Doctor, Medicine and Therapy in the Old
Testament
Adrian Vasile
Ovidius University
Faculty of Orthodox Theology
Abstract: In the books of the Old Testament there are several
references to the person who provides healing and to cases of
illness or advice for the care of the sick. The presence of disease is
often correlated with the reality of sin (especially in the prophetic
books), just as the absence of disease and infirmity is a true
eschatological symbol of universal restoration, when no man will
suffer from disease. The Holy Scripture, especially the Old
Testament, describes numerous occasions when God brought
plagues and sickness upon His people or upon His enemies “to
make you see My power” (Exodus 9:14, 16). At the same time, the
healing power of God is made manifest when the people as a
whole or a particular virtuous person is in a state of illness.
Keywords: desease, healt, Old Testament, healing, medicine,
doctor, therapy
I. INTRODUCTION
The Jewish people acquired medical knowledge from the
peoples they came in contact with, especially from the
Egyptians and the Babylonians who had a great deal of
knowledge in this field, including performing surgeries. The
doctor or the healing process itself are mentioned in the
prophetic books (Isaiah 3: 7; Jeremiah 8:22), as well as with a
focus on the time of King Asa, who is said to have been ill, on
account of his not seeking the Lord as a healer but the doctors
and in the same books there is talk of healing ointments and
spices (II Chronicles 16, 12, 14). Medicine was practiced
especially by priests who were required by law to examine
lepers and see that they were cured of this relentless disease
(Leviticus 13) and in some diseases the thermal waters of
Tiberias, Gadara or other places were used. In the Holy
Scriptures, apart from honey, no mention is made of the
internal medicines mentioned only in the Talmud.
“But man begets his own suffering, as the eagles are lifted
up in the air by their own powers; but I will run unto God, and
I will show Him my trouble”(Job 5: 8). We will see below
what Israel knew about diseases and what the patient’s
situation was in Israeli society. We will also see what kind of
care/ therapy a person might expect from a doctor and what
role a doctor’s position played in the Old Testament tradition.
1
Constanţa
preotadrian@yahoo.com
II. DOCTOR AND MEDICINE IN ISRAEL
The noun that in the Old Testament designates the doctor or
healer (rōfē), comes from the Jewish root rāfā, and it means to
repair, to resume. The etymology is very graphic because it
recalls the very modest origins, the primitive condition of
medicine in general, and that of Israelite in particular, and
makes us immediately think of a healer rather than a specialist
in medicine.
In the form of the active participle qal (rōfē), the term
appears five times in the singular (Exodus, 15 26, II Kings 20,
5, Jeremiah 8, 22; Psalms 103, 3; 147, 3) and three times in the
plural (Genesis 50, 2; II Chronicles 16, 12; Job 13, 4). The Old
Testament also has a root gāhā: to heal, but appears only in
Hosea 5.13.
Express and precise mentions of physicians in the Old
Testament are therefore relatively rare, which does not seem to
give the healer a high specific place in Israeli society. In
addition, he is never counted among Israeli own civil servants.
Therefore, there’s a big difference as compared to swnw, the
Egyptian doctor, a distinguished figure, frequently mentioned
in the medical texts in Egypt from the early period to the
Coptic period. [1] The social condition of the Israelite healer
must therefore have been far inferior to that of the doctors of
ancient Egypt.
Similarly, the Old Testament does not refer to medical
specialists, while Herodotus and Egyptian documents state that
medicine was practiced in Egypt by specialists. The Old
Testament makes no mention of the medical schools in
Pharaonic Egypt [2], as Grapow assumes [3].
The oldest mention of medical staff in the Old Testament,
the one found in Genesis 50, 2, is just a reference to “doctors”
(rōfeām) [4], namely the Egyptians whom Joseph
commissioned to embalm his father Jacob, acknowledging
thereby the identification of the Egyptian doctor with the
embalmer whom we find in ancient times [5]: „And Joseph
commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father:
and the physicians embalmed Israel ”(Acts 50: 2). However,
Grapow denies this identification as existing before the Greek
period [6] Whichever the version, the oldest reference in the
Old Testament to rōfeām denotes a feature of foreign habits.
