Illness and health care in ancient Israel : the role of the social-cultural context in interpreting 2 Chronicles 26:11-23

Abstract

Understanding illness and health care in the ancient world, and especially within ancient Israel, is not an easy undertaking. Most of the research done on Israelite health care focuses on the identification of disease rather than their sociological implications. This study hypothesises that to truly understand ancient Israel’s thoughts on illness and health care it is important to take the wider social context, in which a sick person would have found himself, into account. This study analyses the illness of King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:11-23) against the backdrop of the ancient Near East’s understanding of illness and health care, Israel’s view of Yahweh’s role in illness, as well as the interwovenness between illness and the social values of honour and shame. The notions of purity and impurity and the role they played in Israel’s understanding of illness, as well as the role of the temple and other consultative options are also taken into account in the study. In so doing the study intends to shed some light on the interwovenness between illness and social values in ancient Israel and thus enabling a better understanding of 2 Chronicles 26:11-23 and illness and health care in ancient Israel. Copyright