Cleansed by Water?
Cleanliness is next to Godliness so say most Christians. Think about this seriously. Today it is easy to do that with all the disinfectants, around clean water, filters, regulations on what can and cannot be passed in the waters and so on and so forth. We have separate rooms to bath in and do our business in and it is all in a safe manner. Third world nations still do not have these amenities and therefore pass around sicknesses over and over again. The most common cause is their water. Almost every disease is passed in water.
In biblical days they did not have sanitation rules and regulations. So where do you think they did their business? They wore long garments in Jesus's places that dragged on the ground which dragged stuff around with them and into the very waters they bathed and drank from. How in the world could they be clean? Oh they thought they were. I won't even go into what they would pick up from walking in animal excrement. Jesus gave his disciples power to heal this sick and vanish unclean spirits, but what were those unclean spirits and demons they were to eradicate. I will shed some light on these things from how and what they used to treat these unsanitary conditions.
Possession and Evil Spirits
So where do you supposed people in Jesus's times went to the bathroom. No one ever talks about these things or what they were and how they cured them, if they were even cured. Those things were left out of the Bible.
They made small pits in the desert. They used a tool to dig out a pit about 6 inches deep. It was shallow because a small shovel could not dig very deep into the hard ground they walked on. They did have select areas that this was done in so that was a little sanitary BUT, think about it. When one goes number 2 sometimes it is loose or sprays if they are sick and the same with number 1. Where would this excrement or fecal matter land? It would land on their very clothing. After burying it they would walk over it and possibly, most likely more like it, they would step in someone else’s that was buried days or weeks before. What grows in that stuff? Diseases and many of them that harbor in the ground and water are what there are. Now think a bit further and think about where they went next and what was being carried on their shoes and clothing. No we certainly don't do this in today's world. The waters flow over us and into a septic system. They didn’t have that back then. They had no place to wash their hands and no disinfectant soaps like we have today. So what was Jesus healing and what Demons was he vanishing out of the bodies of the possessed?
Nasty Water and The Nasty Diseases From It
Fecal matter, as we just discussed came along with the people as they emersed themselves in the public baths in the streams and in the rivers where they visited. Talk about baptizing. Not cleansing but adding to the health problems instead.
Diseases that come from Fecal Matter are: Hepatitis, Legionaries Disease, cancers, will make women abort children, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, Giardia and Cryptosporidium, E-coli, and many more. Some of which we still do not have cures for.
Worms are a very frequent problem found in human Feces and love our digestive tracts. Some of them actually love to have their babies in our intestinal tracts and they cause a myriad of diseases and problems too. There are other ways in which worms would enter the bodies and you can get read up on those and they have pictures to look at on the site Parasites - Gross Pictures and Videos
Some of these conditions and diseases would clear up in a person who had them within a week or two. Some of them never cleared up. Some of them like in the pictures on that site look like things they would describe as in the bleeding of the eyes and such things people had no idea what they really were. They used the only description they could think of.
I bet Jesus knew this. Heck he went to Egypt and India and all over the world and he would have known about all these diseases and conditions and ways to treat them. Not once it is told in the Bible that Jesus carried a medicine bag with him and not once does it say that they used certain herbs or plants that could diminish the effects of these diseases or even cure them. They were though and he had to have given the disciples them too as he gave them the power to do so.
What Jesus Knew and How He cured Them
To cure someone in Jesus's time was consider witchery. Jesus even told many not to tell others that he cured them. Many herbs were used in his day and many knew of the herbs and what would cure what. It was all natural then. We have the same problem today with the Natural versus Chemical cures. The two don't seem to mix. Christians would rather think of these things as demons, but they really aren't. Some of those demons are things people can't see or understand. I wrote an article about that and you can read it here
Jesus knew very much about all these herbs and plants and what properties they had and what they could do to certain ailments and diseases of humans.
Just a few of the herbs and plants that he used would have been:
"Aloe (Aquilari agalloche) is believed to be the only tree descended to man from the Garden of Eden.
(Numbers 24:6) Like valleys that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the Lord has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters.
Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) is referenced several times in the Old Testament.
(Exodus 16:31) Now the house of Israel called its name manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) is an herb native to the upper areas of the Nile, mentioned in the Bible, along with Mint (Mentha sp.), when Jesus reproved the scribes.
(Matthew 23:23) "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others."
