Peace: Wholeness, Completion, and Flourishing

Summary

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BibleProject Podcast Summary

Episode: Peace: Wholeness, Completion, and Flourishing

Date: December 8, 2025
Hosts: Tim (A) and Jon (B)

Episode Overview

In this Advent-themed episode, Tim and Jon explore the depth and richness of the biblical concept of "peace," focusing on its Hebrew root, shalom. Far from meaning simply the absence of conflict, shalom in the Bible connotes wholeness, completeness, flourishing, and the fulfillment of purpose—both in individuals and communities. The hosts unpack the word’s nuanced use across Scripture and discuss how the "Prince of Peace," Jesus, embodies and delivers true shalom.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Understanding Advent and Peace

• Advent as Waiting:
  • Advent is introduced as a season of anticipation in the Christian calendar, focusing on virtues like hope and peace.
  • “The story begins with waiting. The season of Advent... is about cultivating the virtue of learning how to wait.” (A, [00:27])
• Focus of the Episode:
  • This episode centers on the word "peace," tracing its biblical origins and development, especially the word shalom.

The Hebrew Roots: Shalom and Shalem

• Shalom in Language and Culture:
  • Shalom is a common greeting in modern Hebrew, but with ancient roots.
  • “[Shalom] is probably the Hebrew word that most people who don’t know Hebrew know, because it means hello.” (A, [01:26])
• The Root Verb – Shalem:
  • At its core, shalom is related to shalem, meaning to be whole, complete, or intact.
  • “There's something about fullness or natural, complete. You haven’t altered them. It’s the Shalem stone.” (A, [03:54])

1. Physical Examples of Shalem ([02:48] – [08:19])

• Altar Stones (Deut 27:5):
  • God commands altars to be made from shalem stones—natural, unaltered, whole stones.
• Honest Weights (Deut 25:13):
  • Shalem stones used for weights/measures represent integrity—one undivided piece, not manipulated for deception.
    • “If you have a shalem weighing stone, it's like one big complete piece.” (A, [05:56])
• Integrity of Heart (2 Kings 20):
  • King Hezekiah prays, claiming he’s walked with a shalem (undivided, completely devoted) heart.
    • “My whole heart has been devoted to you. ... completeness of heart that matches a trustworthiness in how I live before you.” (A, [07:29])

2. Shalem as a Verb — Making Complete ([08:20] – [14:00])

• Completing the Temple (1 Kings 9:25):
  • Solomon “made shalem” the temple—not just by finishing its construction but by fulfilling its purpose through all appointed rituals.
    • “He completed all of them. The whole liturgy. Annual liturgy. ... He shelamed the house.” (A, [09:38])
• God’s Promises (Isaiah 44):
  • God “shalems” his plans—bringing declared intentions to completion.
• Restorative Justice (Exodus Law):
  • If harm or loss occurs (e.g., crop damage), restitution is called “shaleming” the neighbor—restoring wholeness to the relationship.
    • “If a fire breaks out and...the field is consumed, the one who started that fire will surely shalem [repay].” (A, [12:45])
    • “Our relationship isn’t whole... there isn’t a completion to our relationship. It’s fragmented.” (B, [13:35])

The Concept of Relational and Vocational Wholeness

• Not Just Negative (Peace = Absence of Trouble), But Positive:
  • Shalom is the positive presence of fulfillment, abundance, and harmony.
  • “Shalom in biblical thought isn’t just the absence of some negative state of affairs...it’s also the positive presence of all these great conditions.” (A, [19:16])

Everyday Speech in Scripture

• Checking on Shalom (Genesis 37:13, Exodus 18:6):
  • Family queries each other’s and the flock’s shalom—asking not just if they’re safe, but if they’re thriving, fulfilling purpose, and enjoying harmony.
  • “So, go see about the shalom of your brothers and about the shalom of the flock...” (A, [16:56])
  • “They asked each other about their shalom.” (A, [18:23])
  • “How’s your shalom doing? ... Are you flourishing? Are you attaining the thing that you know you're meant for?” (B, [19:01])

Ideal Conditions—Fullness and Flourishing ([19:16] – [21:41])

• Leviticus 26 and Shalom:
  • Shalom described as an overflowing harvest, safety, security, and abundance—“You will eat your food to the fill. ... I’ll give you shalom.” (A, [21:05])
  • “It’s the focus: are we fulfilling our purpose, experiencing positive flourishing—not just avoiding harm?” (B, [19:54])

