Wound
Wound (usually מִכָּה, πληγή, a stroke; but prop. פֶּצִע, τραῦμα). The Hebrews had but little knowledge of surgery, less than the Egyptians. They seldom used inward remedies, but trusted mainly to outward applications. Isa 1:6 illustrates the treatment of wounds; they were "closed," that is, the lips of the wound were pressed together and bound, that cohesion of the parts might be effected. "There was, and is, no sewing up of wounds in the East; and hence the edges, healing without being perfectly united, make the scar of a wound more conspicuous and disfiguring than with us. The only attempt to produce cohesion is by 'binding up' the wound, after the edges have been as far as possible 'closed' by simple pressure" (Kitto, Daily Bible Illustr. 6:25). SEE MEDICINE.