[7]
A relatively old text referring to the disease is the one from
Exodus 15, 26: “And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the
voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his
sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his
statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I
have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that
healeth thee.” In this context, it is reported that the Israelites in
the land of Mara, after finding the water undrinkable, turned to
Moses, to whom God indicated a wood to sweeten the water,
and the author of the book adds that God will not provoke them
from now on with none of the “diseases” (mahālā) which He
had struck Egypt with, because, as Yahweh proclaims, “I am
the Lord your God who heals you.” This ancient text indirectly
attests to the existence of human healers in Israel, but also
reveals the religious ties of Israeli medicine, the power to cause
disease and to heal them being attributed to divinity. God is the
source of the plagues on Egypt. (Exodus 7: 3 ff.), Similarly, it
is He who also sends Saul a “wicked spirit” of madness (I
Kings 16:14) and it is He who reveals to Moses a way to
sweeten the bitter water (with a wood thrown into it), as we
have seen before. So we find no trace of rational medicine
based on objective observation. The passage also seems to
imply a superiority of the divine Physician over human healers.
In more recent times, in IV Kings 20, 1 ff. we are told of a
very serious, life-threatening illness of King Hezekiah, to
whom, in his prayer, God promised an imminent healing by
means of a cure, with the help of the prophet Isaiah, namely by
applying a “fig cake” to the king’s wound. Here, healing by
God does not preclude human therapy, even if it was one that
required the most basic procedures. In this situation we are not
just talking about a miraculous remedy, but an instance of
empirical medicine.
Such an appeal to a “prophet” in case of illness is not
unique; there are the cases of Nathan (II Kings 12, 14), Ahijah
(III Kings 14, 2), Elijah (III Kings 17), Elisha (IV Kings 4, 34-
35), Isaiah (IV Kings 20, 7). The prophets no doubt resorted to
divinity to know the specifics of the disease, or at least the
chances of healing. Thus, Nathan foretold to David that his
child would die (II Kings 12 14); Ahijah foretells to
Jeroboam’s wife the death of their child (III Kings 14: 2);
Elijah brings back to life the widow’s son (III Kings 17) and
Elisha the Shunamite son (IV Kings 4).
We also know of a testimony of the prophet Jeremiah
(8:22) regarding our theme: the wonder that the wound of his
people does not heal (the word amka designates a remedy that
ensures the healing of a wound). Jeremiah asks this question
with a melancholy scent: “They are no longer balm (sōri) in
Gilead? The doctor is no longer there (rōfē)? Why do not the
daughter of my people be healed? ” So, finally, there is a
relatively precise remedy (an ointment) that should heal a
wound. The word “balm” (sōri) is also found in Jer. 46, 11 and
in 51, 8, where sōri also serves as a remedy, also referring to a
region famous for its healers (Gilead, in Transjordan). Here,
healing did not have a religious basis, but was a human and
traditional practice. However, the way healing was practiced
2
was not similar to that of Greek medicine, but it was just
recipes and ointments passed down from father to son and had
nothing in common with the more elaborate medicines of
Mesopotamia or ancient Egypt. [8]
On the other hand, when Job (13: 4) draws a parallel
between the “inventors of the lie.” (tōfelē sāqèr) and “helpless
doctors” (rōfē èlil), undoubtedly he wants to allude to
charlatans. We cannot say with certainty whether this bitter
judgment involves a general condemnation of medicine or only
an unfavorable appreciation of incapable healers. However, the
wording betrays a limited respect for medicine and its
prescriptions.
On the other hand, in Paralipomena (II Paral. 16:12) it is
shown that King Asa, being sick “from the feet up” made the
mistake of resorting to “doctors” (rōfēim) rather than God. The
chronicler categorically accuses this trust in human medicine in
the detriment of the faith in God. It seems that the
hagiographer, in his appreciation of medicine, would consider
it as being in opposition to the religious faith. It could be said
that we have here a foretaste of a kind of conflict between
religion and science, between the trust in man and the trust in
God, a conflict that is no longer relevant today, given the
fruitful dialogue, constantly updated between science and
religion .
Two psalms from an early period (Ps. 102: 3; 146: 3)
finally proclaim God’s sovereign excellence as rōfē which
frees man from all sickness (the consequence of the sin
mentioned in the same verse) and death (102, 4) and, in a
spiritual sense, “which heals broken hearts and wounds their
wounds” (146, 3), condemnation of human medicine, this
perspective proving on the contrary a true esteem for human
medicine at the level known at that time (broken limbs,
dressing of painful wounds) since they can be transposed into
the divine sphere.
