MEDICINE AND THE BIBLE.
By the post-exilic period, the Priestly code severely restricted access to the Temple for the chronically ill (e.g.,"lepers" in Lev 13; and on the blind and the lame in 2 Sam 5:7), because of fear of "impurity". "Leprosy" alone probably encompassed a wide variety of patients.
The theology of impurity, as a system of social boundaries, could serve to remove socio-economically burdensome populations from society, the chronically ill perhaps being the most prominent.
In effect, the Priestly code minimizes state responsibility for the chronically ill, leaving the eradication of illness for the future.
Thanksgiving or "well-being" offeerings (Lev. 7:11) after an illness were probably always acceptable and economically advantageous for the Temple.
Offerings after an illness also may have served as public notice of the re-admission of previous ostracized patients to society.
Since Jesus and His disciples appear to target these populations, early Christianity may be seen as a critique of the priestly health-care system (Hector Ignacio Avalos)