- Series:History, Transcript English
Leviticus 13:45
“And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.”
Did Moses know that germs – invisible to the naked eye – were the cause of disease thousands of years before the invention of the microscope?
American evangelist, creationist and author Harry Rimmer thought it was possible. In his 1936 book, The Harmony of Science and Scripture, Rimmer wrote that the custom of wearing a protective mask in the hospital is a modern method of preventative medicine based upon the certainty that pathogenic organisms cause disease in the human body.
“How, then,” he asked, “can we account, on purely human grounds, for the use of this same method for the prevention of infection in the days of Moses?” Rimmer then refers the reader to Leviticus 13:45 where “we have a record of a contagious disease…. The law of God, as given through Moses, contained the injunction that the infected man must bind a cloth across his upper lip, exactly as the physician in the hospital wears the mask today!”
Of course, Moses couldn’t have known anything about the microorganisms that spread disease from one person to another, but God certainly knew all about germs! Rimmer concluded: “If Moses really spoke by inspiration of the Spirit of God and transmitted to us only those things which he in turn had received, we have a sensible explanation for this marvelous anticipation of modern wisdom in this ancient book.”
While Creation Moments does not agree with Dr. Rimmer’s position on the gap theory, we wholeheartedly agree that the Bible contains many scientifically sound truths we are only learning about today.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, You saved the Israelites who looked at the brass serpent Moses raised up on a pole. So, too, do you save me when I look in faith at Your Son who was raised up on the tree of Calvary. Amen.
Author: Steven J. Schwartz
Ref: Harry Rimmer, The Harmony of Science and Scripture, pp. 101-102 (Eerdmans Publishing, 22nd printing, 1973). Painting: “The Brazen Serpent.” Artist: Benjamin West (1738-1820).
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