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MEDICINE.—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 Deu_7:15; Deu_28:50, Amo_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; Jer_8:22). Disease was popularly regarded as penal (Joh_9:2), and as sent by God either directly (Exo_4:11, Deu_32:39) or permissively by means of others (Job_2:7, Mar_9:17; Mar_9:25). 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 (Exo_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 (Gen_50:2), but there must probably have been some Jewish practitioners at the time when Exo_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; 1Ki_17:18, 2Ki_4:22; 2Ki_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 Mat_5:26, which, however, is much toned down in Luk_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 (Gen_9:4, Lev_17:11)—a highly important sanitary precaution, considering the facility with which blood carries microbes and parasites. A rudimentary embryology can be traced in Job_10:10, Psa_139:15-16 (cf. Ecc_11:5). But most of the physiological theories adverted to in the Bible are expressed in language of poetry and metaphor. On the whole, however, we may infer that the Jews (like other ancient peoples) regarded the heart as the seat of mental and moral activity (exceptions to this view are Dan_2:28; Dan_4:5; Dan_7:1), the reins or kidneys as the seats of impulse, affection, conscience (Jer_11:20; Jer_12:2, Psa_7:9), the bowels as the organs of sympathy (Psa_40:8, Job_30:27). Proverbs about physicians seem to be alluded to in Mat_9:12, Luk_4:23, Sir_38:1. Except in the case of certain diseases, visitation of the sick is enjoined in the Talmud (though not in the OT), and enforced by Christ in Mat_25:36.
2. General terms for disease.—The words ‘sick,’ ‘sickness,’ ‘sicknesses,’ ‘disease,’ ‘diseased,’ ‘diseases,’ are of the most frequent occurrence, though they are not always used as the tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of the same words in the original. Sometimes the term is qualified, e.g. ‘sickness unto death’ (Isa_38:1), ‘sore sickness’ (1Ki_17:17), ‘evil disease’ (Psa_41:8), ‘incurable disease’ (2Ch_21:18). We also have ‘infirmity’ three times in the OT, in Lev_12:2 meaning periodic sickness, in Psa_77:10 as weakness from sickness, in Pro_18:14 as weakness generally. The term plague is sometimes used of a specific epidemic, at other times of sickness in general. There are also various figurative expressions for disease, and in some places it is described as inflicted by the angel of God, e.g. 2Sa_24:16. In the NT, again, various Gr. words are translated by ‘sickness,’ ‘disease,’ ‘infirmity’; the allusion in 1Co_11:30 may be to mental weakness, and in Rom_15:1 to weakness of conscience.
Some diseases, e.g. leprosy, were regarded as unclean, and those suffering from them were excluded from cities. But in general the sick were treated at home. As to the treatment we know very little. It is possible that in earlier times bleeding was not resorted to because of the taboo on blood, though in later times the Jews followed the universal practice. Pro_30:15 has been supposed to show a knowledge of the medicinal use of leeches; but this inference can by no means be drawn with any certainty from the context.
3. Specific diseases.—As a rule the Bible references to specific diseases are general and vague; and even where we find concrete mention of particular ailments, it is not always easy to decide what the exact nature of the maladies was. In some cases the symptoms are given, though sometimes very indefinitely.
In Deu_28:22 a group of terms is used for diseases which appear to resemble each other in the fact that they are sudden, severe, epidemic, and fatal. The first is called consumption. This may be phthisis, but more probable it means a kind of wasting fever, characterized by weakness and anæmia, often of long duration, and perhaps not unlike Mediterranean or Malta fever. The same word is used in Lev_26:16. The ‘consumption’ mentioned in Isa_10:22; Isa_28:22 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] does not appear to be a specific disease at all. This is followed in Deut. by fever; the same word in Lev_26:16 is rendered ‘burning ague’ by the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , and the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] translates it by the Greek word for ‘jaundice.’ Its symptoms are given in the passage of Lv.; it may be a sort of malarial fever which occurs in certain parts of Palestine, and is occasionally accompanied by jaundice. This may be the disease alluded to in Joh_4:26 and Luk_4:38, both instances at Capernaum. Then comes inflammation (Deu_28:22 EV [Note: English Version.] , LXX [Note: Septuagint.] ague). This may be ague, or even typhoid, which is common in Palestine. Next we have ‘extreme burning’ (Deu_28:22 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘fiery heat,’ LXX [Note: Septuagint.] ‘irritation’); either some unspecified kind of irritating disease, or erysipelas; but this latter disease is not of frequent occurrence in Palestine. The ‘sword’ (Deu_28:22 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘drought’) may be a form of disease, or more probably, like the next two words, may refer to a destruction of the earth’s fruits. The same word ‘sword’ in Zec_11:17 seems, from the symptoms described, to refer to a wasting paralysis. The descriptions given in Psa_39:11, Zec_14:12, Lev_26:39, Eze_24:23; Eze_33:10, Psa_38:5 are largely figurative; but the imagery may be taken from an attack of confluent smallpox, with its disfiguring and repulsive effects. It seems highly probable that smallpox was a disease of antiquity; perhaps the sixth plague of Egypt was of this character.
