Bible Quiz

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Health, disease and healing

1. Death from heatstroke is mentioned once in the Bible. Who is the victim?

2. Was mouth-to-mouth resuscitation ever performed by any Biblical persons?

3. Which New Testament person was temporarily blinded by having something like “scales” covering his eyes?

4. What medical conditions were believed to be the result of physical possession by demons?

5. Name the one individual in the Bible who was born with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot.

6. Who used spit (saliva) as a medicine in the Bible?

7. King Asa, in his old age, suffered from a disease in what part of his body?

8. Name the pool of water in Jerusalem, at the time of Jesus, that was believed to heal the first person to enter it after the occurrence of a natural disturbance in the water level or surface of the water.

9. Which Old Testament kings suffered from insanity?

10. Does leprosy occur in the Bible?

Prepared by Richard N. Jones, Middle East Center, Univ. of Utah; and Department of Human Trace Metal Analysis, Associated Regional and University Pathologists, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Answers

1. The Shunammite woman’s child. In return for her hospitality, the prophet Elisha foretold the birth of a child to a barren Shunammite woman. “When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. And he said to his father, ‘Oh, my head, my head!’” (2 Kings 4:18–19). The boy was carried inside to his mother, but he died at noon. Responding to the Shunammite woman’s appeal, however, Elisha revived the boy. The occurrence during the heat of the harvest season and such symptoms as the sudden onset of the illness and the severe headache all suggest heatstroke.

2. No. Some interpreters of the Bible have regarded the events recorded in 2 Kings 4:18–37 (see preceding answer and compare 1 Kings 17:17–24) as evidence of the application of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in antiquity. The two most important points against this view are the long length of time before resuscitation (apparently several hours) and the fact that one cannot lie upon the body of the patient in “mirror image” fashion and successfully apply this procedure. Instead, this passage describes a cultic or sympathetic healing ritual, the precise details of which are as yet incompletely understood by Bible scholars.

3. Paul. After his vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus, Saul (later to become Paul) found that he was blind. He was led to Damascus, and remained blind for three days. Then Ananias came to him and said, “‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight” (Acts 9:17–18).

4. Epilepsy and various seizure disorders. These conditions were often regarded as the result of demons entering and taking control of a person’s body. For example, in Mark 9:14–29 (see also Matthew 17:14–21 and Luke 9:37–43) a man begs Jesus to heal his child, who “has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid…” (Mark 9:17–18). This passage clearly describes an epileptic seizure.

5. Goliath. One of four Philistines “descended from the giants in Gath” (2 Samuel 21:22), Goliath is described as “a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot…” (2 Samuel 21:20). The possession of more than five fingers or toes is a condition known as polydactyly. In ancient times, polydactyly was often associated with individuals possessing special gifts, powers and quasi-divine attributes. In modern Western societies, the birth of polydactylious infants is relatively common, but the condition is usually corrected by surgery.^a

6. Jesus. The people of Bethsaida brought a blind man to Jesus to be healed. Jesus “spit on his eyes and laid his hands upon him” and then asked, “Do you see anything?” (Mark 8:23). The man replied “I see men; but they look like trees, walking” (Mark 8:24). So Jesus “laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly” (Mark 8:25). From late antiquity up to the last century, the saliva of individuals possessing power, authority and quasi-supernatural charisma has been applied to the blind and the ill as if it contained some special benefit. (See also John 9:6.)

7. His feet. The Bible tells us that King Asa of Judah (908–867 B.C.) “in his old age…was diseased in his feet” (1 Kings 15:23). Such a specific location for the illness, and his age, suggest gouty arthritis as the cause. His illness is too briefly described to allow any more accurate diagnostic inferences.

8. Bethesda. Beside the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, a pool known as Bethesda (or Bethzatha or Bethsaida) often became disturbed suddenly and unexpectedly due to natural geological events. It was believed that the first person to enter the water after the disturbance would be healed. When Jesus saw a “multitude of invalids” waiting beside the pool, he told one who had been lying there a long time to “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk,” and “at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked” (John 5:2–9).

9. Saul and Nebuchadnezzar. King Saul (c. 1020–1004 B.C.) became jealous of the popular praise that David won for slaying Goliath, and “an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house…” (1 Samuel 18:10). He also uttered wild prophecies, tore off his clothes and lay naked on the floor for more than a day (1 Samuel 19:24). Nebuchadnezzar went mad when a voice from heaven declared, “The kingdom has departed from you, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts in the field; and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox; and seven times [years] shall pass over you, until you learned that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Daniel 4:31–32). At the end of his punishment, Nebuchadnezzar “lifted [his] eyes to heaven, and [his] reason returned…” (Daniel 4:34).

10. Probably not. The inaccurate English word “leprosy” is often found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament in older translations to describe skin lesions of more than one type.^b True leprosy is thought to have emerged near India about 600 B.C. Theoretically, it could have reached the Near and Middle East by the first century A.D., but this seems unlikely, and no evidence of leprosy in skeletal remains from this period supports the possibility. The descriptions of leprosy found in any biblical passage do not describe true leprosy, its symptoms and disease characteristics as understood by modern medicine.

Health, disease and healing

1. Death from heatstroke is mentioned once in the Bible. Who is the victim?
2. Was mouth-to-mouth resuscitation ever performed by any Biblical persons?
3. Which New Testament person was temporarily blinded by having something like “scales” covering his eyes?
4. What medical conditions were believed to be the result of physical possession by demons?