What Can We Do to Keep Well?

By Milton G. Crane, M.D. and Barbara G. Crane, R.D. of Weimar Institute

That is the question that is uppermost on so many minds. Why do my children get so many colds? Why does it seem to take me so long to recover from an infection? Believe it or not, the most important principles, the simplest methods, are presented in Scripture. These are isolation of the sick, cleanliness, and proper diet.

In civilized areas we have become accustomed to health by sanitation laws, health by food inspectors, health by vaccines, and health by antibiotics. We have forgotten the need for personal cleanliness and quarantine except for the most serious infectious diseases. Five main factors have decreased the likelihood of safe, proper nutrition.

These are:

Ever-increasing fertility of the soil.

The marked increase in the use of processed or refined foods.

The increasing use of food additives and pesticides.

The increasing problem of disease in animals.

The problem of waning immunity that accompanies aging.

But we dare not trust too heavily upon antibiotics instead of judicious cleanliness. We are currently seeing a resurgence of tuberculosis in America, one strain of which is resistant to all known antituberculous medications.

If we add all these together, the how to maintain good health becomes very important. Let us examine the three major disease prevention principles that the Great Physician laid out for those two million Israelites on their 40-year giant camping trip nearly 3500 years ago

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Isolation of the Sick: Although the main thrust was for the control of the much-dreaded leprosy, the instructions included care for boils, and bodily discharges. Lev. 13-15. Not only were there instructions for isolation of the afflicted, but also the cleansing of the body, clothing, bedding, and house was included. It included washing of body, clothing, and being unclean until the evening. If you touched something that the invalid had sat upon or touched, you had to go through the washing and cleansing. If an unclean person spit upon you, all communicable disease technique was necessary. There was a special purification needed for those who buried the dead. Num. 19:11-22.

One of the most interesting sets of regulations was in connection with the birth of a child. Lev. 12. The woman and everything that she touched was to be considered unclean for seven days for a boy and 14 days for a girl. The mother was then to "continue in the days of her purification" for 33 more days for a boy and 66 days for a girl baby. Her bed, whatever she sat upon, and whatever she touched, including the baby, was to be considered unclean. Anyone who touched the "polluted" things had to bathe, wash their clothing, and be unclean till the evening. Why all this? It was an ingenious method of reverse isolation. It kept the mother and the baby in a form of isolation for 40-80 days.

The germ theory was not discovered until the work of John Tyndall, Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch, and Sir Joseph Lister about 1876. Up until then, nearly everyone who had surgery died of "blood poisoning."

In 1846 Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis in Vienna initiated the rule that doctors and nurses had to wash their hands before and after caring for his maternity patients. After the washing routine was instituted, the death rate from maternal fever dropped from one in eight in April. To only one of 42 patients, in June, and only one of 84 in July. The jealousy of his medical colleagues prevented their acceptance of his method. Semmelweis was ostracized in Vienna and later in Budapest when he had the same results in that city. Before he died, he left us a legacy in his book, "The Etiology, Concepts of Prophylaxis of Childbirth Fever."

Cleanliness: God's approach for health in ancient Israel was preventative measures. Wash yourselves, and be clean, is the repeated advice to Israel in Leviticus 11-22 and in the early chapters of Deuteronomy. If they were in contact with a sick person or the dead, they were to wash themselves, the bedding, their clothing, and be unclean until the evening (Leviticus 13-15).

Many of the prescriptions in the Eber Papyri included the application of animal dung to a bruise or lesion. On the contrary, Moses' instructions were to treat dung as unclean. Israel was to designate a place outside the camp for the people to relieve themselves. They were to wear a paddle on their belt, dig a hole, relieve themselves, and then bury it. Deut. 23:12, 13. Since they used their hand (routinely the left hand) to clean themselves, they were to wash their hands with clean water up to the elbow before eating a meal. Personal hygiene with cleansing with running water was more than ceremonial; it was for health purposes. Lev. 14:8, 9; 15:13.

For practical purposes, over $12 billion a year is slated in the U.S. for the care of sexually transmitted diseases. These would be controlled by obedience to the seventh commandment, which prohibits illicit sex. All 12 of the sexually transmitted diseases would be eliminated.

In populous regions like China, the Philippines, Nepal, and India, the surface water from the countryside is polluted from the centuries of defecation on the surface of the earth. Isa. 24:5, 6. In the United States and Europe, the problem is pollution from toxic chemicals and sewage systems.

Proper Diet: The Creator's original diet consisted of fruit, vegetables, herbs of the field, nuts, and grains, simply prepared without spices. The Lord permitted the use of flesh foods from certain specified all-vegetarian animals, but did not sanction he use of blood or the fat of the animal. Lev. 7:23-26; 17:13-14. Specifically, all the scavenger animals were prohibited. Lev. 11. Moses used the Hebrew word, "eseb," right from Genesis 1:29, which indicated that the herbs of the field were included in man's original diet. Genesis 1:29; 3:18; 9:3.

Do not use honey overmuch. Proverbs 25:27

"He that loveth [fermented] wine and oil shall not be rich." Proverbs 21:17

Alcoholic beverages were prohibited. Lev. 10:8, 9; Proverbs 23: 29-35

Moses gives us a "food frequency" list of items that Israel actually ate in the wilderness. Deut. 32:14, 15. That list omitted manna, a special food from the Lord (Psalm 78:25), and it included milk, oil, cheese, and the fat of lambs. The result of that diet was as to be expected, obesity and spiritual weakness. The fattest of them died prematurely. Psalm 78:31.

Rest and Exercise: In Exodus 20:8-11, we have been given secular work to perform during six days and one day a week for devotional re-creation.

Copyright © 1995-2002 Milton G. Crane, M.D. and Barbara G. Crane, R.D., Weimar Institute, Weimar, CA 95736. All rights Reserved.