The final group of three Beatitudes speaks to those who create peace —
(Mat 5:9-12 ESV) 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
We need to start with a definition of “peace” or shalōm. In the OT, peace is not merely the absence of conflict. It’s the presence of right relationships.
Shalōm, the most prominent OT term for “peace,” held a wide range of connotations (wholeness, health, security, well-being, and salvation) and could apply to an equally wide range of contexts: the state of the individual (Ps 37:37; Prv 3:2; Is 32:17), the relationship of man to man (Gn 34:21; Jos 9:15) or nation to nation (e.g., absence of conflict—Dt 2:26; Jos 10:21; 1 Kgs 5:12; Ps 122:6, 7), and the relationship of God and man (Ps 85:8; Jer 16:5).
The presence of shalōm in any of these contexts was not considered ultimately as the outcome of human endeavor, but as a gift or blessing of God (Lv 26:6; 1 Kgs 2:33; Jb 25:2; Pss 29:11; 85:8; Is 45:7). It is not surprising, therefore, to find “peace” tied closely to the OT notion of covenant. Shalōm was the desired state of harmony and communion between the two covenant partners (God and man—Nm 6:26; cf. Is 54:10), its presence signifying God’s blessing in the covenant relationship (Mal 2:5; cf. Nm 25:12), and its absence signifying the breakdown of that relationship due to Israel’s disobedience and unrighteousness (Jer 16:5, 10–13; cf. Ps 85:9–11; Is 32:17).
Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, 1988.
By far, in the OT and the Jewish context, “peace” referred to a national or community circumstances, not an individual’s relationship with God, although “peace” in that sense is found in Paul.
Therefore,
The “peacemaker” is someone who is reconciled to God, knows God is for peace, and seeks reconciliation instead of strife and war. Jewish expectations for the messianic kingdom were for peace; hence, a peacemaker is a kingdom person (Isa 9:5–6; Zech 9:9–10). That is, the Beatitudes look at people now through the lens of an Ethic from Beyond. Kingdom realities are now occurring through the peacemakers.
Scot McKnight, Sermon on the Mount (The Story of God Bible Commentary; Accordance electronic ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 46.
Jesus spoke in an age when Rome had forcibly occupied Palestine and the Jews deeply resented their loss of independence and the tribute they were forced to pay. Worse yet, Rome had imposed the Herodians as kings over the kings, Edomites rather than Judeans.
And so, many Jews were Zealots, plotting violent rebellion against Rome. Such people would see the coming of a Messiah as a King chosen by God to lead them to independence from Rome.
So strong were these feelings that the Jews rebelled against Rome, famously leading to the AD 70 destruction of the Temple. Less famously, in the early Second Century, the Jews followed a false messiah, Bar Kochba, to rebel against Rome again, leading to such a disaster for the rebels that the Romans came to despise the Jews.
Following the battle of Bethar, there were a few small skirmishes in the Judean Desert Caves, but the war was essentially over and Judean independence was lost. The Romans plowed Jerusalem with a yoke of oxen. Jews were sold into slavery and many were transported to Egypt. Judean settlements were not rebuilt. Jerusalem was turned into a pagan city called Aelia Capitolina and the Jews were forbidden to live there. They were permitted to enter only on the 9th of Av to mourn their losses in the revolt. Hadrian changed the country’s name from Judea to Syria Palestina.
In the years following the revolt, Hadrian discriminated against all Judeo-Christian sects, but the worst persecution was directed against religious Jews. He made anti-religious decrees forbidding Torah study, Sabbath observance, circumcision, Jewish courts, meeting in synagogues and other ritual practices. Many Jews assimilated and many sages and prominent men were martyred including Rabbi Akiva and the rest of the Asara Harugei Malchut (ten martyrs). This age of persecution lasted throughout the remainder of Hadrian’s reign, until 138 C.E.
