.■MiiMtnihr !;• :,ii_< h^i If, Mil l!iii ^niirce. The varied terms
applM.li I.I. I mil the demonized, which
./I-, ;.,,;. .. II that the Evangelist dis-
i i-h. ,1 1. I ..,. 1. 1 1.. -.. nihil. Ill-, Mr found not in Luke, but in
panied by dnnibnoss, being indeed often t!ie main cause of"il tlie t.nii deafiaute thus accurately de.seril.iiii; liie limilalioii. Sc- JlKAF AXU Dr.Mli.
(3) 1 1,1 els ni Ihr nnia„sl,nll, ,f.,n,,r ,ni,l speech. —In Mt I'J-- liliii.liiess and dumbness are eniiibined, together with mental disturbance. In this case the restoration is not spoken of as a castinr; out of the demon, but as a healing (^SepdTrewei'), indicat- ing that there was serious physical defect to be remedied. Mt 17"=''= Mk 9""- = Lk ^-^ records a case in which both deafness and dumbness were found along with epilepsy and periodical mental derangement. Mt. and Lk. do not give the features of deafness and dumbness, but confine themselves to the mental features, which they do not describe so fully as Mark. Mk 7^="" is a peculiarly intiTi^liim iii-tance of deafness com- bined with iii.a].:i.iiy 1.1 -[..cell. The description is Kt>i4>bv Kai pi,-,i\:\.]r. 111.- deafness might give rise to the staiiini.iinu, ami the fact that total dumbness had not resulted rather points to a com- paratively early stage of tlie affliction. The signs employed by Jesus in the healing are exactly adapted to reach the intelligence of such a defect- bound soul (see art. Cures).
2. Fever and allied diseases.— Various diseases of a kindred nature to fever were common in the East and from the earliest times, and were probably not very rigorously distinguished from each other : fever, ague, and a wasting disease re- sembling Mediterranean fever. The NT speaks of TTuperis, 'fever,' in Lk 4»» and Jn 4=-. The term in Mt S'-" and Mk 1™ is irvpiaaovaa ; while in Lk 4'" tlie illness of Peter's wife's mother is spoken of (possibly with a reference to the division made liy the Greeks into greater and lesser fevers) as oiie in which the patient was avvexofnivri irupery IJ.(yd\w, indicating a continued and probably malig- nant fever, rather than an intermittent feverisli attack such as characterizes ague. The super- normal feature of the healing jonsisted in the immediacy of the recovery without the regular debility following the disease. The ailment de- scribed ill the Gospels was probably a form of ijialaiial fever which prcNailed in the valleys of i'alestine aii.l rouiid the Sea of Galilee.
3. Skin diseases.— riir GT bears witness to the prevalence in Palestine of many forms of cutaneous disease, and the writings of travellers and eye-witnesses testify to the fact that these are still fearfully common, being perhaps the most characteristic malady of the East. These varieties of skin disease are not referred to in the NT, the only one in evidence there being that most dreaded afiection of the skin, which was also in the worse forms a serious constitutional malady affecting the whole organism, which bears the name Icprosi/ (wh. see).
4. A solitary case of dropsy is recorded in Lk 14-, described as vBpaT^Kbi. No account is given of the trouble, the controversy with the Pharisees regarding the right use of the Sabbath being the main interest. No indication is given as to the seat of the disease which caused the dropsy, whether kidneys, heart, or liver.
5. Diseases of the nervous system. — Out of 22 cases of healing wrought by Jesus upon individuals, 8, and most probably 10, are to be classed among nervous disorders, either with or without the complication of psychical disturb- ance. The general exorcisms wliich mark our Lord's career are of the sann; order, .and .among the general healings of sickness and infirmity which are recorded some may reasonably be
supposed to be .of the sa har.iVter, and possibly
many of them were |.iii.l\ n. n..iis or hysterical afflictions. Disease ol l.ram . . nl i.-, orof the nerve may also .account for som.' of I h.- . ases of blindness.
464
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The attempt, however, to sliow (1) that our Lord's healings may be all reduced to cases of hysteria and of temporary nervous disorder, such as readily yield to treatmrait by known therapeutic remedies, and (2) that these are the best attested of the miracles, sij,Tially fails (soe art. JIieacles) ; and yet it may be freely recOLrnized that many of the ailments cured by Jesus belonged to the nervous cate<;ory. It still remains that those who desire to minimize to the fullest extent the super-normal ]>owers of Jesus are not helped by these facts, for in order to deal eflectively with these troubles He must not only have removed the disturbing cause in the psychical nature, but also brought a Divine power to bear on the whole nervous'system, dis- persing in some cases organic defect and disease. Under this head are included —
(1) Parali/sis 01- Pidsi/ {aeeart. P.\RALYSIS).
(2) Epilepsy. The cases in the XT of this dis- tressing nervous malady are coni])licated with forms of mental dislurbaiioe (m'C art. l.rx.VTIC). But it may lio supposed that amun- tli.i.-e who were regarded as pussossed and wlm-i' ii'^turation was included under tlie general exurcisias, some were cases of simple epilepsy (wli. see).
(3) Probably the two cases of general impotence must be included here — mentioned in Jn 5- " and Lk 13"-" (see art. Impotence).