First occurrence
But you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. Gen 15:15
The primitive root
Strong’s H7965, shalom, a concrete noun meaning, “completeness, soundness;” from Strong’s H7999 שלם shalam, a primitive root meaning, “to be whole, sound, or safe.” The ancient pictographs are shin + lamed + mem, but the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon says that the shin had been transposed from an original sin.
sin ס = the thorn, thus grab, hate, protect
lamed ל = the shepherd’s staff, thus teach, yoke, to, bind
mem מ, ם = the water, thus chaos, mighty, blood
Thus the word picture being painted is of the thorns (sin) which the shepherd (lamed) drew the sheep, taking away from them that which was causing pain or trouble (mem), or of the thorns with which the shepherd surrounded the sheep, adding to them that which would prevent pain or trouble (for a shepherd surrounded the sheep fold with thorn bushes at night, in order to prevent predators from coming in among the flock).
So shalam means, taking away from, or adding to, whatever is necessary to make complete or whole. Thus to be at peace, or to be in a covenant of peace, is to be complete, with nothing missing that should be there, and with nothing added that should not be there.
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