In the article on Medicine...
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In the article on "Medicine" in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, the writer makes this comment on Saul's psychological condition as described in this chapter (1 Samuel 16): "Saul's illness would be diagnosed today as a case of manic-depressive insanity, with periods of black melancholy, flashes of homicidal violence, and deeply rooted delusions that David and others were plotting against him." The Bible story, however, says simply this: "The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit ... troubled him" (v. 14). His condition demonstrated the tragedy of emptiness. Someone said, "The empty heart is always exposed to danger." The physicist says, "Nature abhors a vacuum."
A retired businessman, we are told, came to his doctor and said, "I feel like a broken down bed spring." But his doctor's examination found no organic disorder whatsoever. But a psychiatrist examined him and discovered his life was bare as an unfurnished room. His mind was devoid of ideas; his soul had no commanding interests. And this doctor said to him: "You have a bad case of spiritual emptiness which is being translated into dull pains radiating from your ears down to your ankles." His prescription was: massive doses of reading, prayer, and involvement in community activities. Later the psychiatrist said: "When he filled himself up with constructive thought, there was no room for pain to rattle around."
-- Macleod
A retired businessman, we are told, came to his doctor and said, "I feel like a broken down bed spring." But his doctor's examination found no organic disorder whatsoever. But a psychiatrist examined him and discovered his life was bare as an unfurnished room. His mind was devoid of ideas; his soul had no commanding interests. And this doctor said to him: "You have a bad case of spiritual emptiness which is being translated into dull pains radiating from your ears down to your ankles." His prescription was: massive doses of reading, prayer, and involvement in community activities. Later the psychiatrist said: "When he filled himself up with constructive thought, there was no room for pain to rattle around."
-- Macleod
