‘Shalom’—the word describes a peace once destroyed, but possible again
By Wye Huxford*
Shalom: my personal favorite Hebrew word. It has such a peaceful sound. Maybe that is because that is what the word means —or maybe it sounds peaceful because it rolls smoothly off of our tongues and into the ears of those around us.
It is a perfect word to describe the world as God intended it to be. That’s the world of Genesis 1 and 2. Shalom. Adam and Eve were comfortable in their own skin – naked, as it was; comfortable with each other; comfortable with God; comfortable in his creation.
The world of Genesis 3 through 11 sounds nothing like Shalom. Before we realize it, Adam and Eve have broken their comfort in their own skin, with each other, with God, and with creation. The world becomes a place of earning your living by the sweat of your brow among thorns and thistles. Adam will rule over Eve, who will suffer the pain of childbirth. Cain will kill Abel. Only Noah and his family among humans will survive the flood, and finally, the disruption of languages separates humans from one another.
Two worlds
Longing for a world like Genesis 1 and 2, you and I likely have the sense we live in the world of Genesis 3—11. Our culture’s antagonism toward those who are different from us sounds like the noise of Babel on steroids. The outbreak of war in Europe reminds us of the challenge Noah must have faced. Murder rates in many American cities are setting records, and we might think there is a Cain around every corner. The widening gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” reminds us of “earning a living by the sweat of our brows”— where every human resources office might seem to be surrounded by thorns and thistles.
Paul certainly understood the tension between the God-intended world of Genesis 1 and 2 and the brutal reality of the world that followed. He understood it well enough to remind us that “the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth” and to say “not only creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly” (Romans 8:18-25, ESV). Something happens inside us when we realize that what surrounds us is not what God intended when He made us.
We aren’t likely to know exactly how to explain our own groaning to God. I don’t know about you, but I have some questions for God about all that is going on around me. Yet I don’t know how to put those questions into words. Not to worry: “The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26, ESV). That must mean God is not pleased with the post-Genesis 3 world, either. He must long for Shalom as I do.
The return of peace
Do you remember the first words the resurrected Jesus spoke to most of his apostles in that room late on the first “first day of the week,” as John likes to call it? “Peace be with you!” Don’t read that as merely saying, “I’m not a ghost, don’t be frightened.” Read it as telling the apostles that for the first time since that piece of fruit was picked and the post-Genesis 3 world was born, Shalom can return.
As the apostle John would later describe it in 1 John, “We are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is” (3:2, NLT).
The journey begun
Surrounded by the chaos of Genesis 3-11 and the world that follows, we long for the world of Genesis 1 and 2, and in faith we know that journey has already begun.
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and
God himself will be with them as their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,
And death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning,
nor crying,
nor pain anymore,
for the former things have passed away.’”
(Revelation 21:3-4, ESV )
That sounds like Genesis 1 and 2. It sounds like Shalom. In Christ, we are already on the journey to such Shalom.
Sunset photo by Nabil Naidu at Unsplash.com
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*Today’s guest columnist, Wye Huxford, is dean of the college of biblical studies and ministry at Point University, where he has been teaching since 1976. He also served for over 20 years as the pastor of a local church. He was married to the late Vicki Kindt Huxford for over 48 years, and they have two adult children, both of whom work in Christian higher education. You can read more of his work at wyehuxford.com.