Germs and microbiology were officially discovered in the 19th century by people like French scientist Louis Pasteur, and German doctor Robert Koch. Right? So we are told. But the interesting thing here is that the Old Testament contains dozens of references about placing sick people in quarantine, and cleansing and burning infected garments. Note what the book of Leviticus says in chapter 13:4-6, “If the spot on his skin is skin deep and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest is to put the infected person in isolation for seven days. On the seventh day the priest is to examine him, and if he sees that the sore is unchanged and has not spread in the skin, he is to keep him in isolation another seven days…. The man must wash his clothes, and he will be clean.”
Notice the attention to detail here regarding how long the isolation is to occur, and what is to be done to become “clean” – quarantine and bathing. Common knoweledge for dealing with germs, right? But wait a minute… when were all of these passages in the Bible written? Over 3,300 years ago! Quite a while before germs and handwashing were “discovered” to go hand-in-hand. God of course already knew this information, even three thousand years ago.
Notice the attention to detail here regarding how long the isolation is to occur, and what is to be done to become “clean” – quarantine and bathing. Common knoweledge for dealing with germs, right? But wait a minute… when were all of these passages in the Bible written? Over 3,300 years ago! Quite a while before germs and handwashing were “discovered” to go hand-in-hand. God of course already knew this information, even three thousand years ago.
Very good,Jon. Can't wait to have time to read the others.
ReplyDelete"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
ReplyDeleteAnd the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field."
Leviticus 14:1-7 (King James Version)
What exactly is the knowledge burried within this command about leprosy?
The verse you mentioned is interesting, but not jaw dropping. A bronze age tribe finding out that people who are around sick people usually get sick while people who are not around sick people usually do not get sick isn't anything awe inspiring.