Genesis 33:18

וַיָּבֹא֩ יַעֲקֹ֨ב שָׁלֵ֜ם עִ֣יר שְׁכֶ֗ם אֲשֶׁר֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנַ֔עַן בְּבֹא֖וֹ מִפַּדַּ֣ן אֲרָ֑ם וַיִּ֖חַן אֶת־פְּנֵ֥י הָעִֽיר׃

Jacob arrived whole in the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan—having come thus from Paddan-aram—and he encamped before the city.

Jacob’s return to the land of Canaan was not an easy one. He feared for his life when he heard that his brother Esau was coming to engage him with a small army. At the hands of his servants, Jacob sent Esau livestock by the thousands, a fortune in the ancient world, in hopes that his brother wouldn’t kill him and his family. When crossing into Canaan, Jacob was engaged by a man, or angel, in an exhausting, night-long wrestling match. At daybreak, the angel dislocated Jacob’s hip to end the struggle. Limping, fearful, and with a major portion of his wealth sent to Esau, Jacob returned to the land of Canaan.

We ought to be surprised then by the langue of this verse. Jacob arrived “Shalem” in the land of Canaan – like the word shalom, the word implies that he arrived in a state of peace, in a state that was whole and not broken. On the surface, this seems like a poor word choice. Wasn’t he missing a major portion of his wealth? Wasn’t his body bruised and injured from the struggle with the angel? 

Despite material losses and wounds, Jacob had gained something far greater: peace with God, peace with his brother, and peace within himself. Jacob’s story teaches us that true wholeness is not about the absence of struggle but about what we become through it. It’s an inner state that we achieve through the process of learning and growing from the challenges life throws our way. To be “Shalem” is not to be untouched by hardship but to emerge from it with a deeper sense of purpose, and with the clarity and resilience to face the future with courage and confidence?