THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
pressed, and if the affected area does not spread, then the disease is not unclean (verses 6, 39). In the laws for the priests three other skin-diseases are mentioned, garabh, yallepheth, and heres, which render the victims ineligible for the priesthood. The Biblical description of this malady is insufficient for identification. Of all these names only seth can be explained as " rising," and implies a swelling of the skin in contradistinction to a depression of the affected skin, the characteristic sign of leprosy. Sappahath seems (Isa. iii. 17) to attack especially the head. Bahereth is with some probability connected with bahar ("to shine ") and is supposed to refer to light spots and bald places on the dark skin (cf. Lev. xiii. 4). This suggests vitiligo, a skin-disease in which the pigment disappears from parts of the epidermis. These eruptions may appear over the whole body without any previous injury to the skin (Lev. xiii. 2), or where there has been a boil (verse 18) or a burn (verse 24). Nethek is sometimes regarded as a mild disease (Lev. xiii. 31-34), and at others considered to be the same as the zara'ath of the head and beard (Lev. xiii. 30). Garabh (LXX. psora agria, Vulg., scabies) and yallepheth (LXX. tlichen, Vulg., impetigo) seem to indicate an incurable disease, as they exclude the patients from the priesthood (Lev. xxi. 20). They are generally considered to be the itch or herpes. Jleres (LXX. knephe, Vulg., prurigo) was also regarded an incurable disease, as were the plague and Egyptian boils (Deut.xxviii.27).
In connection with these skin-diseases Job's malady may be mentioned. This is generally considered to have been real leprosy. Some think of lepra Arabum or elephantiasis Grcecorum, others of elephantiasis Arabum, or pachydermia, a disease of the lymphatics and blood-vessels, 2. The especially of the lower extremities. Malady of If, however, the account of Job's suf- Job. ferings might lead to the belief that he was afflicted with several distinct maladies, it must not be forgotten that the recital is not the clinical history of a disease, but a poet's description. However, the people of Israel were threatened with this very malady, the same name being employed (shehin ra', Job ii. 7) as for one of the most severe pestilences (Deut. xxviii. 27, 35), and this passage may have been present to the mind of the poet when describing Job's sufferings. For the various symptoms of Job's malady as given by the author of the book cf. Job ii. 7, vii. 3-5, xvi. 8, 13, 16, xvii. 7, xix. 17-20, xxx. 17, 27, 30.
Pestilence (debher) is regarded in the East as the most destructive of aU diseases (Lev. xxvi. 25; Deut. xxviii. 21; II Sam. xxiv. 13, 15; I Kings viii. 37; Jer. xiv. 12; Hos. xiii. 14). The name in itself signifies simply "destruction";
3. Pesti- the same may be said of the name lence. /cetebh (Deut. xxxii. 24; Ps. xci. 6; Hos.
xiii. 14). A still more common designation is maweth, " death " (Job xxvii. 15; Jer. xv. 2; Thanafos in LXX. of Deut. xxviii. 21; Rev. vi. 8, xviii. 8; cf. the medieval expression, the Black Deatli). The names correspond with the definition of the plague given by Galen: " If many people in a place are attacked by the same malady,
then it is an epidemic; if, however, many people die of that malady, it is the plague " (" Commentary on Book iii. of Hippocrates's Epidemics ").
The foremost place must be given to the bubonic plague, which was known in the Orient from the earliest times (cf. Pliny, Hist, naturalis, iii. 4;
Cyprian, De mortalitate). The de- 4. The tails given in the Old Testament ac- Bubonic cord with the symptoms of this dis- Plague. ease. In the description of the malady of the Philistines, 'ophalim, " boils," are mentioned as characteristic (I Sam. V. 6-12), hence five golden images of boils were given as votive offerings (I Sam. vi. 4-5). Among the severe pestilences with which the people of Israel are threatened (Deut. xxviii. 27) the bubonic plague is mentioned. The pestilence which befell the Israelites as a result of David's census is not particularly described, but was evidently the plague. The conception of the angel of Yahweh who smites the people (II Sam. xxiv. 16) is repeated in the account of the destruction wrought in the camp of Sennacherib (II Kings xix. 35; Isa. xxxvii. 36). The recital of Herodotus has long been regarded as of similar origin with the Old Testament account. He narrates that a multitude of field-mice gnawed the quivers, shieldstraps, and bowstrings of the Assyrians, and the disarmed warriors were forced to seek safety in flight. That mice are symbols of the plague is proved by the fact that the Philistines offered, besides the five golden images of boils, five golden mice, as symbols of the plague (I Sam. vi. 4).
