What is the Christian meaning of balm of Gilead?

Answer 1

Gilead was a place of judgment in Israel where the priests and elders heard cases of dispute and acted to enforce God's law among His people, bringing justice and therefore peace, rest, a "soothing balm" to cure the open wounds "destructive effects" of the disease of sin.

In the Psalms, the Prophets and other parts of the Bibile references to wounds, shedding of blood and and, finally, murder are allusions to the harm that the "balm of Gilead" would heal if only the spiritual shepherds and all those who follow them had real mercy and really cared about justice and truth rather than hollow religion.

This is seen by (knowledgeable) Christians as a forerunner of St. Paul's New Testament commands that all those in the Church proactively enforce God's laws amongst themselves, rather than in secular court.

The origins of this are to be found very prominently (with terrible warnings) in the instructions given by Moses, and the curses foreseen by Moses (especially in the final chapters of Deuteronomy just before he died) and witnessed by the Prophets thereafter among God's people.

The punishments and eventual destruction of Israel then Judah were, according to the Prophets, mostly related to the failure to do this constant, vigilant and impartial enforcement of God's laws, especially failure of the priests and all those in any tind or level of authority. The failure to do so consistently is seen in Old and New Testament contexts and is connected to total social, moral, familial, marital and spiritual breakdown and ultimately economic, political and military collapse.

Thus, the "balm of Gilead" was not only the means of curing injustice in specific cases, but the process which God established and constantly reminded them of, by which His people could avoid total destruction and subjugation to their enemies.

In Isaiah chapters 58, 59 and 1 the warning is given that no ammount of theological orthodoxy and sincere, heartfelt, even passionate prayer and worship will save anyone from rejection by God and terrible punishment if the fail to intervene for the "widow, orphan and the poor" -- words which in the Hebrew are far more relevant to moder life and their meannig is far broader: "Widow" = abandoned spouse (usually by divorce) "orphan" = children cut off from their fathers (again usually by divorce, not by death) and "poor" = the afflicted.

Relevance of these warnings of God's total destruction" (see Moses' repeated warnings, or Malachi, for example) today is almost entirely missed because in both the Old and New Testaments women are given no right to leave their husbands, therefore the victims of unjust divorces were in Biblical times almost always women. In modern times with the liberalization of divorce laws about 60% of divorces are filed by women, almost always for reasons that would historically be considered unacceptable.

Thus, ironically, the Hebrew meaning of the term "widow" (and its counterpart in New Testament Greek) now applies to men whose wives have divorced them and taken the children, using the secular courts to effectively separate fathers and children. Any doubt about this is resolved by study of the book of Malachi, which culminates in the final words of the Old Testament: a terrifying threat from God that if the hearts of the fathers and their children are not re-united He, God will totally destroy the land, that is the nation and the people.

Again, the "balm of Gilead" is a reference to the means of bringing justice that prevents strife and family breakdown getting worse and worse with each generation until large numbers of children are cut off from their earthly fathers, and thus, in God's eyes, are damaged spiritually as a result.

From this perspective, the constant (mostly subtle) biblical allusions to Jezebel, the harlot, her "sorceries" (manipulations) and the suffering and oppression that result from the spirit of Jezebel -- and, likewise, the modern impact of feminism -- are seen as the direct result of successive generations of lacking the "balm in Gilead," where God's commanded order for marriage and family is enforced, especially by the spiritual shepherds, but eforced by all.

Answer 2

Yes.

Answer 3

Don’t know