HEBREW WORD STUDY – A BALM IN GILEAD – HATSARI GILE’AD  הצרי גלעד Hei Sade Resh Yod     Gimmel Lamed Ayin Daleth 

Jeremiah 8:21-22:  Jeremiah 8:21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. (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?”

The above are the words of Jeremiah speaking from the heart of God. “For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt.” 

In Jeremiah 8 the term daughter of Zion is used and that is the reference to verses 21-22. Bible scholars have differing views as to who this daughter of Zion really is.  It is mentioned some 20 times in the Bible.  In Jeremiah 6:2 we learn that God has likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.  That is a woman who dwells at home and lives in pleasure and peace. She is at ease and secure with no fear of enemies or danger. 

God has picture Himself as married to Israel, his bride.  Hence this daughter is the product of that union.  Zion is a reference to Jerusalem, the Holy City.  It is the capital city of Israel which contains the Holy Temple. There are various explanations as to why the city is referenced with a female gender.  It we look at it from a cultural standpoint women have always been the source of beauty in all our literature. They are praised for how beautiful a dress looks on them, how beautiful their hair style etc.  Men are praised for their strength, brawniness.  I know that doesn’t fit our woke generation today but we cannot deny history.  A daughter was looked upon with innocence and beauty, a child who needs the protection of a man.  Hence God gave this cultural picture of Jerusalem and its inhabitants as innocent, caring, loving people who went about the business of worshipping God which was the principle reason for the existence of Jerusalem. It was sort of the Mecca of its day to the Jews. It wasn’t just any old city engaged I commerce, it was holy, religious city, like the Vatican which existed to be a center of worship of God Jehovah. 

Is it any wonder that this city would be the center of attack by our spiritual enemy? He would want to destroy this center of God’s love, mercy and nurturing with idolatry, selfish motives and scandals. A man was looked upon as a warrior, a protector, and a provider. A woman was pictured like a mother who is caring, nurturing and compassionate.  Jerusalem was a city of peace, a place where God’s laws ruled to show mercy, love and compassion.  Hence God likened the city of Jerusalem to fragile, innocent and beautiful daughter, the product of the love between a bride and bridegroom.  The daughter of Zion became like a prodigal child.

In Christianity the bride of Christ is viewed as the church and sometimes as us as believers. Our one-dimensional thinking causes us to get confused. We demand to know, is the bride of Christ the church or is it the individual saint. We just can’t accept in our Western thinking that God could have intended it to be both used in differing contexts.   In Semitic thought there is no problem with seeing it as both. In fact, Israel is the bride of Christ as well as the church and the individual. Put that in you pipe and chew on it (not sure if I got that idiom right). 

You see that is the beauty of Scripture and its Semitic origins. For we can take the term daughter of Zion and apply it to Christianity with the church being the bride of Christ and we the product of that union, the daughter of Zion.  The word Zion itself has numerous meanings including a mountain, Jerusalem and even Israel itself.  The etymology of the word is uncertain.  It could come from a root word meaning a fortification or dry land.  However, in Jeremiah it is a reference to a beloved child.  That fits us as we follow this idea of the offspring of the Father God and His bride the church.  

So, what has happened with this beloved offspring?  The prophet speaking God’s heart says that the hurt or wound of His child from their sins has hurt or wounded Him as well.  The word hurt, however, is shabah which means to be broken. This brokenness is often associated with an emotional brokenness or a broken heart in this context. As His child has suffered a broken heart over all the miseries and afflictions that have come over the land.  God is crying out: “Is there no balm of Gilead that can heal this wounded heart.  Both his and his beloved daughter or child.  The word balm is tsari. The septuigint uses the Greek word ontivah which means a resin.  Gilead was famous in ancient times for its sweet spices and resins which had medicinal effects and was a source used by  many physicians and surgeons of that day.  In fact, to go to Gilead or deal with a merchant from Gilead was like a last desperate attempt at a cure.  If one could not be found in the pharmaceuticals in Gilead, a cure could not be found. God is asking, is there not even a cure in Gilead for the broken hearts. 

The blood of Jesus Christ is our balm in Gilead. It is being freely offered to those who are broken hearted but without repentance, the balm is worthless.  Christians today are broken hearted as they hear about their nation tearing apart Christianity, introducing idolatry into our land. They have wept, fasted and prayed and yet they see their nation gradually being overtaken by the enemy.  Christians are shabah, heartbroken and God too is heartbroken over our heartbreak.  He longs to heal our land with the haatsari gile’ad the Balm of Gilead – the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.  But He cannot apply that soothing balms to our broken hearts.  We have already humbled ourselves, sought His face, fasted  and prayed  but until we turn from our wicked way, until we repent, neither our broken hearts over this nation nor God’s broken heart can be healed. 

You see it is not only us who needs repentance, God needs our repentance so that his wounded heart will heal as well. Only we can heal God’s broken heart and only His Son Jesus can heal our broken hearts. 

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