The famous hymn “There is a Balm in Gilead” begins:
There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul …
The song is based on Jeremiah 8:22:
Jer. 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
The problem is that in this verse Jeremiah is teaching that there is no balm in Gilead that can heal Israel’s sin-sick soul. The other two texts that refer to “balm” in Jeremiah likewise specify the failure of balm to heal:
Jer. 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.
Jer. 51:8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
Perhaps it would be more accurate, if one is to sing this hymn, to sing:
There is no balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole
There is no balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soulOnly Jesus Christ can do it,
Not any balm of man;
There is no balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.
Sadly, if one sings the traditional version, he is singing to God exactly the opposite of what Scripture says.
Churches are encouraged to sing from hymnals where the compilers actually cared that their content is doctrinally accurate, such as the Trinity hymnal: Baptist edition or Great Hymns and Psalms of the Faith (currently words-only, a version with tunes is being worked on by the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle), as well as singing God’s inspired and infallibile psalms, as the New Testament explicitly commands (James 5:13).
–TDR
Thank you for teaching the truth.
Our church does not sing the Hallelujah Chorus for the same reason: it is unbiblical. We occasionally get complaints, but when we explain that “hallelujah” is nowhere to be found in the Bible people understand.
We also disinvited a speaker who was popular, but we heard that he sometimes says that “God created the heavens and the earth.” That is rank heresy. The Bible nowhere says that there are “heavens” that were created. It was only one singular heaven that was created.
There are a lot of popular myths and misunderstandings about the Bible that have somehow become popular. Thank you for pointing out another common one.
Dear Sheila,
Thanks for the comment.
If a church does not want to sing the Hallelujah chorus, that is just fine. However, the English “praise ye the LORD” translates the Hebrew “hallelu Jah,” so I don’t think it is a problem.
Also, if you don’t want to invite a speaker, that is just fine. However, there are many texts such as:
Gen. 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
where we have the words “heavens” is used for what God has created. The “heavens” can include the sky or atmosphere as well as outer space, and the dwelling place of God is also called the third heaven. So it is not heresy when Scripture speaks of “heavens.”
Please check out the studies here:
https://faithsaves.net/Bible-studies/
for some crucial Biblical truths that many people do not know.
Thank you.