Balm in Gilead

Is there a balm in Gilead? What is a balm? Where is Gilead? To what does the phrase refer?

Well, this is a biblical reference. Balm is a perfume or aromatic liquid that was used in Old Testament days to soothe people with aches, pains and frightened demeanor. Think of it as an ointment or salve that made you feel better during times of crisis, like Mentholatum, or Vicks Vaporub, or Vaseline on burns, or dried lips and nasal passages when suffering from a cold. The aroma, too, actually makes you feel better. The burn and itch of sore skin is eased.

In biblical times such a balm or salve was one of the few medicines that could be administered for relief of physical complaints.

Later the ‘balm’ became linked to spiritual upset and soothing of same. Is there such a thing? Is there a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul? Like the lyrics of the old folk song, mankind has been seeking such salves for eons. No wonder; suffering has accompanied man’s journey through history. Reeling from one crisis to another, or at least from one unanswered enigma to another, is the story of man understanding his essential being; all while living with others day to day, year to year, crisis to crisis. What does it all mean? How will we handle this latest problem? Who are we really? Do we understand our own selves and situation? Can we? Or is this in the hands of some other being we cannot see.

And such cultural upsets pressed man to find answers in knowledge and spiritual ways. Universities were formed in those days for those purposes. So too religions and training centers for the priests who would be needed to carry on the practice of those religions.

Gilead or no – Detroit or not – places existed throughout history where their troubles intersected with the history of mankind. And in a middle eastern place named Gilead – a village, no larger – citizens sought relief from all kinds of problems. And an ointment with an aroma pure and sweet was discovered and slathered on hurting bodies. Relief came soon thereafter.

And so we learned that there was a balm in Gilead.

Later, religions of the day asked whether there was such a salve for the aches and pains of the mind and the soul. Of course that was when the verse was created and it became a mention in the bible. Much later it became a spiritual from the African church and later an American folk song from slavery camps on southern plantations. The ‘sin sick soul’ was not hard to imagine then. And something was needed to cause peace to descend on the suffering souls.

The song calls on spiritual forces and beliefs to produce the balm that will rescue the souls in question.

And that’s how the hymn ‘There is a Balm in Gilead’ came to be. A sweet song with yearning breathing through each of the words. Check it out for yourself. And recall if you can what age you were when you first heard or sang this soulful ballad?

December 23, 2016