THE BALM OF GILEAD

Jeremiah 8:22(NKJV)

Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?

For many years, this verse has been used for divine healing admonitions with Jesus Christ being described as the balm of Gilead. How true is this? And what exactly was Jeremiah the prophet saying here?

Now, balm or balsam is a kind of lotion or oil that is medicinal.

Gilead was a place located at the eastern part of the Palestine and separated from Samaria by River Jordan. It was a place prominent for its therapeutic balm.

Genesis 37:25(NKJV)

And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt.

It's use here is apparently not symbolic or metaphorical but literal. Balm was produced there.

Moving on, what exactly was Jeremiah saying in our text?

Jeremiah 8:18–22(NKJV)

18. I would comfort myself in sorrow; My heart is faint in me.

19. Listen! The voice, The cry of the daughter of my people From a far country: "Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her King in her?" "Why have they provoked Me to anger With their carved images-- With foreign idols?"

20. "The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!"

21. For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; Astonishment has taken hold of me.

22. Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?

The prophet was here lamenting about the tribulations of the children of Israel (the children of Judah, more specifically) following their rejection of God and trust in idols.

Jeremiah 7:28–30(NKJV)

28. "So you shall say to them, "This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

29. Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.'

30. For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight," says the LORD. "They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it.

So since they foolishly chose to reject God, they were relying on other things like the balm of Gilead for healing. So, in Jeremiah’s lamentation for his people, he was actually mocking them for forsaking the LORD and relying on the balm, just like he did in chapter 51:8–9 for Babylon.

And also for Egypt.

Jeremiah 46:11(NKJV)

"Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; In vain you will use many medicines; you shall not be cured.

So, when the prophet asked, “Is there no balm in Gilead?”, he wasn't saying they should go and get the balm; it was actually a rhetorical question to make them ponder on their foolishness of relying on the balm while despising God.

Jesus is NOT the balm of Gilead, neither is he the physician in Gilead.

Victor Ibosiola © 2022

An excerpt from The Bible and the Believer (A Practical Approach to Bible Study) (2019)