“Did you know that god is vitally concernEd about the health and welfare of His people? Thousands of years ago, god designed a medical and health plan for israel that was strange and unheard of in their day. yet today, we consider it as modern and advanced as much medical knowledge we have in the 21st century!

 I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about the strange and miraculous ancient health and medical laws written in the bible, thousands of years before modern man discovered they were medically and scientifically correct…

...As one looks back on the antiquity of mankind, we discover that disease, injury and death were the common heritage of all mankind. The major civilizations of the past such as the Egyptians and Babylonians had decided to treat this problem with the known aids and practices they thought would help them. Unfortunately, almost all of their practices to give their people health and welfare ended in greater death and misery than without their treatments.  In fact, this was the lot of our world for thousands of years including the days of Jesus Christ and more upwards even into the 19^th century.

However, this is not true of one civilization, God specifically founded Himself and directed in the affairs of their health and social lives and living. What civilization was this? It is called ancient Israel , a people of millions who escaped from Egypt to begin a new life under the complete care of God’s medical, health and welfare plan, Yes indeed, God established this for their benefit of long life and good health in a world inundated with disease, injury and death. Now, following one more musical moment I’ll tell you all about it in y message entitled: THE BIBLE’S HEALTH PLAN…

…As science and archeology today explore the past, looking at what the Babylonian and Egyptian cultures did in the area of treating diseases and injuries, one would almost laugh if not cry at the unbelievable ignorance, superstition and nonsense they came up with; and worse, practiced to alleviate the diseases that came upon their humanity. Yet, during the very same period, a man named Moses set to writing a health plan for his people Israel, which marvelously rejected all the ideas and treatments of civilization around them, and thereby found what gave them lifelong health, happiness and care in a world without the wonderful medical an sanitary care we have today.

We of course take it for granted to have the multitude of medicinal antibiotics and other health maintaining or curative drugs, surgeries, and practices that have given us long life compared with the ancient past where the was nothing literally to treat and cure the diseases that bring death and destruction to mankind.

Yet in ancient Israel much of this was contained and maintained in preventative as well as curative laws of Israel , which God Himself had given them in the promise of granting them a long, healthy and prosperous life. The key word God uses in granting them this is  --  “IF”-- if they would follow and faithfully obey His laws revealed to them. We read of this as God brought Israel out of Egypt and was leading them to the Promised Land where He would grant them His blessing.

Exo 15:26 ( NIV )  [Moses] said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”

Lev 18:2-3 ( NIV )  “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt , where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan , where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.

It was here at the inception of a new way of life God was leading His people to, that God demanded absolute obedience to His new and strange laws He would give to Moses and the people. Again, “if” they followed them meticulously and faithfully, God promised them health, happiness and a long prosperous life unknown to all people around them that suffered greatly from wasting disease, injury and death. But if Israel did not obey God’s laws, He promised them they would suffer as the rest of humanity, which rejected the light and love of God. Listen to God’s severe warnings,

Deu 28:59-61 ( GWT )  If so, the LORD will strike you and your descendants with unimaginable plagues. They will be terrible and continuing plagues and severe and lingering diseases. 60 He will again bring all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 61 The LORD will also bring you every kind of sickness and plague not written in this Book of Teachings. They will continue until you’re dead.

Wow! God was serious about Israel ’s following His laws for health and societal living. Now although Israel was a theocracy, its health was not to be based merely on the observance of religious laws, but laws which God’s Laws claimed to be medical in nature. Now the priests of Israel were to be the wardens of these health laws, not magicians as in the nations around them; but, as health officials who carried out the instructions God gave them concerning health and social standards of living. As such, the Levitical health and sanitation laws were unprecedented in their day and remained so for thousands of years, right up to our modern day knowledge of medicine and sanitary health advice. Let’s look at some of them now.

In the Laws of Israel God gave Moses, emphasis was placed on eating and preparing only approved animal foods. Guidelines in Leviticus l1 and Deuteronomy 14 included animals

that both chewed the cud and had split hooves, fish with both fins and scales, and flying insects with jointed legs for hopping were approved for healthy eating ( Leviticus 1 l:4-23). Why? Only today do we know the answer. These creatures fed directly and only on plant matter. Such a precaution eliminated disease and contamination, that intensify up the food chain as one animal eats another.

