Medicine
Summary
The art of healing diseases, acknowledged in Scripture though often overshadowed by the recognition that true healing comes from God.
☩Biblical References
Proverbs declares: 'A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones' (Proverbs 17:22). Jeremiah asks rhetorically: 'Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?' (Jeremiah 8:22). Ezekiel speaks of healing leaves: 'The fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine' (Ezekiel 47:12).
☩Use of Remedies
Isaiah prescribed a lump of figs for Hezekiah's boil (2 Kings 20:7; Isaiah 38:21). Paul advised Timothy: 'Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities' (1 Timothy 5:23). The Good Samaritan treated the wounded man with oil and wine (Luke 10:34). James instructs the sick to call for elders who will 'anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord' (James 5:14).
☩Divine Healing
God declares: 'I am the LORD that healeth thee' (Exodus 15:26). The Psalmist praises God 'who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases' (Psalm 103:3). Christ's healing ministry fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy: 'Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses' (Matthew 8:17). Yet Jesus acknowledged physicians' role: 'They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick' (Luke 5:31).
☩Caution Against Sole Reliance
King Asa was criticized because 'in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians' (2 Chronicles 16:12). The woman with the issue of blood 'had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse' (Mark 5:26). Luke, 'the beloved physician' (Colossians 4:14), apparently practiced medicine as a companion of Paul, demonstrating its legitimate place.