Allusions to pestilence or plague are exceedingly common in the OT. Thus at least four outbreaks took place among the Israelites during their wanderings in the wilderness, viz. Num_11:33 (it has been suggested that the quails here mentioned may have come from a plague-stricken district) Num_14:37; Num_16:46; Num_25:9 (in this last case it may have been communicated by the Moabites). For other references to plague, cf. 2Sa_24:15, 2Ch_21:14, Psa_91:3; Psa_91:6, Jer_21:9; Jer_42:17, perhaps 2Ki_19:35. The bubonic plague was the periodic scourge of Bible lands. It has but a short period of incubation, spreads rapidly and generally, and is very fatal, death ensuing in a large proportion of cases, and nearly always within three days. No precautions against it are prescribed in the Levitical Code, because it was regarded as a special visitation of God. As the plague is not endemic in Palestine, the Jews probably incurred it by mixing with their neighbours. The emerods of 1Sa_5:6 were tumours of a definite shape, and may therefore be the buboes of the plague. The tumours appeared somewhere in the lower part of the abdomen. Some have supposed them to be hæmorrhoids, by comparison with the phrase in Psa_78:66, but this is doubtful. The same word occurs in Deu_28:27.
Of diseases in the digestive organs the case in 2Ch_21:19 is one of chronic dysentery in its worst form. That in Act_28:8 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] bloody flux) is also dysentery, which is very prevalent in Malta. The mention of hæmorrhage in this case shows that it was of the ulcerative or gangrenous type, which is very dangerous.
The results of intemperance are mentioned in Pro_23:29 ff., Isa_19:14.
The liver. The Hebrew physicians regarded many disorders as due to an alteration in the bile (cf. Job_16:15, Pro_7:23, Lam_2:11). The disorders alluded to in 1Ti_5:23 were probably some kind of dyspepsia, apparently producing lack of energy (cf. 1Ti_4:13-16); the symptoms are often temporarily relieved by the use of alcohol. In Psa_69:3 allusion is made to the dryness of throat produced by mental emotions of a lowering character; and in Isa_16:11, Jer_4:10 to the flatulent distension of the colon due to the same cause.
Heart. There are few references to physical diseases affecting it. Pro_14:30 may be one. Cases of syncope seem to be recorded in Gen_45:26, 1Sa_4:18; 1Sa_28:20, Dan_8:27. The allusions to a ‘broken heart’ in Scripture are always metaphorical, but the theory that our Lord’s death was due to rupture of the heart deserves mention.
Paralysis or palsy. This is a disease of the central nervous system, which comes on rapidly as a rule, and disappears slowly, if at all. Such cases are mentioned in the NT, e.g. Mat_4:24, Luk_4:18, perhaps Act_9:33. The case in Mat_8:6 may have been one of acute spinal meningitis, or some other form of especially painful paralysis. In the case of the withered hand of Mat_12:10, Mar_3:1, Luk_6:8 a complete atrophy of the bones and muscles was probably the cause. The case in Act_3:2 was possibly of the same nature. Such cases are probably intended also in Joh_5:3. The man in Joh_5:7 can hardly have been suffering from locomotor ataxia, as he could move himself, and his disease had lasted 38 years. Therefore this also was, in all likelihood, a case of withered limbs. The sudden attack mentioned in 1Ki_13:4 was probably due to sudden hæmorrhage affecting some part of the brain, which may under certain circumstances be only temporary.
