Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EPILEPSY

According to some modern medical researchers, a disorder characterized by the repeated occurrence of seizures in the absence of an acute precipitating systemic or brain insult. Some scholars see the earliest historical references to epilepsy in descriptions (from as early as the 2nd millennium b.c.e.) of the diseases known as antašubba and bennu in ancient Mesopotamia, though other interpretations are possible. In Greco-Roman literature, the “falling sickness” and the “sacred disease,” a condition particularly attributed to the actions of the gods, are usually regarded as references to epilepsy.

The OT contains no clear references to epilepsy, though some scholars see the mention of the effects of the moon in Ps. 121:6 as a possible reference. The behavior of Saul (1 Sam. 16:14-16) and Ezekiel (Ezek. 3:26) has also been attributed to epilepsy by some scholars.

Many modern scholars ascribe to epilepsy the symptoms of the demon-possessed youth in Mark 9:14-29. The parallel passage in Matt. 17:15 uses Gk. selēniázetai, which is often translated “moonstruck,” a rubric associated with epilepsy in Greco-Roman sources. More ambiguous cases of epilepsy include references to Paul’s thorn in the flesh and “out-of-body” experiences (2 Cor. 12:1-7).

Hector Avalos

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EPILEPSY

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)