therefore many physicians settled there. Jer 8:22, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health (lengthening out) of the daughter of my people gone up (Hebrew)?" i.e., why is not the long bandage applied? or why is not the health come up again, as skin coming up over a wound in healing? (See BALM.)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And the tongue is a fire; it is a very world of iniquity among our members, defiling the whole body, and setting on fire the wheel of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.
Hastings
Palestine was probably a comparatively healthy country in Bible times, as it is now. Its natural features in most localities would protect it from the usual endemic diseases of Oriental lands, and its want of harbours would to a great extent prevent the importation of epidemics (contrast the reputation of Egypt, as attested by De 7:15; 28:50; Am 4:10); moreover, the legislation of the Priestly Code, if it was ever observed, would have operated to prevent the spread of disease, and the existence of far-reaching destitution. These provisions, and the common occurrence of external and internal warfare, must also have tended to eliminate overcrowding as a cause of disease; but the ratio of population to area in ancient times is very difficult to estimate; the figures in 1Ch 21:5 and 2Sa 4:9 are clearly untrustworthy.
1. Jews believed in a definite connexion between health and virtue (cf. Isa 58:8; Jer 8:15,22). Disease was popularly regarded as penal (Joh 9:2), and as sent by God either directly (Ex 4:11; De 32:39) or permissively by means of others (Job 2:7; Mr 9:17,25). It might also be caused by human envy (Job 5:2), or by bodily excess (Sir 37:30-31), but even so its vera causa was God's direct authorization.
Under these circumstances healing was treated as a token of Divine forgiveness (Ex 15:26). And the connexion of priest with physician was correspondingly close. On the whole, the medical knowledge of the Bible peoples was very defective; nor are there any traces of medical education in Palestine. Jacob was embalmed by Egyptian physicians (Ge 50:2), but there must probably have been some Jewish practitioners at the time when Ex 21:19 was compiled. The word in Jer 8:22 means a 'bandager.' The writer of 2Ch 16:12 seems to take the extreme view that it was a sin to consult physicians, but saner ideas are represented in Sir 38:2. Still, it may be doubted whether medical duties were not usually performed by priests (as in early Egypt), at any rate in the earlier OT times; certainly the priests had the supervision in the case of certain diseases, e.g. leprosy; and prophets also were applied to for medical advice (cf. 1Ki 14:2; 17:18; 2Ki 4:22; 20:7). And even in Sir 38:14 the physician is regarded as having certain priestly duties, and the connexion between religion and medicine is seen in the counsel, given in that same chapter, that repentance and an offering shall precede the visit of the physician. In the NT we have St. Luke described as a physician (Col 4:14), and a somewhat depreciatory remark on physicians in Mt 5:26, which, however, is much toned down in Lu 8:43.
It is therefore probable that up till late times medicine was in the charge of the priests, whose knowledge must have been largely traditional and empirical. The sacrificial ritual would give them some knowledge of animal morphology, but human anatomy can scarcely have existed as a science at all, since up to about a.d. 100 the ceremonial objections to touching or dissecting the dead prevailed. Thus Bible references to facts of anatomy and physiology are very few in number. Blood was tabooed as food (Ge 9:4; Le 17:11)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
But when John saw that many of the Pharisees and Sadducees were coming for baptism, he said: "O brood of vipers! Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
And his fame spread throughout all Syria. They brought all the sick to him, those who were suffering from various diseases and troubles??emoniacs, epileptics, paralytics??nd he healed them.
And his fame spread throughout all Syria. They brought all the sick to him, those who were suffering from various diseases and troubles??emoniacs, epileptics, paralytics??nd he healed them.
"I tell you truly that you would certainly not get out from there until you had paid back the last cent.
saying, "Lord, my slave at home is lying ill with paralysis, in terrible agony."
and behold, a sudden storm arose on the sea, so that the boat began to be buried by the waves.
"It is not those who are well," said Jesus, when he heard this, "but the sick, who need a doctor.
But a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind him, and touched the tassel of his cloak.
And as they were departing a dumb demoniac was brought to him,
And in order to get a charge against him they asked him, "Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath?" (So that they might have something to accuse him.)
Then they brought to him a blind and deaf demoniac; and he healed him, so that the dumb both spoke and saw.
"You generation of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. "When the time of fruit drew near, he sent his slaves to the vine-dressers seized to get his fruit.
"Master, take pity on my son, for he is an epileptic and sore distressed. Often he falls into the fire and often into the water.
"For there are eunuchs who have been such from birth; others who have been made such by men; and others who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it."
Then the blind and the lame came to him in the Temple courts, and he healed them.
"You serpents! You vipers brood! How shall you escape the judgment of hell?
"'I was naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to see me.'
they gave Jesus wine to drink, mingled with gall. But after tasting it he refused to drink it.
At once, one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filling it with vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
Again he went into a synagogue where there was a man with his hand withered.
and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, but was no better; on the contrary, rather grew worse.
And they brought to him a deaf man who stammered, and begged him to lay his hands upon him.
