Jeremiah 8:18-22

D. Unbearable Pain on the Part of the Prophet Jeremiah 8:18 to Jeremiah 9:1

TRANSLATION

(18) O my Comfort against sorrow! My heart is faint within me! (19) Behold, the sound of the cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her king in her? Why do they provoke Me with their images with their strange vanities? (20) The harvest is past, the summer has ended and we have not been saved. (21) Because of the hurt of the daughter of my people I have been hurt; I mourn, anguish has seized me. (22) Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? For why does not healing come to the daughter of my people? (Jeremiah 9:1) Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears I would bewail day and night the slain of the daughter of my people.

COMMENTS

As Jeremiah sees the apostasy of his people and their impending destruction his heart is sick. He casts himself upon God his comforter (Jeremiah 8:18). The word comforter means literally, the one to cause me to smile, to be cheerful or be bright. Jeremiah hears as it were a dialogue between those who will be taken into exile and God. In a distant land the former inhabitants of Judah lift up a cry for help: Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her? They cannot comprehend how Zion, the Temple mount, can be so humiliated and degraded if God is really still on His throne. To this astonished cry God makes answer: Why do they provoke Me with their images? (Jeremiah 8:19). Whatever has befallen Zion has come about because of the idolatry of the people there. Ignoring the explanation of God the exiles of the future continue with their complaint by citing a popular proverb: The harvest is past, the summer has ended and we have not been saved (Jeremiah 8:20). Once the summer harvest was over a farmer looked forward to a period of deliverance from arduous toil. But in the case of the Jewish exiles the hot summer of toil was only followed by the cold winter of despondency. Their national deliverance confidently predicted by the false prophets did not materialize. The exiles were beginning to realize that no speedy deliverance was in the offing.

The unbelief and despair of the people causes even deeper despair in the heart of the prophet. Because of the hurt (lit., shattering) of the daughter of my people I have been hurt. He loves his people as a father might love a daughter. Though Jeremiah sternly rebuked the people of Judah throughout his ministry yet all the while his heart was broken because of them. He did not want to see his people destroyed. Is there no balm (or medicine) in Gilead? the prophet asks. Gilead, located east of the Jordan river, was famous in old Testament times for its balm. It is not certain just what this balm was but the suggestion has been made that it was the juice of the turpentine tree. The material was exported (Ezekiel 27:17) and was very costly (Genesis 43:11). The balm of Gilead was prized for its medicinal properties. There was no healing ointment which could be applied to the spiritual wound of Judah. There were no physicians who might be able to deal with the difficulty (Jeremiah 8:22). Nothing can cure the ailment of Judah except a whole-hearted return to the divine Physician (Exodus 15:26). Jeremiah wishes that his head could produce an inexhaustible supply of tears that he might lament the inevitable doom of his people (Jeremiah 8:1). In spite of their sin, in spite of the way they had rejected God's message, the inhabitants of Judah were still my people as far as Jeremiah was concerned.