Verse-by-Verse Bible CommentaryJeremiah 46:11
Go up to Gilead and obtain balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain have you multiplied remedies; There is no healing for you. Jump to: Clarke Commentary • Barne's Notes • Gill's Exposition • Geneva Study Bible • Commentary Critical and Explanatory • Calvin's Commentary • Trapp's Commentary • Coke's Commentary • Poole's Annotations • Whedon's Commentary • Constable's Expository Notes • Haydock's Catholic Commentary • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes • Commentary Critical and Explanatory - Unabridged • Ellicott's Commentary • Treasury of Knowledge Other Authors
Adam Clarke CommentaryGo up into Gilead, and take balm - An irony. Egypt is so completely enfeebled by this overthrow, that her political wound is utterly incurable. This figure is used with the more propriety here, as the Egyptians have been celebrated from the remotest antiquity for their knowledge of medicine. Copyright Statement Bibliography Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole BibleBalm - i. e., balsam, the usual remedy for wounds Jeremiah 8:22. In vain shalt … - Or, in vain hast thou multiplied medicines: healing-plaster hast thou none. Nothing shall avail to heal the blow. Copyright Statement Bibliography John Gill's Exposition of the Whole BibleGo up into Gilead,.... Still the irony or sarcasm is continued Gilead was a place in the land of Israel famous for balm or balsam, used in curing wounds; see Jeremiah 8:22; hence it follows: and take balm, O virgin, daughter of Egypt; the kingdom of Egypt, as the Targum; so called because of its glory and excellency; and because as yet it had not been conquered and brought under the power of another: now the inhabitants of it are bid to take balm or balsam, as Kimchi and Ben Melech; but this grew not in Gilead beyond Jordan, but near Jericho on this side Jordan, as Bochart in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shall not be cured; notwithstanding all means made use of to repair its losses; though it should not utterly be destroyed yet should never recover its former glory. Copyright Statement Bibliography Geneva Study BibleGo up into Gilead, k and take balm, O virgin, the l daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many m medicines; [for] thou shalt not be cured.(k) For at Gilead there grew a most sovereign balm for wounds. Copyright Statement Bibliography Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Biblebalm — (See on Jeremiah 8:22); namely, for curing the wounds; but no medicine will avail, so desperate shall be the slaughter.virgin — Egypt is so called on account of her effeminate luxury, and as having never yet been brought under foreign yoke. thou shalt not be cured — literally, “there shall be no cure for thee” (Jeremiah 30:13; Ezekiel 30:21). Not that the kingdom of Egypt should cease to exist, but it should not recover its former strength; the blow should be irretrievable. Copyright Statement Bibliography Calvin's Commentary on the BibleThe Prophet adds here nothing new, but confirms by another metaphor what he had said before. He then says, that the slaughter would be like a fatal plague, as though God would take away from the Egyptians every hope. We indeed know that the kingdom of Egypt did not then perish; for the nation itself remained. But the kingdom was so depressed, that, as it was stated yesterday, they kept themselves as shut up within their own borders, and did not afterwards bring out their forces. And yet it is well known how great was the pride and audacity of that nation; but they saw that they were wholly broken down and weakened. Hence the Prophet says, not without reason, that that would be an incurable wound, by which God would so smite Egypt, that it would no more recover its ancient strength; for after that time the kingdom of Egypt never flourished; and after a few years, as we shall see in another prophecy, it was brought under the power of Babylon. he now turns his discourse to Egypt: he says, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt, a mode of speaking common in the Prophets. They call Babylon, The daughter of Babylon; they call Judea, The daughter of Judah. But this may be applied to the people or to the kingdom. And he calls Egypt virgin on account of its delicacies, as though he had said, that the Egyptians were tender and delicate, because they had during a long peace gathered strength and all kinds of wealth. As then they were so inebriated with their pleasures, Egypt by way of mockery is called a virgin. Ascend, he says, into Gilead, and take rosin, or, as some render it, “balm.” Jerome, in another place, rendered it “honey,” but without reason; and it is probable that the word means rosin rather than balm. It may be also concluded from other places that the best rosin was found on Mount Gilead, as we have also stated in the eighth chapter of this book (Jeremiah 8:22). The rosin was a juice flowing from trees, especially from the terebinth; and hence the best rosin is the terebinthine, which we call terebenthine. There is at the same time a rosin from firs and other trees. But as I have already said, Mount Gilead was fruitful in rosin, and is celebrated not only for the abundance of its rosin but also for its excellency; and its medicinal