When I first moved to Arizona, I helped move a machine that could do thirty two blood tests at the same time. It was a monster! We moved it from the second story of a Doctor’s office to another office about a quarter mile away. We earned our keep on that job.
If blood testing was used in the fashion with which it is currently conducted, I knew nothing about it. I had read about some of the practices in by-gone years and thought them be almost unbelievable. Never-the-less, it was part of the process that has led to our current testing practice. I know that some of you will immediately say, “Ted, what do you expect at your age?” Thank you for you “sympathy”!
It is incredible what can be determined in a blood test. Pressure is up, pressure is down, too much salt, too much sugar; you will need to see a specialist for what we see as a problem or questionable. I have not even mentioned of the “fun” they have as they search for a vein. Prior to my heart by-pass years ago, two nurses arrived and announced that they were the “harvesters” and they were searching my legs for a vein that the Doctor could use for the by-pass.
It took a mighty long time for Medical Science to be able to determine the qualities of the blood. Perhaps reading Leviticus 17 would have enabled them to be more focused earlier: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.” “For as for the life of the flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, “You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.” (verses 11, 14)
Inasmuch as the “life of the flesh is in the blood”, we realize that God put a high value on it, even to the point where it was to be used for sacrificial purposes. I must mention that it was also a picture of the blood sacrifice on Calvary in the person of our Savior Jesus. There is little question in my mind that because of what God said, we should, even today, abide by that instruction. I have to wonder if many of our physical maladies might be, in large, because of our disobedience in this area.
Please take time to read the entire chapter of Leviticus 17, because it not only was related to the sacrificial offerings, but it obviously was a health factor, long before we had modern refrigeration.
Remember the old Hymn, “There is power in the blood… Wonder working power in the precious blood of the Lamb!
ETCetera 