Then they came to Bethsaida, where some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and begged him to touch him.
"Master," answered one of the crowd, "I brought my son to you; he has a dumb spirit in him; and wherever it seizes him it dashes him down; he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and is wasting away. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."
And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit. "You dumb and deaf spirit," he said, "come out of him, I command you, and never enter him again."
And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit. "You dumb and deaf spirit," he said, "come out of him, I command you, and never enter him again."
There they attempted to give him wine mingled with myrrh; but he refused it.
Then a man ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, and put it on a stick, and offered it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down!"
they shall pick up serpents, and if they drink any poison it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover."
And when he came out he could not speak to them, and then they knew that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept making signs to them and remained dumb.
And his father, Zachariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying.
So John used to say to the crowd of those who were going out to be baptized by him. "You breed of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me Because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim release to the prisoners, And recovery of sight to the blind; To set at liberty those that are bruised,
Jesus answered. "Doubtless you will quote the proverb to me, 'Physician, heal thyself!' Do also here in your own country all that we hear that you have done in Capernaum."
Now when he rose and left the synagogue, he entered into the house of Simon, where Simon's mother-in-law lay sick of a great fever. And they kept entreating him for her.
He was all along aware of their thoughts; and he said to the man with the withered hand, "Rise, and stand there in the midst."
And a woman who for twelve years had had a hemorrhage, and had spent on doctors all that she had, but none had cured her,
And a woman who for twelve years had had a hemorrhage, and had spent on doctors all that she had, but none had cured her,
And her spirit returned and instantly she stood up.
and a man called out of the crowd saying. "Teacher, I beg you to look upon my son; for he is my only boy,
"Behold, I give you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and to trample on all the power of the enemy. In no case shall anything do you harm.
"He went to him bound up his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine. He set him on his own beast, and took him to an inn, and took care of him.
Once he was casting out a dumb demon, and when the demon was gone out, the dumb man spoke, and the people wondered.
a woman was present who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years. she was bent double, and could not lift herself up at all.
Then he placed his hand on her, and she instantly stood upright and began to give glory to God.
And lo! there was in front of him a man who had dropsy.
"And a certain beggar named Lazarus was thrown at his door.
(And being in agony he kept praying more earnestly; and his sweat became as if it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.)
Then Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him saying, "Certainly I am."
Jesus said to her, "I who am now talking to you, am he."
It has five colonnades. In these there used to lie a great crowd of sick people??lind, lame, paralyzed.
"Sir," answered the sick man, "I have no man to put me into the pool whenever the water is troubled; and while I am trying to come, some one else steps down before me."
Now as he was passing along he saw a man, blind from birth. "Rabbi," his disciples asked him, "who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
When he had thus spoken he spat on the ground, and made clay with the spittle, and smeared the clay on the man's eyes.
Now a man named Lazarus was ill. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha??2 it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.
There was a jar full of vinegar standing there; and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon a stalk of hyssop, and put it to his lips.
when a man lame from his birth was carried along, who was wont to be laid each day near the gate of the Temple called the Beautiful Gate, to ask alms of those who were going into the Temple.
But the younger men rose, wrapped the body up, and carried it out to bury it. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened; read more. and Peter said to her, "Tell me if you got so much for the land." "Yes," she said, "so much." "Why was it," said Peter, "that you both agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Lo, the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out." Instantly she fell down at his feet and expired, and when the young men came in they found her dead, and carried her out and buried her husband.
So he arose and went. And behold an Ethiopian man, a eunuch, who was a high official (a chief treasurer) of Candace, the queen of Ethiopia, who had come to Jerusalem to worship
Meanwhile the men who were his fellow travelers stood speechless, hearing indeed the voice, but beholding no one. And Saul got up from the ground, but although his eyes were open, he continued to perceive nothing; so they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.
Instantly something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was baptized.
Here he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, a paralytic.
She, as it happened, was taken ill just at that time, and died. After washing her body, they laid it in an upper room.
Instantly an angel of the Lord smote him, because he had not given God the glory, and being eaten up by worms, he died.
"The Lord's hand is now upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a season." Instantly there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and groping about, he sought some one to lead him by the hand.
and a young man named Eutychus was sitting in a window, overborne by deep sleep, while Paul continued to preach at length. Overcome at last by sleep, he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead.
Now when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and thrown them on the fire, a viper crawled out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
It happened however that the father of Publius was lying ill of fever and dysentery. So Paul went to see him and prayed and laid his hands on him and healed him.
Now we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to seek our own pleasure.
This is why many among you are feeble and sickly, and many sleep.
Why then did you account yourselves so happy? (For I bear you witness that if you could you would have torn out your own eyes and given them to me.)
And indeed he was sick nigh unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also so that I should not have sorrow upon sorrow.
Luke, the beloved physician, salutes you, and so does Demas.
Be applying yourself until I come to public reading, preaching, and teaching. Never neglect the gift within you, which was given in fulfilment of prophecy at the time of the laying on of hands by the elders. read more. Let these things be your care, give yourself wholly to them, so that your progress may be manifest to all. Give heed to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Do not continue to drink nothing but water, but take a little wine for your stomach's sake, and your frequent attacks of illness.
