Biblical Medications and Uses Today

Celery – this popular bitter herb grows to 10 in.with succulent, semi-circular stems and bright green, aromatic leaves. All the parts are edible. The seeds are a diuretic and help eliminate toxins that aggravate gout and arthritis. The juice from the whole plant is said to be good for bladder infections.


Dandelion – one of the bitter herbs, a perennial flower often seen as a weed, it produces a flat rosette of bright green leaves from a big, fleshy taproot. Sticky, white sap is used to remove warts. Dandelion coffee is a detoxicant, said to be good for kidneys and liver.

Dill – an annual herb that grows to 3 ft, and looks very much like fennel with its threadlike, feathery blue-green leaves. Seeds are used ground or whole in cooked dishes and tea is also made from the seeds.

I am learning as i read thru these, hopefully others also.

And all the while i thouht the bitter herbs spoken about were really bitter. Like the bitter gourd or melon taken as a vegetable here and other asian countries i know. Mint a bitter herb? The first and last time i had mints, they were always sweet.

Dandelion – one of the bitter herbs, a perennial flower often seen as a weed, it produces a flat rosette of bright green leaves from a big, fleshy taproot. Sticky, white sap is used to remove warts. Dandelion coffee is a detoxicant, said to be good for kidneys and liver...

Searching on the dandelion, i know the closest we knew of it is this weed w/ the same dried flower w/ seeds that blow in the wind. I was led to this website, wc i could not resist posting, on local weeds.

I mentioned in the previous post that weeds are unwanted plants in the garden or in a plot of plants being tended. These include the grasses and the broadleaves, the former being monocots, while the latter being dicots. There are probably more dicot weeds scattered in the tropics than the monocots. And of course, their flowers are naturally more beautiful. A plant lover or a photographer cannot resist the temptation these broadleaf flowers offer. And the butterflies are also their frequent visitors.

You can click the link for more.

Andrea in this Lifetime: Weeds other than grasses

There is an image of the Aloe succotrina (Fig.49) in Plants of the Bible, the source of the 'aloes' nicodemus brought to embalm Jesus' body. Israel learned the art of embalming with plants juice from the ancient Egyptians.

Plants Profile for Aloe succotrina (Fynbos aloe)

The colocynth... fruit of the watermelon-relative contians an intensely bitter pulp wc is a drastic cathartic. Referred to as 'gall' in the OT and NTs. These colored fruits were the 'wild' gourds' of Elisha (Bentley and Trimen, 1880).

Just be careful and don't ingest the stuff unless you want to look like a smurf.

It can permanently stain your skin green.

Silver does help kill bacteria in some cases though, so topically it might do the trick.

There is a photo gallery of Biblical plants here, where you can read more info on medicinal uses:
Photo Gallery

...the leeks, the onions and the garlic. Nu. 11.5.
The virtues of these 3 were well knwn in Biblical days. Onions and leeks were said to grow in the desert around Cairo and all peoples of the MIddle east remain fond to this day of the strong flavors of all three. Garlic is probably the most common seasoning in all mediterranean countries, where it is often eaten raw with bread. The plant was valued as a form of currency and provided to slaves building the pyramids as an incentive to good work. It has traditionally been used as a health aid, to regulate blood pressure and cholesterol.


It is like a grain of mustard seed... Lk. 13.9
Most commentators agree that the mustard Jesus refers to is the ordinary black mustard. The plant was cultivated in Palestine, probably for its oil. Mustards usually grow only 3-4 ft high, but 15-foot plants have been found in the Mid-east, with stems as thick as a mans arm..The young leaves may be added to salads or cooked and served as a potherb.

I am now even happier how I love leeks, onions, and garlic. There I times I love to have just a smidgen of raw garlic, not to mention onion. God provides, and all is a blessing, all. Thanks for keeping people up on the health aspects of good nutrition.

I personally wish i knew abt these long ago. There are many foreign plants herbs and spices i am just getting to know.

Do not feel left out........You have mentioned several good plants and plant derivatives I do not have ready access too, so I think God has balanced out the availability of needs, we just have to keep our eyes and ears opened to others in our areas too. Thanks.....

Getting to know you: Mycobacterium leprae (Lev. 13 i think). I was just reading on this. And others so interesting.

Leprosy was prevalent in Bible times. Lev. 13 and 14 are devoted to directions for the recognition and treatment of various forms of leprosy. It is probably that certain other diseases are included in the term leprosy of the OT (Heb. tzaraat). For ex., the scall of Lev. 13. 30-37 is now recognized as being ringworm. Psoriasis was probably also included, and other skin afflictions.