Why today’s scare called, “Mad Cow” disease is actually a result of modern man defying God’s laws for animal care. Farmers have been feeding ground up meat mixed in with the straw for cows, thus exposing them to serious contamination by causing them to feed on the meat of another. What’s more, in our modern world of insecticides, preservatives, and industrial waste, the biblical guideline is uncommonly appropriate.

Now the nations that surrounded Israel , they ate indiscriminately much scavenger animals and sea creatures that infected them with terrible wasting diseases and horrible parasites that consumed their bodies and minds. God forbade this in the book and chapters of Leviticus 11 and 14, while Israel didn’t have any idea why God so commanded them. What’s more God regulated how meat was to be eaten and how much was to be eaten as well. Perhaps the most interesting point of all is the fact that medical science has proved there is a correlation between heart disease and diets high in animal fat. Fatal coronary heart disease has been caused by diets containing high levels of fat. Animal fats are high in cholesterol.  Yet in the Old Testament, God forbade the eating of blood and fat by ceremonial and dietary law which actually prevented the early development of heart attacks and strokes.

But also in addition to the dietary food laws, God also gave laws concerning the treatment and prevention of the many diseases that plagued the known world of their day. For instance, exact instructions were given the Israelites regarding hygienic-living in relation to infection control ( Leviticus 13 , l4), personal hygiene ( Leviticus 12 , l5), community sanitation ( Numbers 3 l:19; Deuteronomy 23:12-14 ), and  even moral cleanliness (Leviticus 18, l9). These laws dealt with community cleanliness and incorporated both preventive and prescriptive health instruction. Remember, the biblical world had no refrigeration, no antiseptics or disinfectants, no septic tanks, and few closed sewers. Also there was no aspirin, antibiotics, or inoculations. This was the medical world of Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, and even of Jesus’ day. In addition, there were laws diagnosing and quarantining skin diseases like leprosy, guaranteeing that these infectious disease would not spread through Israel . We read in,

Lev 13:1-15 ( NIV )  The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 2 "When anyone has a swelling or a rash or a bright spot on his skin that may become an infectious skin disease… The priest is to examine the sore on his skin, and if the hair in the sore has turned white and the sore appears to be more than skin deep, it is an infectious skin disease… 8 The priest is to examine him, and if the rash has spread in the skin, he shall pronounce him unclean; it is an infectious disease.”

 This was unheard of in Moses’ day by the nations around Israel . In a similar fashion, the bodies of dead humans, animals and insects were considered contaminated and strict laws governed the handling of these potentially infected objects ( Numbers 19:11-12 ; Lev. 11:27-40 ). This helped limit the spread of tuberculosis, and many bacterial and parasitic infections that plagued the other nations. What’s more, God regulated their social living and relationships as well. Drinking water was to be kept separated from places for washing or dumping waste. God’s laws gave the first rational waste disposal laws,

Deu 23:12-13 ( NIV )  Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13 As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.

This was unheard of before! Not only did it place human body waste outside the camp, but its burial at a shallow depth assured its quick decomposition by microorganisms in the ground.

God’s law also regulated sexual relationships by forbidding promiscuity (adultery and fornication), sexual perversions such as homosexuality, along with divorce and remarriage and laws preventing the spread of venereal diseases, the inbreeding of genetic defects and antisocial behavior that all brought terrible disease and destruction on their society.

Furthermore, there were actually laws regulating childbirth and sexual intercourse which protected women from pelvic infections and assured fertility. Take time to read the Book of Leviticus chapter fifteen to see the exquisite details of these health laws. In particular,

Lev 15:31 ( NIV )  "'You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.'"

