Luke 5:31 - "And Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick;’ "

Colossians 4:14 - "Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you."

In ancient Egypt, from which the Hebrews acquired many of their ideas, medicine was mainly magical in nature and doctors were so highly regarded that they were sometimes deified. These doctors had some knowledge of surgical skill; for example, brain surgery is known to have been accomplished by them. Among the drugs which these doctors used were cedar oil, alum, brains, salt, honey, sycamore bark, sulphate of copper, the liver, heart and blood of animals, and stag’s horn. These physicians also served as embalmers.

In the Bible, illness is usually regarded as punishment for sin or as being due to Satan; so, on occasion, prophets or holy men engaged in healing activities. The midwife was available for the woman in labor, who would consider it wrong to have a man attend her.

In the early stages of medical practice, attention was more frequently applied to surgical aid and external applications. Even down to a comparatively late period, outward maladies appear to have been the chief subjects of medical treatment among the Hebrews, although they were not entirely without remedies for internal and even mental disorders.

The Bible is generally not complimentary concerning the doctor’s ability to cure his patients. Mark 5:26 says, "he suffered much under many physicians." No post-mortem study of anatomy and the cause of disease, such as we practice today, was possible because of the Mosaic injunction against touching the dead. From the Bible we may infer that Hebrew doctors made use of oil lotions, anointings of balm, fig poultices, and wine.

The early Babylonians had a law against malpractice, and one that varied the fees according to the financial status of the patient. In New Testament times, doctors received a stated fee.

Attitudes toward doctors seem to have varied. Asa is denounced for consulting physicians; the Talmud declares "the best of physicians are hell bound." Yet, physician is a name given to Jesus signifying great respect, and Luke is called "the beloved physician."

In our days of medical care for everyone, of socialized medicine in some countries, and of the status carried by the physician, we are perhaps amused rather than anything else by a statement from the Talmud, "The physician who charges nothing is worth nothing." But our physicians of today, with the vast array of medical knowledge behind them, are truly at times miracle workers.

But we must not forget the other member of the team who is comparable to the ancient physician - the mortician. Just as one of the physician’s duties was the embalming of the dead, so too we have need of the undertaker who will give our loved ones a fitting and Christian farewell to this world.