240. Illness in the Old Testament

Illness in the Old Testament

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 240

Ave Maria series

The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick

240  How was “sickness” interpreted in the Old Testament?

In the Old Testament sickness was often experienced as a severe trial, against which one could protest but in which one could also see God’s hand.  In the prophets, the thought appears that sufferings are not just a curse and not always the consequence of personal sin.  That by patiently bearing sufferings one can also be there for others. [1502]

The blind Isaac blessing his son Jacob by Giotto di Bondone…..240

“This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.’”  Matthew  8:17

[1502]

Illness in human life

The sick person before God

1502  The man of the Old Testament lives his sickness in the presence of God. It is before God that he laments his illness, and it is of God, Master of life and death, that he implores healing.(compare Psalm 6:3; Psalm 38; Isaiah 38.)⁹⁹  Illness becomes a way to conversion; God's forgiveness initiates the healing.(compare Psalm 32:5; Ps 38:5; Ps 39:9-12,;Ps 107:20; compare Mark 2:5-12.)¹⁰⁰   It is the experience of Israel that illness is mysteriously linked to sin and evil, and that faithfulness to God according to his law restores life: "For I am the Lord, your healer."(Exodus 15:26.)¹⁰¹  The prophet intuits that suffering can also have a redemptive meaning for the sins of others.(compare Isaiah 53:11.)¹⁰²  Finally Isaiah announces that God will usher in a time for Zion when he will pardon every offense and heal every illness.(compare Isaiah 33:24.)¹⁰³–Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

OT  Isaac blessing his