For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; Astonishment has taken hold of me. 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? ~Jeremiah 8:21-22
The above Scripture passage applied to America Today
Benson Commentary with comments
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt,— These are the words of the prophet, lamenting the miserable condition
of his country. In 2022, the "daughter" could very well be America.
The Hebrew is more literally rendered, For the breach (an infraction or violation, as of a law, trust, faith, or promise) of the daughter of my people am I broken, that is, heart-broken: or, as Houbigant renders it, I am wounded with the wound of my people. I am black (represents death, as in 'I am sick to death')
— I look ghastly, as those who are dying.
Astonishment
(amazement; mental surprise, excitement, wonder);
hath taken hold on me — I am so stupefied that I know not what to do, or which way to turn. Is there no balm in Gilead? — Balm, or balsam, is
used with us as a common name for many of those oily, resinous
substances, which flow spontaneously, or by incision, from certain trees
or plants, and are of considerable use in medicine and surgery, being
good, as physicians inform us, to soften, assuage, warm, dissolve,
cleanse, dry up, and purge.
The Hebrew word here used, צרי, is rendered by the LXX., ρητινη, and interpreted resin by the ancients in general. For this balm, resin, or turpentine, as the word might be rendered, Gilead was famous from very ancient times. See Genesis 37:25,
where we find Joseph was sold to Ishmaelite merchants, who came from
Gilead, and carried it, with sweet spices, into Egypt. This made many
physicians and surgeons to resort to Gilead.
The prophet applies this
metaphorically to the state of the Israelites (Israelites today), which had been corrupted,
(compare Isaiah 1:6,)
and represents God as asking whether there have been no methods used to
heal these mortal wounds and distempers? or, if there have, how it
comes to pass they should have so little success? As if he had said,
Why is it that the wounds of my people have not been healed and
closed? Have means of healing been lacking?
Spiritual medicines or
physicians? Have I not sent you prophets (preachers), who have admonished, warned,
and instructed you? Have I not given you time, and furnished you with
helps sufficient to enable you to return to your duty? Why then are not
your spiritual disorders cured? Doubtless it is your own fault: it is
because you would not make use of the remedies provided, nor follow the
prescriptions of the physicians. Thus we may apply the words spoken
concerning Babylon, Jeremiah 51:9, to the present case: we would have healed Babylon, but she is not, or rather, she would not, be healed.
The
words may likewise be understood as a temporal deliverance. As if he
had said, Is this people so forsaken both of God and men, that there is
no remedy left to effect their deliverance? Are there no salutary (lack of enforcement) means
within reach, or no persons that know how to apply them, for the relief
of my country from those miseries with which it is afflicted?
Observe,
reader, if sinners die of their wounds, their blood is upon their own
heads. The blood of Christ is balm in Gilead, (Gilead means 'heap [of stones] of testimony') his Spirit is the
physician there: both are sufficient, all-sufficient, to effect a
perfect cure; so that they might have been healed, but would not. America has a heap of testimony from the Stone the builders rejected, and is now wounded almost to the point of death.
“I sent among you a plague (COVID) after the manner of Egypt; Your young men I killed with a sword (sent to war), Along with your captive horses; (billions of dollars of military equipment left in enemy hands). I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils (corrupt politicians); Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord.
“I overthrew (depose, as from a position of power; defeat, i.e. Trump)
some of you, As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, (BLM & Antifa burning and looting) And you were like a firebrand (one that creates unrest or strife) plucked from the burning; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord. ~ Amos 4:10-11