True leprosy is a chronic disease caused by he bacillus M. leprae, characterized by he formation of nodules, ulcerations and disturbances of the sensory organs and usually fatal. The tubular variety is characterized by the appearance of small red areas ont he skin, wc become pigmented and develop into tubercles. The other variety common in tropical form, is characterized by atrophy of the peripheral sensory nerves, resulting in greatly excited sensitivity, followed by complete loss of sensation. Some indian fakirs who lie on spikes or walk on broken glass w/o feeling pain have this type of disease. An incurable form amg the Jews was characterized by the presence of smooth, shining, depressed white patches or scales.

Moldenke, p. 143

Nigella sativa L. (fitches in Isa. 28. 25 and 27)
The Heb. used in the original texts is ketyaeh or ketzach. It was translated fitches in the AV, which are species of the genus Vicia.

The fitches of Isaiah are now generally agreed to have been N. sativa, the so-called nutmeg-flower, an annual of the buttercup family related to the cultivated love in the mist, N. damascena... In modern Egypt there is a loaf or cake, finer textured than common bread, covered with black seed or blessed seed as called by the arabs.

It is interesting that cummin and nutmeg flowers are still gathered in Palestine the same way as Isaiah described in 725 BC. The seeds are beaten out with a staff to avoid a wheel that passes over these plants to crush the plant adn waste their valuable carminative oil.
Moldenke, p. 152-3

Although I try to access the Plants of the Bible book online, nothing beats having a personal or hard copy to use. I am unable to visit nearby lib where I first read copy of this book, and it kind of frustrates me. Although it shouldn't, and I do not think someone else owns it here on cc, but if someone is just a bit interested, here's what a review says, wc I hope gets others interested getting one. I can only say it is a classic, and the science is correct as another reviewer says. [h=3]Top Customer Reviews[/h]5.0 out of 5 starsA CLASSIC on PLANTS of the BIBLE!
By Mr. Gary S. Dykes on April 3, 2001
Format: Paperback

This husband and wife team produced an unbeatable text on the subject of plants of the Bible. This is a paperback, a 1986 reprint by Dover Publications, thus it is a good paperback. It is apparently not printed on acid-free paper, nor is it smyth-sewn.

The text is laid out very much like any other serious book on a region's botany. The order of presentation is alphabetic using the Latin names of the species. Each presentation is referenced to other botanical works, alloyed with a fine bibliography. About 230 plants are discussed. The discussions are authoritative and thorough. The authors are well qualified for such an undertaking!

It is accented with a fair number of good line drawings, one map and excellent indexes (including not only the Latin names but the common names as well). It also has a nice "Historical Sketch" showing the peoples and events which enlightened the rest of the world concerning the plants mentioned in the Scriptures. Of course each plant is cross referenced to its Biblical passage(s). The geographical locations of each plant are abundantly made known. Not all papyrus plants came from Egypt!

Sure color photos would have been nice, but then the price would be exceedingly high. This is a great book, very handy, and easy to use. It is packed with useful botanical data about the Holy Land. My only regret was their use of the word "legend" when applied to the account of the creation (on page 20).

The pages measure 6 x 9 inches packed with fine, but legible print. All of this is within about 268 pages. Concluding the work are a number of black and white plates and drawings. This book is dirt cheap, and a real bargain at triple the price!! Highly recommended, and fun to read! courtesy of: Mr. Gary S. Dykes

I came across this short vid on dates also. Might interest some.
[video=youtube;wKhc2rC7hH8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKhc2rC7hH8[/video]

I understand this thread is entitled Biblical medications... and wheat is not particularly identified or referred to as medicine, but it is the 'staff of life' for millions of people around the world and most definitely food for healing. I just continue with some details from the botanical book by Moldenke, pp. 230-3
Gen 30:14
And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah...

The Hebrew translated ‘wheat’ is chittah or chitim, but for ‘corn’ 11 different Heb. words are employed—in Nu.18:27, for instance, dagan “food made of corn or wheat, bread”, in Jud. 15.5 kamah meaning “standing corn or ears of corn”, etc.
There is no doubt that the ‘wheat’ of the bible is the commonly cultivated summer and winter wheat of the present, Triticum aesticvum. This is an abundant annual grass cultivated in Egypt and other Eastern lands…It was certainly the chief grain of Mesopotamia in Jacob’s time (Gen. 30.14).

