The Essence of Love

It was probably in 1996 or so when I began to study Judaism.  I slowly learned how to use a Strong's concordance and lexicon, but struggled with understanding the meanings.  When I lived in Jerusalem, I remember praying to God to teach me Hebrew.  On several occasions, during the first 4 months, I had the opportunity to translate some Hebrew for friends of mine (granted it was very broken and prehistoric - lots of hand gestures and pointing, to be sure).  However, God has answered my prayer of the years and taught me the Lashon Hakodesh - the holy language of Hebrew.

I have had the most amazing privilege of reading through the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) at least 7 or 8 times, over the past 6 years.  I have also been able to read and pray the Tehillim (Psalms of David) on numerous occasions.

I love to study the Word of God in the original language, but it is so different than our western vernacular.  We use many abstract ideas to convey our thoughts - Love, peace, comfort, joy, sadness, anger.  The Hebrew uses mostly concrete thoughts to convey their feelings and emotions. In fact, each root word in Hebrew is actually a verb. 

Yesterday, as I was driving to work, I was thinking about the word LOVE. This word has always been a difficult word for me, in that it is more of a concept and abstract idea, rather than a concrete action.  I have studied the word on several occasions, but not very deeply.  So, I decided to ask the One Who invented the idea to begin with.  I told God, "before I ask Google, which I probably will, will You give me the true meaning of this word?"   Almost instantaneously, the most popular New Testament Scripture came to mind: For God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

I decided to check out the root word study. The Hebrew word for love is Ahavah - 3 Hebrew letters Aleph-Hey-Bet.  The root of the word is Hav - Hey-Bet. The root word means gift or give, as in sacrifice. Adding the Aleph to the letter modifies the verb from gift to to give.  Suddenly, the light bulb came on. The Apostle John was using a Hebrew idiom in this verse: For God so AHAVAH the world, that He AHAV His only begotten son... 

Love is a gift of yourself.  And when you AHAVAH that means to give of yourself.  When we AHAVAH God with all our heart, soul, and every part of our being, we give God ourselves because we want to be connected to Him.  When AHAVAH our fellow as our self, we give to our fellow as we have our self.

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13