יְֽהוָ֗ה עֹ֭ז לְעַמּ֣וֹ יִתֵּ֑ן יְהוָ֓ה׀ יְבָרֵ֖ךְ אֶת־עַמּ֣וֹ בַשָּׁלֽוֹם׃
(Psa 29:11 WTT)
Why the Promised Land? Why a homeland for the Jews?
Ps 29:11 states that Yahweh will bless his people with shalom. Shalom is not only found in the spirit, but the fullest sense of shalom must include the physical well-being of a person as well. Strength and wellness go together as Yahweh’s prized gifts to his people. The blessing of shalom can not only be spiritualized as one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in Gal 5:22. It is much more than that. It is the restoration and fullness of life that is written about in the book of Tobit. How God heard the prayer of Tobit and Sarah and sent the Archangel Raphael to bring them healing and restore their happiness. It is what the ancient Israelites longed for while in exile, in captivity. It is what Joseph the son of Jacob desired after being sold into slavery by his brothers. It is what the Garden of Eden symbolizes and what the story tells was lost at the time of Original Sin. What kept shalom from these people of the Old Testament? Calumnity visited each one in the following way: blindness to Tobit, death and loss of love to Sarah, brotherly hate and loss of home and family to Joseph and estrangement from God and paradise to Adam and Eve. In each account people were cast down in despair, but not left there. Sight was restored to Tobit. Sarah received a husband and children. Joseph received a new home, family, and his father Jacob again. Yet, Adam and Eve containing the foundational story of humanity in faith expresses that the world does not yet possess shalom, rather their story captures the reality of what tears it from us, namely strife against God and one another.
It is in the blessing and desire for shalom that the Promised Land to Abraham and his descendants becomes imperative. God’s promise was not only to make Abraham’s offsprings as ‘numerous as the stars’ but to ‘give him the land as far as his eye could see.’ What happiness could the wandering Aramean have had if he did not have a place for his future family to flourish, be feed, clothed, and rest. For what is the Promised Land, but a land for the nation of Israel to call home. Do we not all need a place to which we call home? If each person were to think of their place of birth and recall the people of that place, they can see in themselves the very identity that they acquired from those natives. A birth place become the foundation of a person’s identity. A community and family becomes a foundational source of understanding who we are.
Is it possible to have shalom without having a homeland? Is shalom simply an interior place of peace, calm, contentment or as a more complete understanding includes wellness and completeness of being? It is certainly all of these, but to explicate the blessing of shalom one needs to look at the promise for a ‘land flowing with mild and honey.’ Shalom is more than just the interior knowing that God saves us and loves us. Although that is true and necessary, God wants to give us more than an interior life of satisfaction. God wants to bless humanity with goodness of the earth and each other. All of which requires a place to call home –a promised land. Wholeness and wellbeing presume that a person experiences love, safety, adequate nourishment and a healthy self-understanding. When any of these breaks down it is hard to feel well.
The focus throughout biblical history on the land of Israel and the holy city Jerusalem is an indication that shalom needs more than just an internal reality, but a physical reality as well. As the Letter of James reminds the early Christians ‘it is no good to say to your neighbor keep warm and well feed but do nothing to meet their bodily needs’ Eating and providing warmth and shelter takes place usually among family and if not family then a community, all of which need a physical place on the earth to draw from the goodness of the earth our bodily needs. Shalom is not only a spiritual gift of the Holy Spirit, even though people can feel inter calm and well-being in the midst of great suffering, rather the fullness of this gift is when people find this among each other and among the earth itself. God has given the earth and the people of the earth an abundance of good things for our strength and well-being. It is God’s Will to us as the psalmist states to give his people strength and shalom. Now it is for God’s people to share the earth as home for all of us, to provide food, shelter, clothing, and love to one another so that God’s blessing of shalom be fulfilled indeed.