qualities are found better and more efficacious in some places than in others. According, then, to the common mode of speaking, he says, O daughter of Egypt, ascend into Gilead, and take to thee rosin; but it will be, he says, in vain; that is, “Wert thou earnestly to seek a remedy for thy evils, thou couldst never find it; for thy stroke is incurable.” Not that the kingdom of Egypt perished or was wholly overthrown, but that its strength would be lost, so that the Chaldean king would take possession of all that part of Asia which the Egyptians had occupied, even as far as Pelusium, to the very borders of the Nile. He at length adds, — Copyright Statement Bibliography John Trapp Complete CommentaryJeremiah 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. Ver. 11. Go up unto Gilead, and take balm.] See Jeremiah 8:22 cf. Genesis 37:25; q.d., Thy calamity is no less incurable than ignominious. Copyright Statement Bibliography Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy BibleJeremiah 46:11. Go up into Gilead, &c.— The practice of physic was one of the chief arts in Egypt, wherein every distinct distemper had its peculiar physician, who confined himself to the study and care of that alone; so that every family in the city must needs swarm with the faculty. It was this circumstance for which the Egyptian nation was peculiarly distinguished, not only by the earliest Greek writers, but likewise by the holy prophets. This passage is remarkable; the prophet foretelling the overthrow of Pharaoh's army at the Euphrates, describes Egypt by this characteristic of her skill in medicine; In vain shalt thou use many medicines. Gilead was famous for producing the celebrated balm of that name. In allusion to the practice of going thither for relief in dangerous cases, the prophet ironically advises the Egyptians to have recourse to this sovereign remedy, importing that all their methods of escaping the impending destruction would be in vain. See Div. Legat. vol. 3: and Lowth. Copyright Statement Bibliography Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy BibleGreat states are ordinarily in Scripture called virgins, for their beauty and pleasant state; Gilead was a most famous place for balm. The prophet ironically calls to the Egyptians to go to Gilead for balm, but tells them it would be to no purpose, God was about to wound them beyond all help of medicines. Copyright Statement Bibliography Whedon's Commentary on the Bible11. Balm — Balsam. Copyright Statement Bibliography Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable
The prophet counseled the wounded Egyptians to go to Gilead to obtain healing balm (cf. Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 46:11; Jeremiah 51:8; Genesis 37:25), but she would not recover from the wounds Yahweh had allowed her to sustain. It was ironic that Egypt could not heal herself, since she boasted the most advanced medical arts in antiquity. Comparing Egypt to a virgin stressed her vulnerable and pitiable condition (cf. Jeremiah 14:17; Jeremiah 18:13; Jeremiah 31:4; Jeremiah 31:21). Copyright Statement Bibliography George Haydock's Catholic Bible CommentaryOf Egypt; or ye Egyptians, who have been wounded. The balm (Haydock) or resina of Galaad was then very famous, Genesis xxxvii. 25. (Calmet) --- Egypt thought itself invulnerable, and is derided. Its cures was hopeless, ver. 16. (Worthington) Copyright Statement Bibliography E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible NotesGo up, &c. Figure of speech Eironeia, as shown by the rest of the verse. Gilead. Compare Jeremiah 8:22. take = fetch. for thou shalt not be cured = healing there is none for thee. Compare Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 51:8. Copyright Statement Bibliography Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - UnabridgedGo 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. Go up into Gilead, and take balm - (note, Jeremiah 8:22) namely, for curing the wounds; but no medicine will avail, so desperate shall be the slaughter. Virgin. Egypt is so called on account of her effeminate luxury, and as having never yet been brought under foreign yoke. Thou shalt not be cured - literally, there shall be no cure for thee (Jeremiah 30:13; Ezekiel 30:21). Not that the kingdom of Egypt should cease to exist, but it should not recover its former strength: the blow should be irretrievable. Copyright Statement Bibliography Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(11) Go up into Gilead, and take balm . . .—The words have the tone of a triumphant irony. The “balm of Gilead” was looked on as a cure for all wounds (Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 51:8), but the wounds which Egypt received at Carchemish would be found incurable. It proved, in fact, to be a blow from which the old Egyptian monarchy never recovered. In the “virgin, the daughter of Egypt”—virgin, as being till then, as it boasted, unconquered (Isaiah 23:12)—we have a like touch of sarcasm. The report of the defeat and the utter rout and confused flight that followed (Jeremiah 46:12) would spread far and wide among the nations. Copyright Statement Bibliography Treasury of Scripture KnowledgeGo 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.
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