 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
-33-
God Hath Spoken
Chapter 7
EVIDENCES OF DIVINE ORIGIN
The Scripture needs no defense although it is able to be defended. It is self authenticating, containing evidences that the Bible is of divine origin. In this chapter we will consider the knowledge of medicine, and that the medical knowledge revealed in the Bible had to come from God. Second, we will consider astronomy, and that the knowledge the Bible gives us concerning astronomy argues vehemently that such knowledge had to come from God. And, third, we will consider fulfilled prophecy, and how it testifies to the fact that the Bible is of divine origin.
MEDICINE
About the time that Moses was born, a medical book was published in Egypt called The Papyrus Ebers. It was written about 1552 B.C., and gives us prescriptions and ideas of the medical thinking of those days. For instance, according to the Papyrus Ebers: To prevent hair from turning gray, it should be anointed with the blood of a black cat which has been boiled in oil, or with the fat of a rattlesnake. For the loss of hair, a mixture should be applied that consists of the fat from a horse, a hippopotamus, a crocodile, a cat, a snake and an ibex. (It is interesting to note in dealing with witchcraft how many formulas involve the use of unclean animals). To strengthen hair, it should be anointed with the tooth of a donkey crushed in honey. To cause royal hair to grow, it requires the heel of an Abyssinian greyhound, date blossoms and asses' hooves boiled in oil; for snakebite, a person must drink magic water, i.e. water that is poured over a special idol; for splinters, it requires the use of worms' blood and asses' dung (Comment: This is the reason tetanus killed so many people with lockjaw).
Other prescriptions called for the use of lizards' blood, swines' teeth, rotten meat and fat, moisture from pigs' ears, and of manure, even that from flies. This was the extent of medical knowledge among the best minds in Egypt; and into this culture Moses was born.
It is interesting to note that in Exodus chapter 15, verse 26, when God tested Israel at the waters of Marah, He said to them, "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee."
Here is the promise of God: If the people of Israel would hearken to His commandments, and would be obedient to Him, He would put none of those diseases upon them with which He afflicted the Egyptians. Let us consider one such commandment found in Leviticus chapter 13.
Quarantine
During the 13th and 14th centuries, Europe experienced two terrifying diseases: leprosy and bubonic plague. Leprosy may have been brought to Europe by the crusaders returning home, for it devastated Europe in the 1200's and 1300's. Five to six hundred years ago, it was thought to be caused by eating hot food, or diseased hog meat. Some thought it was caused by a conjunction of the planets. It struck terror throughout Europe.
Bubonic Plague was known as the Black Death, or simply as The Plague. In the 14th century, it killed 60 million people in Europe, or one fourth of the population. Physicians were powerless. It was the Christian community that applied the command God gave to Moses and which is recorded in Leviticus chapter 13, verse 46. There God instructed Moses how to treat infectious diseases: "All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be de-filed; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be." We call this "quarantine."
It was not until the people of God followed God's instructions, which Moses laid down centuries before, that the diseases were methodically controlled. The Christian community directed society's attention to the Law God gave to Moses. It will not be long before people will again have to face the issue as those who are infected with the AIDS virus will have to be quarantined.