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.)
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And the tongue is a fire, and takes its place among the parts of our bodies as a world of evil; it soils the whole body and sets on fire the circle of man's nature, and itself is 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)
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But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to escape from the wrath that is coming?
So the news about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were sick with various diseases, especially those who were suffering with torturing diseases; and he cured them.
So the news about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were sick with various diseases, especially those who were suffering with torturing diseases; and he cured them.
I solemnly say to you, you will never get out at all until you have paid the last penny.
"Lord, my servant-boy is at home bedridden with paralysis and suffering terrible tortures!"
And suddenly a furious storm came up, so that the boat was being covered over by the bursting billows, but He kept on sleeping.
And when He heard it, He said, "It is not well, but sick people that have to send for a doctor.
And a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years came up and touched the tassel on His coat.
But at the very time they were going out, some people brought to Him a dumb man, who was under the power of a demon,
Now there was a man there with one hand withered. And, to get a charge against Him, they asked Him, "Is it right to cure people on the sabbath?"
At that time some people brought to Him a man under the power of demons, who was blind and dumb, and He cured him, so that the dumb man could talk and see.
You brood of vipers! How can you, wicked as you are, say anything that is good? For the mouth talks about the things that fill the heart.
"Lord, do pity my son, for he has epilepsy and suffers excruciating pain, and often falls into the fire or into the water.
For some are born incapable of marriage, and some have been made so by men, and some have made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let him accept it who can."
Then blind and crippled people came to Him, and He cured them.
You serpents! You brood of vipers! How can you escape a sentence to the pit!
when I needed clothes you put them on me, when I was sick you looked after me, when I was in prison you came to see me.'
they gave Him some wine mixed with gall, but when He tasted it, He would not drink it.
So one of them at once ran off and took a sponge and soaked it in vinegar, put it on a stick and held it up to Him to drink.
Then He went into a synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.
and had suffered much at the hands of many doctors, and had spent all she had, and yet was not a whit benefited but rather grew worse,
And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and almost dumb, and they begged Him to lay His hand upon him.
Then they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Him and begged Him to touch him.
A man from the crowd answered Him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit. Wherever it seizes him, it convulses him, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth; and he is wasting away. So I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they could not do it."
Then Jesus, because He saw that a crowd was rushing up to Him, reproved the foul spirit and said to it, "You deaf and dumb spirit, get out of him, I charge you, and never get into him again."
Then Jesus, because He saw that a crowd was rushing up to Him, reproved the foul spirit and said to it, "You deaf and dumb spirit, get out of him, I charge you, and never get into him again."
They offered Him wine flavored with myrrh, but He would not take it.
So one man ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and put it on a stick and held it up to Him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah does come to take Him down!"
they will take snakes in their hands; even if they drink anything poisonous, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well."
But when he came out, he could not speak to them, and so they knew that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. Meanwhile he kept on making signs to them, and remained dumb.
Now his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he uttered the following prophecy:
So he used to say to the crowds that continued to come out there to be baptized by him: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to escape from the wrath that is coming?
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has consecrated me to preach the good news to the poor; He has sent me to announce release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to send the downtrodden away in liberty and
He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote this proverb to me, 'Doctor, cure yourself! Do the things here in your hometown that we hear you did in Capernaum.'"
Then He rose to leave the synagogue, and He went to Simon's house. And Simon's mother-in-law was in the grip of a burning fever; so they asked Him about her.
But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and stand at the front." So he got up and stood there.
Then a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, who could not be cured by anybody,
Then a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, who could not be cured by anybody,
So her spirit returned and she got up at once, and He directed that something be given her to eat.
Then a man in the crowd at once shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, because he is my only child;
Listen! I have given you power to tread on snakes and scorpions, and to trample on all the power of the enemy, and nothing at all will ever harm you.
So he went to him and dressed his wounds by pouring oil and wine upon them, and then he put him on his donkey and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
Now He was driving a dumb demon out of a man, and when the demon went out of him, the dumb man spoke. The crowds were astonished.
and there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had a disease caused by a spirit. She was bent double and could not straighten herself up at all.
