sanare et mederi, quia non semper est in medico relevetur ut oeger, nec semper
JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS to howl for Babylon, it would yet fall and be suddenly broken, whenever it pleased
God. And he says, by way of irony, Take balm, if peradventure it can be healed The word {,}צריtsari, is, by some, rendered balsam, but it means rosin, for we know that it was deemed precious in Judea; and the Prophet no doubt accommodated what he said to what was commonly known. As then that medicament was in common use among the Jews, he now says, Take rosin As there is hardly any country which has not its peculiar remedies; so we see that Jeremiah refers not to what was usually done at Babylon, or to medicaments used by the Chaldeans, but to what was commonly used in his own country, as it appears from other places. Now rosin was a juice which flowed from trees, and it was a thick juice. The best rosin which we now use is from the terebinth; but in these parts they have what proceeds from the fir, for here the terebinth is not found. But Judea had a most valuable rosin, as we learn from many parts of Scripture. And under this one thing is included everything, Take rosin; as though he had said, ``Let physicians come together (otherwise she will perish) from every place, if peradventure she can be healed.'' This is said ironically, that the faithful might know that the diseases of Babylon would be incurable.
We have said elsewhere, that Babylon was not wholly demolished when taken by Cyrus, and that the people were not then driven away. They dwelt there as usual, though made tributary, as they were afterwards, under the dominion of the
Persians. Babylon was also grievously oppressed, when punished for its revolt, until what Jeremiah and others prophesied was fulfilled. Then the time of which he speaks ought not to be confined to one calamity only, which was only a prelude to others still greater. He afterwards adds, ---
Jeremiah 51:9
9. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
9. Curavimus Babylonem (idem est quidera verbum, ,{}אפרquod significat sanare et mederi, quia non semper est in medico relevetur ut oeger, nec semper foeliciter succedit, ideo dicit Propheta, medicati sumus, vel, remedia attulimus ad curandum Babylonem,) et non sanata fuit; derelinquite eam, et proficiseamur quisque in terram suam; quia pertigit ad coelos judicium ejus, et elevatum est usque ad nubes.
The Prophet assumes different characters; he speaks here in the person of those who of themselves brought help to the Babylonians. And many, no doubt, would have been ready to assist them, had King Belshazzar wished to accept aid; and we know also, that the city had a large army. He compares, then, the nations subject to the Babylonians, and also the hired and foreign soldiers, to physicians, as though he had said, ``Babylon has been, with great care, healed.'' As when a great prince is taken ill, he sends here and there for the best and most skillful physicians; but when the disease is incurable, they all strive in vain to save his life: so now the Prophet speaks, using a metaphor; but he speaks in the person of those who either had set to hire their services, or had come from a sense of duty to heal Babylon. ``See,'' they said, ``the fault is not with us, for we have faithfully and carefully done our best to