The Great Physician XII: The Serendipitous Doctor

Doctor and the Doll
Norman Rockwell
1929

The aim of The Great Physician series was fallout or the end byproduct of me wanting to understand the medical significance of the Mosaic Law. There just hasn't been a lot of highly specific writing on it. I suppose it is because many theologians are not medically savvy and many physicians may not be theologically savvy. There have been a few that have tried to bridge this gap but not many.

I always knew in my heart that part of the reason God had put it there was for the health of the Jewish nation not just holiness. The health part fell out from the holiness or perfection of it. I just couldn’t find books that spoke to it thoroughly so I put it on myself to do the research and prove it out through root cause myself. It appears to me after reading the Levitical laws that there is a medical foundation in the law permitting the development of a rudimentary form of public healthcare but was given to establish and maintain sacramental hygiene and purity.

Of specific medical interest to me is Leviticus 13 and 15. On the surface the Levitical priest appeared to have practiced a form of diagnostic and preventive medicine but acting as a physician as a therapeutic agent and the idea of cure may never have been considered. Priests became inadvertent doctors via obedience to God’s law. God can even work through the ignorance of men. The priest was concerned with issues of holiness. The doctor or nurse with health. But today we could potentially have both. Back then not so much. God knew that what HE was passing on to the priest and his people were medically beneficial but they likely didn’t understand the medical implications. It has taken until modern times to see the medical connection.

I believe Leviticus should be viewed as the first book of medical hygiene. I will also note that I am in no way a medical expert and by doing this series of posts I am literally attempting medical/biblical exegesis. In some posts I’m trying to diagnose or find the root cause of the symptoms the Levitical law was trying to prevent. No small feat for either a theologian or physician. Add to the mix the role of ancient historian an I believe I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. But onward I endeavor…

Simply put the ‘wholeness’ of Judaism’s ritual purity is prerequisite for holiness…so being holy meant being pure. As we can see down through history being pure or righteous by the law also meant being of good hygiene which was conducive to good health. Being healthy and being pure and controlling said conditions in themselves and others could make priests diagnostic doctors whether they realized it or not. The simplest notion of wholeness that they or we would understand was good health via holiness and the absence of disease and illness. The Levitical law served as a set of holy wellness programs.

It was a divine trifecta: Wholeness-Holiness-Healthiness.

Death and disease is essentially malfunctioning or degradation of a biological system. Disease when diagnosed is manifested by symptoms that an individual / patient reports, and signs that are observed or elicited by others whether they be a priest or physician. Illness and disease are medically different terms but the ancient Hebrews did not distinguish so neither will I. I will merely address the manifested symptoms and attempt to draw conclusions.

Botanical Medicine in ancient Israel would’ve likely been gleaned from surrounding existing sociocultural milieus but I will state outright that there is only about half a dozen places where I can find that plants are to be used medicinally.

Psalms 51:7 - Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow

Isaiah 38:21 - For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay [it] for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.

 

Psalms 104:14-15 - He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine [that] makes glad the heart of man, [and] oil to make [his] face to shine, and bread [which] strengthens man's heart.

 

Ezekiel 47:12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."

 

Revelation 22:2 - In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations.

So…although the Bible mentions it only in passing, doesn’t mean it wasn’t used. We must always remember that the Bible is written for purposes of purity, holiness and salvation. It tells of how to avoid things but once disease was sustained it most certainly was treated not ignored….even by the Israelite people who were called to be holy. We need to distinguish that medicine is not necessarily equated with witchcraft in the Bible. It is witchcraft based on the intent of the practitioners / recipient’s heart/spiritual condition. Just as today Christians go to atheistic/agnostic doctors. Does this make them non-believers? No. Is it probable that priests administered some of the known cures of the time as they were men of education and social status. They were looked up to. The Bible doesn’t speak to it but it is likely those with Judaic/Christian beliefs including priests did medical/medicinal things. The Gospel of Luke was written by a physician.

“Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas” Colossians 4:14

Even Paul and Apostle recommends the use of alcohol, likely as an antiseptic in 1 Timothy. Paul was neither a physician or a priest but clearly believers used medicine or took things internally to cure ills.

“Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” 1 Timothy 5:23

Please note that this is not pharmakia / φαρμακεία or drug use to alter one’s mind and reality which is usually associated to witchcraft or magic. It is medicine in the purest sense for the treatment of an observed disorder/disease. The Bible certainly draws these distinctions. Magic was not medicine. Unfortunately for the believer, both were in practice in the Old and New Testament.