Jeremiah 8:20-22

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:20

Harvest contrasts. The seasons have their lessons for all of us, teaching both by analogy and by contrast; for the warnings suggested by the opposition of our own condition to that of the natural world may be as instructive as the encouragements arising out of the harmony between the two. To Jeremiah the harvest came in its brightness only to show the condition of the Jews in the deeper shadow. A similar experience may occur to those of us who have no harvest-song in the soul to respond to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:20

Occasions of hoped-for salvation that have not availed. Probably a proverbial expression. It is not admissible for us to understand the words of help expected from Egypt, which would be to make them an anachronism. They well describe the result of hoping against hope, and in this sense might be spoken by those who have been reduced to extremity by worldliness of spirit and unholiness of life. "It is plain that a great part of Israel imagined, like their heathen neighbors, that Jehovah had... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:20

The life is more than the meat. After the subsidence of the Deluge, there was a promise given to Noah that, "while the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest … summer and winter … shall not cease." Scanning the surface of the Scripture narrative, it appears as if this promise had not been kept, seeing there is a record of several notable and protracted famines; and moreover, we have only too good reason to suppose that millions in the successive ages of the world have perished from famine.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:21

For the hurt , etc.; literally, because of the breaking , etc; I am broken ; comp. Jeremiah 23:9 , and the phrase "broken in heart" ( Isaiah 61:1 , etc.). The prophet feels crushed by the sense of the utter ruin of his people. I am black ; rather, I go in mourning (so Psalms 38:6 ; Psalms 42:9 ). The root means rather "foulness" or "squalor" than "blackness" (comp. Job 6:16 , where "blackish," an epithet of streams, should rather be "turbid"). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:21-22

Why the hurt of Israel is not healed. I. IT IS NOT FOR WANT OF EARNESTLY CALLING ATTENTION TO THE HURT . Jeremiah had wearied and vexed his fellow-countrymen by his persistent warnings. In Verse 21 he insists on how the hurt of Israel had become his hurt. In one sense he was not hurt, for he had kept clear of all idolatrous and unjust ways; he was in a different service and different kind of occupation. But though separated thus, he was also united even as a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:22

No hope or remedy is left; again a proverbial expression. No balm in Gilead . Gilead appears to have been celebrated in early times for its balsam, which was expected by Ishmaelites to Egypt ( Genesis 37:25 ) and by Jewish merchants to Tyro ( Ezekiel 27:17 ). It was one of the most costly products of Palestine ( Genesis 43:11 ), and was prized for its medicinal properties in cases of wounds (comp. Jeremiah 46:11 ; Jeremiah 51:8 ). Josephus mentions this balsam several times, but... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:22

Balm in Gilead. I. THE WORLD NEEDS REMEDIES FOR MORAL AND SOCIAL HEALING . Jeremiah regarded the Jews as wounded by the cruel calamities which were to overwhelm them; but beneath the wounds he detected an unhealthy national condition which equally needed healing. Men suffer thus from the external wounds of adversity and from the internal disease of sin. How small a part of mankind can be considered in a thoroughly healthy condition! Men are not only imperfectly... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:22

Physician, heal thyself. Gilead, an outlying district of Palestine, was celebrated for its aromatic balsam, of great virtue for wounds, sores, etc. The natives of the place doubtless became expert in the application of their famous herb. By virtue of its possession, Israel might be said to be the healer of the surrounding nations. Even more so in a spiritual sense it was the physician of men's souls, holding for others and for all time the saving truth of God. But the evils which came upon... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:22

Christ and the Holy Ghost realities after all. "Is there no balm in Gilead?" etc. One of the commonest taunts of ungodly men—and it has been so in all ages—against the believer in God and in his redeeming grace, has been their apparent utter absence amongst such vast multitudes of people for so many centuries, and this though the conditions were such as needed, and that in most distressing manner, both their presence and their power. And one of the subtlest and saddest temptations to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:22

The balm of Gilead. There were those who treated the crimes and miseries of the nation as a trifling matter; they sought to "heal the hurt slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there was no peace" ( Jeremiah 8:11 ). Not so the prophet. He is keenly alive to the dreadful evils of the time. He takes the sins and sorrows of the people on himself, makes them his own. Tender human sympathy, as well as Divine compassion, breathes in the words, "For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I... read more

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