Comments | susancalvin: Bible nerd-dom

susancalvin

Bible nerd-dom

Aug 09, 2006 14:48

( Cut for the maybe four of you who might be interested in this )

Comments 19

medtecher August 9 2006, 19:30:27 UTC

It certainly makes sense to me. :)

zunger August 9 2006, 19:45:11 UTC

Yes. Yes, you are. :)

adereth August 9 2006, 20:08:05 UTC

Why do you think that?

susancalvin August 9 2006, 20:19:34 UTC

So, I was hoping that by posting this, someone else might have some ideas. I don't have a great answer, but here's my thought process:

- There's clearly something unusual about these diseases. Otherwise, why the redundancy? It says that they'll be healed from all diseases AND all diseases of Egypt.

- So why are these diseases different from all other diseases? Well, the most likely answer is that the generic "diseases" is referring to diseases of the body and "diseases of Egypt" is referring to diseases of the spirit. Which makes sense.

- But I just have this nagging feeling that there's something else. I have some association that I can't put my finger on with referring to STIs as diseases acquired in a particular foreign country.

susancalvin August 9 2006, 20:20:59 UTC

And I just went and googled for "veneral disease archaic terms" and found "French Pox" as a name for syphillis. That's probably what I was thinking of, but there must be others.

dlv78 August 9 2006, 21:31:34 UTC

Speaking of French Pox, do you still have my copy of Quicksilver?

Thread 11

stepleton August 9 2006, 22:00:41 UTC

What are the other options? Maybe another possibility could be ailments common to marshy river areas, e.g. mosquito-borne diseases like yellow fever and malaria.

susancalvin August 9 2006, 23:23:13 UTC

So, I'm not sure what the other options would be. Because Israel has (or rather had pre-Huleh Valley drainage project) marshy areas with plenty of malaria. So, it would seem odd to call those diseases only "the diseases of Egypt."

Are there specific types of diseases that might be associated with slavery? Because that could be it.

medtecher August 9 2006, 23:56:48 UTC

"Are there specific types of diseases that might be associated with slavery?"

Back problems? Whip marks?

No, I'm not trying to actually be helpful...

stepleton August 10 2006, 00:03:55 UTC

Out of curiosity, do they mention malaria or something like it in the Torah/Bible?

Most of the ailments I remember are ones from the Gospels: leprosy, blindness, schizophrenia (my take on demon possession). Aside from the "plague" on Egypt, that is.

Thread 5

skamille August 10 2006, 13:28:19 UTC

This post makes me think of the stereotypical Jewish mom voice saying "You see dear? This is why you should only sleep with nice JEWISH boys/girls."