Women of the Bible: the woman with an issue of blood

Mark 5:24 He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides. 25 A certain woman, who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse, 27 having heard the things concerning Jesus, came up behind him in the crowd, and touched his clothes. 28 For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd, and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His disciples said to him, “You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease.” 

Women of the Bible: The woman from Tyre (or from Sidon)

Matthew 15: 21 Jesus went out from there and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those borders and cried, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is severely possessed by a demon!”

23 But he answered her not a word.

His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away; for she cries after us.”

24 But he answered, “I wasn’t sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

25 But she came and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

26 But he answered, “It is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

27 But she said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Be it done to you even as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

 

Women of the Bible: Dorcas, aka Tabitha

From Acts 9: 36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which when translated, means Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and acts of mercy which she did. 37 In those days, she became sick, and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38 As Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. 39 Peter got up and went with them. When he had come, they brought him into the upper room. All the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40 Peter sent them all out, and knelt down and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” [This is what Matthew Henry’s commentary says about her name: “Her name was Tabitha, a Hebrew name, the Greek for which is Dorcas, both signifying a doe, or hind, or deer, a pleasant creature.”] She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. 41 He gave her his hand, and raised her up. Calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42 This became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

I don't recall knowing anyone named Dorcas, but there are some Tabithas out there.

 

Leprosy in the Bible: spiritual and physical

Leprosy is mentioned in the Bible, about 30 times, about as frequently as murder, adultery and coveting. Leper is found about 20 times (with some overlap with leprosy). There are people living today with the disease of leprosy.

I found some sources dealing with the topic of leprosy in the Bible. These include Matthew Henry's commentary on Leviticus 13, which is public domain, Robert Jamieson's commentary on the same chapter, also public domain, and John Calvin's commentary on that chapter, also public domain. See also the Wikipedia article on leprosy. The disease is carried by bacteria. Jamieson and Calvin didn't know that, and supposed that it was caused by other means. Henry believed that leprosy was not an infectious disease, but solely the result of sin. "That it was a plague inflicted immediately by the hand of God, and came not from natural causes, as other diseases; and therefore must be managed according to a divine law."

Calvin wrote that "I confess that I am not a physician, so as to discuss [leprous diseases] accurately, and I purposely abstain from close inquiry about them, because I am persuaded that the disease here treated of affected the Israelites in an extraordinary manner, which we are now unacquainted with; for what do we now know of a leprous house?"

There seem to have been two different types, or causes, of leprosy. One of these was miraculous affliction. Miriam (Numbers 12) was miraculously stricken with a skin disorder by God when she and Aaron rebelled against Moses. This didn't last more than a few days. Gehazi persuaded Naaman to give him some gifts, ostensibly for Elisha, who didn't want them, but Gehazi took them for himself, and Elisha called for God to make Gehazi a leper. (2 Kings 5).  Miriam was healed with no mention of prayer or other intervention by Moses. King Uzziah was stricken when he took the priest's duties upon himself (2 Chronicles 26). Uzziah was isolated as a leper for the rest of his life. Gehazi was apparently cured somehow, as 2 Kings 8 mentions him as talking to the king, with no mention of his having leprosy. 

All three of these cases seem to have appeared instantaneously.

This source states that Biblical leprosy was not the same thing as leprosy that exists today. The three cases mentioned above do not seem to have been the same as other cases of leprosy mentioned in the Bible, for example in Leviticus 13.

Some writers have claimed that the Israelites weren't victims of leprosy until they contacted it in Egypt.

The other type of leprosy would have been by an infection. 

Can God strike someone with a disease (say, cancer, or some sort of heart disease) instantaneously, by a miraculous decree? Yes, certainly. Does He do so now? Perhaps. If God did this in 2022, most likely it would be as a punishment. (However, Job's disease, which God allowed, was not a punishment.) It could be a sudden, God-induced bacterial infection, or some other condition which resembles leprosy.

Do we abhor people who are "not normal," and avoid interactions with them? (Such as Down's syndrome people, muscular dystrophy people, those with Tourette's syndrome, people with diminished mental capacity and others, even the aged?) Unfortunately, most of us, including me, tend to act that way. Jesus didn't act that way, and we shouldn't.

What about a leprous house? (Leviticus 13:34-35.) It's in the Bible. It's my guess that God spoke in a manner understood by the people of Bible times, without putting what He said in 22nd century terms. Genesis 1 speaks of a firmament. People of Bible times seem to have believed that there was a solid, transparent sphere somewhere above the solid earth. There wasn't. But God accommodated their beliefs. See here for my post on this. A house could have been infested with mildew or some other fungus, but the ancient Israelites might well have believed that this was a case of leprosy, and God accommodated their beliefs, in the presentation of Leviticus.

As far as I know, God doesn't send leprosy, cancer, or psoriasis to people as punishment today. (Although bad habits, such as smoking, over-eating, and not getting enough exercise bring about punishment, of a sort.) But this doesn't mean that God condones sin. Sin is terrible. It is a form of rebellion against God, which God doesn't tolerate, so He paid the penalty for sin Himself.

Thanks for reading!

On divine healing -- My father's words, 1943

My father worked on the Alcan Highway during World War II. One of my brothers has been scanning the letters he sent my mother during that time, and I am most grateful.

On October 1, 1943, he was responding to my mother, who had stayed behind in Wisconsin with me and my two next brothers. She had apparently had an eye problem, and gone to a doctor about it, but wondered if she should have just trusted in God for divine healing.