Apoplexy. A typical seizure is described in 1Sa_25:37, due to hæmorrhage in the brain produced by excitement, supervening, in this particular instance, on a drinking bout (cf. also 1Ma_9:55). The same sort of seizure may be referred to in 2Sa_6:7, Act_5:6-10.
Trance is mentioned in Gen_2:21; Gen_15:12. But the cases in 1Sa_26:12, Jdg_4:21, Mat_8:24 were probably of sleep due to fatigue. Prophetic frenzy is alluded to in Num_24:3-4, 2Ki_9:11 (cf. Isa_8:18). Saul is an interesting psychical study: a man of weak judgment, violent passions, and great susceptibility, eventually succumbing to what seem to be recurring paroxysms of mania, rather than a chronic melancholia. A not uncommon type of monomania seems to be described in Dan_4:1-37 (the lycanthropy of Nebuchadnezzar). In the NT various nervous affections are probably included among the instances of demoniac possession, e.g. Luk_11:14, Mat_12:22. In Luk_1:22, Act_9:7 are apparently mentioned cases of temporary aphasia due to sudden emotion. (Cf. also Dan_10:15.)
Deafness and dumbness. Many of the NT cases of possession by dumb spirits were probably due to some kind of insanity or nervous disease, e.g. Mat_9:32, Mar_9:25. In Mar_7:32 stammering is joined to deafness. Isa_28:11; Isa_32:4 (cf. Isa_33:19) probably refer to unintelligible rather than defective speech. Moses’ slowness of speech and tongue (cf. Exo_4:10) was probably only lack of oratorical fluency. Patience with the deaf is recommended in Lev_19:14.
Epilepsy. The case in Mat_17:15, Mar_9:18, Luk_9:38 is of genuine epileptic fits; the usual symptoms are graphically described. Like many epileptics, the patient had been subject to the fits from childhood. The ‘pining away’ mentioned in the Markan account is characteristic of a form of the disease in which the fits recur frequently and cause progressive exhaustion. The word used in Mt. to describe the attack means literally ‘to be moon-struck’; the same word is found in Mat_4:24, and an allusion to moon-stroke occurs in Psa_121:6. It was a very general belief that epilepsy was in some way connected with the phases of the moon. Such a theory is put forward by Vicary, the physician of Henry VIII., at so late a date as 1577.
Sunstroke. This is mentioned in Psa_121:6, Isa_49:10, and cases of apparently genuine siriasis are described in 2Ki_4:10 and Jdt_8:2. This seizure is very rapid and painful, accompanied by a great rise in temperature, passing speedily into coma, and resulting as a rule in death within a very short space of time. The cure effected in 2Ki_4:1-44 was plainly miraculous. Heat syncope, rather than sunstroke, seems to have been the seizure in Jonah’s case (Jon_4:8). He fainted from the heat, and on recovery was conscious of a severe headache and a feeling of intense prostration.
Dropsy is common in Jerusalem. The cure of a case of dropsy is recorded in Luk_14:2.
Pulmonary disease as such finds no mention in Scripture. The phrase used in 1Ki_17:17, ‘there was no breath left in him,’ is merely the ordinary way of stating that he died.
Gout. This disease is very uncommon among the people of Palestine; and it is not, as a rule, fatal. The disease in his feet from which Asa suffered (1Ki_15:23, 2Ch_16:12) has usually been supposed to be gout, though one authority suggests that it was articular leprosy, and another that it was senile gangrene. The passages quoted give us no clue to the nature of the disease in question, nor do they state that it caused his death. Josephus describes Asa as dying happily in a good old age. The OT records remark only that he suffered from a disease in the feet, which began when he was advanced in years.
Under the heading surgical diseases may be classed the spirit of infirmity, affecting the woman mentioned in Luk_13:11; Luk_13:13, who, though she could attend the synagogue meetings, was bowed together and unable to lift herself. This was probably a case of senile kyphosis, such as not infrequently occurs with aged women, and sometimes with men, who have spent their lives in agricultural or horticultural labour, which necessitates constant curvature of the body.
Crook-backedness (Lev_21:20) disqualified a man for the priesthood. This disease is one which can occur in youth, and is due to caries of the vertebræ. The collections of bones found in Egypt justify the inference that such curvatures must have been fairly common in Egypt.