The bubonic plague has its name from the usual location of the boils which characterize it, appearing generally in the neighborhood of the groin, rarely in the armpits, at the nape of 5. Symp- the neck, or behind the ear, and tatoms and king the form of round swellings, some- Character- times as large as a hen's egg. Death istics of the often occurs very quickly, even be- Plague. fore these external signs of the disease have developed. The bacillus of the plague has been discovered only very recently. Pliny (Hist, naturalis, iii. 4) connects its appearance with the inundation of the Nile, when this and heavy rains are followed quickly by hot weather. In severe epidemics as much as ninety per cent of the cases result fatally; with the course of the epidemic, however, the percentage of mortality decreases. So far no effectual remedy has been found; the best precautionary measures against the disease are the ordinary regulations of sanitation, by means of which the spread of the plague has been greatly restricted even in Egypt, where it is endemic. Such precautionary measures were unknown to the Israelites; the cremation of the bodies of those who died of the plague (Amos vi. 10) has nothing to do with regulations of this kind. The " murrain " which swept away the beasts has no connection with the bubonic plague (Ex. ix. 3; cf. Ps. Ixxviii. 50; Ezek. xiv. 21), which is a disease of men; animals seem to be immune, with the exception of rats, which play an important part in the spread of the plague. Hezekiah's illness is also considered by many to have
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Diseases and the Healing
been the plague (II Kings xx. 7; Isa. xxxviii. 21, shehin), being brought into causal connection with the above mentioned Assyrian plague. But anychronological connection is rendered impossible by the fact that Hezekiah's illness took place at the time of Merodach-baladan's embassy.
As diseases of the sexual organs caused ceremonial uncleanness, the law offers more abundant details regarding them (Lev. xv.; cf. Num. v. 2; II Sam. iii. 29). The prescriptions con-
6. Diseases cern the issues of men and women and of the Sex- the menstruation of women. A parual Organs, ticularly severe case of the latter
which Jesus cured is mentioned in the synoptics (Matt. ix. 20; Mark v. 25; Luke viii. 43). Syphilis has been identified by some among the maladies described in Lev. xv., and also in the illness of Abimelech (Gen. xx. 17; cf. F. Buret, Syphilis in Ancient and Prehistoric Times, London, 1892). It can not, however, be proved that the Hebrews knew this disease. The description of the malady of Herod the Great, in Josephus {Ant. , XVII. vi. 5; War, I. xxxiii. 5), suggests syphilis, but in this case there may have been cancerous or other sores.
Lameness is often mentioned in the Old Testament. The word pisseh is always used in reference to the legs (cf. II Sam. iv. 4; Job xxix. 15; Prov.