So Jesus appeared at a time when peace was the last thing on the minds of many Jews. As a result, Christian Jews later refused to participate in the Jewish rebellions. The Christians of Jerusalem fled the city in time to avoid the horrific siege that led to the city’s fall in 70 AD. Under Bar Kochba, Christians also refused to rebel and so suffered persecution at the hands of the Jewish authorities.
The result was that the Christians were largely protected from the persecutions that followed the Jewish rebellions, and Christianity was able to grow, while Judaism was forced to reinvent itself, having lost its Temple and any hope of political independence.
And so when Jesus speaks to his followers of “peace,” he is announcing no mere abstraction. This is not just theology. He expects his people to pursue peace — not to rebel, not to seek political separation, not to take up arms. Rather, they are to stand aside from such concerns as resident aliens, that is, as sojourners among the pagans.
The church has long thought of itself in the words of Jeremiah —
(Jer 29:4-7 ESV) 4 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
As N. T. Wright explains,
Jeremiah tells the exiles to settle down and seek Babylon’s welfare as long as they live there. At points like these we realize how inadequate our left-right spectrum is for understanding how the Jewish people thought about earthly rulers. Radical subversion of pagan political systems does not mean support for anarchy.
The Jewish political belief we find in books like this was based on a strong theology of creation, fall and providence: the one God had in fact created all the world, including all rulers, and though they were often exceedingly wicked God was overruling their whims for his own strange and often hidden purposes, and would judge them in their turn.
This meant that a classic Jewish position, which echoes on well into the Christianity of the second and third centuries, seems to us today to play from both ends of the spectrum at once. The rulers are wicked and will be judged, especially when they persecute God’s people. But God wants the world to be ruled, rather than to descend into anarchy and chaos, and his people must learn to live under pagan rule even though it means constant vigilance against compromise with paganism itself.
N. T. Wright, Paul: Fresh Perspectives. (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2005).
And so what is peacemaking? It’s easy enough to define in terms of person-to-person relationships. But what about in secular politics? What role does the church take when it comes to the corridors of power? Lobbying? Seeking its own way through the legislature?
Well, imposing results through the use of power is not peace. That’s the Roman way. The Babylonian way. Power is pragmatic, but power is not peace. Forcing people to act like Christians for fear of jail or fine might make for a pleasant society, but it does not save the lost and it does lead to resentment. No one wants to be forced to be good. In fact, true good cannot be forced.
Therefore, Jesus calls us to the path of weakness, submission, and sacrifice. Peace comes by the cross. By dying for others.
“And so what is peacemaking? It’s easy enough to define in terms of person-to-person relationships. But what about in secular politics? What role does the church take when it comes to the corridors of power? Lobbying? Seeking its own way through the legislature?”
We certainly don’t need to travel back to the days when Rome ruled over the Jews to see Christians showing their anger against what they disagree with. today they can’t even accept what was voted on by the majority of their fellow countrymen. Yet they claim to be Christians.
How obviously true it is that followers of Jesus are to be makers of peace rather than rebellion. We are called to live well and to serve others. How does that work in this nation? Here we need not rebel in order to select honest and good political leaders. However obvious it is that others have put in power an enemy of liberty, we are not called to rise up in rebellion. We are called instead to speak up lovingly for Jesus and for all that is good, and to model Jesus in our lives. I see BEN CARSON showing how a godly person should act and speak when an enemy is our leader. That’s why I want him as our next President.
Meanwhile, we are free to express our opinions, good or bad, about any matter that affects the good of the nation. Should we take up arms to force the nation back to goodness and right thinking? No, that’s not the way JESUS taught and modeled, even when things were much worse than they now are for citizens of the U.S.A. Should we despise those who think differently than we do about political questions? No, we are to love and respect all, even those we know are wrong. As Christians we are called to promote love everywhere, and to tell others about JESUS and His love. I find it difficult to do as He wants us to do!
