What Causes Leprosy In The Bible
1550 bc to sicknesses named aat and uchedu have been mistranslated as leprosy.
What causes leprosy in the bible. Leprosy was common in bible times and the many references to it were well understood by those who lived in unsanitary conditions. Leprosy is rare in the west yet widely known through biblical references. References in the ebers medical papyrus c.
Also known as hansens disease leprosy is a skin infection caused by a mycobacterium. In ancient israel leprosy was a powerful object lesson of the debilitating influence of sin in a persons life. Leprosy was at one time incurable and lepers were segregated into colonies.
In addition to pain and disfiguration biblical leprosy and hansens disease are both dreaded and people were shunned because of them. The noun tsaraath appears about two dozen times in the hebrew text. According to the national institutes of health leprosy is a disease that has been known since biblical times that causes skin sores nerve damage and muscle weakness that gets worse over time.
It is caused by a bacteria that is not very contagious and more common in children than adults. Of direct relevance to the problem of so called leprosy in the bible is the still confused history of hansens disease in ancient egypt.