Jeremiah · chapter 8 of 52
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Jeremiah 8 describes the judgment on Judah with harsh images: bones taken out of tombs, a people clinging to deceit and false wise men who say peace when there is no peace. The prophet answers with a lament that reaches its best-known point in the question whether there is no balm in Gilead and no physician there, and why his people's wound is not healed.
Jeremiah 8 continues the temple sermon section of chapters 7 through 10 and shows the consequences of rejecting the word of the Lord. The chapter blends the voice of God, the people and the prophet, so that it is sometimes hard to tell who is speaking. That blend reflects something important: Jeremiah does not look at judgment from the outside but suffers alongside his people.
The Lord announces that the bones of the kings, princes, priests, prophets and inhabitants of Jerusalem will be brought out of their tombs and spread before the sun, the moon and the stars they loved and served. They will not be gathered or buried, and death will be chosen rather than life by all who remain of this evil family.
The Lord asks whether those who fall do not rise again, and why this people turns away in perpetual backsliding. Even the stork in the sky knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people do not know the rules of the Lord. They say they are wise and have the law, but the lying pen of the scribes has turned it into a lie. The wise will be put to shame because they rejected the word of the Lord. When men are greedy and prophet and priest deal falsely, they heal the wound lightly and say peace, peace, when there is no peace. They are not ashamed of their abominations. The Lord will gather them, and there will be no grapes on the vine nor figs on the fig tree.
In verses 14-17 the people admit they are lost: he has silenced us and given us poisoned water to drink because we sinned. We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, and behold, terror. From Dan the snorting of the enemy's horses is heard, and the whole land trembles.
In verses 18-22 the prophet speaks. His sorrow has no comfort, his heart is sick. He hears the cry of the daughter of his people from a distant land, asking whether the Lord is not in Zion and whether her king is not in her. The Lord answers that they provoked him with their images. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. Jeremiah is broken by the brokenness of his people, and he asks whether there is no balm in Gilead and no physician there, and why the health of the daughter of his people has not been restored.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The stork, the turtledove, the swallow and the crane know when to return, but the people do not know the rules of the Lord. The animals follow their instinct; Israel ignores what God told her.
Again the leaders appear who heal the people's wound lightly, saying peace, peace, when there is no peace. The repetition of the line from 6:14 stresses that the false message kept winning.
The people say the harvest is past, the summer is ended and they are not saved. It is the voice of those who expected a rescue that never came. The time of opportunity closed without their turning back.
Jeremiah asks whether there is no balm in Gilead and no physician there, and why his people's health has not been restored. Gilead was known for its medicinal resin, so the remedy existed; what was missing was repentance.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: They will be brought out of the tombs and spread before the sun, the moon and the stars they served. — Jeremiah 8:1-2
Answer: The stork, the turtledove, the swallow and the crane. — Jeremiah 8:7
Answer: It has turned the law of the Lord into a lie. — Jeremiah 8:8
Answer: There will be no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig tree. — Jeremiah 8:13
Answer: From Dan. — Jeremiah 8:16
Answer: Whether there is no balm in Gilead and no physician there, and why his people's health has not been restored. — Jeremiah 8:22
The question about the balm in Gilead is one of the most quoted in the book. Many believers hear it as comfort, but the text raises it as a reproach: the remedy was available and they did not take it. When there is a spiritual wound in us or in our church, are we willing to use the means God has already given, such as confession, the Word and mutual care?
There is also a lesson for teaching. The scribes had the law but turned it into a lie. Those who teach the Bible must take care that it is not used to justify what one already wanted to do. A class can ask whether we are letting the text correct us or using it to back up our own ideas.
Jeremiah 8 ends with a question that seems to have no answer: why is there no healing? Chapter 9 continues with the prophet's weeping and with one of the book's most valuable lines about the only thing worth boasting in.
It was an aromatic or medicinal resin associated with the region of Gilead, east of the Jordan, and known for its value in treating wounds. Jeremiah uses the image to say that God offered the remedy but the people were not healed. A well-known spiritual song takes up this image and applies it to comfort in Christ.
In the ancient world, leaving the dead unburied or desecrating tombs was one of the greatest dishonors. The text uses that image to show that judgment would reach even the leaders who worshiped the sun, moon and stars. It is not a teaching about the fate of the dead but a picture of sin's shame.
Some commentators see a criticism of those who copied or interpreted the law to justify what the people were already doing. Others think of official documents that twisted its teaching. Either way, the charge is that the law was used to deceive rather than to obey.