Jeremiah the Weeping Prophet - No. 13

There is a Balm in Gilead - Jeremiah 8:4-22

Jesus wept over Jerusalem as he anticipated it facing terrible judgment, 

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it  and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” Luke 19:41-44

Jesus knew that people would reject salvation even when it stared them in the face. He knew that people would turn from the life-giving truth of His message, even if it meant utter catastrophe. In light of this reality, He wept. Jesus was full of compassion and sorrow as He thought of what was on the horizon. 

Photo by Eva Darron on Unsplash

Jeremiah is filled with the same kind of impending disaster and violence. The root of what was coming was the people of God rejecting their covenant with the Lord God. One of the greatest tragedies was that this didn’t come from a lack of revelation. They had God’s covenant message. However, corrupt teachers misled the people. 

“‘How can you say, “We are wise,

    for we have the law of the Lord,”

when actually the lying pen of the scribes

    has handled it falsely?

The wise will be put to shame;

    they will be dismayed and trapped.

Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,

    what kind of wisdom do they have?”

Jeremiah 8:8-9

In James 3:1 we learn that godly teachers still have a high calling and responsibility to handle the word truthfully,

“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” James 3:1

Instead of handling the word with truth, the teachers of Jeremiah’s day have corrupted the word of God and handled it falsely. Rejecting God’s word ends up as a rejection of God and rejecting wisdom altogether. 

The result is a catastrophe, 

“Therefore I will give their wives to other men
    and their fields to new owners.
From the least to the greatest,
    all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
    all practice deceit.

They dress the wound of my people
    as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
    when there is no peace.

Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
    No, they have no shame at all;
    they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
    they will be brought down when they are punished,
says the Lord.

“‘I will take away their harvest,
declares the Lord.
    There will be no grapes on the vine.
There will be no figs on the tree,
    and their leaves will wither.
What I have given them
    will be taken from them.’”

Jeremiah 8:10-13

God the Father, like Jesus reveals in his broken heart over Jerusalem, does not rejoice in the disobedience and judgment of His people, “Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me.” (v. 8:21) 

This chapter closes with a rhetorical question, 

Is there no balm in Gilead?

    Is there no physician there?

Why then is there no healing

    for the wound of my people?

Jeremiah 8:22

There is a hymn from the 19th century that answers this from the perspective of Christians today, 

There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead

To heal the sin-sick soul.

Jesus is the balm in Gilead who brings wholeness to the wounded. He is the one who heals the sin-sick soul. We must continue to give ourselves to the study of God’s word, to avoid being misled by modern-day lying scribes who twist the words of Scripture to suit their desires and agendas. Then, even in our brokenness, we can return to Jesus Christ who is the source of all healing and strength and truth.