Here's what my Dad said: 
You say it seems incongruous to believe in the power of God to heal and yet go to a physician. Why? Has not God seen fit to endow that [doctor's name] with the knowledge and power to heal eyes? Isn't it possible, though far fetched, that his only mission in life was to heal your eye under God's direction? We both know that God has the power to heal directly and does heal that way, yet Christ saw fit to use clay and spittle on the blind eyes so that that person would have something to pin his faith to. Perhaps it is better expressed thus: The clay and spittle were not necessary and Christ had no belief in them, but the blind man believed in them, therefore Christ used them. Of course this is just an idea and my reasoning may be faulty. [The Biblical events Dad referred to are found in John 9.]

Thanks for reading!

Here's a post, in this blog, on a similar subject, but there's not much overlap.

Why do sickness and death bother us so much?

Why do sickness and death bother us so much? Every one reading this, and the vast number who won't, will die, barring some miraculous event. All of us get sick, sometimes as a minor inconvenience, sometimes as a crippling incapacitation, and sometimes to death.

Why, then, don't we just accept this state of things? Why do we expect things to go right, when they almost never do?

There are probably a lot of different reasons for our rebellion against the way things are. I hope I understand part of the reasons.

I think that, deep in our DNA, or our unconscious, is the knowledge that things shouldn't be like this. So we complain, and rebel against the way things are. What do I mean, things shouldn't be like this? The Bible teaches us that the first humans lived in a world without human sickness and death. (Plants and animals probably died, or were killed by humans.) But that world changed drastically, because those first humans disobeyed God, the Creator. I believe that we somehow know that there has been a change, and long for it to be reversed, and complain at the consequences of that change, the Fall.

Some of us question God's goodness, or even His existence, because of the consequences of sin in the world. How could a loving God allow such terrible things to happen? If I had the full answer to that, I would be God, which I certainly am not. But part of the answer is that God suffers with us, probably more than we suffer ourselves. Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Jesus also took the consequences of our sin upon Himself, for those who are willing to let Him do so for them. In the process, Jesus, Himself, suffered. Granted, He didn't suffer as long as, say, a burn victim, but He did suffer.

Another part of the answer is that God is going to provide a Heaven for those who believe, free from sickness and death.

It is not wrong to want to do something about sickness. Jesus healed every person who asked Him to do so. He also raised a few people from death. The Bible suggests that we pray for sick believers. But healing everyone is not God's final answer. (See here for more of what the Bible says on that subject.) Consider, also, that everyone Jesus healed died, most likely of sickness, later in their life. Those He raised from the dead  
died a second time. The Bible says that death is the last enemy to be defeated.

I think we, including me, concentrate too much on sickness. Although all the churches I have attended, and can remember, prayed most of their prayers for the sick, the New Testament church didn't pray in that pattern.

Thanks for reading.

Healing and Faith

"You do not have to be sick because God wants to heal you, and if you'll have faith, He will heal you!" (Tom Brown. There are other examples of the same sort of thing -- I hold no ill-will toward Tom Brown. His web page comes up early in a Google search.)

This man, probably from the best of motives, has some of the truth on this subject, but he doesn't have it all, and the truth he has presented can be dangerous. God does often want to heal us. Some people don't believe He can, and may sinfully lack faith. But being sick, or not being healed, isn't necessarily because we don't have enough faith. Equating not being healed with lack of faith is the dangerous aspect of this. Why do I say so? Here are five reasons:

1. 1 Kings 14 tells the story of Ahijah the prophet, and Abijah, the young son of one of the kings of Israel named Jeroboam. Abijah was sick, and the king sent his mother to Ahijah to ask about the future of this boy. Ahijah told his mother that the child would die of the sickness, but he also said this: "14:13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam." (ESV) This boy was said to have pleased the Lord, but he died of a sickness.

2. Then there's the story of Job. God allowed Satan to afflict Job physically, not because he was a sinner, but because He wanted Job to be an example of faith in spite of suffering endured. (Eventually, Job was healed.)

3. Paul advised Timothy, one of God's ministers, to drink wine, rather than water, because he was frequently sick (1 Timothy 5:23).

4. Paul, himself, certainly a man of faith, and one who had been God's instrument for miracles of healing, was afflicted, apparently physically, with something that God did not remove, even though Paul prayed that He would, presumably praying in faith. (2 Corinthians 12) Also, Paul left Trophimus behind, because Trophimus was sick (2 Timothy 4:20).

5. Although most of the early apostles, probably including Paul, died martyrs' deaths, apparently John didn't. We don't know how he died, but he most likely got sick and died (counting the deterioration of old age as a sickness). So have many wonderful, faithful, Christians throughout the years, including some who have prayed effectively for healing in others, and in themselves.

Christ healed everyone who came to Him for healing during His earthly ministry. Christians are told to pray for the sick. (James 5:14) God often allows healing now, through a miracle, through medical treatment, or the body's own restorative powers, but, based on the Bible, we shouldn't always expect it, or assume lack of faith when it doesn't happen.

Healing, if it comes, is not principally so we feel better, but so God can be glorified. Suffering, too, can show God's glory. It's wrong to preach that God always heals those who have faith. Tom Brown, and I, will probably die from some illness associated with aging, and I hope that both of us die as believers in God's redemption, and His occasional healing.

Thanks for reading.

On January 28, 2012, I added the last sentence of point 4, and some labels/tags. I thank Ken Schenck, who recently wrote a good, short article on this subject.

On January 14, 2014, I am adding a link to a post, quoting my late father, who argued, in a letter to my mother, that going to see doctors was not usually wrong for a believer.