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Jesus’s miracle of Healing the man blind from birth as depicted in El Greco‘s Healing of the Man Born Blind, 1567

Fasting spittle – saliva produced first thing in the morning, before breakfast – was a treatment used in folk medicine in the ancient Mediterranean. Spittle was thought to cure many diseases. Spittle cures were usually considered to be more effective if fasting spittle was used.[1]

An early reference to the alleged medicinal benefits comes from the Roman author Varro, who mentions it as a cure for epilepsy and snake bites among other ailments.[2]

Roman natural philosopher Pliny commented in his Natural History that fasting spittle was efficacious in the treatment of ophthalmia, and that the fasting spittle of a woman was particularly beneficial for treating bloodshot eyes.[3]

The New Testament contains multiple instances of Jesus using spit as a cure. The Gospel of Mark records Jesus spitting directly into the eyes of a blind man, and the Gospel of John records Jesus using a mixture of spit and mud to make a poultice for healing blindness.[4][5]

And they bring unto him [Jesus] one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech … And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. Mark 7:32–5


When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. John 9:6

Suetonius, Tacitus and Cassius Dio mention Roman Emperor Vespasian treating blindness in a similar fashion.[2] Tacitus mentions that Vespasian consulted with physicians before healing the blind man with his spit. Tacitus also gives a natural, medical explanation for the healing, unlike Suetonius and Cassius Dio who ascribe a more supernatural aura to the restoration of the blind man’s sight.[6]

The Talmud also references the alleged medicinal benefits of saliva, particularly that of a first-born son.[7]

A certain person once came before R. Hanina and said to him, ‘I am sure that this man is firstborn’. R. Hanina said to him, ‘How do you know?’ — The person replied to him: ‘Because when people came to his father, he used to say to them: “Go to my son Shikhath, who is firstborn and his saliva heals’. Might he not have been the firstborn of his mother only [but not of his father]? There is a tradition that the saliva of the firstborn of a father heals, but that of the firstborn of a mother does not heal.

— Bava Basra 12:6b of the Talmud

References

Citations

  1. ^ Roud (2006), wart cures: fasting spittle
  2. ^ a b “InsightOut: Healing Moistly in Ancient Times”. University of St. Michael’s College. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
  3. ^ Opie, Iona; Tatem, Moira, eds. (1996), “SPITTLE cures (usually ‘fasting spittle’)”, A Dictionary of Superstitions (online ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-282916-0, retrieved 12 December 2012 (subscription required)
  4. ^ “Bible Gateway passage: Mark 7 – Mounce Reverse Interlinear New Testament”. Bible Gateway. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
  5. ^ “Bible Gateway passage: John 9 – Mounce Reverse Interlinear New Testament”. Bible Gateway. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
  6. ^ Hansley, C. Keith (2019-08-03). “Multiple Ancient Historians Claimed Vespasian Was A Miraculous Healer Foretold By Oracles”. The Historian’s Hut. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
  7. ^ “Bava Basra 126b ~ The Healing Power of Saliva”. Talmudology. 2017-05-28. Retrieved 2025-01-31.

Bibliography

  • Roud, Steve (2006), The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, Penguin, ISBN 978-0-14-051512-1