Erastus remained at Corinth; Trophimus I left behind me ill at Miletus.
Is any in good spirits? Let him sing unto his harp. Is any one of you ill? Let him send for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
I advise you to buy of me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white raiment to clothe yourself, so that the shame of your nakedness may not be made manifest; and eye-salve to anoint your eyes, in order that you may see.
Morish
On the banks of the future river that will flow from the sanctuary, trees will grow, of which it is said, "The fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine." Eze 47:12. This agrees with Re 22:2. The prophet Jeremiah twice observes that when God brings His judgements upon a people, no medicine will cure them. Jer 30:13; 46:11. Pr 17:22 says, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine," or 'promoteth healing.'
See Verses Found in Dictionary
In the middle of the broad street of the City. On each side of the river was a Tree of Life, Bearing twelve kinds of fruit, Each month yielding its own fruit. And the leaves of the tree Were for the healing of the nations.
Smith
Medicine.
Egypt was the earliest home of medical and other skill for the region of the Mediterranean basin, and every Egyptian mummy of the more expensive and elaborate sort involved a process of anatomy. Still we have no trace of any philosophical or rational system of Egyptian origin; still medicine in Egypt was a mere art or profession. Compared with the wild countries around them, however, the Egyptians must have seemed incalculably advanced. Representations of early Egyptian surgery apparently occur on some of the monuments of Beni-Hassan. Those who have assisted at the opening of a mummy have noticed that the teeth exhibited a dentistry not inferior in execution to the work of the best modern experts. This confirms the statement of Herodotus that every part of the body was studied by a distinct practitioner. The reputation of Egypt's practitioners in historical times was such that both Cyrus and Darius sent to that country for physicians or surgeons. Of midwifery we have a distinct notice,
and of women as its Practitioners, which fact may also be verified from the scriptures. The scrupulous attention paid to the dead was favorable to the health of the living. The practice of physic was not among the Jews a privilege of the priesthood. Any one might practice it, and this publicity must have kept it pure. Rank and honor are said to be the portion of the physician, and his office to be from the Lord. Ecclus. 38:1,3,12. To bring down the subject to the period of the New Testament, St. Luke, "the beloved physician," who practiced at Antioch whilst the body was his care, could hardly have failed to be convenient with all the leading opinions current down to his own time. Among special diseases named in the Old Testament is ophthalmia,
which is perhaps more common in Syria and Egypt than anywhere else in the world; especially in the fig season, the juice of the newly-ripe fruit having the power of giving it. It may occasion partial or total blindness.
The "burning boil,"
is merely marked by the notion of an effect resembling that of fire, like our "carbuncle." The diseases rendered "scab" and "scurvy" in
may be almost any skin disease. Some of these may be said to approach the type of leprosy. The "botch (shechin) of Egypt,"
De 28:27
is so vague a term as to yield a most uncertain sense. In
De 28:35
is mentioned a disease attacking the "knees and legs," consisting in a "sore botch which cannot be healed," but extended, in the sequel of the verse, from the "sole of the foot to the top of the head." The Elephantiasis gracorum is what now passes under the name of "leprosy;" the lepers, e.g., of the: huts near the Zion gate of modern Jerusalem are elephantissiacs. [LEPROSY] The disease of King Antiochus, 2 Macc. 9:5-10, etc., was that of a boil breeding worms. The case of the widow's son restored by Elisha,
See Leper, Leprosy
was probably one of sunstroke. The palsy meets us in the New Testament only, and in features too familiar to need special remark. palsy, gangrene and cancer were common in all the countries familiar to the scriptural writers, and neither differs from the modern disease of the same name. Mention is also made of the bites and stings of poisonous reptiles.
Among surgical instruments or pieces of apparatus the following only are alluded to in Scripture: A cutting instrument, supposed a "sharp stone,"
the "knife" of
The "awl" of
was probably a surgical instrument. The "roller to bind" of
was for a broken limb, and is still used. A scraper, for which the "potsherd" of Job was a substitute.
is a prescription in form. An occasional trace occurs of some chemical knowledge, e.g. the calcination of the gold by Moses,
the effect of "vinegar upon natron,"
; comp. Jere 2:22 The mention of "the apothecary,"
and of the merchant in "powders,"
shows that a distinct and important branch of trade was set up in these wares, in which, as at a modern druggist's, articles of luxury, etc., are combined with the remedies of sickness. Among the most favorite of external remedies has always been the bath. There were special occasions on which the bath was ceremonially enjoined. The Pharisees and Essenes aimed at scrupulous strictness in all such rules.
River-bathing was common but houses soon began to include a bathroom.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"Why do your disciples keep transgressing the tradition of the elders by not washing their hands before eating?"
So the Pharisees and Scribes asked him. "Why do your disciples not follow the traditions of the elders? Why do they eat with 'common' unwashed hands?"
And the Pharisee noticed, to his amazement, that he did not wash his hands before eating,