Five kinds of wheat are native to and still wild today in Palestine and neighboring lands… these native kinds are the so-called one-grained wheat, einkorn, or little spelt, the thaoudar, and the wild emmer or wild wheat.

Three varieties are now very commonly cultivated in Palestine: on the maritime plains there is a white short-bearded form, while inland there is a short-stemmed, thick-set coarse-grained form and also a form with longer stems and coarse black beards and husks… Babylonia, Syria and Palestine all were known in ancient days for the excellent quality of their wheat, but were all frequently subject to droughts resulting in famine.

Wheat was also the main constituent of the corn of the Bible. Corn is mentioned no less than 71x in the Scriptures. This corn of the Old world must not be confused with the American corn, Zea mays, which should more properly be called indian corn or maize…

The meat offerings (Heb. mincha) so minutely described in Lev. 2.1-6 and 6.15… were actually not meat, but cereal offerings. Moffat and goodspeed versions substitute cereal offering for the misleading meat offerings of the KJV.

Food, in general, is the fuel and of the created organism. The organism reacts to health-giving foods as it does to health giving (restoring) medications of the Bible. Food should be regarded as a preventive medication............my though, not engrav ed in stone.

Mar.......your contributions to healthing diet and herbal health helps is invaluable. Thank you always, and God bless you..

Herbs are God medicine cabinet. They do have some side effects and interactions, but they are much more gentler then pharma meds, whose some side effects include death. I'm not kidding.
In fact over 100,000 people a year die from using prescription meds. That is 270 people each and every day. Some cancer drugs can cost as much as $50,000 a year. The United States in one of the few countries that doesn't limit drug prices. The drug lobbyists are some of the most powerful in the country. God only knows how much money politicians who are in bed with them make. And most of those are not the classic type overdoses.
In a June 2010 report in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, study authors said that in looking over records4 that spanned from 1976 to 2006 (the most recent year available) they found that, of 62 million death certificates, almost a quarter-million deaths were coded as having occurred in a hospital setting due to medication errors.

• An estimated 450,000 preventable medication-related adverse events occur in the U.S. every year
• The costs of adverse drug reactions5 to society are more than $136 billion annually -- greater than the total cost of cardiovascular or diabetic care.
• Adverse drug reactions cause injuries or death in one of five hospital patients.
• The reason there are so many adverse drug events in the U.S.6 is that so many drugs are used and prescribed – and many patients receive multiple prescriptions at varying strengths, some of which may counteract each other or cause more severe reactions when combined.
• And in 2009, there were nearly 4.6 million drug-related visits to U.S. emergency rooms nationwide,8 with more than half due to adverse reactions to prescription medications – most of which were being taken exactly as prescribed.9 When you add in the growing numbers of people who are using these drugs recreationally or due to addiction, you begin to see the magnitude of the problem that the pharmaceutical industry is propagating.
• The "war on drugs" has focused nearly exclusively on the illegal trafficking of drugs like cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, while the most powerful drug dealers of all -- the pharmaceutical companies -- are allowed to grow their businesses with the U.S. government's gold seal of approval.But make no mistake – the leading pharmaceutical companies are also among the largest corporate criminals in the world, and they are really nothing more than white-collar drug dealers.
  Although many fail to realize this, prescription drugs can be just as addictive as illegal drugs. In fact, in many cases there's no difference between a street drug and a prescription drug. For example, hydrocodone, a prescription opiate, is synthetic heroin. It's indistinguishable from any other heroine as far as your brain and body is concerned. So, if you're hooked on hydrocodone, you are in fact a good-old-fashioned heroin addict
  But aside from the nature of their business, fraud, kickbacks, price-setting, bribery, and illegal sales activities are all par for the course for big-name drug companies. Last year I set out to investigate some of the criminal activities that some of the largest pharmaceutical companies had been convicted of lately, and the amount of gross misconduct, fraud and deceit I found was so insidious, so massive, and so overwhelming that it shocked even me.
  You can read the grim details in full on the article, but here is just a sampling of what the top drug companies are up to:
  
  • Merck: With a long list of deaths to its credit, and more than $5.5 billion in judgments and fines levied against it, it was five years before Merck made its $30-billion recall of the painkiller Vioxxthat I warned my readers that it might be a real killer for some people. After the drug was withdrawn, and 60,000 had already died, Merck picked up the pieces painlessly by getting a new drug fast-tracked and on the market.
    
