Anybody remember this favorite Witness concept? The Mosaic Laws were basically perfect, the theory goes. One evidence of this perfection was the fact that the hygenic requirements harmonize with current science, were obviously better than what everyone else at the time was practicing, and resulted in great health benefits for the Israelites. This theory is extrapolated out to support WTS control of the flock: by the same token, they say, the current requirements for Christians (read: rules made up by the Society) are a protection for Witnesses. This is also sometimes used as a proof of divine authorship.
Here are some sightings:
(Deuteronomy 23:12-13)
12 And a private place should be at your service outside the camp, and you must go out there. 13 And a peg should be at your service along with your implements, and it must occur that when you squat outside, you must also dig a hole with it and turn and cover your excrement.
*** g04 4/8 p. 11 Moses—How His Life Affects You ***
The Law of Moses also contained concepts of hygiene and disease control, such as the quarantining of sick people and the disposal of human waste, that harmonize with current science. (Leviticus 13:1-59; 14:38, 46; Deuteronomy 23:13) This is remarkable considering that much of Egyptian medicine in Moses’ day was a dangerous mixture of quackery and superstition. In developing lands today, millions could be spared from disease and death if the standards of hygiene taught by Moses were practiced.
Well, it just happens that, thousands of years after those Mosaic laws were ostensibly laid down by God Almighty, the Essenes revived and practiced these extreme hygenic requirements. Religiously, one might say. This is a well documented fact: Surviving Roman documents and also Josephus corroborate this story.
What we've been lacking, though, is any evidence of what it did for the Essenes, healthwise. Until now.
A multinational team of biblical scholars, paleopathologists, and parasitologists have done an analysis of Roman-era latrines found by the ancient settlement of Qumran, in the Dead Sea area. You can find the entire article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061113180523.htm.
In short, though, the results aren't looking very good for the Essenes. You should read the whole press release, but I'll break it down for you here:
- All males in the camp go outside to this same latrine to go poop.
- They bury their poop, instead of leaving it on the surface, which means that it doesn't get broken down by the sun and wind, but instead the bacteria and parasite eggs in all human feces are preserved by a nice layer of topsoil.
- Various germs and nasties inevitably leech up through the soil onto the surface.
- Guys who are barefoot or in Jesusboots walk through this contaminated soil.
- Some of them have cuts or scratches on their feet. The bugs jump into these walking disease vectors. Already each person who was infected in such a way is in trouble--but that's not all.
- Now, add the fact that there's no running water, and communal bathing practices where these nasty bacteria can breed and wait to jump into other people who didn't even poop that day, and you've got a recipe for disaster.
"The graveyard at Qumran is the unhealthiest group that I have ever studied in over 30 years and this is readily apparent," said Zias, who has done previous work on the Qumran burials. "For example, 2,000 years ago in Jericho, 14 kilometers to the north, the chances of an adult male dying after 40 were 49 percent. But when you go to Qumran, the figure for people surviving to 40 falls to six percent -- the chances of making to 40 differ by a factor of eight!
The takeaway here, for me, is that those vaunted "scientifically accurate hygiene laws" the Watchtower is always talking about really... weren't. Sure, burying your poop makes sense if you are by yourself, but a whole communal poop-burying place that thousands of people use every day? NASTY! And then if you were lucky enough to live in a place with running water, you might have mitigated the communal latrine effect somewhat, but we know that many people practicing these laws didn't have that luxury, and this included the Essenes, who were, somewhat ironically, some of the least healthy people who have ever lived on the planet.
The fact that these laws really weren't scientifically accurate somewhat undermines the Society's usual application of those scriptures, doesn't it?