xxvi. 7; Isa. xxxv. 6); only in I Kings
7. Diseases xiii. 4 sqq. is the term applied to the of the arm. Next to the blind, the lame
Nervous are considered the most miserable of
System, beings (II Sam. v. 6; Isa. xxxiii. 23;
Jer. xxxi. 8). The lame were ineligible for the priesthood (Lev. xxi. 18). The New Testament alludes often to palsy and lameness {paralytikoi, paralysis, choloi). Among those whose affliction was considered humanly incurable and who came to Jesus and the apostles in search of a cure the palsied occupied a foremost place (Matt, iv. 24; Mark ii. 3; Luke v. 18; John v. 5 sqq.; Acts viii. 7). Their cure was one of the signs of the Messianic kingdom (Luke vii. 22). A case of hip-disease is mentioned Luke xiii. 11. Naturally nothing is said of the cause of paralysis; it is incidentally mentioned that Mephibosheth's lameness resulted from a fall when he was five years old (II Sam. iv. 4 sqq.). The Greek paralytikos includes every disease in which the patient loses freedom of movement in any part of his body by reason of relaxation or contraction of the muscles. This may result from gout or apoplexy or from spinal disease. Still, in Acts viii. 7, the choloi are differentiated from the paralytikoi. Atrophy of the limb affected frequently accompanied this paralysis (cf. I Kings xiii. 4; Zech. xi. 17; the cheir ksera, " withered hand," of Matt. xii. 10; Luke vi. 8 and the " withered " of John v. 3).
Recently the illness of Antiochus (II Mace. ix. 5, 9) has been explained as spinal paralysis. After he had suffered from abdominal dis-
8. Special ease (verses 5 sqq.) accompanied by Cases. excruciating pains, he fell from his chariot and sustained a fracture of the spine. In consequence paralysis set in, inflammation developed in the paralyzed parts, and
worms were produced from the dead flesh; but this account contains unreliable material. A case of apoplexy, a disease not rare in the East, is suggested in the account of Nabal's death, ascribed to a sudden fright while in a state of intoxication. But it is useless to seek by special researches to fix the medical status of such a " stroke of God " as that of Nabal, that of Uzzah (II Sam. vi. 7), or that of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts v.). In the stroke which befell Alkimos some have supposed a case of tetanus, and the same holds good of " sick of the palsy, grievously tormented " of Matt.
viii. 6 (cf. Luke vii. 2).
Epilepsy, while not mentioned in the Old Testament, is often alluded to in the New. The Greek designation seleniazomenoi (literally " moonstruck " ; A. v., "lunatic"; R. V., " epileptic"; Matt. iv. 24, xvii. 15; cf. Mark i. 23 sqq., ix. 17-18; Luke ix.
38 sqq.) owes its origin to the idea g. Epilepsy, that the disease was due to the moon.
In the New Testament period this illness was attributed to demoniac possession (Mark
ix. 18), though Matthew usually distinguishes between the possessed and the lunatics (iv. 24, see Demoniac). The symptoms described in Mark ix. 17; Luke ix. 38 sqq. are those which characterize epileptic fits; violent spasms shake the patient, he falls to the ground, froths at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, howls, he often casts himself into the water or into the fire, and generally he becomes emaciated. The great number of cases of demoniac possession described in the New Testament are explained by modern medical science as caused by autosuggestion, the sufferers being under the delusion that they were the prey of evil spirits.
At no time was a fundamental distinction made in the East between inspired prophets and men suffering from mental derangement. Insanity was rarer in the Orient than in modern 10. Mental civilization; nevertheless, it is quite
Diseases, often mentioned, and the actions and appearance of the insane were well known (Deut. xxviii. 28-34; cf. I Sam. xxi. 14; II Kings ix. 20; Prov. xxvi. 18; Zech. xii. 4). Two cases are described very minutely, that of Saul and that of Nebuchadrezzar. Saul's malady suggests melancholia (I Sam. xvi. 14 sqq., xviii. 10 sqq., xix. 9 sqq.) alternating with madness. But the very meager information given in the Old Testament does not reveal in Saul's case the symptoms which modern psychiatry requires in determining a case of melancholia, even putting aside all the legendary features of the recital. To the hallucination of Nebuchadrezzar (Dan. iv. 29 sqq.) that he was an animal many parallels exist in the so-called lycanthropy. But there is no real proof that Nebuchadrezzar ever led a life like a beast's; these details are mere adornment of the account (but see Daniel, Book of, VI.). Medical men of sober judgment diagnose Nebuchadrezzar's malady as a form of megalomania accompanied by visions, delusions of the senses, and a morbid fear of persecution, this phase of excitement being followed by a phase of extreme depression, physical as well as mental. But the Biblical historian knows nothing