Shalom and Biblical Prophecy: The Hope of a Ruler of Peace

• Isaiah’s Messianic Vision ([21:49] – [29:21])
  • The prophecy of a coming ruler who will be a “Prince of Peace” (Sar Shalom).
  • Four symbolic throne names (Isa 9:6):
    • Counselor of Wonders
    • God, the Mighty Warrior (El Gibor)
    • Everlasting Father (Aviad)
    • Ruler of Shalom (Sar Shalom)
  • “His dominion will grow continually and there will be shalom with no end.” (A, [26:44])
  • “24/7 shalom—that’s the meme.” (B, [27:16])
• Personal and Societal Shalom:
  • The coming king both embodies shalom himself and brings shalom to his whole community.
  • “So he himself is shalom, and then he brings about shalom for others.” (A, [28:08])

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Shalom in the New Testament: Jesus as Our Peace ([29:21] – [34:46])

• Ephesians 2:14–18
  • Paul calls Jesus “our peace,” who breaks down dividing walls between groups (Jew and Gentile), making “one new humanity” through his self-giving.
  • “Messiah brought them together. ... He himself is our peace.” (A, [30:15])
• How Jesus Accomplishes Peace:
  • Not by force, but by allowing hostility and violence to exhaust themselves upon him, he emerges and then invites all to reconciliation and oneness.
  • “He exhausts the enmity in his flesh... by letting both sides exhaust their violence on him, and then inviting them to sit at the same table again.” (A, [33:33])
• Shalom as Reconciliation and Oneness:
  • “The purpose of humanity is to be one... and that’s shalom.” (B, [31:57])
• The Arc of the Biblical Narrative:
  • “It’s like the biblical story in a nutshell, using just the word peace as the outline.” (A, [34:46])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “What do you exist for, my friend? I wish wholeness and completeness upon you. Shalom.” (A, [15:41])
• “How's your shalom doing? ... Are you fulfilling your life purpose?” (B, [19:01])
• “The presence of the positive is just as important as the absence of the negative.” (A, [19:51])
• “His dominion will grow continually and there will be shalom with no end.” (A, [26:44])
• “The purpose of humanity is to be one... and that’s shalom.” (B, [31:57])
• “He accomplishes peace not through forceful coercion... but actually letting them exhaust their violence on him and then inviting them to sit at the same table again.” (A, [33:33])

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Practical Reflection: Peace in Everyday Life ([35:38] – [37:55])

• Team Member Allison on Peace:
  • Chose “peace” as her favorite Advent word because it means not just an absence of conflict, but a deep-seated, groundedness.
  • Practices gratitude and sings the priestly blessing from Numbers 6 over her child as a way to embody and bestow shalom.
  • “[Peace is] when you can breathe like that. ... The peace of God will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.” (D, [36:16])
• Blessing:
  • “The Lord bless you and keep you... and give you shalom.” (D, [37:44])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Advent and Peace Introduction: [00:08] – [01:13]
• Exploring Shalem—Physical and Relational Wholeness: [02:03] – [14:10]
• Biblical Invitations to Check On "Shalom": [15:15] – [19:16]
• Summary: Shalom Is More Than Absence of Conflict: [19:16] – [21:41]
• Isaiah 9 and the Prince of Peace: [21:49] – [29:21]
• Jesus as Our Peace (Ephesians 2): [29:21] – [34:46]
• Reflection from Allison, Blessing: [35:38] – [37:55]

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Summary

This episode traces the biblical idea of peace—shalom—as robust, positive wholeness and flourishing, moving beyond "no conflict" to encompass fulfillment, purpose, harmony, and restored relationships. Through Hebrew Scripture and New Testament passages, Tim and Jon show how shalom is both God's intention for creation and humanity’s deepest longing, culminating in Jesus, the ultimate "Prince of Peace," who achieves unity not by force but through self-sacrifice and reconciliation. The discussion offers deep lexical, theological, and practical insight, concluding with a lived example of seeking and bestowing shalom in daily life.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Hey, Tim.

[A]

Hi, John.

[B]

Hello. We're working through the four words related to Advent.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Advent's a season of the Christian calendar.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Where you're anticipating the birth of Jesus.

[A]

Yeah. It's a Christian calendar tradition that emerged in the early centuries of the Jesus movement. It was a way of structuring the arc of your year and your worship patterns, eating patterns. According to the story of Jesus, it.

[B]

Begins with these four weeks of.

[A]

Yeah, it begins with four weeks of Advent. Oh, the word Advent means arrival or coming. Okay. And it's a period of waiting. And so the story begins with waiting. Story begins with waiting. Yeah. And the season of Advent for the four weeks leading up to the birth of Jesus, it's about cultivating the virtue of learning how to wait. So week one is typically connected to hope, which is. We just talked about in the last episode, the generative tension of waiting.

[B]

Yeah, that's a good summary.