Finally, let us not forget a few allusions from the Old
Testament concerning midwives (Acts 35:17; 38:28; Exodus
1:15, and so on) and the care given to the newborn (Isa. 16:16)
4).
The texts we have just mentioned show that in the mentality
of the people of Israel there was not a high appreciation of
medicine and doctors, medicine being rather theurgical in
nature.
Also, two texts from the book The Wisdom of Jesus, the
son of Sirah (chapters 10 and 38) support the same idea. It
seems that we are dealing with a doubt that hangs over the
doctors of the time, proving that medicine does little to help
man. The text from Sir. 10, 9 would emphasize, not the
uselessness of the medical art, but its possible limits: the
slightest evil sometimes triumphs over the resources of
medicine. [9]
On the other hand, Sir. 38, 1-15 contains interesting
statements about the doctor. “Honor the doctor” (including
perhaps paying him what he deserves) because “you need him”
for he too was created by God. Through God, the doctor
becomes skilled, so he receives gifts from the king. “The
doctor’s learning keeps his head high, and the great regard him
with awe. The Lord has brought forth medicinal herbs from the
ground, and no one sensible will despise them. Did not a piece
of wood once sweeten the water, thus giving proof of its
power? He has also given some people knowledge, so that they
may draw credit from his mighty works. He uses these for
healing and relieving pain; the druggist makes up a mixture
from them. Thus, there is no end to his activities; thanks to
him, well-being exists throughout the world. My child, when
you are ill, do not rebel, but pray to the Lord and he will heal
you. Renounce your faults, keep your hands unsoiled, and
cleanse your heart from all sin. Offer incense and a memorial
of fine flour, make as rich an offering as you can afford. Then
let the doctor take over -- the Lord created him too -- do not let
him leave you, for you need him. There are times when good
health depends on doctors. For they, in their turn, will pray the
Lord to grant them the grace to relieve and to heal, and so
prolong your life. Whoever sins in the eyes of his Maker, let
such a one come under the care of the doctor!” (Ecclesiasticus
/ Sirach 38: 3-15)
Here the Ecclesiastes shows the importance of human
medicine given the fact that he is an author who, moreover,
knew very well Egypt and ancient Greece and knew the
prestige of Egyptian and Greek medicine, known during the
Late Period of Egypt, or Ptolemaic. Sirach’s pleading tone in
38 1-15 is no doubt due to a reaction against religious or
theological scruples found in the Old Testament. [10]
It is necessary to insist on this text due to its positive
character and the contrast with several canonical texts that we
have mentioned above. Jesus Sirah obviously sought to
reconcile religious faith with trust in medical science, the latter
being expressly willed by God and not excluding in any way
the prayer that physicians can make to God to assist them (
verse 14). The emphasis that the text we refer to has on the
development of this theme, of a human medicine patronized by
divinity, is clearly opposed to the narrow, uncompromising
mentality of certain circles of the Jewish people and their
religious distrust of medicine.
The texts we have mentioned show that the absolute doctor
(rōfē) is God, and doctors or medicine as a science were of too
little importance to the Jewish people. Undoubtedly, the same
anonymity is generally found in the case of Egyptian doctors,
except the legendary Imhotep, the latter bearing several titles
that highlight his special abilities [11], but we do not find such
a case in the pages of the Old Testament. This anonymity also
contrasts with the mention by name of some famous doctors in
the Iliad: Machaon, Podalire and Paieon; we remember
Machaon’s care for Menelaus wounded by Pandarus’ arrow:
the removal of the arrow, the blood sucked by the practitioner
who then dressed the wounds. [12] Unfortunately, the image of
the physician in ancient Israel did not stand out much and was
not marked in the Old Testament as a professional
specialization.
III. MEDICAL THERAPY IN ISRAEL
Medical therapy in Israel was rudimentary, as evidenced by
some terms found in the Old Testament, such as hābās: to
bind, to bandage (Isa. 3: 7; 30:26; Ezek. 34: 4; Job 5:18), that
3
is, bandages applied to superficial wounds (Isa. 30: 26; Jer. 51:
8; 6: 14; Ezek. 34: 4; Zech. 11:16); māhās: to heal (Deut.
32:39; Isa. 30:26; Job 5:18); or hikkā șand its derivatives (Os.
6 1; Is. 30 26; Jer. 15, 18; 30, 17) and fractures and wounds
were bandaged (Isa. 1: 6).