Along with this came the Law of Circumcision. Interestingly, to this day cancer of the cervix which comprises about 25 percent of the cancer of women in general -- is very rare among Jewish women. Dr. Louis Lasagna writes in the book “THE DOCTORS’ DILEMMAS”

"Since the beginning of the nineteenth century it has been known that, married

or unmarried, Gentile women have two to three times as high an incidence of

genital cancer (particularly cancer of the cervix) as do Jewish women. Wherever

physicians have compiled statistics-in New York and Vienna , Budapest and London ,

Leeds and Amsterdam -this differential susceptibility to genital cancer has emerged"

(p. 243).

This finding astounded the medical experts. Why were Jewish women comparatively free from this dreaded scourge?  Medical researchers finally learned that it was because the Law of Circumcision, which God gave to Abraham and his descendants, enabling men to keep their sexual organs free from bacteria which could otherwise become lodged beneath the foreskin.

In regard to circumcision, Lasagna further wrote:

". . . the practice almost guarantees against the development of cancer of the [male organ], and may be related to the lower incidence of cancer of the cervix in Jewish women" (The Doctors' Dilemmas, p. 85).

Another important law in the Old Testament, which may be related to lower incidence of cancer of the cervix is the law against having sexual intercourse during a woman's menstrual period (Lev. 20:1-8). All these regulations were designed by God not annoy them or rob them of some personal pleasure or convenience, no God wanted His people to enjoy a long, happy and healthy life. Now the truth is -- there was no way Israel could have known about these health and sanitation laws, because they were only discovered many thousands of years later.

So how did the Egyptians deal with health needs? Here are two ridiculous and disgusting ways found among Egyptian remedies of Moses’ day:

1. To remedy baldness, an Egyptian was to apply a mixture made of the toes-of-a dog, refuse-of-dates, and the ground hoof of an-asslo.

2. To quiet a child, an Egyptian family was to mix pods of the poppy plant with fly-dirt scraped from a wall, straining it and giving it to the child for four days. (Usually the child either came down with serious illness or death, or became a drug addict from the massive opium administered).

Such foolish nonsensical remedies continued in man’s medical treatments apart from Israel . Why even during the days of Christopher Columbus 14^th century historical writings report,

“During the century just after Christopher Columbus' voyage to the New World , finely ground mummy was prescribed for many ailments. The European health market was the cause of the destruction of many more mummies than the ravages of time through thousands of years. There is even a small market for powdered mummy as a component today in witches' brews!”

What’s worse, we are finding today that the superstition and magic that generally ruled the world of medical treatments of the ancient Egyptians and other nations that surrounded Israel are being revived today in what is called NEW AGE MEDICINE!

A view has arisen that I call the MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR FRAUD!, which emphasizes the magnificence of the human body as an integral part of nature (holistic or alternative medicine).  The idea is the entire body is ultimately connected to the universe. From this have arisen new health and cure techniques for just about every sickness and disease. These remedies often include the use of: Acupuncture, Acupressure, Altered State of Consciousness

Attitudinal Healing, Autogenic Training, Biofeedback, Channeling, Chromotherapy, Color Therapy, Crystal Healing, Dowsing, Water Dousing, Dream Work, Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy, Hypnotic Regression, Iridology, Naturopathy, Polarity Therapy, Psychic Anatomy, Psychic Healing, Psychic Surgery, Psychometry, Psychosynethesis, Reflexology, Reiki, Shamanistic Medicine, Subliminal Programming, Therapeutic Touch, Visualization, and Yoga. All of these are a return to magical and mystical treatments of the ancients who rejected God and sought wisdom of man from within and spiritual forces from without.

Even more, in ancient Israel the Levitical laws for life and living included the well-being and care of animals and cultivation of crops that today are absolute truths in the agricultural practices of the modern science of farming.

Lev 19:19 ( NIV )  “’Keep my decrees. “’Do not mate different kinds of animals. “’Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed…

Lev 25:1-7 ( TLB )  While Moses was on Mount Sinai , the Lord gave him these instructions for the people of Israel : 2 "When you come into the land I am going to give you, you must let the land rest before the Lord every seventh year. 3 For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, 4 but during the seventh year the land is to lie fallow before the Lord, uncultivated. Don't sow your crops and don't prune your vineyards during that entire year. 5 Don't even reap for yourself the volunteer crops that come up, and don't gather the grapes for yourself; for it is a year of rest for the land. 6 Any crops that do grow that year shall be free to all--for you, your servants, your slaves, and any foreigners living among you. 7 Cattle and wild animals alike shall be allowed to graze there.