[A]

And then the key second word is the word peace. Peace. Peace.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So we're going to ponder the biblical topic of peace. Okay. So in the Hebrew Bible, the word translated as peace most consistently, it's the Hebrew word shalom. Yeah.

[B]

Shalom.

[A]

It's probably the Hebrew word that most people who don't know Hebrew. Hebrew know because it means hello.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Oh, in contemporary Hebrew, it's what you say when you come up to a person and greet them. Yeah. You say, shalom.

[B]

Shalom. Because that's a modern Hebrew thing.

[A]

That's modern Hebrew thing. Well, but we'll see. There's some ancient precedent for it. So that's a noun, Shalom. It's related to a verb at its root, which is shalem.

[B]

And what would that be in English? If peace is the noun? Making peace.

[A]

Well. Or being at peace.

[B]

Being at peace. To be peaced.

[A]

To be at peace.

[B]

Be at peace.

[A]

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it would be. There's shalom and then there's the state of being. Shalom. And we're just going to see some examples. Deuteronomy chapter 27. This is Moses talking to Joshua and the Israelites. They're on the east side of the Jordan river. And Moses is going to die, and he knows it. But the people are going to cross the river and go into the land. And he says, when you cross the land, you're going to come to this spot. And Deuteronomy 27:5, you shall build there, at that spot an altar to the Lord your God. An altar of stones. You shall not use an iron tool on them.

[B]

Don't carve these stones.

[A]

Yeah. Don't carve them. Don't get fancy. Don't make them into nice blocks. And in the background here is ancient, both Egyptian and Canaanite, like altar styles, which you would make these huge platforms. By huge, I mean, like 10 by 15ft square.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Big carved rectangle stones.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Actually, there's one in northern Israel. It's a massive platform and they've recreated it. These are rectangle stones. They're probably like 4ft by 2ft or something like that. These huge rectangle slabs. Okay.

[B]

And you gotta carve those so that they fit together.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Yeah. See?

[A]

Yeah, don't do that.

[B]

Don't do that. Okay, don't do that one.

[A]

Yeah. Rather you shall build the altar for Yahweh, your God of shalem stones.

[B]

Hmm. Natural stones. But shalem.

[A]

Shalem stones.

[B]

Undisturbed.

[A]

Yeah, there you go. Undisturbed whole.

[B]

Ah.

[A]

Like you. Unedited, Unedited. Yeah. There's something about fullness or natural. Complete. You haven't altered them. It's the Shalem stone. Huh? Okay. Yeah.

[B]

Okay, interesting.

[A]

So let's hold that one. All right. A couple chapters earlier, in Deuteronomy 25, Moses is talking to the leaders of Israel saying, hey, when you go in and you know you are living in the land, you're going to need to have marketplaces where people are buying and selling and trading stuff. And they would have weights and measures, you know, like, hey, could I have, like, whatever, 10 grams of some cassia oil or myrrh or something? Right.

[B]

And you got to weigh out 10 grams.

[A]

Exactly. Right. So Deuteronomy 25, 13. Don't have in your bag differing weights, one large, one small, in order to be deceptive. Yeah. Cheating people. That's right. Yeah. Like, I have a little bag and it says it has 5 grams of stones in it, and I'll use that on the balance. But actually it has like 6 grams or 3 or whatever. Don't have bag of differing weights. Don't have in your house differing measures, large and small. Once again, to, like, trick people, you shall have a shalem and a just or fair weight. And you shall have a shalem and just measure so that you can live long days in the land.

[B]

Okay, so just meaning, like, fair.

[A]

Fair in terms of, like, relational equity. Okay.

[B]

And then shalem.

[A]

Yeah. So you could have maybe like three stones in your bag and be like, yeah, it makes up 5 grams. Or you could just have a shalem weight, which. Just one. One block or one stone.

[B]

Is that what it's referring to? Shalem A oneness to it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you just have one stone, that's three grams, how are you gonna alter it?

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

So if you have a shalem weighing stone, it's like one big complete piece.

[B]

That's what that means here. One complete piece.

[A]

Yeah. A shalem weight and a shalem measure. Yeah. Okay. It's such a rad image.

[B]

You've got the one weight, the weight corresponds to, to the thing that it fairly represents. And it's just. You don't alter it. It's just the one thing.

[A]

Yeah, yep. Shalem.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Okay, here's a little twist. This is a metaphorical usage of shalem. Second kings, chapter 20. You got a king of Judah in Jerusalem named Hezekiah. He gets really sick. Like, he's super sick. And so Isaiah, the son of Ammot, the prophet came to him and said, this is what Yahweh says, man, you better get your house in order because you're going to die. You're not going to recover. And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and he began praying to Yahweh, saying, yahweh, please remember how I went about before you in faithfulness and with a shalem heart.

