John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 46:11

"Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee." — Jeremiah 46:11 (ASV)

The Prophet adds nothing new here, but confirms by another metaphor what he had said before. He then says that the slaughter would be like a fatal plague, as if God would take away every hope from the Egyptians. We indeed know that the kingdom of Egypt did not perish then, for the nation itself remained.

But the kingdom was so depressed that, as was stated yesterday, they kept themselves shut up within their own borders and did not afterwards bring out their forces. And yet it is well known how great the pride and audacity of that nation was; but they saw that they were completely broken down and weakened.

Therefore, the Prophet says, not without reason, that this would be an incurable wound, by which God would strike Egypt so severely that it would never again recover its ancient strength. For after that time the kingdom of Egypt never flourished; and after a few years, as we will see in another prophecy, it was brought under the power of Babylon.

He now turns his discourse to Egypt. He says, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt—a mode of speaking common among the Prophets. They call Babylon, the daughter of Babylon; they call Judea, the daughter of Judah. But this may be applied to the people or to the kingdom. And he calls Egypt virgin on account of its delicacies, as if he had said that the Egyptians were tender and delicate, because during a long peace they had gathered strength and all kinds of wealth. Since they were then so intoxicated with their pleasures, Egypt is called a virgin by way of mockery.

Ascend, he says, into Gilead, and take rosin, or, as some render it, 'balm.' Jerome, in another place, rendered it 'honey,' but without reason; and it is probable that the word means rosin rather than balm. It may also be concluded from other places that the best rosin was found on Mount Gilead, as we have also stated in the eighth chapter of this book (Jeremiah 8).

The rosin was a juice flowing from trees, especially from the terebinth; therefore, the best rosin is the terebinthine, which we call terebenthine. There is also rosin from firs and other trees. But as I have already said, Mount Gilead was fruitful in rosin and is celebrated not only for its abundance but also for its excellence; and its medicinal qualities are found to be better and more efficacious in some places than in others.

Therefore, according to the common mode of speaking, he says, O daughter of Egypt, ascend into Gilead, and take to you rosin; but it will be, he says, in vain; that is, Were you earnestly to seek a remedy for your evils, you could never find it; for your stroke is incurable.

Not that the kingdom of Egypt perished or was completely overthrown, but that its strength would be lost, so that the Chaldean king would take possession of all that part of Asia which the Egyptians had occupied, even as far as Pelusium, to the very borders of the Nile. He finally adds—