“There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.
Some times I feel discouraged,
And think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit
Revives my soul again.”
There Is a Balm in Gilead is a beloved African-American spiritual, with unknown precise origins, first officially known in the mid 1800’s. It quotes today’s chapter as a sort of Christian reply to Jeremiah’s searing and timeless question: Where can the healing to our suffering be found? The answer is definitive - it can be found in faith.
Over the years the song has enjoyed multiple fantastic rendition including Paul Robeson's version, or this quiet take by Nina Simone. From another corner of the world Bach wrote this version, using Jeremiah's words in German. Even Allen Edgar Poe referenced Jeremiah’s question, in his famous poem The Raven:
“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—
Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”
In the original context, Jeremiah is lamenting the loss of Jerusalem, the decay and the dissolution of life as he knew it. He asks the question but has no definitive response.
The chapter begins with a vile vision of future violation: The tombs of the kings of Judah and all the graves of Jerusalem’s elite will be opened up by the conquering enemies, the bones will be strewn in the field, never to be brought to burial again. This, says Jeremiah, is in retribution for the worship of the sun and moon and stars - let those now protect those remains. He is actually referencing a known Assyrian tactic with which they punished cities and nations that tried to rebel against the empire. It would end up that Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, and not Assyria, but the fearful image remained seared in our collective trauma.
The prophet of doom goes on to lament the dark future of traumatic loss, no longer preventable. The summer will be gone, and the harvest will be over, and the people will not be saved. And then he asks this rhetorical question:
הַצֳּרִי֙ אֵ֣ין בְּגִלְעָ֔ד
אִם־רֹפֵ֖א אֵ֣ין שָׁ֑ם כִּ֗י מַדּ֙וּעַ֙ לֹ֣א עָֽלְתָ֔ה אֲרֻכַ֖ת בַּת־עַמִּֽי׃
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Can no physician be found?
Why has healing not yet
Come to my poor people?
Jeremiah 8:23
Archeologists have some ideas of what this balm may have actually been, and how it was extracted from Pistachio trees. Other sources cite this medicine brought over to Jerusalem by merchants from the east, for various remedies. The Gilead may have been the location where these trees grew or where the art of making the balm was practiced. But beyond the physical aspects of this medicine, it has become a symbol for the healing that we yearn for, not just for the body but also for the soul - as individuals and as a society.
Howard Thurman, a central theological voice of the African-American struggle for justice in the 20th century, reflected on Jeremiah’s question in Deep River and The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death:
“in his book The prophet Jeremiah has come to a “Dead Sea” place in his life. Not only is he discouraged over the external events in the life of Israel, but he is also spiritually depressed and tortured. As a wounded animal he cried out, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there?” It is not a question of fact that he is raising — it is not directed to any particular person for an answer. It is not addressed to either God or Israel, but rather it is a question raised by Jeremiah’s entire life. He is searching his own soul. He is stripped to the literal substance of himself and is turned back on himself for an answer. Jeremiah is saying actually, “There must be a balm in Gilead; it cannot be that there is no balm in Gilead.” The relentless winnowing of his own bitter experience has laid bare his soul to the end that he is brought face to face with the very ground and core of his own faith... The slave caught the mood of this spiritual dilemma and with it did an amazing thing. He straightened the question mark in Jeremiah’s sentence into an exclamation point: “There is a balm in Gilead!” Here is a note of creative triumph.”
Thurman’s powerful words, echoing the way Jeremiah's despairing question was elevated into a hopeful and affirming response, echoes powerfully this week as this nation marks the 60th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.
Jeremiah’s question remains a haunting cry for justice, for healing, for hope -- and for all of us, as individuals and as nations. He ends this chapter with his tears, too many to count, for the suffering of the people. In the next chapter he’ll delve deeper into how tears too can be balm - and how, when all is gone, even grief and often music, led by professional keeners and women who open the heart -- can offer us at least a bit, a smear, of needed healing.
Image: Howard Thurman, Boston University
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