    That drug is Gardasil, a vaccine that so far has been linked to thousands of adverse events and at least 49 unexplained deaths. It's a situation that the FDA and CDC have been denying repeatedly, keeping their heads buried in the sand even as the adverse reports mount.
    
  • Baxter: Dozens of recalls of products that caused deaths and injuries, at least 11 different guilty pleas to fraud and illegal sales activity, more than 200 lawsuits – many of them stemming from selling AIDS-tainted blood to hemophiliacs – and more than $1.3 billion in criminal fines and civil penalties.
  • Pfizer: In the largest health care fraud settlement in history, Pfizer was ordered to pay $2.3 billion to resolve criminal and civil allegations that the company illegally promoted uses of four of its drugs, including the painkiller Bextra, the antipsychotic Geodon, the antibiotic Zyvox, and the anti-epileptic Lyrica.
  • There is a risk of side effects every time you take a prescription drug. No one (except for those who intentionally overdose)expects these medications to kill them, but they can do just that, and it happens far more often than you might think! In a study recently released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA),10 officials emphasized that people should not assume there's no risk in prescribed medicines. The truth is, the only way to avoid all risk, including death, from prescription drugs is to not take them at all.
    It is your body, not your doctor's and not your pharmacist's, so it is up to you to make the decision of what drugs to take, if any. Be SURE you are aware of the risks of any medication prescribed to you, and weigh them against any possible benefit. Then you can make a well-informed decision of whether it's a risk you're willing to take.
    Of course, of paramount importance is also taking control of your health so you can stay well naturally, without the use of drugs or even frequent conventional medical care. If you adhere to a healthy lifestyle, you most likely will never need medications in the first place. This includes:
    
    • Proper Food Choices
      
      For a comprehensive guide on which foods to eat and which to avoid, see my nutrition plan. Generally speaking, you should be looking to focus your diet on whole, unprocessed foods (vegetables, fruits, raw nuts, beans,, sprouts, seeds and so forth) that come from healthy, sustainable, local sources, such as a small organic farm not far from your home.
      For the best nutrition and health benefits, you will want to eat a good portion of your food raw. Personally, I aim to eat about 80-85 percent of my food raw.
      Nearly as important as knowing which foods to eat more of is knowing which foods to avoid, and topping the list is fructose. Sugar, and fructose in particular, acts as a toxin in and of itself, and as such drive multiple disease processes in your body, not the least of which is insulin resistance, a major cause of accelerated aging.
      
    • Comprehensive Exercise Program, including High-Intensity Exercise like Peak Fitness
      
      Even if you're eating the healthiest diet in the world, you still need to exercise to reach the highest levels of health, and you need to be exercising effectively, which means including not only core-strengthening exercises, strength training, and stretching but also high-intensity activities into your rotation. High-intensity interval-type training boosts human growth hormone (HGH) production, which is essential for optimal health, strength and vigor. I've discussed the importance of Peak Fitness for your health on numerous occasions.
      
    • Stress Reduction and Positive Thinking
      
      You cannot be optimally healthy if you avoid addressing the emotional component of your health and longevity, as your emotional state plays a role in nearly every physical disease -- from heart disease and depression, to arthritis and cancer. Effective coping mechanisms are a major longevity-promoting factor in part because stress has a direct impact on inflammation, which in turn underlies many of the chronic diseases that kill people prematurely every day. Meditation, prayer, social support, and exercise are all viable options that can help you maintain emotional and mental equilibrium.
      
    • Proper Sun Exposure to Optimize Vitamin D
      
      We have long known that it is best to get your vitamin D from sun exposure, and if at all possible, I strongly urge you to make sure you're getting out in the sun on a daily basis. There is preliminary evidence suggesting that oral vitamin D may not provide the identical benefits, although it's still better than none at all.
      Just keep in mind that it's really best to get ALL your vitamin D from the sun. It appears that vitamin D plays a crucial role in sulfur metabolism11 and when you swallow it orally it may not have the same benefit as getting it from the sun.
      
    • Take High-Quality Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats
      
      Animal-based omega-3 fat is a strong factor in helping people live longer, and many experts believe that it is likely the predominant reason why the Japanese are the longest-lived race on the planet.
      
    • Avoid as Many Chemicals, Toxins, and Pollutants as Possible
      
      This includes tossing out your toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene products, air fresheners, bug sprays, lawn pesticides, and insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives.
      
      A good portion of this post is from a article published by Dr. Mercola.

Thanks, great list.

Bear in mind, when there is a reference to "corn" in the Word it is to the fruit of grains, not corn (maíz) from the Americas.