GALL – a traditional poison/painkiller - Matt. 27:34
There are some who might say that the Gospel accounts don’t specifically denounce pharmacy/sorcery/witchcraft/poisons/potions/”medicines”, etc., because Christ didn’t offer anything specific on this subject. Or did He?
Matthew 27:33-34
27:33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
27:34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with GALL: and when he had tasted [thereof], he would not drink.
This incident and the example it set should come as no surprise, as this too was prophesied.
Psalm 69:19-21
69:19 Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries [are] all before Thee.
69:20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked [for some] to take pity, but [there was] none; and for comforters, but I found none.
69:21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Gall is/was a bitter herb fashioned into a drug that served as both a poison and as a painkiller.
From: Strong's Greek: 5521. χολή (cholé) -- gall (a bitter herb) -
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
gall.
Feminine of an equivalent perhaps akin to the same as Chloe (from the greenish hue); "gall" or bile, i.e. (by analogy) poison or an anodyne* (wormwood, poppy, etc.) -- gall.
*an anodyne = a painkiller
So, at the most vulnerable moment, when Christ-Jesus was in great pain and facing imminent death, Christ STILL refused the poisonous painkiller, thereby setting a perfect example for everyone to follow AGAIN.
In other words, regarding pharmacy/sorcery/witchcraft/poisons/potions/”medicines”, etc., the simple message is: DON’T DO IT.
But was this Christ’s only teaching concerning pharmacy?
Matthew 15:1-6
15:1 Then came to Jesus lawyers and politicians, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
15:2 Why do thy disciples transgress the Tradition of the Elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
15:3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the COMMANDment of God by your Tradition?
15:4 For God Commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
15:5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to [his] father or [his] mother, [It is] a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
15:6 And honour not his father or his mother, [he shall be free]. Thus have ye made the Commandment of God of none effect by your Tradition (Talmud).
Christ spent an ample amount of time correcting the scribes/lawyers and pharisees/politicians on their errant beliefs, as evidenced in the passage above. The lawyers and politicians followed their traditions, i.e. their voluminous assortment of made-up rules, legislation, etc., commonly known as the Babylonian Talmud, which they invented specifically to try to circumvent God’s Law/Commandments,
The Talmud is thought by many to be just a religious text about “Jewish” religious rites and rituals. But what many may not be aware of is that the Talmud also contains pharmacy/medicine on a wide variety of medical topics, which had been practiced for hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus.
The following 39 medical topics are discussed in the Talmud.
1. fevers (Ned., 41:1)
2. malaria (Git, 69:1)
3. malignant throat trouble, probably diphtheria (Ber., 8:1)
4. tonsillitis (Git, 69:1)
5. worms, parasites (Sab., 109:2)
6. jaundice (Sab., 109:2)
7. gout (Sota, 10:1)
8. dropsy (Sab., 33:1)
9. stone in the bladder (B. M., 85:1)
10. cardiacus (Git, 67:2)
11. hemorrhage of the lungs (Git., 69:1)
12. cancer (Ab. Z., 10:2)
13. gastritis (B. K., 80:1)
14. colic (Ned., 31:2)
15. flatulence (Pes., 116:1)
16. disease caused by drinking the froth of liquids (Git., 69:1)
17. hemorrhoids (Ber., 55:1)
18. scorbutus (Ab. Z., 28:1)
19. hip disease (Git, 69:2) [rheumatism?]
20. sexual diseases, syphilis, etc. (Sab., 110:1-2)
21. boils (Ab. Z., 21:1)
22. itch (Bech., 41:1)
23. carbuncle (Ab. Z., 28:1)
24. polypus (Ket, 77:1)
25. glanders ( Ket, 77:2)
26. hydrophobia (Hag., 3:2)
27. congestion of the brain (Git., 68:4)
28. impotence (Git, 70:1)
29. convulsions (HuL, 105:2)
30. epilepsy (Sab., 61:1)
31. bulemia (Yoma, 83:2)
32. nervousness manifested by the thought of impending danger (Git., 69:2)
33. wounds (Ab. Z., 28:17)
34. earache
35. toothache
36. headache
37. bleeding of the nose (Git., 69:1)
38. pterygium ophthalmia (Git, 69:1)
39. blindness, by day or night (Git, 69:1)