Physician
Physician [1]
1. Luke, the physician .—It is a fact of special importance, in reference to Christ’s miracles of healing, that one of the four Evangelists was himself a physician ( Colossians 4:14). Traces of this fact appear in his Gospel (ct. [Note: contrast.] Luke 8:43 || Mark 5:26), and still more in Acts (cf. Hobart, Medical Lang. of St. Luke ). His training would probably be Gentile ( Colossians 4:11; Colossians 4:14, cf. Eus. Historia Ecclesiastica iii. 4), and his medicines, like Gentile food, would be unclean in Jewish eyes. See, further, art. Luke.
2. Jewish physicians .—Priests were inspectors of leprosy ( Matthew 8:4, Luke 17:14), but they were not the regular physicians. ( a ) The physicians whom a sufferer had consulted before she was healed by Christ are alluded to in one case ( Mark 5:26 || Luke 8:43). Elsewhere physicians are mentioned in proverbial sayings only ( Matthew 9:12 || Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31; Luke 4:23): there is no censure of them in Christ’s words, on the contrary He implies that the sick should resort to the physician; but Mark 5:26 probably gives a fair impression of their general value. ( b ) References to remedies are few: e.g. a lotion ( Luke 10:34), an anodyne ( Mark 15:23), both, we may assume, customary amongst Jews, but in neither of these cases administered by them; operations (circumcision, Luke 1:59 etc.; castration, Matthew 19:12). The language of Matthew 18:8 f. || speaks of mutilation rather than of surgical amputation. Superstitious cures were much sought; cf. the addition to John 5:3, which Westcott ( ad loc. ) describes as ‘a very early note added while the Jewish tradition was still fresh.’ ( c ) A special defect of Jewish medical science was the want of anatomy, necessarily involved in the ceremonial uncleanness of contact with the dead (cf. Matthew 23:27), i.e. (as explained in Jewish Encyc. art. ‘Medicine’) contact with a complete corpse, or an ‘anatomical unit’ (a bone covered with its soft parts), or a collection of bones equal in bulk or number to more than half a skeleton. An illustration of this want may be seen in the fact that a young criminal’s corpse was dissipated by long boiling, in order that the bones of the skeleton might be counted ( ib. ). The inspection of the bodies of animals slaughtered for sacrifice or food could be no real compensation for this want.
3. Christ, the great Physician .—Such a title is not found in the Gospels, but is at least suggested by Luke 4:23; Luke 5:31 || Luke 13:32. [The word ἰάομαι is used (literally) 20 times in Nt, and always, except in Acts 28:8, directly of Christ]. Indeed, the word ‘Saviour’ implies it ( Matthew 9:21 f.). The following points are observable in Christ’s healings:—( a ) Variety : blindness ( Matthew 9:27 ff; Matthew 20:29 ff. ||, Mark 8:22 ff., John 9), deafness ( Mark 7:31 ff.), palsy ( Matthew 9:1 ff. ||), withered hand ( Matthew 12:9 ff. ||), issue ( Matthew 9:20 ||), dropsy ( Luke 14:1 ff.), fever ( Matthew 8:14 ff. ||), leprosy ( Matthew 8:1 ff. || Luke 17:11 ff.), wound ( Luke 22:49 ff.), possession ( Matthew 8:28 ff. ||, Mark 1:23 ff. || etc.); ( b ) purpose : not merely works of mercy ( Mark 3:4, John 10:32), but also ‘signs’ ( John 4:54 etc.), parables of a spiritual healing ( Luke 5:24; Luke 5:31 f., John 9:25; John 9:39); ( c ) universality : without price ( Matthew 10:8, ct. [Note: contrast.] Mark 5:26), without exception ( Matthew 11:5, Mark 1:27; Mark 7:37, John 9:32), without fail (ct. [Note: contrast.] Mark 5:4; Mark 5:26; Mark 9:18); ( d ) conditions : (i.) on Christ’s part,—the (Divine) will ( Matthew 8:3); in some cases is added the (human) prayer ( Mark 9:29, John 11:41); (ii.) on the sick one’s or the petitioner’s part,—faith ( Matthew 8:13; Matthew 9:2; Matthew 9:22; Matthew 9:28; Matthew 15:28 etc.) and (though seldom requiring mention) desire or will ( John 5:6; Luke 22:50 ff. is altogether exceptional); ( e ) preliminaries : (i.) ordinarily an application, either personal ( Luke 5:12; Luke 17:13; Luke 18:38) or intercessory—with ( Mark 2:3; Mark 7:32; Mark 9:17) or without ( Matthew 8:6, Mark 7:29 f., John 4:47 ff.) the presence of the sufferer; (ii.) often no application preceded ( Mark 5:28, Luke 13:12; Luke 22:51—and so always in Jn., e.g. Luke 5:6, Luke 9:2 ff. [ Luke 11:11]); ( f ) performance : usually immediate ( Matthew 8:3 f., Mark 5:29), sometimes delayed ( Mark 7:27 ff., Mark 9:21 ff.), rarely a gradual process ( Mark 8:23 ff.); ( g ) accompaniments : a word ( Matthew 8:8; Matthew 8:13; Matthew 12:13), never otherwise in the case of possession ( Matthew 8:16; Matthew 8:31), a touch ( Matthew 8:3, Matthew 9:18; Matthew 9:25; Matthew 9:29, Mark 5:28; Mark 6:56), a symbolic action ( Mark 7:33, John 9:6 f.); ( h ) sequel : an assurance ( Mark 5:34, Luke 17:19; Luke 18:42), a command ( Matthew 8:4; Matthew 9:6, Mark 5:19; Mark 5:43), a warning ( John 5:14). See also artt. Cures, Disease.
Literature.—In addition to the ordinary books of reference and those already mentioned, the following touch the subject: Ebstein, Die Medizin im Nt und im Talm ., Stuttgart, 1903; Bennett, Diseases of the Bible ; Trench, Miracles . See also C. H. Spurgeon, The Messiah , 483.
