How Did Moses Know That? The advances being made in the field of medicine are amazing. Doctors can do things today that were not even dreamed of twenty years ago. We fuss about the costs of health care, but we stand in awe of today’s medical possibilities. This winter’s infections can be avoided if we will but follow our Mother’s advice: Wash your hands often with plenty of soap and water. You may not realize that the Bible contains principles of science and medicine written long before modern science “discovered” them. This “wash your hands” principle was part of the sanitation laws given to Moses on Mount Sinai. They may not have understood all the reasons, but they were commanded to maintain good personal and collective hygiene. Upon release from Egyptian bondage, Israel traveled over 200 miles to Sinai. They had seen the plagues brought upon the Egyptians, and they had even seen God’s power over those who opposed them in their journey. Some of their own people had been stricken. Then Moses was inspired to write the following: “If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and do that which is right in His sight, I will put none of these diseases upon you which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that heals you,” Exodus 15:26. Note God’s promise: “none of these diseases” will come upon you. What measures did God give for their protection from disease? Some of these rules may have been a bit puzzling to Israel, and we still may not know the purpose of all of them, but the most prominent was, to put it simply: “Wash your hands!” Numbers 19:19 contains some of God’s instructions on the subject of cleanliness for all who came in contact with an infected person: “On the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water.” They knew little about bacteria, but they could protect themselves in this way. In the 1840’s a young doctor in Vienna, Ignaz Semmelweis, noted that many in the maternity wards were dying from unknown causes. He discovered that doctors were examining new mothers just after they had finished performing an autopsy. Had they washed their hands, he asked. No, they had not. Upon initiating this simple rule, deaths diminished quickly. Had they read and believed their Bibles, most of these deaths could have been prevented. Such rules of hygiene are commonplace today, but they were virtually unknown as recently as the 19th century. It took many years for the medical community to realize that the washing of a doctor’s hands is a must for safe medical practice. If we had but believed them, God had given us those instructions centuries before. Egyptian scientists in Moses’ day taught that applying “goose grease, asses’ hoofs, lizard’s blood, asses’ dung and worm’s blood” would heal certain diseases. Moses was taught those things in his youth in the court of Pharaoh, Acts 7:22. But when he wrote Genesis through Deuteronomy he wrote medical truths that were centuries ahead of their time. How did Moses know that? Because God gave Moses the words. That’s what is meant by the inspiration of the Bible. Read S. I. McMillen’s None of These Diseases where several other related matters are found that also illustrate the inspiration of the Bible. Yes, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God,” 2 Timothy 3:16, and “scripture cannot be broken,” John 10:35. Clean hands and pure hearts—a good combination, both physically and spiritually. Carl B. Garner
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 08:39:03 +0000