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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 physicians for their services, for the Lord created them; 2 for their gift of healing comes from the Most High, and they are rewarded by the king. 3 The skill of physicians makes them distinguished, and in the presence of the great they are admired. 4 The Lord created medicines out of the earth, and the sensible will not despise them. 5 Was not water made sweet with a tree in order that its power might be known? 6 And he gave skill to human beings that he might be glorified in his marvelous works. 7 By them the physician heals and takes away pain; 8 the pharmacist makes a mixture from them. God's works will never be finished; and from him health spreads over all the earth.
Genesis Rabbah 10
Aggadah
Rabbinic
“The heavens and the earth and their entire host were completed” (Genesis 2:1). “The heavens and the earth and their entire host were completed.” It is written: “I see an end to all great things, but Your commandments are exceedingly broad” (Psalms 119:96). Everything has boundaries, the heavens and earth have boundaries, with the exception of one matter that does not have boundaries. Which is that? That is the Torah, as it is stated: “Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea” (Job 11:9). Another interpretation: “I see an end to all great things” – this is the work of the creation of the heavens and the earth, as it is stated: “The heavens and the earth…were completed.” Rabbi Ḥama began: “Remove the dross from silver [and a vessel will emerge for the smith] (Proverbs 25:4) – Rabbi Eliezer said in the name of Rabbi Yaakov: This is analogous to a bathtub that was filled with water, and there were two ornamental bowls in it. As long as it was full of water, the handiwork of the bowls was not visible. Once someone opened the drain and emptied the water from it, the handiwork of the bowls became visible. So, too, as long as the world was emptiness and disorder, the labor of the heavens and the earth was not visible. Once the emptiness and disorder was uprooted from the world, the handiwork of the heavens and the earth became visible. “A vessel [keli] will emerge for the smith” (Proverbs 25:4) – they [the heavens and earth] became [finished] vessels. That is what is written: “The heavens and the earth and their entire host were completed [vaykhulu].” How did the Holy One blessed be He create His world? Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Holy One blessed be He took two skeins, one of fire and one of snow, mixed them with one another, and from them the world was created. Rabbi Ḥanina said: Four, for the four directions of the world. Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said: Six, four for the four directions and one for above and one for below. Hadrian, may his bones be crushed, once asked Rabbi Yehoshua bar Ḥananya, saying to him: ‘How did the Holy One blessed be He create His world?’ He said to him in accordance with what Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said. He said to him: ‘Is it possible that it was so?’ This was a rhetorical question. He took him into a small house and said to him: ‘Extend your hand to east, west, north, and south.’ He said to him: ‘Such was the action done by the Holy One blessed be He.’ Rabbi Hoshaya said: Rabbi Afes expounded in Antioch: “Vaykhulu” is nothing other than an expression of a delivering a blow and an expression of destruction [kelaya]. This is analogous to a king who entered a province and the residents of the province lauded him. Their lauding pleased him, and he provided them with encouragement and incentives. Sometime later, they angered him, so he minimized encouragement and incentives for them. So, too, until Adam the first man sinned, the celestial bodies would move in a short path, and quickly. After he sinned, He diverted them into a roundabout path, and they went at a slow pace. There are celestial bodies that complete their circuits in twelve months, such as Mercury. And there are celestial objects that complete their circuit in thirty days, namely, the moon. And there are celestial objects that complete their circuits in twelve years, namely, Jupiter. And there are celestial objects that complete their circuits in thirty years, namely, Saturn. This is all besides Venus and Mars, which complete their circuit only in four hundred and eighty years. <The question arises: Venus traverses twelve constellations in ten months, each constellation in twenty-five days; Mars in a month and a half, and traverses twelve in one year and a half. How, then, does it say that Venus and Mars complete their circuit only after four hundred and eighty years? I encountered this difficulty; therefore, I raised a question). Rabbi Pinḥas taught in the name of Rabbi Ḥanan of Tzippori: Regarding white fig trees, their Sabbatical Year sanctity takes effect in the second year of the Sabbatical cycle, because they produce fruit after three years, whereas on that day, they produced fruit in one day. But in the future, the Holy One blessed be He will heal that impairment, as it is stated: “He will heal the wound of his injury” (Isaiah 30:26) – He will heal the wounds of injuries of all the world. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: The heavens were perfected [nishtakhlelu] through [the addition of] the sun, moon, and constellations, and the earth was perfected through [the addition of] trees, vegetation, and the Garden of Eden. Rabbi Simon in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: The creations were all made in generic form [mekhulalim], and they gradually expanded. “And their entire host [tzevaam]” – Rabbi Elazar said: There are three kinds of tzava: The tzava of the heavens and the earth, the tzava of the students, and the tzava of suffering. The tzava of the heavens and the earth, as it is stated: “The heavens and the earth and their entire host [tzevaam] were completed.” The tzava of the students, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “All the days of my teaching students [tzeva’i], I wait until my replacement comes” (Job 14:14) – until my replacement arises. The tzava of suffering, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “Behold, there is suffering [tzava] for man upon earth” (Job 7:1). [Another interpretation of this last verse:] All a person’s aspirations [tzivion] are only on the earth. But of what benefit is it for him, since “his days are like the days of a hired laborer” (Job 7:1). Naḥman son of Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: If one merits, tzava will be his, but if not, the tzava will be upon him. When one builds a building, if he is fortunate, the tzava is his. If he falls from it and dies, the tzava overcomes him. If one eats his bread and enjoys it, tzava is his. If it gets stuck in his throat and chokes him, the tzava overcomes him. And the Holy One blessed be He has appointed many kinds of tzava for man in order to collect His due – many bears, many lions, many snakes, many fiery serpents, many scorpions. Moreover, “his days are like the days of a hired laborer.” 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 C.E. (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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