[B]

And heart, we're talking about the whole inner life of a person. Yeah, yeah, My inner life. Who I am, the things I desire.

[A]

Yeah. Purpose, desire, plan, all that. With my heart, I've been shalem.

[B]

I mean, it's a really good image of just someone's inside, unaltered.

[A]

My whole heart is been devoted to you. Okay. Is the idea underneath here, I see a wholeness of heart, a completeness of heart that matches a trustworthiness in how I live before you. Anyways, interesting use. Yeah. So we've got a shalem stone, which.

[B]

Means it's whole, unaltered, complete.

[A]

We've got shalem and just weights and measures, which is similar, kind of a.

[B]

Physical description, but then it speaks to integrity. There's something interesting about if you're not altering something, then it is what it is.

[A]

Yeah, that's right. Yes. That's the through line here. Yeah. It's what it's supposed to be, right?

[B]

It is what it's supposed to be.

[A]

It's what it's supposed to be.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that can be true of a rock, it can be true of a measuring stone, it can be true of a human heart. This is shalem. Okay. So that is for something to exist in a state of shalom, as these examples, however, you can use this word shalem in an active sense, like Causing something to be in a state of shalom. And here's some examples of that. Solomon, the last line describing of how his making of the Temple of Yahweh, famous Solomon's temple, 1 Kings 9, 25. He offered sacrifices three times a year. Burnt offerings, fellowship offerings. On the altar that he built for Yahweh. He offered incense with it. And so he. And I'm just going to use the English phrase, made shalem, the house that is the temple. Okay. This is about the inaugural year of.

[B]

The temple, because there's three big offering periods.

[A]

This is the three pilgrimage feasts. Okay. Yeah. Passover, Pentecost, and then Sukkot. Tabernacles. Tabernacles. Okay.

[B]

So did all three. And then he did all the other offerings too. And he did all the incense offerings. So he did all the offerings that were meant to happen in the temple.

[A]

Yeah, he completed all of them. He completed all of them. The whole liturgy. Annual liturgy. And so he shelamed the house.

[B]

Okay. Made complete.

[A]

Made it enter into a state of shalom. Adds to its purpose.

[B]

If you made something for a purpose, but the thing hasn't done its purpose yet, and you run it through its paces and you see like, yep, it can do it. It does do it. It's now complete.

[A]

Okay, so King James has finished the house. He finished the house. So does the new American Standard. Finished. New Revised. Has completed the house. Ooh. Niv gets a little fancy. He fulfilled the temple obligations.

[B]

Fulfilled.

[A]

Because I think what they're noting is that this isn't about, like, the actual physical, material completion that happened earlier in the story. This is the moment where he's done now the full annual liturgy and all the rituals in the temple. And this is described as him making shalem the house by doing all the things that the house was designed to be for.

[B]

Yeah. Using the thing for its purpose to make shalem.

[A]

Yeah. There's two examples in Isaiah, chapter 44 where God says that he's announced a plan through his messengers. Who. Which I think refers to, like, the prophets, the biblical prophets. And God's talking about how he keeps his promises. He does what he says he's gonna do through the prophets. And so you have this phrase, God is the one who keeps the word of his servant. And who. And here's our word, shalems, the plan of his messengers. So God has servants and messengers that he speaks through. Like, I'm gonna do this. And then when God brings about in history the things that the prophet said, it's God keeping his word. And Shaleming. The plan.

[B]

Yeah. Completing.

[A]

Yeah. Complete.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So there's some plan, and it sets out a thing, but yet it's yet to be realized. It's yet to be fulfilled. Yeah. And so shalem is the realization of the. The thing you were pointing at. Oh, here's a great example. This is in a case law from the laws in the book of Exodus. Let's say you and I are like farmers and we have, like, two fields that are next to each other. And let's say I'm doing a controlled burn over one of my sections of my field. And let's say some embers float up over onto your field. And this is what says, if a fire breaks out and spreads to some thorn bushes or some stacked grain or standing grain and the field is consumed, the one who started that fire will surely shalem.

[B]

Okay. And you would think, what's the word we would use here?

[A]

Repay.

[B]

Repay.

[A]

Provide. Compensation.

[B]

Yeah, Compensate.

[A]

Or if you came after me looking for compensation, isn't that there? We would use our word. Recompense. Get recompense.

So the ideal state is for you and I to be cool with each other as, like, neighboring farmers.

[B]

But you just burned my field.

[A]

I know, right? So what's interesting is just the mere fact of you and I existing in a state of relational inequality where I did something and now I owe you to make it right. Just existing in that state is no shalom, the opposite of shalom. We're not fighting yet. It's just that I owe you and I haven't shalamed you yet.

[B]

Our relationship isn't whole.

