Ancient Times with Modern Medicine

At the time that Moses wrote the book of Exodus there were complete medical treatment measures in written form utilized by the Egyptians. The well known Papyrus Ebers included remedies for about every condition, many of which were harmful remedies based on the lack of information about disease and its cause in the ancient world. Moses, despite being educated as a Pharaoh's son, completely disregarded the Papyrus Ebers Instead, incorporated in the laws of the Jewish people were guidelines for disease prevention found nowhere else for thousands of years until modern principles of disease processes became clear in the 1900s.

Remarkable recommendations included such things as hand washing (used to prevent many conditions such as post-childbirth complication and hepatitis A), abstinence from sexual intercourse after child bearing for 30-60 days (used to prevent early post delivery uterine infections and death or sterility), handling of body wastes to avoid contamination of food supply (used to stop cholera, dysentery and typhoid fever), isolation principles (used to stop Bubonic plague and leprosy), avoidance of potentially infected animals and avoidance of eating scavenger-type fish or mammals (primarily Leviticus and Numbers in Old Testament). The priest actually functioned then much like a public health official of today, examining individuals with skin lesions to decide if they were still "unclean" which usually meant contagious, and isolating them with periodic follow-up to determine if they had become non-contagious.

McMillen SI (M.D): None of These Diseases. Pyramid Books, New York, 1967.