John Calvin 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)

The Prophet implies in these words that the slaughter of the people would be so fatal that they would seek remedies in vain; as if he had said that the disease would be incurable and completely deadly.

The people, no doubt, always devised many kinds of aids for themselves, as is commonly done. For ungodly people, when any danger appears, look around them in all directions; and when they think they can be protected by any kind of assistance, or by any of the means they devise, they feel secure and free from all trouble.

Therefore, the Prophet, to dispel such false confidence, says that there would be no rosin to heal their diseases. Rosin is a liquid that flows, not from every tree, but from the pine and similar trees.

We may conclude from this passage, as well as from other passages, that the best and most valuable rosin was found in that part of Judea called Gilead. Indeed, the whole of Judea produced rosin; but as it was more abundant in Gilead, and as that rosin was more aromatic and more powerful, he specifically mentions that place.

The Hebrew word צרי, tsari, also means balsam; and concerning this, let each follow his own opinion, for the Jews themselves do not entirely agree. Those who translate it as “treacle” completely depart from the meaning and offer something absurd, for we know that treacle is made up of several ingredients.

Now, rosin is not any sort of gum, but a thick liquid, as I have said, which comes from trees. From it come rosin, mastic, and other substances, for the liquid becomes thick after it has flowed from the trees.

He says then, as one astonished, Is there not rosin in Gilead? Is there not a physician there? But the Prophet foretells here by the Spirit that there would be such a destruction that it could not by any means be avoided, and that the disease would be incurable.

For why, he says, does not health come to the daughter of my people? The reason is added: because healing could not be expected by the people. This was not because the Jews perceived this; on the contrary, as I have said, they boasted of their complete safety.

But the Prophet here declares that a deadly disease was near, which would inevitably destroy the wicked.