I would argue that the peacemaker has less application to the “national or community circumstances” but to the relationship between people. This is reflected later in MAtt.5:24 where Jesus says, “leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Instead of strife or judgments or anger or division or bad feelings we are to work towards reconciliation if at all possible. Now this might extend beyond that application, but if we indeed are bound to others through Christ, then we ought to make sure that those we are boudn to are not enemies in our thinking. And then we need to make sure that those we wish to encourage towards Christ are not enemies in our thinking as well. The best way to lay out peace for the world is through the people of the world through Christ.
The Roman Empire was the kingdom in Daniel’s prophesy that was a mixture of clay and iron so the government wasn’t pervasively brutal. The general rule of thumb was a Roman official was to have sterling character. Of course Pilate, Herod, and some of the soldiers at the Crucifixion slipped through the cracks of that requirement. The Zealots were by and large blind patriots steeped within the honor/shame mind-frame. Their hatred of pagan rulership kept them from excepting the call to be peacemakers and love your enemies(the pharisees wrongly assumed neighbor only applied to their fellow countrymen).
On another note, the movie Son of God was a very accurate and beautiful portrayal of Jesus as told by John. The film neither cast him as harsh nor soft. But regarding accuracy, there were two exceptions.
1. I believe they over-did the violence of Rome(as if Palestine was in a severe police state).
2. While censoring the swindling bigots in the temple courts, they left out Jesus driving out the animals with a pseudo-whip(no evidence that he actually hit an animal. Just a method any Jew of the land used to persuade these creatures).
It’s funny that you should mention that the AD 150 war was less famous as that was three times more brutal then the first.(:)) Both onslaughts had idols erected in place of the temple.
RJ,
It’s hard to characterize Roman rule. The emperor was a dictator – dominating the Senate when it suited him. Beginning with Augustus, they declared their predecessors gods. And it wouldn’t be long before emperor worship became mandatory — leading to unspeakable atrocities against Christians.
On the other hand, Rome usually reserved governmental violence to enforcing their laws. It was a police state, but one that preferred to let people be so long as they paid their taxes and were loyal to the emperor. But there was no mercy and unspeakable cruelty for those who challenged Roman rule.
http://www.livius.org/ja-jn/jewish_wars/jwar07.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_bar_Kokhba
I appreciate finally to get to learn what was occurring about the time Jesus was coming onto the scene. The inter testiminary (time between John and any of his prophet predecessors) period was somewhat vague and rarely mentioned. Granted, I learned some about the revolts from Jewish sources.
Thanks.
How in the world are you able to stay an elder in God’s Country when you clearly disagree with Thomas Jefferson and the framers of the Constitution LOL. Thanks for your insight.
Wonder if those that heard Mt 10 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ would understand peace as discussed in this post. When we imitate Jesus those opposed to God and his Kingdom will be offended and will express their anger in varying degrees. Other than the religious establishment I don’t think Jesus went looking for confrontation but none the less what He says and who He is causes anything but peace with ungodly government authorities, religious leaders and people in general. Moses leading Israel out of Egypt was anything but peaceful. So prior to this post my understanding is we are to bring peace to the oppressed, helpless, people mourning, sinners. etc. and if our light is shining expect to be slandered, shunned and worse as we turn our cheek.
Also as we know there is a peace that is beyond understanding. For those familiar with the story that led to the hymn “It is well with my soul” that is the peace I’m thinking of. That peace comes through faith and grace.
Stubbs,
The concept of an individual having shalom with God is nearly foreign to the OT scriptures. Jesus’ listeners would have heard “peace” as being about God’s relationship with Israel and Israel’s relationship with the nations — because this is what the Prophets spoke about.
Of course, in Jesus, “Israel” is redefined as the Jews and Gentiles who have faith in Jesus. Thus, Paul writes,
(Rom 12:18 NIV) If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
We are not to be the aggressors. We choose peace.
(Heb 12:14 ESV) 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
We work for peace.
But we can’t force others to make the same choice. If others choose to persecute the church — as will inevitably happen — it’s not our doing. And our response is given by Peter —
(1Pe 2:19-25 ESV) 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
It’s one of the NT’s most difficult teachings.
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