[A]

Yes. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

There isn't a completion to our relationship. It's fragmented.

[A]

Exactly. So you can have a physical object that can be in a state of being whole or complete, and now here it is with relational fullness as the ideal. So these are our uses of shalom as a verb. Isn't that interesting?

[B]

Yeah. The wholeness and the completeness and the authenticity of what the thing is or should be. That's the focus of the word.

[A]

There's some sense of an ideal. There's like, what a thing is for. And when it's in that state, the shalom state. Okay. And if it is not existing in that state, then you need to do some shalayaming to, like, make it be in that state. Make the relationship right. Make the house, the temple, finally work for the purpose that was purposed to work. Okay, so you get the idea. You have two states of being. You could say partial, unfulfilled, unfair, unequal, and Then you have the opposite state. Whole, complete, fulfilled, equal. Now you've got shalem. There you go.

So all the way back. Shalom is how you say hello in modern Hebrew.

[B]

Yeah. Shalom, shalom.

[A]

It's different than hello, which is just like, hi. I'm acknowledging.

[B]

It's a straight up acknowledgment, you exist.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I exist.

[A]

Shalom. That's all hello is. It's different to say shalom.

[B]

Shalom is, what is this day for? And I hope that's what's happening for you.

[A]

What do you exist for, my friend? I wish wholeness and completeness upon you.

[B]

Shalom.

[A]

Shalom. Yes.

[B]

That's cool.

[A]

Yes. So that's modern Hebrew. It seems to derive from an ancient Hebrew turn of phrase. And I'll just show you some examples. So in book of Genesis, Jacob gives Joseph the special coat. He has some dreams about ruling the world and his family, and then his brothers hate him. Okay, Sometime after all that blows over, kind of Jacob says to Joseph, hey, you know your brothers have been out for a while taking the flock. Like on this kind of seasonal migration pattern. I haven't seen him for a while. So he says, Genesis 37:13. Hey, aren't your brothers pasturing the flock now in Shechem, near this town? Look, I'm gonna send you to them. And Joseph said, cool, I'll go. Then he said to him, yeah, so go see about the shalom of your brothers and about the shalom of the flock, and then bring word back to me. And so he sent him out. Okay, see about the shalom of your brothers and of the flock. It's a great turn of phrase.

[B]

Yeah. So what he is interested in is, are they safe?

[A]

Right? Is the flock getting enough? Are they grazing enough each day?

[B]

Has everyone got enough food? Is there any quarrels with any neighboring shepherds? Is there any wolves around? Lions giving them trouble?

[A]

Yeah. So one layer would be about, you know, are they free from danger?

[B]

Right.

[A]

Are they free from conflict? But it's more than that.

[B]

More than that, there's a purpose for this migratory loop that they're going on. Feed the flock, come back healthy. Is that happening?

[A]

Yeah, that's right. This is very similar to a moment in the book of Exodus where after Moses has led the Israelites boy out of Egypt, through that crazy night at the sea, months through the desert, eating manna and drinking from springs. That is pretty intense season. And they make it to Mount Sinai. And who meets him there? His father in law, Jethro. Exodus 18:6. Jethro sent word to Moses saying, it's me, your father in law, Jethro. Hey, I'm going to come to you and I've got, you know, your wife and your two sons here. So Moses went out to meet his father in law. He bowed down, he kissed him, and they asked each other about their shalom. And then they went into the tent to hang out and have a meal.

[B]

They asked about their shalom.

[A]

They asked each other about your shalom, like, hey, man, how's your shalom? Isn't that great? Yeah. How's your shalom today?

[B]

How would we translate that?

[A]

How you're doing.

[B]

Yeah, but it's more than how are you doing, how's your shalom?

[A]

Mm. Are you fulfilling your life purpose?

[B]

Tell me about your vocational goals.

[A]

Yeah, I like just the figure of speech. I ask about your shalom. Yeah.

[B]

How's your shalom doing?

[A]

By using the word shalom, you're putting the ideal goal as like the measure. And you're saying like, hey, man, you were made for shalom. How's your shalom today?

[B]

That's so fascinating. It's asking someone like, are you flourishing? Are you attaining the thing that you know you're meant for? How's your shalom doing your shalom?

[A]

I don't know why I'm laughing.

[B]

No, it's cool. It's a really cool way to greet someone.

[A]

Yeah. So let's try and summarize. Shalom in biblical thought isn't just the absence of some negative state of affairs like conflict or being in danger. It is that. But it's also the positive presence of all of these great conditions. Fulfilling your purpose. You have plenty. Your relationships are complete and whole. There's nothing broken, no unresolved tensions. So the presence of the positive is just as important as the absence of the negative. Right.

