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Shalom

 

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

           Yesterday, we considered the meanings involved in the names above, and I said we’d return to the Prince of Peace: Sar-Shalom today. That’s because on the website where I found a discussion on the Hebrew term of Prince of Peace, it discussed how the definition of peace differs from the definition of shalom. It notes that peace tends to refer to an absence of conflict or a sense of rest. I’ve described peace in terms of one’s agreement. Peace isn’t you go your way, grinding your teeth while I go my way emulating the state bird of Pennsylvania (Ruffled Grouse) and we do our best to pretend that the other doesn’t exist.

          According to Names of God Bible, edited by Spangler, shalom expresses “wholeness, completeness, finished word, perfection, safety or wellness” (p 310.)

Read them again, slowly. Say them aloud and savor them as you do. The peace described isn’t just “not fighting.”

          Most of these words express ideas about not being broken, having nothing removed, and needing nothing more. They describe something that is able to do what it is supposed to do in the best, fullest manner possible and isn’t lacking. The peace described by the word shalom is the cause for what one author I read described as joy – the full confidence that one is cared for by someone who is willing and able to accomplish that caring. And in order to do that, the someone (Someone) in question must love. The first of the fruit of the Spirit are inextricably linked, not by peace as we mean it in English, but by shalom

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