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Sirach praises physicians and medicine as part of creation, describing healing skills and natural remedies as gifts that relieve pain. Rabbinic tradition in Genesis Rabbah quotes this, describing physicians as those who apply herbs and treat wounds.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 38:4
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
1 Honor a physician according to your need with the honors due to him, for truly the Lord has created him. 2 For healing comes from the Most High, and he shall receive a gift from the king. 3 The skill of the physician will lift up his head. He will be admired in the sight of great men. 4 The Lord created medicines out of the earth. A prudent man will not despise them. 5 Wasn’t water made sweet with wood, that its power might be known? 6 He gave men skill that he might be glorified in his marvelous works. 7 With them he heals and takes away pain. 8 With these, the pharmacist makes a mixture. God’s works won’t be brought to an end. From him, peace is upon the face of the earth.
Genesis Rabbah 10
Aggadah
Rabbinic
Bar Sira said: God produced drugs from the earth with which the physician heals the wound, and with which the pharmacist mixes his compounds. Rabbi Simon said: There is not a single blade of grass that does not have a constellation in the firmament that strikes it and says to it: ‘Grow.’ That is what is written: “Do you know the rules of the heavens? Will you establish its dominion [mishtaro] on earth?” (Job 38:33). It is an expression of being in charge [shoter]. “Will you tie the chains of the Pleiades, or untie the reins of Orion?” (Job 38:31) – Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa and Rabbi Simon said: Pleiades renders fruits delicate and Orion draws it out from knot to knot. That is what is written: “Will you bring out the Mazarot in its season and guide Ursa with its sons?” (Job 38:32). Rabbi Tanḥuma said: It [Mazarot] is a constellation that softens [memazer] the produce.
Date: 500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Surgery and all it encompass also fell into his sphere of activity. During an operation, the rophi wears a leather apron, straps the patient tightly to the table, and makes use of a bandage box with several compartments containing writing stylus, scissors and knife. He heals wounds with all types of herbs that God produces; he is called from one place to another to suck out snake bites, and to prescribe certain dietary regulations for injured people ... Genesis Rabbah 10:6; see also Sirach 38:4 ..."
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