[B]

Or almost even more important. It's the focus.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

[B]

Focus is on what is the purpose, what is the meaning of this? Are we attaining that right? Not, are the frustrating things out of the way? That's not the focus.

[A]

Yes. Okay, so actually, here's a great example. Leviticus 26:3. If you all walk in my statutes and keep my commands and do them, I'm going to give you rain in its time. So this is also a group of farmers. So we're describing an ideal set of conditions.

[B]

This isn't someone looking to do a soccer tournament.

[A]

No. So I'll give you rain in its time. The land will give its produce. The trees of the field will give their fruit. The threshing season will overtake the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will. Will overtake the time for sowing seed. So normally these things that are separate in your calendar, the ground's producing so.

[B]

Much going to overflow on each other.

[A]

Yeah. That's like. There's so much to harvest that you're still harvesting in the previous crop or you're starting to plant the next one. You will eat your food to the fill. You will live securely in the land. I'll give you shalom. It's a big. Right there.

[B]

You're just like, wow, that's shalom.

[A]

That's shalom. But then flip it over. You shall lie down and there'll be no one who makes you afraid. I'll remove harmful animals from the land. No sword, that is, no invading armies will pass through your land. I will turn to you and make you fruitful and numerous and keep my covenant with you. So this is a great example where the word shalom is at the center of this paragraph. Yeah. And you go from the presence of all these positive conditions, a short description of the absence of the negative, and then you go back to the positive. And shalom is the thing in the center.

[B]

Yeah. What does it look like for life to be full and complete? And that's what I want to give you.

[A]

That's shalom. Yes. Okay. So there's one prophet among the Hebrew prophets that shalom vocabulary is just off the charts, and that's the prophet Isaiah. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah is just packed with shalom vocabulary. And in fact, one of the most. Speaking of Advent, one of the most famous kind of Advent scripture readings that gets read in churches and whatever Christmas plays.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is the hope for a new king from the line of David who will fulfill all of the failures of the line of David up to that point. Isaiah 9, 6, 7. Such a cool passage. And it's a celebration song. And it reads, for a child has been born for us and a son has been given to us. Dominion will be on his shoulder. That's a cool image.

[B]

He will bear the weight of rule.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, that's it. It's a heavy burden.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Being in charge of a bunch of people and their living situation. And it's heavy. It's complicated. So dominion will be on his shoulder and his name will be called. And then he has four names. There's a whole rabbit hole here of like the ancient practice of naming kings and giving them lots of different symbolic names. Oh, these are throne names.

[B]

Throne names.

[A]

I haven't looked this up in a while. My memory from it is that our oldest evidence from it is in Egyptian enthronement ritual texts. Okay. Where the new king would just be given all these names. So it's probably not like what people called him walking up in the street or in the court. But it's saying, this is who you are, what you're made for, what you're destined for as kingdom. So his name will be called Counselor of Wonders, or it often gets translated as Wonderful counselor, but counselor not in terms of like a therapist, but like a planner, strategist.

[B]

Okay. A strategist of wonders.

[A]

A strategist whose plans accomplish things that will blow your mind.

[B]

A Counselor of Wonders, architect of really amazing plans.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. He makes plans, and you've never seen anything like it when they come to pass. That's his first name. Isn't that a rad name?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Counselor of Wonders, El Gibor, God, the mighty warrior. Like, whoa. Yeah.

[B]

It's a tough name. That's his WWE name.

[A]

Yeah.

Yeah. This is what the Israelites call God in their song of praise after he rescued them in the night through the sea, defeating Pharaoh in the waters.

[B]

God defeats the snake, defeats the sea dragon. He's El Gabor.

[A]

Yeah. This is the ring champion, the fighter.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, so the king is being called El Gabor, God, the warrior, meaning that what this king does for us is God, you know, protecting and fighting us. He is also called Father of Perpetual Ongoingness, or translated typically, Everlasting Father, Aviad. And this is interesting. He was also just called a son. When we encounter this son, we encounter the father of Ongoingness, Never stoppingness, Perpetually existing father. Yeah, yeah. Such a rad image. That's the third name. And then the fourth one is why I'm bringing this up in the first place. Is Sar Shalom, the ruler of Shalom, or the Prince of Peace is what King James went for.

[B]

Prince of Peace.

[A]

That's a nice alliteration, the double P. But SAR just means ruler. It can be used of kings, but can also be used of, like, the group of leaders that rules right underneath a king. But a ruler of Shalom, A ruler of Shalom.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So what's great is it could be referring to his own personal qualities that he has. Shalom.

[B]

He rules with shalom.

[A]

Like King Hezekiah. I've had a shalem heart, so could be he himself is like. Exists in a shalom state. But if he's a ruler, then you also hope that he's, like, sharing the shalom.

