Modern Medicine In Advance
At the time that Moses wrote the book of
Exodus there were complete medical treatment measures in written form utilized
by the Egyptians. The well known Papyrus Ebers included remedies for about every
condition, many of which were harmful remedies based on the lack of information
about disease and its cause in the ancient world. Moses, despite
being educated as a Pharoah's son, completely disregarded the Papyrus
Ebers Instead, incorporated in the laws of the Jewish people
were guidelines for disease prevention found nowhere else for thousands of years
until modern principles of disease processes became clear in the 1900s.
Remarkable recommendations included such
things as hand washing, (used to stop many conditions such as death after
childbirth, and hepatitis A), abstinence from sexual intercourse after child
bearing for 30-60 days (used to prevent early post delivery uterine
infections and death or sterility), handling of body wastes to avoid
contamination of food supply (used to stop cholera, dysentery and typhoid
fever), isolation principles (used to stop Bubonic plague and leprosy), avoidance
of potentially infected animals and avoidance of eating scavenger type fish or
mammals. (Leviticus and Numbers in Old Testament primarily)
The priest actually functioned then much like a public health official of today,
examining individuals with skin lesions to decide if they were still
"unclean" which usually meant contagious, and isolating them with
periodic follow-up to determine if they had become non contagious.
McMillen SI (M.D): None of These Diseases.
Pyramid Books, New York, 1967.