After the Israelites came out of Egypt, the serpent bites
were healed by looking at the brass serpent (Numbers 21: 4),
and the practice of this healing ritual is attested to the time of
Hezekiah: “And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that
Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had
made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).” (IV Kings 18,
4).
But in addition to therapy as such, in the Old Testament we
can also find references to necromancy (IV Kings 21, 6; Is. 8,
19), mantic and divination (Is. 8, 19) or even astrology (Is. 47,
13), all practices forbidden by divine law (Deut. 18: 9; Lev.
19:31). Elisha is said to have resurrected the Shunammite
child, lying on his body. he lay down on it and warmed the
child’s body.” (IV Kings 4:33); and the bones of the same
prophet would have resurrected a person to touch it: “ And
Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the
Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it
came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they
spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre
of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the
bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.” (IV
Kings 13, 20-21 ). [13]
H. Grapow’s history of Egyptian medicine shows the
chasm that separates Jewish therapy from that of ancient Egypt.
Moreover, the Israelites have repeatedly resorted to God’s
power to combat the harmful influences of the disease. We
should emphasize the role of fasting and penance in Jewish
therapy. After a bloody defeat, all the people submitted to a
one-day public fast (Judges, 20 26); David fasts to get his child
healed (II Kings 12:22); In times of epidemic penance was
resorted to (e.g., III Kings 8, 37-38). The oracle of Baal-Zebub
was consulted to see if King Ahaziah would recover from his
fall from his window (IV Kings 1: 2), and Elijah rebuked him
for not consulting the oracle of Yahweh (IV Kings 1, 16 ). [14]
The King of Damascus Benhadad consults Elisha on his
chances of recovery (IV KIngs 8, 8).
Undoubtedly, the “lamentations” played a part in the
Jewish people’s hope of curing some diseases. Cries of sorrow
and collective prayers were common in the event of an
epidemic (III Kings 8, 37-38), and in Os. he uses the image of
healing a wound in his lament over the deliverance of Israel
(Hos. 6: 1). Individual grievances for salvation are also
common, and illness is one of the predominant themes, at least
as an image of misery. The invocation of divine help for
healing often intertwines or even identifies with the cry for
help in the hope of salvation (Ps. 3: 2-3; Job 6: 2; Jer. 15:18;
17:14). It is clear from some texts that the invocation of God’s
mercy for salvation is intended to heal the soul or body of the
Israelite believer, which is confined to a state of sinfulness (Ps.
6: 2; 40: 4; Jer. 17:14).
W. Baumgartner rightly pointed out that often the prayers
offered by the Israelites to Yahweh in times of distress were
not so much a cure for a disease as a forgiveness of sin, for the
latter was considered the cause of sickness. [15]
On the other hand, Gunkel believed that in ancient times
the psalmists were not primarily concerned with knowing
whether God was the cause of the disease, but that the
connection between Yahweh and sickness was a form of
intensifying prayer or deepening grief. [16]
The Old Testament also mentions therapeutic mandrakes as
an aphrodisiac (Genesis 30:14), balms (Acts 37:25; Jer. 8:22),
figs as having a therapeutic effect (IV Kings 20: 7), not to
mention some magical means such as bitter water (Num. 5.1 et
seq.) and amulets (Os. 2, 4), or music against the evil spirit (I
Kings 16, 16, 23), or the brass serpent (Num. 21, 9), which
heals like the serpent of Asclepius, from Greek mythology.
No allusion is made to truly objective anatomical
knowledge, much less to dissection. Likewise, we cannot find
an example of rational reflection on a disease or
systematization of observations; no method, no search for
objective causes. Thus, we conclude that the therapy of the
Jewish people was far below the level of the Egyptian or
Mesopotamian, the Hippocratic or the Arabic.
But a closer philological analysis will make us understand
that the term rāfā refers to a “healing” by God. Sometimes
therapy/ healing is understood in a literal sense, other times in a
figurative sense. According to Gen. 20, 17, Abraham lied to
Abimelech that Sarah was his sister. Because Abimelech
forgave Abraham and gave him many gifts, God healed
Abimelech, his wife, and his servants who were unable to
procreate without any indication. So we are dealing with a
supernatural cure (without any mention of human intervention)
of a disease in the literal and physical sense of the word.
