Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Tonight’s Study – Session 8: Jehovah Shalom – The Lord is Peace

Introduction: Shalom is a Hebrew word, so much richer in its range of meanings than the English word “peace,” which usually refers to the absence of outward conflict or to a state of inner calm. The concept of shalom includes these ideas but goes beyond them, meaning “wholeness,” “completeness,” “perfection,” “safety,” or “wellness.” Shalom comes from living in harmony with God. The fruit of that harmony is harmony with others, prosperity, health, satisfaction, soundness, wholeness, and well-being.

The first usage of Jehovah Shalom is found in  Judges 6:24.

Key Scripture Passage Where Jehovah Shalom is Found

Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.

So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.

 Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.’ ” Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon said to Him, “O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.” Then he said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.” And He said, “I will wait until you come back.” So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them.

The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth.” And he did so. Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.” Then Gideon said to him, “Peace be with you: do not fear, you shall not die.” So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it The-Lord-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. (Judges 6:1-24)

Jehovah Shalom is a title rather than a name of God. Shalom is a common term for greeting or farewell in modern Israel. When you say shalom, you are not simply saying “Hello,” or “Have a Good Day.” In its deepest meaning, it expresses the hope that the person you are greeting may have peace in every sense of the word – fulfilled, satisfied, prosperous, healthy, and in harmony with themselves, others, and God.

Shalom is a covenant word, an expression of God’s faithful relationship with His people.

Connecting To The Name

The passage in Judges 6 begins by revealing God as a disrupter of peace since He’s the one who’s handed the Israelites over to the Midianites (vv.1-6). Many would ask, “Why did God do this if He is a God of peace?” He would often, as seen in the history of His people Israel, turn His people over to their enemies for a reason and a season. He would “disrupt” their lives in order to get their attention and turn their hearts back to Himself.

God did this as a form of discipline for their disobedience to His commands. The way in which God dealt with His people revealed the true nature of their unfaithfulness and about the nature of true peace. God would bring true peace to His people once their hearts truly turned back to Him in obedience. He would subdue, and even sometimes utterly destroy their enemies (vv.7-10).

The Angel of the LORD called out Gideon to lead God’s people into victory over the Midianites. Gideon was called a “mighty man of valor” and God promised His presence with Gideon to give him victory (vv.11-18).

The presence of God, Jehovah Shalom in our lives gives us peace, no matter what difficulties, trials, tribulations, and circumstances we may face.

True peace isn’t the absence of trouble, but the presence of God in one’s life. We would all like to have a trouble free life, but that just isn’t reality. We live in a  fallen world under the curse of sin. Jesus spoke of peace in a fallen world. We can have peace in the midst of trouble in our lives.

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (Jesus – John 16:33)

Gideon knew that the people of Israel were in trouble with their enemies, and ultimately with God. But Gideon found favor with God and God granted him mercy and forgiveness.  Gideon discovered true peace because he encountered Jehovah Shalom, The-Lord-Is-Peace. Being in the presence of Jehovah Shalom changed everything (vv.19-24).

Look What Moses, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Paul Had To Say About Peace

• “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

(Moses – Numbers 6:24-26)

• Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding; Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace. (Solomon – Proverbs 3:13,17)
• You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26:3)
• For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
• Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

(Paul – Philippians 4:6–7)

Conclusion: The peace of God only comes when we repent of our sin and start obeying and trusting in Jehovah Shalom -The Lord Is Peace. As believers we have the peace of God because we have peace with God through faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross. We need not let the enemy steal our peace, he didn’t give it to us, and it is not his to take away. Ultimately, our peace leads to victory as it did in the life of Gideon. We come to realize that the battle has already been won by our Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ!        

Next Week, Session 9: Jehovah Tsebaoth – The Lord of Hosts