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God Hath Spoken
Sanitation
In addition to leprosy and bubonic plague, people suffered from many diseases including cholera, dysentery and typhoid. These three caused havoc in America as well as in Europe; yet nearly 3000 years before, God had instructed Moses what to do. These 3 diseases—cholera, dysentery and typhoid—all come from bacterial infection spawned by the lack of sanitation.
In Deuteronomy chapter 23, verses 12 and 13, God had said, "Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee." Here we discover advanced ideas about sanitation. God commanded Israel to set aside a special place away from the dwellings of the people to use the restroom, and when they did, they were not to leave it open on the ground, but were to turn back the earth and to cover it.
As recently as the 19th century, the streets of Europe were filthy. Chamber pots were emptied onto the streets, and a careless pedestrian might be the unfortunate recipient of its contents. Refuse littered the streets to reek, and to breed disease.
Where did Moses learn to quarantine the diseased? Where did he learn to cover human waste to check the spread of disease? This knowledge was not gleaned from the "fully accredited" contents of the Papyrus Ebers. Moses had to have received such knowledge by divine revelation.
When Europe obeyed the Word of God, the diseases were brought under control—but not until then. God had said if we would obey His commandments He would put none of these diseases upon us. People pay an awful price for disobedience.
Washing Hands
Consider the book of Numbers chapter 19. In the mid 19th century, in Vienna, Austria, one out of every six mothers died in childbirth. Physicians examined the dead without wearing gloves, and would then attempt to deliver a baby. It is little wonder that mothers died by the scores.
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis demanded that examiners wash their hands after examining each patient. In three months, only one out of every eighty four mothers died. But the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked, and the medical experts ridiculed and scorned Semmelweis, and refused to renew His license. The doctor who succeeded him threw out the wash basins, and the death rate again soared as one out of every six mothers died in childbirth.
Dr. Semmelweis went to Budapest, Hungary where he promoted the same kind of sanitation. He was ridiculed to such a degree that he died in a mental hospital.
Note, Numbers chapter 19, beginning with verse 17. "And for an unclean person, they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel: and a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave: and the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even" (vs. 17-19).
If a person touched the dead, he was unclean for seven days. In order for him to be purified, God commanded not simply that he wash his hands, which is what Dr. Semmelweis taught, but that he wash his hands under running water, and that he wash his clothes or change them. Question: "Where did Moses learn such knowledge of sanitation?" The only possible answer is that he learned it from God.