Garlic (Allium sativum) is mentioned only once in the Bible. It was held in great esteem by the ancient Egyptians.
(Numbers 11:5) "We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic."
Hyssop (Sorghum vulgare) is known as the holy herb. Hyssop was used to cleanse the temples and other sacred places of the Egyptians. David mentions hyssop in Psalms 51:7. Hyssop as we know it may or may not be the hyssop mentioned by David. There is some debate since the derivation of the name hyssop is in the Greek word hussopos and the Hebrew esob, meaning simply, "holy herb."
(Psalms 51:7) Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Mustard (Brassica nigra) is described in Matthew 13:31 as "the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."Since the Bible was speaking of cleansing and purifying with the herb, the herb that they may have used would be the Hedge Hyssop (Gratiola Oficinalis). This medicinal plant also has been used to abort a pregnancy or start the menstruation early.
Rose (Rosa spp.) The name for a rose is almost the same in every European language. Dried roses have been found in Egyptian tombs.
(Isaiah 35:1) The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the rose.
Rue (Ruta graveolens) has long been the symbol of sorrow and repentance, and may have been nicknamed the "herb of grace" in Christian times for the grace given by God following repentance for one’s sins. Brushes made from rue were once used to sprinkle holy water at the ceremony preceding High Mass.
(Luke 11:42) "But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others."
Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) is frequently mentioned in Scripture, always for its bitterness. According to legend, wormwood grew up in the trail left by the serpent’s tail as it slithered out of the Garden of Eden.
(Jeremiah 23:15) Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: "Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and give them poisoned water to drink; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone forth into all the land."
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a symbol of fidelity and remembrance once used in the holiest of Christian ceremonies, the wedding and the funeral. For centuries people thought that the rosemary plant would never grow higher than 6 feet in 33 years so as not to stand taller than Christ. Another story tells that the flowers were originally white, but changed to blue when the Virgin Mary hung her cloak on the bush while fleeing from Herod’s soldiers with the Christ child.
Costmary (Chrysanthemem balsamita) is also known as Bible leaf because in Colonial times a leaf served as a bookmark in Bibles and prayer books. When drowsiness set in, the sleeper treated himself to the minty leaf to stay awake.
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and Dill (Anethum graveolens) were carried to prayer meetings in Colonial times in small pouches. The seeds were used to curb the appetite. They were called "meeting seeds."
Links For More Information:
• Plants and Flowers in Myth, Legend and Song - The True Stories Behind 10 Famous Plants
The true stories behind some of the most famous plants to appear in literature, film, music and legend - Edelweiss, Mandrake, Frankincense, the Mayflower and Lotus blossom. And many others.
• WHO | Flooding and communicable diseases fact sheet
• Fecal pollution of water
• Biblical Leprosy: Shedding Light on the Disease that Shuns | Answers in Genesis
Leprosy has terrified humanity since ancient times and was reported as early as 600 BC in India, China, and Egypt. Hansen’s disease is still a major health problem.
• Diseases | Bible Topics
Outline of Bible verses on Diseases from the New Topical Textbook.
• Etz Chayim Tree of Life Messianic Ministries - Herbs of the Bible
Etz Chayim Messianic Ministries - Bringing The Torah to The Nations
• Herbs of the Bible
Two millennia of healing wisdom
What About Unclean Animals?
Leviticus 11 tells NOAH and his sons what they could and couldn't eat and how to clean themselves if they did touch unclean animals.
Nowhere does it state that they would die if they touched or ate of them. It only states that they would be unclean until EVENING.
When there was the flood all the animal and human excrement flowed into the waters. That in itself would make anything that swam, drank or washed in those waters unclean and full of diseases, worms and other parasites.
Therefore don't eat of anything that drank in or swam in or touched the waters that were contaminated. They did have to wash to clean themselves, did they not?
What water did they do that with if all waters were bad?
Well they knew about fire and how to build one and they had bowls and such. They could have boiled some waters that would clean things. Most things that were in the dirty waters or washed or drank from them would already be contaminated and spread it through to the humans. Common Sense here
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Back in the days of NOAH they did not know about how to cook Pork or any fish or other food to well done. Not enough to kill off any parasites that would be in it. Hence the warning of not eating such things.
We know of these things now so it is safe to eat such animals. We also have a myriad of cures for such things and we also know about good sanitation.
© Debra K. Allen a.k.a Lady Guinevere
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