Now There IS a Balm in Gilead!

            Refrain: There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead

To heal the sin-sick soul.

 

Sometimes I feel discouraged

And think my work’s in vain,

And then the Holy Spirit

Revives my soul again.

 

Refrain.

 

If you can’t preach like Peter,

If you can’t pray like Paul,

Go home and tell your neighbour

He died to save us all.

Refrain.

This song is an African-American spiritual, now in the public domain. Nobody knows who wrote it originally but it seems that everyone who sings it puts in a few different words, or changes a line here or there. The lyrics shown here were sung by Paul Robeson in Carnegie Hall on May 9, 1958. I especially like them because they illustrate a New Testament story of Jesus.

The background, of course, is from Jeremiah 8:22, where the prophet laments, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?” Jeremiah is voicing the anguish of God, Himself, that the Jewish nation is about to fall to the Babylonians, and there is no stopping it.

Gadara, in Gilead

Gilead was Israelite territory on the southeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and surrounded the New Testament town of Gadara (and Gerasa too). [Oxford Bible Atlas, p.133, 150.]  Now we turn to Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20; and Luke 8:26-39, but particularly vv.38-39.

Jesus and His disciples have just beached their boat on the eastern shore of Galilee, and who should meet them but a violent and desperate demoniac. In the process, Jesus heals him, casts out a “legion” of impure spirits, and allows a herd of 2000 pigs to drown. As Jesus prepares to head back west across the lake, the man, now clothed and in his right mind, begs to go along. Jesus says, No. “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.”

And there you have it. Jesus is, literally, the Physician in Gilead, applying the healing balm of the Holy Spirit, just like the prophet hoped. In fact, He sends the man home to tell his neighbours, as the song now confirms.