Balsam of Mecca
Encyclopedia
Balsam of Mecca is a resin
ous gum
of the tree Commiphora
gileadensis (syn. Commiphora opobalsamum), native to southern Arabia and also naturalized, in ancient and again in modern times, in ancient Judea
/Palestine
/Israel
. The most famous site of balsam production in the region was the Jewish town of Ein Gedi
. The resin was valued in medicine and perfume in ancient Greece
and the Roman Empire
. Thus Pliny the Elder
mentions it as one of the ingredients of the "Royal Perfume" of the Parthians in his Naturalis Historia
. In Latin the resin was technically known as opobalsamum; the dried fruit was called carpobalsamum, and the wood xylobalsamum.
When "balm" or "balsam" is mentioned in translations of the Bible
this is probably the product that is intended. Its literary connection with Gilead
comes from Genesis chapter 37 and from Jeremiah
chapters 8 and 46 (quoted below).
alludes to it in two passages.
Translations excerpted from the JPS Tanakh:
The obvious understanding for both; "my people" and "the daughter of my people" in Jeremiah 8:22 refers to the Jewish people living in the land of Israel
. Rabbinic commentators like Rashi
interpreted the balm as a metaphor for teachers, as if to say "Did they not have any righteous men from whom to learn so that they should improve their ways?"
Some Christians interpret this same passage as a prophetic allusion to Jesus
. This symbol recurs in some Christian hymns and popular song lyrics. In the refrain to the gospel song "Healing" (1999), Richard Smallwood
and his choir ensemble sing the assertion "There is a balm in Gilead".
The speaker in Edgar Allan Poe
's poem "The Raven
" (1845) professes a belief that the "balm in Gilead" can heal his broken heart, because he laments the death of his love (Lenore).
In Act I of Richard Wagner
's opera Parsifal
(1882), King Amfortas bears a wound that will not heal because it was inflicted with his own holy spear. A wild woman called Kundry bursts in, and presents the king with an Arabian "balsam". She informs the Knights of the Grail present there that if the balsam does not stimulate the king's recovery, "Arabia does not hide anything more that might heal him."
Balm in Gilead is also the title of an early play by Lanford Wilson.
Patrick O'Brian makes reference to it in the Aubrey/Maturin canon, book 14, "The Nutmeg of Consolation". At one point Dr. Stephen Maturin is quite sick, presumably from food poisoning. Rather vehemently, he tells his Scottish assistant Macmillan "No" when alcoholic tincture of opium (laudanum) is offered to him. Instead, he says: "..our best course is no doubt bark, steel, saline enemata, rest and above all quiet. True quietness, as you know very well, is not to be expected in a camp full of sailors; but balls of wax provide something not unlike it. They are behind the "BALM of GILEAD".
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
ous gum
Natural gum
Natural gums are polysaccharides of natural origin, capable of causing a large viscosity increase in solution, even at small concentrations. In the food industry they are used as thickening agents, gelling agents, emulsifying agents, and stabilizers...
of the tree Commiphora
Commiphora
Commiphora is a genus of flowering plants in the family Burseraceae. It includes about 185 species of trees and shrubs, often armed or thorny, native to Africa, Arabia, and the Indian subcontinent.-Uses:...
gileadensis (syn. Commiphora opobalsamum), native to southern Arabia and also naturalized, in ancient and again in modern times, in ancient Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
/Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
/Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. The most famous site of balsam production in the region was the Jewish town of Ein Gedi
Ein Gedi
Ein Gedi is an oasis in Israel, located west of the Dead Sea, near Masada and the caves of Qumran.-Etymology:The name En-gedi is composed of two Hebrew words: ein means spring and gdi means goat-kid. En Gedi thus means "Kid spring."...
. The resin was valued in medicine and perfume in ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
and the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. Thus Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
mentions it as one of the ingredients of the "Royal Perfume" of the Parthians in his Naturalis Historia
Naturalis Historia
The Natural History is an encyclopedia published circa AD 77–79 by Pliny the Elder. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny...
. In Latin the resin was technically known as opobalsamum; the dried fruit was called carpobalsamum, and the wood xylobalsamum.
When "balm" or "balsam" is mentioned in translations of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
this is probably the product that is intended. Its literary connection with Gilead
Gilead
In the Bible "Gilead" means hill of testimony or mound of witness, , a mountainous region east of the Jordan River, situated in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It is also referred to by the Aramaic name Yegar-Sahadutha, which carries the same meaning as the Hebrew . From its mountainous character...
comes from Genesis chapter 37 and from Jeremiah
Jeremiah
Jeremiah Hebrew：יִרְמְיָה , Modern Hebrew:Yirməyāhū, IPA: jirməˈjaːhu, Tiberian:Yirmĭyahu, Greek:Ἰερεμίας), meaning "Yahweh exalts", or called the "Weeping prophet" was one of the main prophets of the Hebrew Bible...
chapters 8 and 46 (quoted below).
Literary occurrence and symbolism
The Book of Genesis alludes to the balm of Gilead in one passage, and the Book of JeremiahBook of Jeremiah
The Book of Jeremiah is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the book of Isaiah and preceding Ezekiel and the Book of the Twelve....
alludes to it in two passages.
Translations excerpted from the JPS Tanakh:
"And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and ladanum, going to carry it down to Egypt."
Genesis 37:25
"Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt; in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no cure for thee."
Jeremiah 46:11
"Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Jeremiah 8:22
The obvious understanding for both; "my people" and "the daughter of my people" in Jeremiah 8:22 refers to the Jewish people living in the land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
. Rabbinic commentators like Rashi
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
interpreted the balm as a metaphor for teachers, as if to say "Did they not have any righteous men from whom to learn so that they should improve their ways?"
Some Christians interpret this same passage as a prophetic allusion to Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. This symbol recurs in some Christian hymns and popular song lyrics. In the refrain to the gospel song "Healing" (1999), Richard Smallwood
Richard Smallwood
Richard Smallwood is an American Gospel music artist who formed The Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977 in Washington, DC.-Biography:...
and his choir ensemble sing the assertion "There is a balm in Gilead".
The speaker in Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's poem "The Raven
The Raven
"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into madness...
" (1845) professes a belief that the "balm in Gilead" can heal his broken heart, because he laments the death of his love (Lenore).
In Act I of Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's opera Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
(1882), King Amfortas bears a wound that will not heal because it was inflicted with his own holy spear. A wild woman called Kundry bursts in, and presents the king with an Arabian "balsam". She informs the Knights of the Grail present there that if the balsam does not stimulate the king's recovery, "Arabia does not hide anything more that might heal him."
Balm in Gilead is also the title of an early play by Lanford Wilson.
External links
Patrick O'Brian makes reference to it in the Aubrey/Maturin canon, book 14, "The Nutmeg of Consolation". At one point Dr. Stephen Maturin is quite sick, presumably from food poisoning. Rather vehemently, he tells his Scottish assistant Macmillan "No" when alcoholic tincture of opium (laudanum) is offered to him. Instead, he says: "..our best course is no doubt bark, steel, saline enemata, rest and above all quiet. True quietness, as you know very well, is not to be expected in a camp full of sailors; but balls of wax provide something not unlike it. They are behind the "BALM of GILEAD".