Blessed Is the Peacemaker

Today, February 18,2025, President Trump spoke about the war between Russia and Ukraine and their absence in a meeting held by Russia and the United States to discuss ending the war. Trump said, “But today I heard, ‘Oh, well we [Ukraine] weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years,” Trump continued. “You should’ve ended it in three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal. I could have made a deal for Ukraine that would have given them almost all of the land, and no people would have been killed, and no city would have been demolished and not one dome would have been knocked down. But they chose not to do it that way.” I just had to write a blog about this.

"Blessed is the peacemaker." If you are not familiar with these words when grouped together, it's okay. If you watched Donald Trump inauguration as the 47th president these words may ring a bell. “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier,” President Donald Trump promised the American public in his inaugural address. I myself know this grouping of words from the Christian Bible and they are part of the BEATITUDES. It is number seven out of eight.

The Beatitudes are a series of blessings from the Bible that appears in Matthew 5:1-12. Jesus said these blessings during the Sermon on the Mount.

• "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"
• "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" 
• "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" 
• "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" 
• "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy" 
• "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" 
• "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" 
• "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness"

When reading the words they seem simple and direct; it's a good thing to be a peacemaker with the reward of being called a child of God. People want peace. But what kind of peace? But with most of the Bible there are levels to understanding to what words and verses means. There is the surface meaning and there is a deeper meaning. For those who do a study of the words, more understanding is obtained.

Take the word PEACE in the Bible. In Hebrew, which the Old Testament is written, the root of peace is slm, which means "to be complete" or "to be sound." The verb conveys both a dynamic and a static meaning" to be complete or whole" or "to live well." The noun had many nuances, but can be grouped into four categories: (1) salom as wholeness of life or body (i.e., health); (2) salom as right relationship or harmony between two parties or people, often established by a covenant (see "covenant of peace" in Num 25:12-13; Isa 54:10; Ezek 34:25-26 and, when related to Yahweh, the covenant was renewed or maintained with a "peace offering"; (3) salom as prosperity, success, or fulfillment (see Lev 26:3-9); and (4) salom as victory over one's enemies or absence of war. Salom was used in both greetings and farewells. It was meant to act as a blessing on the one to whom it was spoken: "May your life be filled with health, prosperity, and victory." As an adjective, it expressed completeness and safety.

This is not how peace is interpreted in modern day English. In the New Testament, The Greek word for "peace" is eirēnē (ay-RAY-nay). It can have multiple meanings, including the absence of war, the state of well-being, and tranquil state of the soul. In the Beatitudes, when Jesus says "peace," he is referring to a deeper concept than just the absence of conflict; it means a state of wholeness, completeness, and well-being, often described by the Hebrew word "Shalom," which signifies a positive harmony and right relationship with God and others, going beyond mere tranquility to include prosperity and fulfillment. 

The word PEACE is used and should be understood to mean complete, whole, and well.

Do Trump want people to be complete, whole, and well?

What about the word BLESSED. Has the meaning of this word also changed in our modern language? 

The word BLESSED as it is used in the New Testament, literally means “happy, fortunate, blissful." Surprised? Most people understand the word blessed to mean to GET a blessing. If you are a peacemaker, you will get blessings from heaven. But here the word blessed is not a material blessing but a sense of being, happy.

Of course, the word peacemaker is direct. In the Beatitudes, "peacemakers" refers to people who work to bring peace to OTHERS. The idea of bringing peace to others is not conditional on the person ensuring peace receive a quid pro quo.

After a breakdown of each word's original meaning, we can come to understand the grouping of words to mean, "Happy are those who help to make others complete, whole, and well for they shall be called a child of God." Helping others to be well causes blissfulness.

In our day and age, it would seem the opposite. People seem to get pleasure from causing the misfortunes of others. We live in an era where there are SCAM alerts for almost everything. Scams do not bring or cause well-being. There was even a scam warning for Valentine's Day where promising admirers were out to woo you and your money apart.

In psychology, "being whole" means to be fully integrated and accepting of all aspects of oneself, including thoughts, emotions, experiences, and behaviors, essentially experiencing a sense of completeness and self-awareness without suppressing or disowning any significant part of your identity; it often involves embracing both positive and negative aspects of yourself and having a healthy connection between mind and body. The key word is HEALTHY. A healthy outlook about who you are.

The Bible also tells you to embrace who you are suggesting you should be proud of who you are. The Bible verse "fearfully and wonderfully made" appears in Psalm 139:14. The full verse reads, "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. The Psalmist is saying he knows God made him just the way he should be. His existence, his makeup, was not a mistake. Who he is cannot be not WRONG.

The Bible, it appears, takes into account that we are ALL different but wonderful. That our differences are not to be looked down upon but accepted as a good thing. Each and every person is a work of art and should be treated as such. We ALL are God's handiwork.

I believe it would be a great legacy for Donald Trump to be known as a PEACEMAKER as far as it concerns the Bible. It would be wonderful to see him helping people to become complete, whole, and well in accepting their own uniqueness. For him to be known as a president who made everyone feel their specialness would be a legacy on par with President Jimmy Carter's. He would be helping others to accept themselves and to accept others even if they are different. We would be complete, whole, well, healthy Americans. This in turn would make Donald Trump a happy and blissful president.

Can you imagine, DONALD TRUMP THE PEACEMAKER? From his mouth to God's ear is all I can say.