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Shalom - A Biblical Survey

Reflections on Shalom - Introduction

There are many images used in scripture to describe the world as God intended it to be – the world toward which we, the church, ought to be working.  It is called “the Garden of Eden”, “a priestly kingdom and a holy nation”, “a people of God’s own possession”, “Zion”, “the mountain of the Lord”, “the kingdom of God”, “a new heaven and a new earth”, “the holy city”, the New Jerusalem”.  Each of these terms represents the specific ways each writer has attempted to articulate God’s intentions for the world.  But when one gets behind the specific image to examine the vision being proclaimed, one begins to notice the significant commonalities running through all these images.  In essence, whether one uses such biblical terms as “Zion”, “kingdom of God” or “the New Jerusalem”, one is talking about essentially the same vision.

Let me suggest a word that I think best encapsulates the world as God intended.  This word is the word most often used throughout scripture to describe God’s intentions for the world.  It is the word shalom.  It is a description of the people of God as the shalom community!

What does the word shalom mean?  When one works with the original Hebrew, one is stunned by how often the word shalom is used and how rich the nuances of that word are.  Shalom is used a total of 397 times in the Hebrew Bible!  Its Greek equivalent, eirene is used 89 times in the Christian Bible.  Such heavy usage is a clear indication of how important a word it is – that it was a concept that permeated both Hebrew and early Christian thought.

The second reality that strikes one is the multiplicity of ways shalom is translated into English.  In order to capture the unique nuance of the Hebrew word as it is used in specific contexts, translators have employed the following English words:  peace, weal, welfare, completeness, to cause to be at peace, to make peace, peace offering, at rest, at ease, secure, safe, to finish well, to prosper, to be whole, to be perfect, to be victorious.  In other words, in any given context shalom can mean any of the above English words.

What this comparison reveals to us is that shalom and eirene do not simply mean what the English word “peace” means.  The English word is essentially a negative word – it expresses the absence of something, whether that is war, conflict, violence or confrontation.  Therefore, “peace” exists in conflict’s place.  But the Hebrew word shalom goes far beyond that.

Shalom can be used simply as a greeting or a wish of well-being to a friend or loved one (“Shalom to you, my friend!”).  But at its fullest, shalom captures the Hebrew vision of human society, the non-human world and even the environment in an integrated and relational whole where “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox” (Isa. 65:25).  As Walter Brueggemann puts it in his definitive work on shalom, “Shalom at its most critical can function as a theology of hope, a large-scale promissory vision of what will one day surely be.  As a vision of an assured future, the substance of shalom is crucial, for it can be a resource against both despair and an overly eager settlement for an unfinished system.  [Brueggemann, Walter.  Peace (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2001), p. 5.]     

Shalom can best be understood as being presented in scripture for two distinct groups of Israelites – those who are in positions of power and influence (the “haves”) and those who have faced in the past or are presently facing oppression and exploitation (the “have-nots”).

The tradition of the “have-nots” is the one that is most familiar to us as Christians.  That tradition begins with Moses, and moves from him through Joshua, Samuel and most of the prophets, and then culminates in the New Testament in the person of Jesus.  This is a shalom for people who live in a precarious place, who are economically exploited, politically oppressed or religiously controlled.  Their shalom is understood in terms of their crying out in their pain and of being delivered – whether that deliverance is from slavery to Egypt, from precariousness in a new land, from the injustice of dominating and exploitive Jewish kings, from the persecution and humiliation of Babylonian exile, from domination by Rome and the Jerusalem clerical aristocracy, or even of domination by sin (e.g., Exodus 2:23-25; Mark 10:47-52). 

But there is a second, and equally valid, tradition in the Hebrew and Christian traditions.  That is shalom for the “haves”.  This tradition can be traced through Noah, Abraham, David, the wisdom literature, Isaiah and the rabbis, and culminating in Paul.  This tradition is for people who are essentially secure and who are consequently concerned about the appropriate management of the resources God has placed at their disposal as well as celebrating the good things of  life provided for them from a generous God (II Sam. 7:8-17).  People in this tradition do not want a disruptive act of liberation – God’s “outstretched” arm freeing them.  Rather, they want continuity, the continuance of a social order that will continue to benefit them and those around them.  They want security, not liberation!

The biblical message on shalom is that it is for both the “haves” and “have-nots”.  It is both for those who lack power and are in need of liberation and for those who hold power and seek to appropriately manage the resources God has placed at their disposal.  Both kinds of people are in every church.  And one of the essential tasks of the church is to bring together through Christ those searching for liberation or salvation with those who are the managers of society and seek security, so that they might work together to build a shalom that is truly just and equitable for all, that brings people into an ever-deepening relationship with God and each other and consequently contributes to the formation of society as God intended it to be lived.

The important reality about shalom, however – whether those with whom you are dealing are “haves” or “have-nots”, is that biblical shalom is always about public justice, not private morality.  Although it is concerned about morality, it is far more concerned with public life – how the political, economic and religious powers seek or deny justice and economic equity, and how the people avoid or unite in engagement in public life.  Brueggemann writes, “Pharaoh’s problem is not personal impurity, but a state system of institutional tyranny.  The prophets condemn Israel for perverted courts (Micah 3:11) and inequitable real estate practices (Micah 2:1-4, I Kings 21).  Jesus’ quarrel with the establishment of his time, which finally killed him, was that it had substituted private virtue for social concern, and such perverted morality prevents resurrection (Matt. 23:13-28).”  [ibid., p. 71]”

In the study, we will survey some of the most strategic teaching of the Bible regarding shalom, so that you can reflect upon and apply that scripture to the ways you conduct ministry.  This survey will not even attempt to examine the 486 times shalom or eirene are used in scripture.  But we will look at some of the most important uses of that word - especially as it applies to our ministries.  In this study, we will be seeking to discern the biblical vision of shalom as God inteded it to be lived out in and through Israel and the church, what results from the absence of shalom, and how god's people are called to be "shalom-makers" throughout the world.

To enable us to study shalom throughout the Bible, we have divided our reflection together into 10 sets as listed at the beginning of this introduction.