Shelem. Shulam. Shalom.
Shelem is the name of
the mountain where the Brother of Jared moltened out of a rock the sixteen
stones he subsequently witnessed the Lord touch to light the Jaredite people’s
way across the great deep. Shelem means ‘to pay for’ something. The record states that, “they called the
mount Shelem, because of its exceeding height” (Ether 3:1) and that the Brother
of Jared climbed to the top of it. It
was there that he saw the antemortal Jehovah, who later in climbing a hill to
pay not for something, but for everything would typify the ground
beneath his feet. In his own words:
“Behold,
I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people.
Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind
have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they
shall become my sons and my daughters.” (Ether 3:14)
Shulam means “to be
fully paid” for something. Covered by
Christ would be the cost of the justice we would rob for the mercy we would
need. Verified would be the words of Isaiah recorded generations before, yet
uttered as a post experiential testimony:
“he hath
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All
we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his
mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his
generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the
transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence; neither
was any deceit in his mouth.Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him
to grief” (Isaiah 53: 4-10)
Taken together, shelem and shulam “represent reconciliation, completeness,
balance, harmony. Change just a couple
letters, and we have the similar and related word “Shalom”, which I’ve always understood to be a bit like the Italian
Ciao, the Hawaiian Aloha, or the Indian Namaste. Sometimes a greeting,
sometimes a parting.” (http://neilhanson.com/2011/shelem-shulam-shalom/) “However, "peace" is only one small part of the meaning.
"Shalom". . .means much more than "peace, hello or
goodbye"....Hebrew words go beyond their spoken pronunciation. Each Hebrew
word conveys feeling, intent and emotion. Shalom is more then just
simply peace; it is a complete peace. It is a feeling of contentment,
completeness, wholeness, well being and harmony.” (http://www.therefinersfire.org/meaning_of_shalom.htm)
It is perfection. And we can
have it.
The Brother of Jared became perfect in his knowledge. From the record we read:
“And because of the knowledge of
this man he could not be kept from beholding within the veil; and he saw the
finger of Jesus, which, when he saw, he fell with fear; for he knew that it was
the finger of the Lord; and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing
doubting. Wherefore, having this perfect knowledge of God, he could not be kept
from within the veil; therefore he saw Jesus; and he did minister unto him.” (Ether 3:19-20)
He
sought perfect truth, and thus saw Truth Perfected.
It
gives me great relief to know that in this process, the Brother of Jared
endured three hours of chastening directly from God for his shortcomings. He wasn’t a “perfect” person. But he was a disciple progressing through the
perfection process. Each of us is on our
personal path to perfection. We, like
the Jaredites are approaching a ‘great deep’ that our country must cross beginning in 30 days and the Lord is
asking us,
“What will ye that I should do that
ye may have light in your vessels?” The Lord is asking us
to propose a plan for what He should do to help us have light amidst the
surrounding darkness.
“For behold, ye cannot have windows,
for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye
shall not go by the light of fire.” What are windows for?
Looking through. What is fire
for? To destroy. We cannot be on-lookers
and we cannot seek others destruction!
“For
behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves
shall dash upon you.” We will be pushed, pulled, pressed, and
persecuted for our patriotism.
“Nevertheless,
I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone
forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.”
We cannot go around these problems we as a people have been running
from, but God has prepared us for this and He has promised to see us through
it.
“And
behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep
save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone
forth, and the floods which shall come.” (Ether 2:23-25)
The
problems we face are bigger than our power to solve, and our only hope is to
turn to God in prayer, humiliation, and fasting. To quote the historian David Barton, "Let's not lean on our shovels and pray for a hole." I ask you to consider joining me next Friday
in fasting for our country on the anniversary that commemorates a fast invoked by President
Abraham Lincoln to plead for God’s forgiveness and help as the nation and many
of Lady Liberty’s sons lay at death’s door.
We have as Isaiah said ‘turned everyone to his own way’. May we repent and recognize that there is
only one way through this—His way.
Have
a good weekend and we’ll see you on Monday!
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