In the account in Num. 12, Mariam is afflicted by God with
a skin disease (the text mentions leprosy, but some believe that
it was not ) [17] and healed by Him (v. 13), following the
prayer of Moses and after a seven-day isolation, without
indication of a remedy. Again, we are dealing with a disease in
the physical sense, healed with the help of divinity. “There are
many examples in the holy history of the Old Testament that
show that by performing the sevenfold prayer, God had mercy
on people by sending them His grace and blessing. Thus, seven
priests sounded the trumpets, and the city of Jericho was
surrounded seven times, until the Israelites conquered it
(Joshua VI, 13-16); the prophet Elijah prayed seven times on
Mount Carmel until God poured rain on the earth (II Kings
XIX, 42-44); seven times he went to Elisha on a dead man to
the resurrection (IV Kings IV, 34-35) and Neeman the Syrian,
at the urging of the prophet Elisha, plunged seven times into
the Jordan River to be healed of leprosy (IV Kings V, 14) . The
number of seven priests and seven acts of worship existing in
the structure of the ordinance of the Sacrament was also put in
analogy with the symbolic significance of this figure, which
signifies the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (Isa. 11: 2-3). it was
considered a holy number, imagining perfection ”. [18]
The passage from Deut. 32, 39 (the song of Moses)
contains a general statement of God: “Behold, behold, I am,
and there is no God beside me: I kill, and I rise: I wound and
heal; My hand!”, which shows the divine omnipotence over life
4
and death, including the punishment against His enemies.
Therefore, God appears here as the only omniscient and
omnipotent physician, without mentioning any human
intermediaries.
In Os. 6 1, on the other hand, we are dealing with a
figurative sense and it applies to the political situation of Israel.
So the image of the doctor is applied to Yahweh, but the evil is
political. In Os. 7 1, we have the same general allusion to the
“healing” of Israel by God in political circumstances, so in a
figurative sense. The same is true of Hosea 14, 5. If healing is a
favorite term of the prophet Hosea, God is always the healer. In
Hosea we find no allusion to healing and human therapy, but a
spiritualization of the theme: the doctor par excellence is
Yahweh.
In IV Kings 20, 7-8 it is told that God announces to
Hezekiah that He will heal him of his serious illness. On
Isaiah’s advice, apply a fig compress to the patient’s wound. So
here we are dealing with God’s saving intervention in a case of
illness itself, but this time without excluding a human means.
Isaiah undoubtedly intervenes as a healer/ therapist to
determine what remedy should be used. Healing is therefore in
the literal sense, and the prophet works with God for the
success of the treatment.
According to Is. 30, 26, during the political restoration, it is
God who “heals” people’s diseases, but these are seen
figuratively. We find the same meaning in Is. 6, 10, where the
impossibility of “healing” the eyes, ears, heart is an image of
the spiritual hardening of the people of Israel, and in Is. 19, 22,
“healing” is brought about by God after the conversion of
Egypt. [19]
In the book of Jeremiah, God is the chief agent of healing,
but again in the sense we find the figurative meaning: “to heal”
the rebellion of Israel (Jer. 3:22); to deliver the prophet from
his inward pains (Jer. 17:14); to restore Israel (Jer. 30:17).
This spiritualization of the theme of healing by God is
especially stated in Is. 57, 18-19, where “healing” represents
forgiveness, God’s grace for those who humble themselves.
In the Psalms, God is always represented as the agent of
healing when this theme is used: the psalmist and the believers
return to Him to be delivered from their evil, physical or
spiritual (Ps. 6: 2; 29: 2; 40; 3; 106, 20), or a political defeat
(Ps. 59: 2-5).
In II Paral. 7, 14 God is also the subject, the author of a
restoration of the land (literally: “I will heal their land”), in
case of drought, locusts and plague, naturally provided that the
people repent.
Finally, in Job 5:18, God can be understood as the agent of
healing both literally and figuratively (“He wounds and He
binds the wound, He strikes and His hands heal”).
As for Ecclesiastes 3: 3 (“It is time to hurt and time to
heal”), healing is seen in the literal sense (restoring health), and
the agent of this healing can be anyone, therefore not
necessarily God.
In conclusion, religious terminology has borrowed heavily
from medical terminology; In parallel with the spiritualization
of the notion of sickness, in the vast majority of allusions to
healing, God is the author of healing in the literal or figurative
sense.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The Old Testament speaks little about the art of healing the
body, and it reveals in Israel two currents of opinion regarding
medicine: the uncompromising attitude toward healing as
strictly the prerogative of divinity (IV Kings 20: 5: Yahweh is
his doctor). Hezekiah (Isaiah 15:26: Yahweh is the Doctor of
Israel) and the broad attitude of those who gave credit to
human medicine, but it was seen as instituted by God (Sir.
