8:18 The prospect of this catastrophic invasion overwhelmed Jeremiah with sorrow. It made him weak, and he could not get over his anguish.
8:19 He could hear his people in captivity bitterly crying out. They longed for Jerusalem where their God was, their true King. Why was He not helping them? They remembered Him marveling that they had provoked Him by worshipping images and idols.
8:20 The time for divine deliverance had come and gone. The Lord had left them exposed to judgment, as grain left standing after the harvest.
"It would appear that we have here a popular proverb used in daily life when men encountered a hopeless situation from which no deliverance or escape seemed possible. Jeremiah pictured the people of Judah as having passed by one opportunity after another to repent of their rebellious ways and so be delivered or saved(Heb. nosha') from coming judgment."192
8:21 Jeremiah was all broken up over the broken condition of his people. Dismay had seized him, and he could not stop mourning.
8:22 Gilead, east of the Jordan River, was a source for healing balsam, but no healing was forthcoming for Judah.193
"The balm referred to is the resin or gum of the storax tree. It was used medicinally (cf. Gen 37:25; Jer 46:11; 51:8; Ezek 27:17)."194
No physician was on the horizon either, even though Yahweh was Israel's Great Physician (Exod. 15:26). The prophet marveled that Israel's Great Physician had not provided healing for His people, but he knew that their affliction was judgment for their sins.
9:1 Jeremiah loved his people so much that he wished he had more tears to shed for those of them that had died (cf. 2 Sam. 18:33; Matt. 23:37; Luke 19:41-44; Rom. 9:1-5; 10:1). His empathy with his people's sufferings earned him the nickname "the weeping prophet"(cf. 13:17; 14:17).195
