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10
Some"Oid Fashioned"Hoalth Laws
That MakeGood SenseToday
Y
ou wouldn ' t normally think
that health principies found in
a document written thousands of
years ago would be up-to-date in
this era of modern medicine. Yct if
sorne of the Old Testamcnt health
laws were properly implemcnted
today, they would prove to be a
positive boon to the state of the
world's health.
States Dr. D. T. Atkinson : " In
the Bible greater stress was placed
upon prevention of diseasc than
was given to the treatment of bod–
ily ailments, and in this no race of
people. before or since. has left us
such a wealth of laws relative to
hygiene and sanitation as the He–
brews. These important laws, com–
ing down through the ages. are still
used to a marked degree in every
country in the world sufficiently
enlightened to observe them. One
has but to read the book
of
Levi–
ticus carefuUy and thoughtfully to
conclude that the admonitions of
Moses contained therein are, in
fact. the groundwork of most of
today's sanitary laws. As one closes
the book. he must. regardless of his
spiritualleanings. feel that the wis–
dom therein expressed regarding
the rules to protect health are su–
perior to any which then existed in
the world and that to this day they
have beem little improved upon"
(Magic, Myth and Medicine,
p.20).
Take. for instance, the principies
of sanitatioo aod hygicne. Over
1,400 years ago the children of
Israel were instructed to bury
human waste (Deut. 23: 12- 13).
Says medica) historian Arturo
Castiglioni: "The regulations in
Deuteronomy as to how soldiers
should prevent the danger of in–
fect ion coming from their ex–
crement by covering it with earth
constitute a most important docu–
ment of sani tary legislation"
(A
History ofMedicine.
p. 70). Castig–
lioni continued : "Study of Biblical
texts appears to have demon–
strated tha t the ancient Semitic
peoples. in agreement with the
most modero tenelo; of epidemiol–
ogy, attributed more importance to
animal transmitters of disease. like
the rat and the fly. than to the
contagious individual" (p. 71 ).
Unfortunately. even in our mod–
ero world we sometimes ignore the
vital importance of sanitation and
hygiene in combating and pre–
venting illness and contagion. Our
modern cit ies are becoming in–
creasingly congested. poUuted. fil–
thy, and dirty. Garbage strikes
pose serious health problems. Our
air is becoming unfit to breathe
because of pollution; and our
water is becoming increasingly
contaminated with indus trial
chemicals, urban wastes. and a
host of modern pollutants.
Blble Dietary Lawa
The Bible stresses tha t proper diet
is important in the prevention of
disease. Le iticus 11 enumerates
the dietary laws which God gave
a ncient Is rael. Amo ng other
things, he forbade them to eat the
ftesh of pigs (swine), rabbits. or
shellfish (Lev. 11:6-12).
Writes Dr . Louis Lasagna :
"Many of thesc make good medí–
cal sense....The prohibition of
hare and swine as sources of food
certainly must havc diminished the
incidence of disease, in
vi~w
of the
capacity of these animals to trans–
mit tularemia and trichinosis. re–
spectively. The transmission of
gastrointestinal infections ( in–
cluding typhoid fever) via polluted
shellfish or wa ter also testifies to
the apparent wisdom of the He–
brews in warning against such sea
food and impure water"
(The Doc–
tors' Di/emmas,
p.
85).
Another interesting Old Testa–
meot law forbadc the eating of
animal fat. This also has proveo a
valuable health pract ice. Dr. Paul
Dudley Whitc, the hcart special ist
who trea ted President Eisenhower
while he was in the White House,
once quotcd Leviticus 7:23: "You
shall eat no fa t. of ox. or sheep, or
goat" (RSV). Animal fats are high
in cholesterol. a fatty. waxy mate–
rial which the body needs in lim–
ited amounts. The body's inability
to properly metabolize choJesterol
in sorne cases, however. may be a
contributing factor in sorne forms
of heart disease. Therefore. Dr.
White asserted: " IL is conceivable
that a fcw years from now we med–
ica! men may repeat to the citizens
of the United States of America
the advice that Moses was asked
by God to present to the childrcn
of Israel 3.000 years ago.''
Lawa of QuaranUne
In many nations of the Western
world. contagious diseases wcrc
not brought under control until
rigid national quarantine measures
wcrc introduced in the ninctecnth
and twentieth centuries. Again.
many of thesc had been practiced
by the ancient lsraelites.
As
the
author of
Magic, Myth and Medi–
cine
tells us: "The laws of health
laid down in Leviticus are the
basis of modero sanitary science.
Moses ordered that cases of lep–
rosy should be segregrated, that
dwellings from which infected
Jews had gone should be inspectcd
before again being occupied, and
that persons recovering from con–
tagious disease were not to be
allowed to go abroad unt il exam–
ined. The modern quarantine
harks back to these sanitary regu–
lat ions of the Old Testament' '
(p. 58).
These hi s tori cal examples
graphically demonstrate the effec–
tivcncss of the principies God
ha nd ed down millenni a ago.
Strictly speaking. of course. the
Bible is not a health textbook or
medica! manual. But it does lay
the foundation of knowledge and
reveals many health laws which
mankind has required tbousands
of years to rcdiscover.
The
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1977