Medicine

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(of a physician). The science, as known in Egypt, was copied by Hebrews (Lev. 13-15; 2 Kings 8:29; Prov. 3:8; 6:15).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

On the banks of the future river that will flow from the sanctuary, trees will grow, of which it is said, “The fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine” (Ezek. 47:12). This agrees with Revelation 22:2. The prophet Jeremiah twice observes that when God brings His judgments upon a people, no medicine will cure them (Jer. 30:13; Jer. 46:11). Proverbs 17:22 Says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine,” or “promoteth healing.”

“453. Oil Used Medicinally” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Psalm 141:5. Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head.
Oil is used in the East not only for anointing, but also for medicinal purposes. There are some complaints in the head which are supposed to be specially relieved by the use of certain oils. Other kinds of oil, however, are said to produce delirium. The “excellent oil” in the text was the kind that cured. Roberts adds to this statement of the medicinal use of oils on the head the fact that in Judea “the crown of the head is the place selected for chastisement. Thus, owners of slaves, or husbands, or schoolmasters, beat the heads of the offenders with their knuckles.” The Hindus have figurative forms of speech very similar to the text: “Let a holy man smite my head! and what of that? it is an excellent oil.” “My master has been beating my head, but it has been good oil for me.”

“480. Treatment of Wounds” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Isaiah 1: 6. They have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
The Hebrews had but little knowledge of surgery, less than the Egyptians. They seldom used inward remedies, but trusted mainly to outward applications. See note on Proverbs 3:8 (#457). The text illustrates the treatment of wounds; they were “closed,” that is, the lips of the wound were pressed together and bound, that cohesion of the parts might be effected. “There was, and is, no sewing up of wounds in the East; and hence the edges, healing without being perfectly united, make the scar of a wound more conspicuous and disfiguring than with us. The only attempt to produce cohesion is by ‘binding up’ the wound, after the edges have been as far as possible ‘closed’ by simple pressure” (Kitto, Daily Bible Illus., vol. 6, 25).

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