[B]

Yeah. The dominion's on his shoulders. His purpose is to bear the weight of ruling in such a way that things are good.

[A]

That things are good. Which it goes on. Verse 7. His dominion. It's the same word as dominion on his shoulder. His dominion will grow continually and there will be shalom with no end.

[B]

Yeah. Completeness with no end. You went to this ruler and he said, how's your shalom? He'd be like, there's no end.

[A]

Oh, okay. So it could be when you say the shalom, there's no end. The first thing that I think of is saying it will never stop. Yeah.

[B]

The shalom will stop.

[A]

There'll be nothing that will ever compromise it. Meaning no danger, but also no lack, no inequity. It's just pure shalom all the time. 24, 7 Shalom.

[B]

247 Shalom.

[A]

That's the meme.

[B]

So if you just say. Yeah. How are you doing? I'm good. How's your shalom? There's no end.

[A]

That's great.

[B]

Yeah. My shalom's rocking.

[A]

Yeah. So what's cool is in this passage, notice how eternity language is also brought up. Everlasting Father, Father of ongoingness. His dominion will grow just more and more. And there's no cutoff point to the shalom that he brings about.

[B]

Yeah. Wow.

[A]

So that's co. Emphasis. But then also the ambiguity of this phrase, ruler of shalom could mean like he. He himself is in a state of shalom. But the whole point of a ruler is that he brings it about for others, which is what the second use of shalom in the passage is. So he himself is shalom, and then he brings about shalom for others. He'll sit on the throne of David over his kingdom, establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness. Ooh. Now and forever, he brings about. Right. Relationships. It's a rad little picture.

[B]

Yeah. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.

[A]

Yeah. Yahweh's passionate to make this happen.

[B]

Okay. This is really on the heart of God to make this happen.

[A]

There's a short list of things in the Bible that God's really passionate about, and bringing about this state of affairs is one of them.

[B]

That's cool.

[A]

Yeah. Shalom.

[B]

The ruler of shalom.

[A]

Yeah. Prince of peace has a ring to it. I think that was a good move.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Ruler of shalom.

There's a couple places in the New Testament where Jesus or one of the apostles picks up this close connection between Jesus and peace. And one of them is in Ephesians Chapter two, which is a dense, complex passage. So I'm approaching it with fear and trembling because there's many rabbit holes that we could fall into. I just want to draw attention to one thing, that in Ephesians 2:14, Paul's talking about how non Israelites and Israelites have been brought together on equal standing, equal status together in the family of God. And even though those are two groups that typically have been at odds with each other throughout biblical history, and in Paul's time, he said Messiah brought them together. And then Ephesians 2:14, he has this rad little line where he says, he himself is our peace.

[B]

Jesus.

[A]

Jesus Messiah himself is our peace. Our. And the R is Israelite and non Israelite. In the context of the passage, he is. Is our peace.

[B]

He's our peace. Prince of peace.

[A]

Yeah. And then it goes on to say he is our peace because he was an Israelite who allowed himself to be killed by Israelites and non Israelites. He's thinking about the role of the Roman officials and the role of the Israel's priests in executing Jesus. And he says by allowing them to exhaust their own tension and rivalry because it was an uneasy peace the Sadducees and chief priests were brokering with Pilate and Rome. And it erupted into conflict many times. And so Jesus put himself as the Israelite in between a bunch of Israelites and the Roman officials. He allowed their plans to kill him. And what he says is, he, in verse 15, he exhausted the enmity between them.

[B]

Enmity meaning hostility.

[A]

Hostility, yeah. So that. And he assumes here whole backstory that in his death and resurrection from the dead, that he within himself might create the two into one new human, thus making peace. He says. So it's this dual nature of he is our peace because he himself is the one standing in the middle of these two warring parties. And then he did something that then accomplished peace for others.

[B]

So the purpose of humanity is to be one.

[A]

Yeah. To exist in the right relationships with each other. Yeah.

[B]

No matter what your ethnic or national heritage or your tribal allegiance, any of this stuff, there's this kind of oneness to humanity. Like within our differences, we're also then united. And that's shalom. That's a completeness. And Jesus is that for us. And he's making that happen.

[A]

Oh, yeah. So it's interesting is the king in Isaiah 9, he is just a strategic planner. And he's a great fighter. Right. The mighty warrior God. He is Shalom. And he brings about shalom. But you kind of think of a King, like ruling and making decisions and getting forceful when he needs to. In Ephesians, the way that Jesus brings peace is to say, hey, here's you group of people. And you group of people, I belong to one of your groups. And you're constantly fighting, trying to kill each other. So I'll put myself in the middle and you guys kill me.