Indeed this was ot only to prevent the land from becoming a dust bowl, but was a form of welfare too. Now no one knew such laws of agriculture, until they experienced of peril in the middle 20^th century, when American farmers ruined the land by over farming, and created the dust bowls of the 1930’s!

So what can we conclude? The answer is, the Bible is not a book of man’s wisdom but a supernatural revelation given to us from our Creator to enable us to enjoy a long, healthy and prosperous life. But included in this, Israel was to observe the spiritual laws of worship which demanded animal sacrifices. Why? Because by this dramatic illustration, God pointed His people to visually see His promise to redeem them in eternity. Through the sacrifice of another, the blood of the lamb put away sin, until God’s lamb could come and save mankind from the debt of sin, which is death in this life, and more, the second death in eternity. Yes, God told the Israelites,

Lev 17:11 ( NIV )  For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.

Blood represents and contain body life, and when blood was shed, death was the result. So then the word blood in spiritual matters refers to “the taking of one life for the purpose of saving another life.” So the Bible tells us God in His love, sent His Son Jesus Christ, to be a sacrifice in death to save the lives of all humanity. The infinite life of the God’s Son Jesus Christ, was the fulfillment of all the sacrifices of Israel .

1 Cor 15:21-22 ( NIV )  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

My friend, God loves you and has provided His word so you can live an abundant and healthy life here on earth; but more, that when you die you can enter heaven and enjoy eternal life with God. Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, and the only way to receive God’s forgiveness and His gift of eternal life. This comes through personal surrender of your heart and soul to His loving care, leadership and protection. Paul the apostle sums it up in simple but profound words,

Acts 16:31 ( NIV )  They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

May God add His blessing to these words for Jesus sake. Amen

---

·         Radio talk #4206

·         Broadcast date: October 15, 2006

·         Speaker: Dennis L. Finnan, Commentator

·         Program: The World, the Word & You! Radio Broadcast

·         Address: P.O. Box 60033 Grand Junction, CO 81506

---

The World, the Word & You! Broadcast is a non-denominational ministry based on the historic fundamental evangelical interpretation of the Scriptures. A copy of our doctrinal statement is available upon request. These weekly radio commentaries are not exhaustive studies of any particular subject due to the time limit of broadcasting. Actual broadcasts can be heard in selected areas around the nation, as funding provides. Dennis Finnan has been the speaker for over 27 years, and serves as General Director.

* These transcripts are available free of charge to all who desire them. Also available are actual audio radio messages on CD's, and printed booklets of each message. A free listing of recent messages is available upon request also.

---

Want to Help?

If you've been blessed and encouraged by these messages, you can help keep them on the Internet. Below is a secure link to PayPal, a way to donate through the Internet to this Christian Radio Broadcast. We are a faith ministry depending totally upon the love gifts of friends like you. Please consider a donation today of any amount. Or you can use the snail mail address at bottom left to write to us. God bless you.

---

* DISCLAIMER: PLEASE READ - By printing, downloading, or using you agree to our full terms. Review the full terms at the following URL: http://www.wwy.org/disclaimer.htm. Below is a summary of some of the terms. If you do not agree to the full terms, do not use our information. We only publish the talks of Dennis L. Finnan, who does not claim to be an author but a compiler of related information. Such information may have errors or in time be outdated. Some information is from historical, spiritual and biblical sources or represents opinions of the author. It is for edification and research purposes only. The information is "AS IS", "WITH ALL FAULTS". User assumes all risk of use, damage, or injury. You agree that we have no liability for any damages. We are not liable for any consequential, incidental, indirect, or special damages. You indemnify the World, the Word & You! and Dennis L. Finnan for all claims caused by you and your use of these articles.

Visit us at our radio website:  www.wwy.org