Fracture of the skull. A case is recorded in Jdg_9:53, where insensibility did not immediately supervene, showing the absence of compression of the brain. In Act_20:9 fatal compression and probably a broken neck were caused by the accident. The fall in 2Ki_1:2 was the cause of Ahaziah’s ultimate death.
Lameness. Mephibosheth’s lameness was due to an accident in infancy (2Sa_4:4), which apparently produced some sort of bone disease, necessitating constant dressing, unless the phrase in 2Sa_19:24 refers merely to washing. Lameness was a disqualification for the priesthood (Lev_21:18); Christ healed many lame people in the Temple (Mat_21:14) as well as elsewhere. Jacob’s lameness (Gen_32:31) may also be mentioned.
Congenital malformations. Cf. 2Sa_21:20, 1Ch_20:6. The possession of superfluous parts was held to disqualify a man for the priesthood (Lev_21:18), as did also dwarfishness (Lev_21:20), unless the reference there is to emaciation from disease. The word in Lev_21:18, which is translated ‘that hath a flat nose,’ may refer to the deformity of a hare-lip.
Skin diseases are of common occurrence in the East. The most important of them was leprosy (wh. see). But there are many minor diseases of the skin recognized in Bible enactments under various terms.
Baldness (Lev_13:40-43) was not looked upon as causing ceremonial uncleanness, nor apparently was it common; it seems to have been regarded not as a sign of old age, but as the result of a life spent in excessive labour with exposure to the sun (cf. Eze_29:18), and so in Isa_3:24 it is threatened as a mark of degradation and servitude.
Itch (Deu_28:27) is probably the parasitic disease due to a small mite which burrows under the skin, and, if neglected, sometimes spreads all over the body; this disease is very easily communicated, and is not uncommon in Syria at the present time. It was a disqualification for the priesthood (Lev_21:20).
Scab (Deu_28:27) or scurvy (Lev_21:20) is a kindred disease in which a crust forms on the skin; it is most common on the head, but sometimes spreads all over the body, and is most difficult to cure. ‘Scab’ in Lev_21:20 is the tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of a different word, but is probably another form of the same disease (cf. Isa_3:17).
Scall or scurf of the head and beard (Lev_13:30) is another parasitic disease of similar nature.
Freckled spot (Lev_13:39, RV [Note: Revised Version.] tetter) may be psoriasis, a non-contagions eruption.
The botch of Egypt (Deu_28:27; Deu_28:35). The same word is used in Job_2:7, Exo_9:9, 2Ki_20:7, Isa_38:21. It is probably a general term for a swelling of the skin. In Exo_9:10 blains, perhaps pustules containing fluid, are stated to have accompanied the boils. The disease in Deu_28:35 affected especially the knees and legs. Job’s disease appears to have been one of itching sores or spots all over the body, which disfigured his face (Job_2:11), caused great pain and a feeling of burning (Job_6:4), made his breath fetid (Job_19:17), and were infested with maggots (Job_7:5). Various names for the exact nature of the disease have been suggested, such as elephantiasis, leprosy, smallpox, etc. Some authorities, however, suppose the symptoms to agree better with those or the ‘Biskra button’ or Oriental sore, sometimes called ‘Aleppo sore’ or ‘Baghdad sore,’ which begins with papular spots, which ulcerate, become crusted over, are slow in granulation, and often multiple. This complaint is probably due to a parasite. Lazarus’ sores (Luk_16:20) were probably old varicose ulcers of the leg.
Spot (Deu_32:5, Job_11:15, Son_4:7) and blemish (Lev_21:17, Dan_1:4) seem to be general terms for skin disease. Wen (Lev_22:22) means a suppurating sore.
The bloody sweat of our Lord (Luk_22:44) is difficult to explain. Some regard the passage as meaning merely that His sweat dropped, as blood drops from a wound. Instances of bloody sweat have been quoted in comparison, but it seems that none is satisfactorily authenticated.
