< STRONG Yes. The Torah revealed advanced principles.
The Torah (or law of Moses) not only reveals advanced principles and knowledge about hygiene, quarantine and sanitation far superior to that possessed by the Egyptians and other ancient societies of that day, but far exceeded medical standards practiced as recently as 100 years ago. Where did Moses get this advanced information?
Sanitary Practices in Moses’ Time
“The Israelites were instructed to wash themselves and their clothes in running water if they had a bodily discharge, if they came in contact with another person's discharge, or if they had touched a dead human or animal carcass. They were also instructed to wash any uncovered vessels that were in the vicinity of a dead body, and if a dead carcass touched a vessel it was to be destroyed. Items recovered during war were also to be purified through either fire or running water. In addition, the Israelites were instructed to bury their human waste outside of camp, and to burn the waste of their animals. (See Numbers 19, Leviticus 11 and 15, Deuteronomy 23:12). [7b]
This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean. And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. [Numbers 19:14-16]
"You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there, and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement. [Deuteronomy 23:10,11]
Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy: and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place. But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. [Leviticus 6:27,28].
The last is a clear commandment to discard used pottery that may be contaminated with bacteria while metal pots should be disinfected by scouring and rinsing in water.
Until recent years, doctors washed their hands in a bowl of water, leaving invisible germs on their hands. However, the Bible says specifically to wash hands under "running water."
"And when he that has an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself even days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean" (Leviticus 15:13).
Sanitary Practices in The 19th Century
Our medical knowledge was abysmal right up to the beginning of the twentieth century. It was not until this century that medical science had a full understanding of the fact that most diseases are caused by infection of microscopic organisms. Accordingly, the medical value of sterilization, sanitation, and quarantines were virtually unappreciated. Please note that the following took place in the 19th century.
In the 1840s, puerperal or childbirth fever, a bacterial infection of the female genital tract after childbirth, was taking the lives of up to 30% of women who gave birth in hospitals. Women who gave birth at home remained relatively unaffected.
Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818-65), a Hungarian obstetrician educated at the universities of Pest and Vienna was an assistant professor on the maternity ward of the Vienna General Hospital. He observed that women examined by student doctors who had not washed their hands after leaving the autopsy room had very high death rates. When a colleague who had received a scalpel cut died of infection, Semmelweis concluded that puerperal fever was septic and contagious and that he and the medical students carried "cadaverous particles" on their hands.
He ordered students to wash their hands with chlorinated lime before examining patients; as a result, the maternal death rate was reduced from 12% to 1% in 2 years. Nevertheless, Semmelweis encountered strong opposition from hospital officials as some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands; they felt that their social status as gentlemen was inconsistent with the idea that their hands could be unclean.
The existence of germs was unknown until around A.D. 1890 when Louis Pasteur demonstrated in his Germ Theory of Disease that most infectious diseases were caused by microorganisms originating from outside the body. While Pasteur was not the first to propose germ theory he developed it and conducted experiments that clearly indicated its correctness and managed to convince most of Europe it was true. This new understanding of germs and their means of transmission led to improved sanitary standards that resulted in an enormous drop in the mortality rate.
Yet these core principles of sanitation were being practiced by the Israelites thousands of years earlier.
- In Plain Site.org
http://www.inplainsite.org/html/scientific_facts_in_the_bible.html#SFB04
>> But the Romans and the Minoans had similar practices as the Israelites.
Even in ancient times people knew about and often implemented good sanitation practices. The civilizations most often referenced being the Minoans and the Romans.. with particular emphasis on the ancient city of Pompeii. [See Footnote For Details]
- In Plain Site.org
http://www.inplainsite.org/html/scientific_facts_in_the_bible.html#SFB04< Maybe, but the Eyptians practices were completely were no where close.
The most complete information about the medicine and pharmacy of ancient Egypt is contained in the famous Papyrus Ebers, a disorganized collection of more than 800 concoctions and magical spells to alleviate suffering. The papyrus dates back to about 1552 B. C. and was discovered by Georg Ebers in 1872-3. Some of the ‘cures’ are…
To prevent the immoderate crying of children a mixture of the seeds of the plant Sheben with some fly-dirt is recommended. (It is supposed that Sheben may have been the poppy). …
.. To prevent the hair turning grey anoint it with the blood of a black calf which has been boiled in oil; or with the fat of a rattlesnake. When it falls out one remedy is to apply a mixture of six fats, namely those of the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the snake, and the ibex. To strengthen it anoint with the tooth of a donkey crushed in honey. …
The animal drugs included lizards' blood, swine's teeth, putrid meat, stinking fat, moisture from pigs' ears, milk, goose grease, asses' hoofs, animal fats from various sources, excreta of various animals, including human beings, donkeys, antelopes, dogs, cats, and even flies.
[15]And, apart from the papyrus..
“The grave of several small children revealed that they had eaten skinned mice just prior to their deaths. The Egyptians believed that the life-giving Nile created mice because these animals emerged from cracks in the mud after the Nile receded each year.” [16]
- In Plain Site.org
http://www.inplainsite.org/html/scientific_facts_in_the_bible.html#SFB04
< STRONG Yes, in fact, Moses laws have significantly contributed to our practice.
Many of the ancient Mosaic laws found in the Bible about basic sanitation have been used through the centuries and still contribute to our practice of preventive medicine
In Deuteronomy, Chapter 13: Moses instructed the soldiers to carry spades and bury solid waste matter. The bible also refers to leprosy and to the isolation of lepers. Although in those days the term leprosy probably included other infectious and noninfectious diseases, isolation did limit the spread of the infectious diseases.
Regarding the Bubonic plague (Black Death):
One group that escaped the plague's devastation was the Jewish population. Ancient Hebrew laws regarding sanitation offered some protection to those who practiced them. The relatively clean Jewish ghettos harbored fewer rats to spread the disease. When Jews did fall ill, they were carefully nursed and treated with herbal remedies rather than by strenuous purging or excessive bleedings with dirty instruments. As a result, a smaller proportion of Jews than gentiles died of the disease
Ironically, some gentiles regarded the Jews' higher survival rates as proof that Jews were the source of the epidemic.
- Microbiology: Principles and Explorations by Jacquelyn Black 5ed. Page 5.
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