A LOOK AT CONFUSION OVER THE SOURCE AND CURE OF SICKNESS IN OUR WORLD TODAY AND YESTERDAY

In this post I refer initially to the New American Standard Bible (NASB) which is relatively new to me, as it might be to most Wrights Lane readers. I also glean from the English Standard (ESV), New International (NIV) and King James (KJV) versions.

The New American Standard Bible is a literal translation from the original texts, well suited to study because of its accurate rendering of the source texts. It follows the style of the King James Version but uses modern English for words that have fallen out of use or changed their meanings. 

Fear over the current global pandemic has sent many to seek answers in Scripture. While consulting biblical verses is not a bad thing, sometimes these verses are misunderstood or manipulated to suit various presuppositions. More importantly, a contemporary reliance on translations and ignorance of ancient views on sickness can lead to serious confusion.

Ancient Israelites for instance, did not have the same type of faith in medicine as most modern people. In their worldview, the sickness was not something people could manipulate, control, cure, or even prevent. Thus, it is a mistake to read the Scriptures solely through a modern scientific lens. We must allow the original biblical language to impart meaning to us, not the other way around.

The NASB translation mentions the “infection of leprosy,” but ancient people did not have designated terms for infectious disease–nor did they know about bacteria or viruses. That, of course, does not mean that the terrible effects of lingering diseases (what we call “pandemics”) were absent in antiquity. But it will be hard to find the language of “infection” or “outbreak” in ancient writings.

The biblical term for “infection” or “ailment” is usually nega, which literally means a “strike” or “blow.” In the term’s verbal form, (naga), it means “to touch.” The mysterious affliction in Leviticus 13 that is most often rendered “leprosy” is, in fact, a “blow” in Hebrew and “infection” is a modernized English translation. Furthermore, translating the condition as “leprosy” makes it a common bacterial disease that can be treated with a course of antibiotics.

It's taken a while but I have concluded that such translation is misleading because we are not talking here about a pathogen with its own biological agenda, but rather a condition brought on by God and under divine control. In other words, God is the one who does the striking, not the disease.

Another English translation that may be misleading is that of “disease.” For instance, Genesis 12:17 reads, “But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai” (NIV). The “diseases” in the NIV translation is the plural form of a “blow.” The modern temptation is to associate “disease” with something contagious, like a virus, but the above verse begins, “The LORD struck”... A "blow" is not a naturally-occurring contagion, but a purposeful act of God.

The use of the term “plague” in English translations makes things even worse. In light of past outbreaks in human history (such as Bubonic plague), the word carries ominous associations for most people. The English insertion of “plague” appears in the ESV rendering of Exodus: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt’” (Exod 11:1 ESV). Here is the surprise, the same exact noun in this verse of ESV is translated as “plague” and not “disease or “infection”. Most modern people would associate a plague with some sort of pandemic, but that is not what the Bible communicates.

Now we have seen the same simple term translated quite differently into English from one verse to another. I deliberately used three different translations (no translation is perfect and we have at least 10 accepted versions to work from) and they can all be misleading. To ancient people, a “strike” or a “blow” from the LORD is not a disease, nor an infection, nor a pandemic. A biblical “strike” may make one sick, and there may be ways to alleviate the symptoms, but God is both the source and the cure in ancient Israelite thinking.

The Bible presents spiritual realities from a perspective that embraces the supernatural as a norm, so as long as we allow our scientific thinking to influence our interpretations, the actual meaning of biblical texts will continue to evade us.

Therein lies the conundrum of our age. It is all so difficult to sort out and to come to conclusive understanding. Yet the more inquisitive among us keep digging and looking for comprehensive answers to questions that continue to "plague" us.

In the end, we believe what we want to believe, rightly or wrongly; in some instances to our own peril.