Poisonous serpents are mentioned in Num_21:6 (where they are miraculously cured by the erection of a brass model of a serpent), Deu_32:33, Job_20:14-15, Isa_11:8; Isa_14:29; Isa_30:8; Isa_59:5, Jer_8:17, Mat_3:7 (metaphorically, as also in Mat_12:34; Mat_23:33, Luk_3:7), Mar_16:18, Luk_10:19, Act_28:3. There are several poisonous serpents in the desert of the Exodus narrative, whose bites are often fatal; but it has been suggested that the fiery serpents of Num_21:6 were really the parasitic worms called guinea-worms, which are not uncommon in the desert region. Scorpion bites are common and often fatal to children in Egypt, but not in Palestine.
Worms (Act_12:23) is the description of the disease of which Herod died. One authority suggests that it was acute peritonitis set up by the perforation of the bowel by an intestinal worm. Josephus states that Herod suffered from a violent abdominal pain which in a few days proved fatal. Thus it cannot have been a case of phthiriasis. The death of Antiochus Epiphanes (2Ma_9:5-9) is described as preceded by a violent pain of the bowels; then he was injured by a violent fall, and ‘worms rose up out of his body’—in all probability a case of compound fractures, in which blow-flies laid their eggs and maggots hatched, owing to neglect of the injuries.
The third plague of Egypt (Exo_8:16) is called one of lice, but the margin of the RV [Note: Revised Version.] suggests ‘sand-flies’ or ‘fleas.’ It is possible that they were mosquitoes or sand fleas, the latter of which generate in the dust.
Discharges or issues of a certain nature caused ceremonial impurity; cf. Lev_15:2-25. Some of these were natural (Deu_23:10), others probably were the result of impure practices, but it is doubtful how much the ancients knew of the physical consequences of vice. Cf., however, Psa_107:17-18, Pro_2:18; Pro_5:11-22; Pro_7:23; Pro_7:26.
Blindness is exceedingly common among the natives of Palestine; the words describing this affliction are of frequent occurrence in the Bible, sometimes in the literal, sometimes in the metaphorical, sense. Apparently only two forms of blindness were recognized: (1) that which arose from the ophthalmia so prevalent in Oriental lands, a highly infectious disease, aggravated by sand, sun-glare, and dirt, which damages the organs, and often renders them quite useless; (2) that due to old age, as in the case of Eli (1Sa_3:2), Ahijah (1Ki_14:4), Isaac (Gen_27:1). Cf. also Deu_34:7. Blindness was believed to be a visitation from God (Exo_4:11), it disqualified a man for the priesthood (Lev_21:18); but compassion for the blind was prescribed (Lev_19:14), and offences against them were accursed (Deu_27:18). Leah probably suffered from a minor form of ophthalmia (Gen_29:17). In Lev_26:16 we see ophthalmia accompanying malarial fever. The blinding of Elymas in Act_13:11 may have been hypnotic, as also possibly the blinding of the Syrian soldiers in 2Ki_6:18.
The cases of blindness which were cured by our Lord are usually given without special characterization; the two of most interest are that of the man born blind (Joh_9:1), and that of the man whose recovery was gradual (Mar_8:22). In the latter case we do not know whether the man was blind from birth or not; if he was, the stage in which he saw ‘men as trees walking’ would be that in which he had not yet accustomed himself to interpret and understand visual appearances. Our Lord’s cures as described were all miraculous, in the sense that the influence of a unique personality must be postulated in order to explain the cure; but He used various methods to effect or symbolize the cure in various cases.
St. Paul’s blindness (Act_9:8) was probably a temporary amaurosis, such as may be caused by looking at the sun. The ‘scales’ (Act_9:18) need not necessarily have been material; the words suggest a mere simile. One of the theories as to his ‘thorn in the flesh’ is that it was a permanent ‘weakness of eye’ remaining after his experience (cf. Gal_4:15). But other explanations have been suggested. The blindness of Tobit and its cure may also be mentioned (Tob_2:10; Tob_11:11); the remedy there adopted has a parallel in Pliny (HN xxxii. 24). Eye-salve is recommended in Rev_3:18, but the context is metaphorical.
Old age. Under this heading should be mentioned the famous passage in Ecc_12:1-14, where the failure of powers consequent on growing years is described in language of poetic imagery.
