Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 8:22

"Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" — Jeremiah 8:22 (ASV)

Is there no balm in Gilead...? —The resinous gums of Gilead, identified by some naturalists with those of the terebinth, by others with mastic, the gum of the Pistacia lentiscus, were prominent in the pharmacopoeia of Israel. They were exported to Egypt for the embalming of the dead (Genesis 37:25; Genesis 43:11; Jeremiah 46:11; Jeremiah 51:8). A plaster of such gums was the accepted prescription for healing a wound.

The prophet's question is therefore a parable: “Are there no means of healing, no healer to apply them, for the spiritual wounds of Israel? The prophets were her physicians; repentance and righteousness were her balm of Gilead.”

Why has no balsam-plaster been laid on the daughter of my people? Why so little result from the means which Jehovah has provided?” This imagery reappears in Jeremiah 46:11 and Jeremiah 51:8.

The balm grown at Jericho under the Roman Empire (Tacitus, Histories v. 6; Pliny, Naturalis Historia xii. 25), traditionally reported to have been brought by the Queen of Sheba, was probably the Amyris opobalsamum, now cultivated at Mecca, which requires a more tropical climate than that of Gilead.

Wyclif’s version, “Is there no triacle in Gilead?” may be noted as illustrating the history of a word now obsolete. “Triacle” was the English form of theriacum, the medieval panacea for all wounds, and especially for the bites of serpents and venomous beasts.