Peace
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Peace I leave with you;
my peace I give to you.’
John 14.27
‘Peace’ is the word most often used to translate the Hebrew word shalom, which appears 250 times in the Old Testament. Surely a word used so often conveys so much more than what might be called ‘an absence of war’.
The Hebrew shalom communicates at its heart a sense of total harmony. Even inanimate objects could be in shalom. For example, when King Solomon finished all the work on the Temple, it was in shalom (1 Kings 7.51). Later, the prophet Zechariah declared, ‘Your king will make shalom among the nations’ (Zechariah 9.16).
In these days of prayer, let us pray that our nation under The King may hold fast to the promise of peace.