Child-birth. The special cases of child-bearing which are mentioned in the Bible are mostly quoted to illustrate the ‘sorrow’ of conception, which was regarded as the penalty of Eve’s transgression (Gen_3:16). There are two cases of twins, that of Esau and Jacob (Gen_25:22), and that of Perez and Zerah (Gen_38:29 ff.). The latter was ‘a case of spontaneous evolution with perineal laceration, probably fatal to the mother.’ Rachel’s case (Gen_35:18) was one of fatal dystocia, and the phrase in Gen_31:35 may hint at some long-standing delicacy. Phinehas’ wife (1Sa_4:19) was taken in premature labour, caused by shock, and proving fatal. Sarah (Gen_21:2), Manoah’s wife (Jdg_13:24), Hannah (1Sa_1:20), the Shunammite woman (2Ki_4:17), and Elisabeth (Luk_1:67) are instances of uniparæ at a late period. Barrenness was regarded as a Divine judgment (Gen_20:18; Gen_30:2), and the forked root of the mandrake was used as a charm against it (Gen_30:10); fertility was correspondingly regarded as a proof of Divine favour (1Sa_2:5, Psa_113:9), and miscarriage is invoked as a token of God’s displeasure in Hos_9:14. The attendants at birth were women (Gen_35:17, Exo_1:15, midwives). The mother was placed in a kneeling posture, leaning on somebody’s knees (Gen_30:3), or on a labour-stool, if such be the meaning of the difficult passage in Exo_1:10. After child-birth the mother was unclean for 7 days in the case of a male, for 14 days in the case of a female, child. After this she continued in a state of modified uncleanness for 33 or 66 days, according as the child was boy or girl, during which period she was not allowed to enter the Temple. The reason for the different lengths of the two periods was that the lochia was supposed to last longer in the case of a female child. Nursing continued for 2 or 3 years (2Ma_7:27), and in 1Ki_11:20 a child is taken by a relative to wean.
The legislation for the menstrual period and for menorrhagia is given in Lev_15:19 ff. A rigid purification was prescribed, including everything which the woman had touched, and everybody who touched her or any of those things (see Clean and Unclean). Menorrhagia (EV [Note: English Version.] issue of blood) was considered peculiarly impossible of treatment (Mat_9:20, Mar_5:26, Luk_8:43), and magical means were resorted to for its cure. In Eze_16:4 Is a description of an infant with undivided umbilical cord, neither washed nor dressed. The skin of Infants was usually dressed with salt to make it firm. The metaphorical use of terms derived from child-labour is exceedingly common in the Bible.
Infantile diseases seem to have been very severe in Palestine in Bible times, as at the present day. We hear of sick children in 2Sa_12:15, 1Ki_17:17, and Christ healed many children.
Among cases of unspecified diseases may be mentioned those of Abijah (1Ki_14:1), Benhadad (2Ki_8:7), Elisha (2Ki_13:14), Joash (2Ch_24:25), Lazarus (Joh_11:1), Dorcas (Act_9:37), Epaphroditus (Php_2:27), Trophimus (2Ti_4:20).
4. Methods of treatment.—The Bible gives us very few references on this point. We hear of washing (2Ki_5:10); diet perhaps (Luk_8:55); the application of saliva (Joh_9:6); unction (Jam_5:14); the binding of wounds and the application of soothing ointment (Isa_1:5); the use of oil and wine for wounds (Luk_10:34); a plaster of figs for a boil (Isa_38:21); animal heat by contact (1Ki_1:2; 1Ki_17:21, 2Ki_4:34).
Balm of Gilead or balm is mentioned in Gen_37:25; Gen_43:11, Jer_8:22; Jer_46:11; Jer_51:8, Eze_27:17. It appears to be regarded as a sedative application, and was probably an aromatic gum or spice (see art. Balm).
Mandrakes (Mandragora officinalis) were used as a stimulant to conception (Gen_30:16), and the fruit as a medicine. Mint (Mentha silvestris), anise (Anethum graveolens), cummin (Cuminum sativum) were used as carminatives; salt for hardening the skin, nitre (Jer_2:22) to cleanse it. The caper-berry (Capparis spinosa) is mentioned in Ecc_12:5; it was regarded as an aphrodisiac. The wine offered to Christ at His crucifixion was probably intended as a narcotic (Mat_27:34; Mat_27:48, Mar_15:23; Mar_15:36, Luk_23:3 b, Joh_19:29). Most of the remedies were dietary in the Jewish as in the Egyptian pharmacopœia, e.g. meal, milk, vinegar, wine, water, almonds, figs, raisins, pomegranates, honey, etc.
