Modern Medicine

Although medicine has become a much more central part of our society, physicians and the practice of medicine is far from modern.  Pharmaceuticals are what's new.  Physicians are mentioned in Scripture.  The term, physician, appears eleven times in Scripture, six of which are in the accounts of the Gospel.  Paul mentioned Luke in one of his letters as the beloved physician.  The term appears four times in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament.)  Physicians are mentioned as early as Genesis.   It is recorded that physicians embalmed Jacob.  That's not exactly the image of a physician that we hold to, today.

The account of King Asa in II Chronicles first spoke to me about the choice our society has made, yet doesn't admit.  Most of our society absolutely swears that our Creator uses doctors to heal us, but the following verse doesn't indicate that at all, quite the opposite, actually!
  And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to YHWH, but to the physicians.  II Chronicles 16:12
King Asa was considered a good king, but the decision to seek physicians was in direct opposition to seeking YHWH.  The description of the illness sounds like it would be frightening.  I likened it to my own battle with MS and not being able to feel or stand on my feet.  There were a couple of times after becoming a believer in which I sought physicians when the symptoms of MS seemed "exceeding great," and thankfully I was allowed another chance after I repented.  King Asa wasn't given that opportunity.
And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.  II Chronicles 16:13
This account of King Asa has brought to mind many in our society who still die after seeking mainstream health care, but we say "the health care bought them so much more time . . ."  Did it really?  Obviously, none of us can answer that.  King Asa lived two years after seeking physicians, but we have no details as to the quality of his life.  I know this isn't the mindset of our Western culture, but perhaps his life wasn't prolonged two years as much as his death was dragged out for two years.  I'm not at all suggesting passively ignoring health problems, and neither is this passage.  Through out Scripture, we are told to seek YHWH, He is our Healer.  We're also told in Exodus, if we follow His Torah, we'll be healthy; also, lso not a popular teaching in our Western culture.  We prefer to remove or at least ignore the spiritual factor of our health.

The accounts of the Gospel clearly acknowledge that physicians were around at the same time Y'hshuwah walked this earth, yet there is no record that he ever sent anyone to a physician, nor do we find that the apostles recommended Luke.  Hebrews states that Messiah Y'hshuwah is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  If Messiah acknowledged physicians over 2000 years ago, and it's even recorded that the woman with the issue of blood spent her life savings on healthcare; what makes our modern medicine so different from the practice of medicine in Bible times?

Hippocrates, considered the father of modern medicine, actually lived about 400 years before Messiah was born.  Modern medicine is far from new, as Hippocrates work actually predated Messiah's earthly ministry.  The following paragraph links to an article about him.    Medical historians generally look to Hippocrates as the founder of medicine as a rational science.  It was Hippocrates who finally freed medicine from the shackles of magic, superstition, and the supernatural.
Scripture is clear that our Healer is very much supernatural and the accounts of the Gospel bear witness that much of Messiah's ministry involved healing.  There is absolutely no record that Messiah sent anyone to physicians for healing, when He walked this earth, so why would he send us now?

Y'hshuwah Messiah the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.  Hebrews 13:8