Then He laid His hands on her, and at once she straightened herself up and burst into praising God.
Just in front of Him was a man who was suffering from dropsy.
And a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been laid at his gate,
Omitted Text.
Then Pilate asked Him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And He answered him, "Yes, I am."
Jesus said to her, "I, the very one who is talking to you, am He!"
and in these there used to lie a great crowd of sick people, blind, crippled, paralyzed.
The sick man answered, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is moved, but while I am trying to get down, somebody else steps down ahead of me."
As He passed along, He saw a man who had been blind from his birth. So His disciples asked Him, "Teacher, for whose sin was this man born blind, his own or that of his parents?"
On saying this He spit on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes,
Now a man was sick; it was Lazarus who lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
A bowl full of sour wine was sitting there. So they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a stick and put it to His lips.
when a man crippled from his birth was being carried by, who used to be laid every day at what was called The Beautiful Gate of the temple, to beg from people on their way into the temple.
The younger men, however, got up, wrapped up his body, carried it out, and buried it. About three hours later, his wife came in, without having learned what had taken place. read more. Peter said to her, "Tell me, did you sell the land for such and such a sum?" She answered, "Yes, that is it." Peter said to her, "How could both of you agree in such a way to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door; they will carry you out, too." She instantly fell dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian official, a member of the court of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, her chief treasurer, who had come to Jerusalem to worship,
His fellow-travelers stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could not see anyone. Then Saul got up off the ground, but he could not see anything, although his eyes were wide open. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus,
And all at once something like scales fell from his eyes, he regained his sight, got up and was baptized,
There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years as a paralytic.
Just at that time it happened that she had been taken ill and had died. They washed her body and laid her out in a room upstairs.
But the angel of the Lord at once struck him down, because he did not give the glory to God; he was eaten by worms, and so died.
Right now the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be so blind that you cannot see the sun for a time." And suddenly a dark mist fell upon him, and he kept groping about begging people to lead him by the hand.
and a young man named Eutychus, who was sitting by the window, was gradually overcome by heavy drowsiness, as Paul kept speaking longer and longer, and at last he went fast asleep and fell from the third story to the ground and was picked up dead.
Paul, too, gathered a bundle of sticks, and as he put them on the fire, because of the heat, a viper crawled out of them and fastened itself upon his hand.
Publius' father chanced to be sick in bed with fever and dysentery, and Paul went to see him and after praying laid his hands upon him and cured him.
It is the duty of us who are strong to bear with the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not merely to please ourselves.
This is why many of you are sick and feeble, and a considerable number are falling asleep.
Where is your self-congratulation? For I can testify that you would have torn out your very eyes, if you could, and have given them to me.
For he was so sick that he was on the point of dying, but God took pity on him, and not only on him but on me too, to keep me from having one sorrow after another.
Our dearly loved Luke, the physician, and Demas, wish to be remembered to you.
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of the Scriptures, and to preaching and teaching. Stop neglecting the gift you received, which was given you through prophetic utterance when the elders laid their hands upon you. read more. Continue cultivating these things; be devoted to them, so that everybody will see your progress. Make it your habit to pay close attention to yourself and your teaching. Persevere in these things, for if you do you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.
Stop drinking water only, but take a little wine to strengthen your stomach and relieve its frequent attacks.
Erastus stayed in Corinth; I left Trophimus sick at Miletus.
Is anyone sick among you? He should call in the elders of the church, and they should pray over him, and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord,
I advise you to buy of me gold that has been refined in the fire, so that you may become rich, and white clothes to put on, to hide your shameful nakedness, and salve to put on your eyes, to make you 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.'
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down the middle of the city's Broadway. On both sides of the river grew the tree of life, which bore twelve kinds of fruit, yielding a different kind each month, and its leaves contained the remedy to cure 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.
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"Why do your disciples break the rules handed down by our forefathers? For they do not practice washing their hands when they take their meals."
And so the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why is it that your disciples do not practice the customs handed down from our forefathers, but eat their meals without purifying their hands?"
The Pharisee noticed that He did not first wash before lunch, and was surprised.