Laughter is the best medicine is a popular saying in English. The origin of the phrase is believed
to have come from Proverbs 17:22 (NIV): "A cheerful heart is
good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." (שָׂמֵחַ sameach joyful, gleeful,
happy, merry: Strong’s 8056)
לֵב שָׂמֵחַ יֵיטִב גֵּהָה וְרוּחַ נְכֵאָה תְּיַבֶּשׁ־גָּרֶם
Many modern people have a very limited view of history. They can only see or think about five or ten years into the past. They see history as boring and they think of the ancients as ignorant and backward. This was actually not true. What the ancients lacked was the modern accumulation of facts. An ancient Israelite would have been very puzzled and culture-shocked to have been dumped into the modern world, but he or she could have eventually learned to drive a car or to cook on a stove or to use a cellphone.
The ancients were just as intelligent as we are but the accumulation of scientific facts had not yet reached a critical point. Human knowledge took centuries to double, fact by fact. As knowledge accumulated, the rate of accumulation began to speed up. Every answer exposes a new question. Buckminster Fuller spoke of the Knowledge Doubling Curve which was relatively flat for centuries, then began a slow climb, and then went into an explosive upward thrust.
By the end of the 19th Century, knowledge was doubling once per century. By about 1945, the rate of doubling was about every 25 years. By 1982, the rate was about every 12-13 months. By 2020, the doubling was occurring about every 12 hours. With at least 50,000,000,000 devices now operating and with the rise of artificial intelligence, the rate may now be in minutes.
2296 BC/BCE: Chinese scholars make the first known observation of a comet.
Ca
2600 BC/BCE: 1.
Imhotep (fl ca 2980-2950 BC/BCE, WBD), an Egyptian physician, discusses
the diagnosis and treatment of about 200 diseases. He was a specialist in
medicine and priestly magic.
2. An Egyptian scribe, Hesy-Re, is
described in tomb inscriptions as “…the greatest of those who deal with teeth,
and of physicians.”
Ca
2700 BC/BCE: 1.
Land surveying appears in Egypt.
2. In Egypt, the first written mention of dentists.
3. Chinese scholars list 365 plants.
fl ca
2980-2950 BC/BCE:
Imhotep, an Egyptian physician, discusses the diagnosis and treatment of about
200 diseases. He was a specialist in medicine and priestly magic.
Ca 3000
BC/BCE:The first
historical mention of cancer occurs in Egypt. Breast tumors and ulcers are
cauterized with a “fire drill.”
Ca 4000
BC: In the Upper
Great Lakes area (USA), copper metallurgy is practiced.
Ca 5000
BC: Bolas are used
as hunting weapons in Uruguay.
Ca 6500
BC: Early surgery
(trepanation: the drilling of holes in the skull to relieve pressure) is
practiced in France.
If I had been born in biblical times, I would have probably not lived very well or very long, because of these things:
a.
Because of childhood ear infections and chronic tinnitus, I would
probably have been deaf.
b.
Childhood tonsillitis, measles, or mumps, or any
infection, could have led to death.
c.
My teeth would have been filled with cavities.
d.
Because of cataracts, Fuch’s dystrophy, and
macular degeneration, I would have become blind.
e.
Because of insulin resistance I would have eventually
suffered from diabetes.
f.
The bone spur which cut my rotator cuff would
have rendered my shoulder useless.
g.
My osteo-arthritis would have frozen most, or all, of my joints.
h.
My damaged meniscus in my knee would have given
me a limp.
i.
The stones in my gall bladder, which led to
gangrene, would have killed me.
j. The mycoplasma pneumonia would have killed me. Or any number of respiratory diseases.
k. My bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome would have rendered my hands useless.
l. My numerous pre-cancerous skin lesions would have eventually converted to full-blown cancer and led to my death.
m. Chronic allergic rhinitis would have led to a miserable existence.
n. You get the picture and you can probably add many of your own ailments to the list.
.
Television programs and movies about the Bible usually depict everyone as basically healthy. By our modern standards, they absolutely were not. The Bible names a few diseases and ailments, but does not touch on the common limitations the people of the time had to tolerate. It does encourage people to avail themselves of whatever medical treatments are available as a wise use of what God has provided.
Medical
knowledge during the biblical period was, by our modern standards, very limited and elementary. Paul advised Timothy to
use a "little wine" for his frequent stomach ailments. Medicinal
plants are mentioned, including a fig poultice for a boil (Isaiah 38:21) and
the balm of Gilead for healing wounds (Jeremiah 8:22). Luke, the
author of the books of Luke and Acts, was a physician (Colossians 4:14). God
can work for healing by using doctors and medicine. We are never told to ignore
medical advice or to indulge in strange fringe or extreme types of diets.
