The Balm of Gilead - Who is it for?

by Buddy Maynard
(Panama City, Florida)

Balm of Gilead - A picture of Jesus Christ - The Cure for Many things.

Genesis 37:25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

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? The reason was NO REPENTANCE

Jeremiah 30:12-17 For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines. All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased. Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey. For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.

Jeremiah 46:11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured. BECAUSE OF NO REPENTANCE!!

Gen. 31:20-55 ---- Gilead ? hill of witness?.Galeed ? witness heap.

B'ALM, n. bam. Websters Definitions 1828

Anything which heals, or which soothes or mitigates pain.
Strengthening; having the power or quality of giving strength; A medicine that strengthens the human body when weak.
Ointment; a soft composition used as a topical remedy, as for sores, burns and the like.

Jacob in Gen. was searching when he left Laban for the balm in Gilead...he was running from a troublesome situation.

Who is the Balm of Gilead for? The Bruised, Broken, Battered, Bitter, Battle-weary

The Balm of Gilead is for:

1. Healing for the Sin Sick

Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jer. 8:22 ----Is there no balm in Gilead? - Yes, the most excellent in the world. "Is there no physician there?" Yes, persons well skilled to apply it. "Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" Because ye have not applied to the physician, nor used the balm. Ye die because ye will not use the remedy.

But to apply this metaphor: - The Israelites are represented as a man dying through disease; and a disease for the cure of which the balm of Gilead was well known to be a specific, when judiciously applied by a physician. But though there be balm and a physician, the people are not cured; neither their spiritual nor political evils are removed.

But what may all this spiritually mean? The people are morally diseased; they have sinned against God, and provoked him to destroy them. They are warned by the prophet to repent and turn to God: they refuse, and sin on. Destruction is come upon them. Might they not have avoided it? Yes.

Was it the fault of God? No. Did he not send his prophets with the richest offers of mercy? Did he not give them time, the best instructions, and the most effectual means of returning to him? Has not mercy, the heavenly balm, been ever at hand? And has not God, the great Physician, been ever ready to apply it? Yes.

Why then are they not converted and healed? Because they would not apply to the Divine Physician, nor receive the only remedy by which they could be spiritually healed. They, then, that sin against the only remedy must perish, because they might have had it, but would not.

It is not because there is a deficiency of grace, nor of the means of grace, that men are not saved; but because they either make no use, or a bad use, of them. Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, has tasted death for every man; but few are saved, because they Will Not come unto him that they may have life.

No balm--no physician; has Judah no almighty helper? The balm of Gilead was employed in healing wounds.
Why then--recovered? the implied answer is, Not for want of balm or a physician, but because she persists in her rebellion.

Christ the great Physician is near to the unconverted, as well as to his church, with the balm of salvation in his hand. If any remain unhealed, and die in their sins, it will be because they refuse his help, freely and graciously proffered.

2. Hope for the Sorrowful

Psalms 38:17 For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.
Psalms 39:2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
Psalms 116:3-8 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

3. Happiness for the Sad & Suffering

Psalms 146:5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

1 Peter 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
1 Peter 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

4. Hiding Place for the Slandered

Psalms 32:7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Psalms 119:114 Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.
Psalms 31:20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

5. Help for the Struggling

Psalms 10:14 Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
Psalms 54:4 Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.

Hebrews 13:5-6 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

6. Hymns for the Song Silent

Psalms 32:7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Ephesians 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Isaiah 35:10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 38:20 The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.

7. Home for the Stranger

Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

8. Holiness for the Surrendered

Holiness is that supreme overcoming desire for God?s will and way that results in applying scriptural boundaries & standards in one?s life that protects and guards them and their family from evil.

9. Heritage for the Servant

Psalms 16:6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
Psalms 61:5 For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.
Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

10. Honor for the Soldier

11. Heaven for the Saved

Isaiah 64:4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Without the Balm of Gilead, Jesus Christ, there will be:

12. Hell for the Sentenced

Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.