Bible connections with science are close. I view this ancient text not just as a book of faith, but also as a book of science. Like the Vedas and the Koran, it is an ode to humanity’s relationship to science, nature, and compassion.
The Bible describes the views, thoughts, practices, and value systems of Jews and Christians from the ancient empires of Babylon, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Macedonia, Greece, and Rome. It gives us a view of how people thought, conducted themselves, and viewed their lives. It was a book of not just faith but compassion, beauty, and nature.
The land where the Bible was written was not isolated from the rest of the inhabited world. They actively traded and interacted with civilizations residing in Ancient India. A degree of intellectual interaction between these regions would have been inevitable, and ideas would have inevitably been cross-fertilized.
In this brief article on Easter Day, I explore the connections between the Bible and beauty, as well as the significance of herbs.
Bible connections with Beauty
The Hebrew Bible describes beauty as a combination of splendor, majesty, honor, spirituality, and glory with pleasure, desire, attractiveness, and enjoyment ideas.
Beauty is multidimensional, and the Bible verses capture this beautifully. The ancient concepts of beauty, as described in the Hebrew Bible verses, are quite like those prevailing in ancient Egypt. Beauty was considered a sign of holiness. It was an important part of the daily lives of both men and women. The dead were honored and made to look pretty for the afterlife.
Psalm 27:4 and Proverbs 31:30 were probably written around the same time as 2 Samuel 14:25. Here, the spiritual aspect of beauty is defined. Beauty was not just physical but also had a spiritual meaning.
Psalm 27:4 says, “ One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”
Proverbs 31:30 describes the virtues and attitudes of a godly man, emphasizing spirituality and submission to God. It says, “Charm is deceit, and beauty is too vain, but a woman who fears Yahweh shall be praised.”
Song of Songs is a lyric poem that praises the virtues of love between husband and wife. Song of Songs 1:15 says, “Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair/ thou hast doves’ eyes.” These concepts of beauty, enunciated in the first millennium BC, have endured for millennia to this day.
In Greece, beauty encompassed physical appearance, mental virtues, and a connection to the Divine. The word Kalokagathos describes someone who is both physically attractive and a good person. In Ancient Hinduism, eternal beauty is referred to as ‘sat chit ananda,’ which emphasizes inner beauty over physical beauty. I find these concepts, such as those enunciated in the Bible verses.
Bible connections with herbs
There are intimate connections to herbs mentioned in the verses of the Bible. The Bible, Quran, Talmud, and other religious texts reference plants and trees extensively as sources of food, incense, flavour, medicine, and shelter. The following verses from the Bible illustrate their importance:
“The trees that are fed and nourished by the water that flows from the sanctuary have nourishing and healing properties. And by the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all [kinds of] trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing” (Ezekiel 47:12).
Hebrews 6:7 “For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;” demonstrates the value that society placed on vegetation.
The Book of Jubilee 10:12–13 states, “As we explained to Noah all the medicines of their diseases, together with their seductions, how he might heal them with herbs of the earth. And Noah wrote down all things in a book as we instructed him concerning every kind of medicine. Thus the evil spirits were precluded from (hurting) the sons of Noah.”
Sirach 38:4–5 and 7–8 states, “The Lord created medicines out of the earth and the sensible will not despise them. Was not water made sweet with a tree in order that its power might be known? … By them the physician heals and takes away pain; the pharmacist makes a mixture from them.”
The Talmudic literature mentions approximately 70 plants used in food, spices, and medicine. Olives, dates, pomegranates, and quinces were popular fruits. Garlic, cumin, fennel flower, beet, and others were eaten as vegetables and spices. Hyssop (Marjorana syriaca) was used to treat intestinal worms (Shab 109 b), and beet (Beta vulgaris) was believed to have several medicinal properties, such as care of the eyes and bowels (Shab 133 a–f).
The Bible’s connections to science extend to most ancient texts, including the Vedas and the Koran. Extensive references are made to the use of herbs, plants, and trees in food, cosmetics, religious rituals, and medicine.
The Quran also references plants, herbs, and trees. Verse 61 of Surah Baqarah, for instance, states, “O Moses, we can never endure one [kind of] food. So call upon your Lord to bring forth for us from the earth its green herbs and its cucumbers and its garlic and its lentils and its onions.”
You will find a detailed look at the Bible’s connections to science in the series Connecting Science to the Bible on Amazon https://amzn.to/4fRTlSD
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