Hebrew Highlights 08 – Perfect Peace
Shalom, this is Yuval Shomron, coming to you
from Jerusalem.
ISA 26:3 "The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in
perfect peace, Because he trusts in Thee.
Perfect
peace! Shalom Shelem!
That’s right, this is one of the bible’s many plays on words. Both the word for peace, and the word for
perfect, come from the roots shin, lamed, mem.
Shelem, the word translated here as perfect, can also mean
complete. In JAMes
1:4 we read, “And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be
perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Actually, in
Hebrew, you can’t do anything perfectly without completing it. Nor can you complete something without
perfecting it.
As an
example, I sometimes volunteer to do dishes late at night, after we’ve had
guests. Once in a while, I miss a
spot. If my wife notices, she may say to
me, “why volunteer to help me if you are not going to do it right?” She has a point. Even the dishes should be perfect and
complete.
From the same
root, we also get shulam, or paid. How can there possibly be a connection with
peace and paid? I don’t know about you,
but whenever I make a final payment on something, I realize an inner peace.
Our real
spiritual peace is usually realized only when we accept the fact that our sins have been paid for.
ACT 20:28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the
flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the
church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Yeshua shelem or paid the price for our salvation with his own
blood.
In JOH 14:27, Yeshua said,
"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world
gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
The word shelem as an adjective also
means “whole”.
We can only
be whole, perfected, complete, and paid for through Yeshua, the Prince of
Peace.
Shalom Shelem from Jerusalem.