We have a mention of amulets in Isa_3:20 and perhaps Gen_35:4. The apothecary’s art is mentioned in Exo_30:25-35; Exo_37:29, Ecc_10:1, 2Ch_16:14, Neh_3:8, Sir_38:8; Sir_49:1. But in all these passages the reference is to makers of perfumes rather than compounders of medicines. It is probable that medicines were compounded by those who prescribed them.
Hygienic enactments dealing with food, sanitation, and infectious diseases are common in the Levitical Code. With regard to food, herbivorous ruminant animals were permitted to be eaten; all true fishes also were allowed; but birds which lived on animal food were forbidden, and all invertebrates except locusts. The fat and the blood of animals were prohibited as food, and regulations were given for the inspection of animals slaughtered for eating. The origin, however, of many of these regulations probably lies in primitive taboo laws (see Clean and Unclean). Fruits could not be used for food until the tree had been planted for four years (Lev_19:23-25). The provisions repeated in Exo_12:19; Exo_13:7, Deu_16:3 for the periodic destruction of leaven, whatever their historical origin, must have been of service for the maintenance of pure bread-stuffs.
The agricultural sanitary laws are directed chiefly to prohibit the mixing of different species, e.g. the sowing of different seeds in a field at the same time, the cross-grafting of fruit-trees, the cross-breeding or yoking together of dissimilar cattle. And periodic rest for man and beast was prescribed. No mixture of linen and woollen materials in garments was permitted (Lev_19:19, Deu_22:11), as such garments cannot be so easily or thoroughly cleansed as those of one material. There were also various regulations as to domestic sanitation; thus the covering with earth of excreta and of blood was ordered; possibly the fires of the Valley of Hinnom were intended to consume the offal of the city. Houses were to be built with parapets to prevent accident (Deu_22:8). Isolation in suspected cases of Infectious disease was prescribed (Lev_13:4), and the washing of body and clothes (Num_19:11) was obligatory on those who had touched unclean things.
Uncleanness was in many cases merely ceremonial in nature. But the regulations must often have served to diminish the chances of propagating real infection. Various grades of uncleanness are recognized in the Talmud, and different periods of lustration and isolation were ordained, in accordance with the different grade of uncleanness contracted.
5. Surgical instruments. A flint knife was used for circumcision (Jos_5:8), but in later times steel knives were employed. An awl for boring the ear is mentioned in Exo_21:8.
The most important surgical operation was the performance of circumcision. Its original idea may have been that of imposing a tribal mark on the infant (unless it was at first performed in early manhood and subsequently transferred to the time of infancy); but it came to be regarded as an operation of purification. The exclusion of eunuchs from the service of God (Deu_23:1) may have been due to the dread of importing heathen rites into Israel. But they were important officials in the time of the kingdom, as in Oriental courts generally (1Ki_22:9, 2Ki_8:6; 2Ki_9:32; 2Ki_24:16, Jer_29:2; Jer_34:19; Jer_38:7; Jer_41:16), and there were eunucbs at the court of the Herods, as elsewhere (cf. Act_8:27). The passage in Isa_56:4 implies that eunuchs were then under no special religious disability; cf. also our Lord’s reference in Mat_19:12.
Of course we must admit that in many cases the use of remedies, the sanitary laws, the prescriptions as to food, the regulations as to uncleanness, and so forth, did not necessarily originate in any theory as to their value for the preservation of public health. Primitive taboo customs, folk-lore, magic, superstition, are no doubt responsible for the existence of much that has been here placed under the heading of medicine. And it is quite likely, too, that up to a late period the popular Jewish view of the majority of these rules and customs was enlightened by no very clear conception of their hygienic value. The more educated minds of the nation may possibly in time have come to see that enactments which had originated in crude or mistaken notions of religion might yet be preserved, and valued as important precautions for the prevention of disease and its cure. But it may be doubted whether, even in late times, the vulgar opinion about them was at all scientific. At the same time, it is necessary to recognize that many of the laws, begotten, perhaps, of primitive superstition, did nevertheless serve a medical purpose, and so may without untruthfulness be included in a treatment of Bible medicine.
A. W. F. Blunt.