[B]

Exhaust yourself on me.

[A]

Kill me instead of each other, because I can do this thing where I can overcome death. And then I'll stand there in between you, having faced the exhaustion of your violence.

[B]

And then I'll ask you, how's your shalom?

[A]

Then I'll ask you like, yeah, how's your shalom? Come sit at my table and let's eat together. And that's the idea of. It's what Paul goes on to say. He reconciled both groups together. So he accomplishes peace not through forceful coercion.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But actually letting them exhaust their violence on him and then inviting them to sit at the same table again after he's overcome their violence. Very surprise twist in the story.

[B]

Yeah, that's what it means. Exhausting the enmity in his flesh.

[A]

Mm. Yeah. So in his body. In his actual physical flesh. Body hanging on the cross. It's like he's taking the violent hostility of both Israelite and the Roman powers. It's a very bold interpretation of the execution of a Jewish prophet, peacemaker from the line of David. You know, there were thousands of Jews who were crucified in the reign of Pilate.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But this one, Paul says, was divine. Peace, become human. To invite these two groups into each other. Peace notice also, I guess, the presence. It's both the absence of violence, like, I'm gonna help you stop killing each other. Yeah.

[B]

But the point is to become one.

[A]

Become one. Yeah. Like, that's the shalom.

[B]

Oneness.

[A]

Yeah, totally. Yeah.

[B]

That's the good news of peace.

[A]

Yeah, the good news of peace. Yeah. So there you go. There you go. We just took our tour through the concept of shalom as being a state of fullness, completeness, metaphorically, literally. It's the presence of all these positive things that are part of fulfilling someone's purpose, but also the absence of negative things. And then the way Isaiah thinks of a king being shalom and bringing shalom, the Jesus story picks up that, but then with a surprise twist of how Jesus is peace and accomplishes peace through his death and resurrection. Hmm. There you go. It's like the biblical story in a nutshell, using just the word peace as the outline.

[C]

Hey, everyone, this is Tyler with the podcast team. And before we go, we'd like to do something a little different. Today we're going to hear from one of our own team members about their thoughts on the word peace. I have Allison here in the studio. Alison, would you like to introduce yourself?

[A]

Hi.

[D]

This is Allison Stain, and I work on the localization team at bibleproject.

[C]

And so, Alison, I gave you the option to pick one of the four words associated with Advent. Why did you choose this word peace?

[D]

That word just jumped out. It's really important to me to be in a state of peace, and that's not just an absence of conflict. It's like a deep seated, grounded.

Yeah, peace is when you can breathe like that. I'm thinking of the verse, the peace of God will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Something I'm learning more and more is just the power of my thinking and how as I have something in life that is challenging, causing me some anxiousness, I can either choose to dwell on that and feel more fear and overwhelmed by it, or, as this verse says, I can capture my thinking and say, okay, but how can I dwell on what is good and right and pure? It's about offering that up, then receiving his peace.

[C]

That's great. So, Allison, are there any things you do during the day that help you experience peace in daily life?

[D]

I do, yeah, man. I think gratitude, like, there's so much all throughout the Bible about the importance of the practice of being thankful, you know, to offer our concerns to God, but alongside Thanksgiving. And I think that helps to give me a more grounded perspective in the goodness that is in my life. And I've practice of singing the Blessing from numbers 26 over my baby at night. She's a year and a half now, and from early on I realized, oh, I need to, like, pick a lullaby or something. And they say routine is key, so what am I going to sing every night? And I realized there's really no words I would rather say than a blessing over her.

[C]

That's beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing with us, Allison. And if you don't mind, would you be willing to close us out with the blessing?

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

The Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Turn his face towards you and give you shalom.

[C]

Well, that's it for the episode. Thank you, Allison, for joining us today. There is a whole team of us, as you can see, that help make the podcast happen every week. For a full list of everyone involved, check out the show credits at the end of the episode, wherever you stream your podcast and on our app. Bible Project is a crowdfunded nonprofit and we exist to help people experience the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. And everything we make is free because of the generous support of thousands of people just like you. Thank you so much for being a part of this with us.

[E]

Hi, my name is Andrea and I'm from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Hi, my name is Jake and I'm from Chicago. I first heard about the Bible Project when I asked my mentor to teach me the Bible and we went through the Torah journey and all the videos and started learning so much. I first heard about the Bible Project when I came across the summary videos. I used the Bible Project for my own personal study. And my favorite thing about the Bible Project is the podcast. My favorite thing about bibleproject is how accessible it was to get such deep knowledge about the Bible just at my fingertips. We believe that the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus. Bibleproject is a nonprofit funded by people like me. Find free videos, articles, podcasts, classes, and more on the Bibleproject app [e-mail] Sam.