The concept of Christian bodily
stewardship comes from the knowledge that we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit
and each of our bodies can be viewed as a Temple of the Lord. This implies that
taking care of your body is a Christian obligation. We do not own our bodies. We have been
"bought with a price"— the blood of Jesus Christ.
Proper nutrition, physical
activities, weight loss, proper rest, presenting a positive and healthy image to others, and
avoiding the use of harmful substances are all biblically encouraged. There is
a one biblical warning about the concern for physical health. It is
possible to become so obsessed with fitness, appearance, or health that these
things become idols and replace God in our hearts. He must be the focus.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 10:31; Romans 12:1; 1
Timothy 4:8; Proverbs 23:20-21; Exodus 20:8-10.
Many
modern people have a very limited view of history. They can only see or think
about five or ten years into the past. They see history as boring and they
think of the ancients as ignorant and backward. This was actually not true.
What the ancients lacked was the modern accumulation of facts. An ancient
Israelite would have been very puzzled and culture-shocked to have been dumped
into the modern world, but he or she could have eventually learned to drive a
car or to cook on a stove or to use a cellphone.
The
ancients were just as intelligent as we are but the accumulation of scientific
facts had not yet reached a critical point. Human knowledge took centuries to
double, fact by fact. As knowledge accumulated, the rate of accumulation began
to speed up. Every answer exposes a new question. Buckminster Fuller spoke of
the Knowledge Doubling Curve which was relatively flat for centuries, then
began a slow climb, and then went into an explosive upward thrust.
By
the end of the 19th Century, knowledge was doubling once per
century. By about 1945, the rate of doubling was about every 25 years. By 1982,
the rate was about every 12-13 months. By 2020, the doubling was occurring
about every 12 hours. With at least 50,000,000,000 devices now operating and
with the rise of artificial intelligence, the rate may now be in minutes.
Ca 1500 BC/BCE: 1. Chinese mathematicians work on permutations and probability theory.
2. Hindu writers mention ants being attracted to a patient’s urine as a symptom of diabetes.
Ca
1550 BC: 1. In
Myanmar/Burma, copper is made into bronze.
2. An Egyptian physician, Hesy-Ra, mentions
frequent urination as a symptom of diabetes.
Ca
1750 BC/BCE: Babylon: square and cube roots, linear and
quadratic equations, Pythagorean Theorem.
Ca
1800 BC/BCE: 1.
Bronze is in use in China.
2. The Berlin Papyrus 6619,
found in Egypt, describes algebra.
Ca
1890 BC/BCE: The Moscow
Mathematical Papyrus, found in Egypt, speaks of applied mathematics: ship
construction, beer concentrations, worker efficiency, Pythagorean triples, etc.
Many
modern people have a very limited view of history. They can only see or think
about five or ten years into the past. They see history as boring and they
think of the ancients as ignorant and backward. This was not actually not true.
What the ancients lacked was the modern accumulation of facts. An ancient
Israelite would have been very puzzled and culture-shocked to have been dumped
into the modern world, but he or she could have eventually learned to drive a
car or to cook on a stove or to use a cellphone.
The
ancients were just as intelligent as we are but the accumulation of scientific
facts had not yet reached a critical point. Human knowledge took centuries to
double, fact by fact. As knowledge accumulated, the rate of accumulation began
to speed up. Every answer exposes a new question. Buckminster Fuller spoke of
the Knowledge Doubling Curve which was relatively flat for centuries, then
began a slow climb, and then went into an explosive upward thrust.
By the end
of the 19th Century, knowledge was doubling once per century. By
about 1945, the rate of doubling was about every 25 years. By 1982, the rate
was about every 12-13 months. By 2020, the doubling was occurring about every
12 hours. With at least 50,000,000,000 devices now operating and with the rise
of artificial intelligence, the rate may now be in minutes.
9 March
5 BC/BCE: Chinese
astronomers describe a comet which they observed.
24
BC/BCE: Strabo
visits Thebes (modern Luxor/al-Uqsur, Egypt). On this trip (24-20), he finds
the ruins of Heliopolis (the biblical On). Genesis 41:45. He
described the Earth as a sphere and said gravity pulled things to the center.
(b. ca
25 BC/BCE – d. ca 50 AD/CE)
Aulus Cornelius Celsus is a Roman medical encyclopedist who wrote about
subjects including skin disorders, fevers, kidney stones, eye anatomy,
dentistry, jaw fractures, cancers, diet, surgery, and medicines. He taught correctly
that fevers were the “effort of the body to throw off some morbid cause.”
10 May
28 BC/BCE:
Chinese astronomers recorded the earliest known dated record of a sunspot, a
black spot on the sun. Exactly how the sunspots were viewed is not known, since
telescopes were not invented until the 1570’s and direct viewing of the sun
will damage the eyes.
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