Can No Physician be Found analyzes how religion, as an expression of a universal order, applied to the medical practices in the cultures of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Israel. The comparative approach sheds light on how religious concepts shaped not only the particular medical identity of each society, but also how they can simultaneously participate in a broader medical culture spanning the ancient Near East.

A feature common to all three cultures is the presence of two types of healers. Scholars of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia distinguish them as scientific (physician) or magical (priest) whereas biblical scholarship sees healing in connection with prophets and priests as simply miraculous. By understanding the role of religion, we can see that these ancient societies did not operate under the science/magic dichotomy but rather used the multiplicity of healers as variations within a single healing strategy based upon the ideas of illness as a divine message and healing as a method of community cohesion. One type of healer focused on the message as a form of vertical communication with the deities, maintaining a relationship between humans and the divine. The other class of healers concentrated on the horizontal mode of communication, allowing people within the community to understand the message behind the illness as well as the potential resolution to such problems in the community.