38:12, where God affirmed ), the two currents finally
culminating in a synthesis essay found in Sir. 38, 1-15.
God was the one who played the leading role in healing
people in general (Isa. 15:26; Deut. 7:15) or certain people,
with human intermediaries remaining in the background rather
than the intervention of the priest who had the right to declares
a man pure or impure from a medical point of view (Lev.
13:37; 14: 3). We can say that in Israel the divine doctor
eclipsed the human healer: Yahweh was the supreme healer of
man.
Old Testament mentions of medicine and doctors first show
the rudimentary and empirical state of this science or practice
in Israel. In fact, the words “medicine” and “doctor” are too
ambitious and modern; terms such as “healers” health care
people would be more appropriate in the Old Testament, in
addition to later texts in the Book of Wisdom of Jesus, son of
Sirah, where the term doctor is used in a close sense. of its
current meaning.
On the other hand, terms such as “healer” or “to heal” are
adopted in religious vocabulary and attributed more often to
divinity than to man. However, to speak in this case of a purely
figurative use would be to reduce the expression to the role of a
simple image, a simple figure of speech and to minimize its
scope, when in fact “healing” or “healing-giving” represents a
theurgical activity, a qualified one, in the full sense of the term.
The emphasis is not on metaphorical use, but on
spiritualization: it is an Israelite testimony of God as a
sovereign healer and an example of religious realism.
In many cases, when the use is extended to the moral and
not just the physical realm, the concept of healing was thus
enriched with a spiritual and religious value: the spiritual and
moral man was conceived as a sick person, but also healed by
God. In the Old Testament there is a unitary conception of
man, subjected in its spiritual and physical totality to the
beneficial action of God, and Yahweh is the “healer” and the
“saviour” the divine physician of soul and body.
REFERENCES
[1] Hermann Grapow, Grundriss der Medizin der alten
Aegypter, vol. 3, Berlin, 1954, p. 86
[2] Gustave Lefebvre, Essai sur la médecine égyptienne de
Vépoque pharaonique, Paris, 1956, pp. 17-18
[3] Hermann Grapow, op.cit., p. 96
[4] Adolf Deissman, Bible Studies, Wipf & Stock, Eugene,
OR, 2004, p. 120
[5] W. Spiegelberg, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung,
Leipzig, 1924, col 421-424
[6] Hermann Grapow, op.cit., p. 91
[7] Adolf Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im
Altertum, J.C.B. Mohr, p. 477
[8] E.M. Yamauchi, „Magic in the Biblical World”, in
Tyndale Bulletin, no. 34, 1983, pp. 169-200
[9] Paul Humbert, „Maladie et Médecine dans l'Ancien
Testament”, in Revue d'histoire et de philosophie religieuses ,
no. 1,1964, p. 14
[10] Paul Humbert, Recherches sur les sources égyptiennes
de la littérature sapientiale d'Israël, Secrétariat de
l'Université, 1929, p. 125
[11] Hermann Grapow, op.cit., p. 86
[12] Henry Dunbar, “The Medicine and Surgery of
Homer”, in British Medical Journal, january, 1980, pp. 1-8
[13] Paul Humbert, art.cit., p. 17
[14] Hermann Grapow, op.cit., p. 87
[15] Walter Baumgartner, Die Klagegedichte des Jeremia,
Verlag von Alfred Topelmann, Vormals J. Ricker, Grissen,
1917, pp. 16-17; ; Arhim. Vasile Miron, „Taina Sf. Maslu - o
terapeutica a bolilor sufletesti si trupesti”, in BOR III
(130)/2012, nr 3, p 312
[16] Hermann Gunkel, Einleitung in die Psalmen: Die
Gattungen der religiösen Lyrik Israels, Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, Gottingem, 2011, p. 191
[17] Semnificaţia cuvântului Sārat vezi la Ludwig Köhler,
Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the
Old Testament, E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1994
[18] Arhim. Vasile Miron, „Taina Sf Maslu vindecatoare si
ziditoare”, in BOR III (130)/2012, nr 1, p 174
[19] Otto Eissfeldt, Einleitung in das Alte Testament: unter
Einschluss der Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen.
Entstehungsgeschichte des Alten Testaments, Mohr, 1934, p.
382