Shalom – Nothing missing, nothing broken

I don’t believe that we humans are capable of knowing the intensity of God’s emotions.

One time He took me on an experience that lasted for about 3 hours. During this experience, I felt His intense love for people who were experiencing emotional pain as a result of devastation that they were enduring.

The middle hour and a half of that experience was so intense that I thought I was going to die and for a time, I wished I would: It was unbearable.

This is why I say I that as humans, I don’t think that it is possible for us to fully experience how He feels about things.

Even as intense as my experience was, I think He was probably metering it out to me.

I know that one emotion that God has is some sort of mixture of sadness, frustration, and disappointment. I know He feels some sort of facsimile of this because the Bible itself tries to express it.

And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Genesis 6:6

Yahweh God wants you to embrace all that He has to offer
I believe that Yahweh God feels this way when His people, or even anyone, chooses not to embrace what He has to offer. God has soo much to offer you; yet few accept it, even fewer really embrace His blessings, and still fewer make a genuine effort to really walk in higher things of God.

Yahweh God has soo very many blessings that He would like to give you. It would be impossible to include them in volumes of books, let alone a single article.

However, along these lines, there is a very key Biblical concept that I would like to address. That word and concept is “shalom”: Nothing missing; nothing broken.

In this article, I hope you can begin to see the tremendous impact that shalom can have on your life.

Shalom = “Peace”
One of the common misconceptions about the word shalom is that it means “peace”. The reason for this misconception is that shalom is often translated into the word peace in the Bible. Shalom includes peace but the concept of peace is only a fraction of what the word shalom purposes to communicate.

One of the most famous uses of the word “peace” in the Bible is found in John 14:27

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Yeshua

Shalom is a Hebrew word
As the Renewed Covenant is primarily translated from Greek, the Tanakh (OT) is primarily translated from Hebrew with a little Aramaic thrown in.

The word “shalom” is a Hebrew word. In Strongs Dictionary it is number H7965. The Strongs definition of the word shalom falls very short in expressing its full meaning. Here is what you will find in Strongs Dictionary for shalom: Strongs #7965: safe, i.e. (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, i.e. Health, prosperity, peace

Shalom defined 
While the Strongs Dictionary definition begins to convey a few of the many aspects of shalom (sort of), it falls quite short.

Following is the definition of Strongs #H7965, Shalom, from Vines Definition of New Testament Words:

PEACE A. Nouns. #7965), “peace; completeness; welfare; health.” The root is a common Semitic root with the meaning “peace” in Akkadian, Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic.
Shalom is a very important term in the Old Testament and has maintained its place in Mishnaic, rabbinic, and modern Hebrew. In Israel today, people greet the newcomer and each other with the words mah shlomka, (“what is your peace,” “how are you doing,”) and they ask about the “peace” (“well-being”) of one’s family. The use of shalom is frequent (237 times) and varied in its semantic range. The first two occurrences in Genesis already indicate the changes in meaning: “And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace [shalom in the sense of “in tranquility,” “at ease,” “unconcerned”]; thou shalt be buried in a good old age” (Gen. 15:15); and “that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace [ Shalom with the meaning of “unharmed” and “unhurt”] …” (Gen. 26:29). Yet, both uses are essentially the same, as they express the root meaning of “to be whole.” The phrase |ish shelomi (“friend of my peace”) in Ps. 41:9, “Yea, mine own familiar friend [literally, “friend of my peace”], in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” (cf. Jer. 20:10), signifies a state in which one can feel at ease, comfortable with someone. The relationship is one of harmony and wholeness, which is the opposite of the state of strife and war: “I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war” (Ps. 120:7). shalom as a harmonious state of the soul and mind encourages the development of the faculties and powers. The state of being at ease is experienced both externally and internally. In Hebrew it finds expression in the phrase beshalom (“in peace”): “I will both lay me down in peace [shalom, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety” (Ps. 4:8).
Closely associated to the above is the meaning “welfare,” specifically personal “welfare” or “health.” This meaning is found in questions: “And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him” (2 Sam. 20:9), or in the prepositional phrase LeShalom with the verb “to ask”: “And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive?” (Gen. 43:27). –

Shalom also signifies “peace,” indicative of a prosperous relationship between two or more parties. Shalom in this sense finds expression in speech: “Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably [literally, “in peace”] to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait” (Jer. 9:8); in diplomacy: “Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite” (Judg. 4:17); and in warfare: “… If it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee” (Deut. 20:11).
Isaiah prophesied concerning the “prince of peace” (Isa. 9:6), whose kingdom was to introduce a government of “peace” (Isa. 9:7). Ezekiel spoke about the new covenant as one of “peace”: “Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore” (Ezek. 37:26). Psalm 122 is one of those great psalms in celebration of and in prayer for the “peace of Jerusalem”: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee” (Ps. 122:6). In benedictions God’s peace was granted to His people: “… Peace shall be upon Israel” (Ps. 125:5).
The Septuagint gives the following translations: (“peace; welfare; health”); (“peaceable; peaceful”); …..
The End

A typical working definition of Shalom is “nothing missing – nothing broken. For clarity, you might also add the words “whole and complete” with it as well.

Shalom: Whole and complete: Nothing missing, nothing broken.

Yeshua and shalom
As I mentioned above, in the TANAKH (OT) the Hebrew word Shalom is usually translated into the English word “peace”. So if we carry that same concept forward into the Renewed Covenant (NT), which I believe we are very justified to do, when we see the word “peace”, we can usually understand it to carry the meaning of the Hebrew word shalom.

So with this understanding lets look at a verse that I referenced above in a different way than we did before.

As you read this, remember that Yeshua was a full-blooded Hebrew of the tribe of Judah. He definitely would not have spoken the English word “peace”, and since He was a Hebrew, I believe it is safe to say that He would have been speaking Hebrew.

There is no Greek or English word that encapsulates the entirety of the Hebrew word shalom which I believe was the clear message that He was trying to communicate.

Shalom I leave with you, My shalom I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Yeshua: John 14:27

In other words, Yeshua said, “I am leaving you “wholeness and completeness/nothing missing – nothing broken”. My wholeness and completeness I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”.

When Yeshua said that He was offering “peace” to people He was offering much, much more than simple contentment; the absence of turmoil.

When Yeshua said that He was offering shalom He was saying that He was offering wholeness and completeness to all who would embrace it in spirit, soul, body and every other area of life. HalleluYah!

Praise God He is still offering this to you today. He has more to give you than you can possibly imagine. He is waiting for you to reach out and embrace it. You can never exhaust His supply.

Embracing the shalom that Yeshua provides is just one step toward walking in the destiny that is waiting for you in Yeshua as you live life in the Kingdom of God here on earth.

Conclusion: When Yeshua told you that He offered you “peace” He was offering far more than just the absence of turmoil. What He meant was that He was offering you a whole and complete life: Nothing missing or broken in spirit, soul, body or any other area of life.

He deeply desires you to live life in His shalom so that you can be blessed and God can be glorified.

Confession: I wholly and completely embrace the shalom that only Yeshua can provide.

Prayer:  Father God I thank you for the plan that you have for me. Thank you that you will never leave me nor forsake me and that I am part of a great company.

Thank You Yeshua for making a way for me. Please help me to understand and embrace the shalom that You have for me and my life to live.

Dr. Rayphe
God’s Kingdom Realm

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