a treatment for diarrhoea, high blood pressure, hair loss and pestilence
during the following week.^3
The land of Israel was strategically placed on the trade routes of antiq-
uity and was especially open to the medical practices and traditions of its
many neighbours. These included Egypt, where the Israelites lived for some
centuries, to Mesopotamia, home of the Jewish patriarchs. In differing
periods Egyptian and Mesopotamian medicine were highly esteemed even
though many of the medications came with their own associated religious
and cultural practices, often inimical to that of Israel. Further, Israel enjoys
a special climate located between sea and desert, with such remarkable land
features as the Dead Sea and the River Jordan, and is located at the conjunc-
tion of three continents with their varied plant and animal populations.
Medicine in the Bible
The Hebrew Bible records that the kohenim(priests) supervised cases of
contagious diseases but, unlike in other contemporary cultures, did not
perform the functions of a physician. The prophets, however, occasionally
practised the art of healing. Elijah and his disciple Elisha both restored life
to a child who appeared to have died (I Kingsxvii:17–22 and II Kings
iv:18–20, 34–35). Isaiah cured King Hezekiah, at the direction of God, of
an inflammation by applying a plaster made of figs (II Kingsxx:7). Ben Sira
wrote in the Apocrypha:
Honour a physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which
ye may have of him, for the Lord hath created him.... The Lord has
created medicines out of the earth; and he that is wise will not abhor
them.... And He has given men skill that He might be honoured in
His marvellous works.... My son, in thy sickness be not negligent;... give place to the physician;... let him not go from thee, for thou
hast need of him. (Ecclesiasticus38:1–12)
Although the Bible is clearly not in any way a medical text, its volumi-
nous account of the early history of the Jewish people and their constant
religious struggles contains a number of references of a medical nature.
However, it is difficult to find any reference to any medication taken for
internal use, although many of the products that are mentioned throughout
its text do have a medicinal component. There are indications of the under-
standing of quarantine and health protection, and sanitary regulations
concerned the eating of meat, the quick carrying out of burials and social
hygiene. There were practising midwives as well as physicians. Treatments
included bathing, anointing with oils, wine, balm and medicinal compresses,
and splinting for fractures. The health benefits of music were already known
in Biblical times. The minstrel’s music enabled the prophet to be more
294 | Traditional medicine