Saturday, January 12, 2019

There Is a Balm In Gilead -- Anonymous


The author was probably not thinking of a plant that might have looked like this one (see picture of the Commiphora gileadensis), nor its derivative substance, but instead a person, someone even more unique than the ancient medicine produced from this rare vegetation. Perhaps the one who first imagined the words to “There Is a Balm In Gilead” was someone who actually handled another plant or crop – cotton – in a region far from the place where Gilead’s balm could be found. The healing, or at least soothing, effect of medicine like this balm was no less necessary from one geographic area to another. And, unlike those of the biblical era who traded for the balm from Gilead, the therapeutic substance the writer sought more likely identified with an ancient prophet who asked plaintively why none was found where it should have been. Perhaps the circumstances of the writer made him feel that he was, like the prophet, observing and living in a wounded condition among people who had no other hope than this precious balm.  

The prophet Jeremiah certainly did not enjoy his mission as the weeping prophet, and thus his melancholy while watching his countrymen suffer without relief from the One who could help (see Jer. 8:22) provides a fitting backdrop for “There Is a Balm…”. It was an answer from a suffering people many generations removed from the Israelites, who around 600 B.C. failed to avert their own disaster. Perhaps it was a slave in America’s Deep South in the 19th Century who identified with the Israelites, a persecuted people. Can you imagine him in a cotton field, certainly as someone who needed medicine frequently after a day’s toil in the sun and yet did not receive it? After years of subjugation, maybe he and the other slaves saw Jesus as the only way to cope with their circumstances. Discouragement and work that must have seemed pointless except as punishment (v.1) was undoubtedly a common theme for this people. So, don’t focus on the visible and physical, but instead on the internal and eternal that Jesus represents. This poet and his co-laborers knew of Peter and Paul (v.2), yet instinctively understood that a person need not mimic them. The way to transport oneself out of destitution was something the plantation owner could not suppress – Jesus and the love He gives. Jesus was not only the Power to a powerless people, but also a brother with whom beaten and scourged folks shared stripes. Jeremiah suffered too, as he watched his people suffer centuries earlier, and not just from a physical calamity, but also an unbridgeable spiritual deficit. Both he and slaves over 2,500 years later knew who the Balm of Gilead is, the One who can span the chasm between the human spirit and the Creator-God. The sin-sickness (refrain) is especially deadly, no matter what century you inhabit. But, the God-balm is still more potent.     

If you’re like probably most people, you routinely take medicine. The human body doesn’t go for very long without hurting, and Jeremiah’s words from so long ago underscore that this has been true for ages. Gilead’s balm is considered a rare commodity, particularly for combatting gastrointestinal maladies. People traded in it since the days of Joseph and his brothers, who encountered some of these dealers (Gen. 37:25) who had evidently learned of its value. Unlike some other hurting parts (a skin sunburn, for example), something that is amiss in my innards cannot be as easily managed. I need the Gilead cure that can navigate internally and do its job. That’s even more true for the Gilead cure that Jeremiah sought. Are you still searching for that special salve from Gilead?  
  
See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; and Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

Also see background on the song here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Is_a_Balm_in_Gilead

See a scientific explanation of the medicine and its source here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balm_of_Gilead  and here 

Also see this link, showing all the song’s words: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/i/s/a/tisabalm.htm

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