There were several mountains of this name lying eastward of Jordan The term itself is evidently taken from the word Gal, an heap; and Houd, testimony. The balm of Gilead is used in Scripture as typical of Christ. Hence the prophet exclaims, "Is there no balm in Gilead, no physician there?" Yes! both were there. Jesus' blood is a never-failing balm; and he himself a physician which never failed of a cure. "Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" The answer is direct. If this balm be never used, and this physician never known or regarded, how shall the blessings of either be experienced? (Jeremiah 8:22)
I must not dismiss this article of Gilead without first taking notice of a beautiful similitude of our Lord's in Scripture, when comparing his church to this mount, on account of its loveliness. "Behold, (saith Jesus,) thou art fair, my love, thou art fair; thou hast dove's eyes within thy locks; thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead." (Song of Solomon 4:1) Perhaps the fairness so often repeated by the Lord concerning the spouse, is to shew how lovely she is in his eyes, from the comeliness he hath put upon her and the high value he hath for her. And the quickness of sight in the dove, shews how much knowledge Jesus imparts by his regenerating grace. The hair, it should seem, is commended for its beauty by the Lord, because of its nearness to the head, and immediately having its root there. So the saints of God are all beautiful in their order, from being united to, and deriving all their life and nourishment from, Jesus their glorious Head. And as the flocks on mount Gilead, high and lifted up, live securely, feed luxuriously, and are lovely in their numbers and good order; so the fold of Christ have their Gilead, that glorious mountain which was once "a stone cut out without hands;" but now filling the earth, where they live and dwell securely. Jesus himself is their food and their pasture, "their munition of rocks, where their bread is given and their water sure; where they lie down in safety, and none shall make them afraid." (Isaiah 33:16)