Most Hebrew words can be broken down into a three-consonant root word that contains the gist of the word’s meaning. The root of the word ahava is “ahav”. The term ahav in Hebrew means “to give.” True ahava, true love, is more concerned with giving than with receiving. Being the center of someone’s attention is not love. And love is not about feeling or fixing something. Ahava is about giving devotion and time. Giving is the vehicle of love. YHWH loved the world so much that he GAVE his only Son. Meaningful relationships have mutual giving. Love can focus on receiving, but ahava is about giving. There is a difference. Consider that the Hebrew word “ahava” is not an emotion but an action. It is not something that “happens to you” but a condition that you create when you give. You don’t “fall in love” – you give love! The Hebrew word “ahava” is written “aleph, hei, bet, hei”. The root of the word ahav is written “aleph, hei, bet”. These Hebrew letters reveal a secret of love hidden for thousands of years.
This secret is exposed through the meaning behind each Hebrew letter in “ahav”. Expect some startling and alarming insights into Hebrew!
Hebrew is read from right to right and to the left. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is also the first letter of “ahav”. This is the aleph. The letter aleph is number one. Aleph symbolizes the one Eternal Elohim/God. In Revelation 22:13, Y’shua called himself the Aleph and the Tav. Aleph is an image of YHWH and his creation. There is a YHVH. Y’shua said that this is commandment number one. “The first of all the commandments is, Shema O Yisra’el; the Master YHWH is our Elohim, the Master YHWH is Echad: and you shall love the Master YHWH with all your heart, and with all your being, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is similar, namely this; You love your neighbor as yourself. There are no other commandments greater than these”, Mark 12:29-31. Ahava begins with Aleph. The true ahava begins with loving YHWH first. So, as a person who has a relationship with YHWH, one can love his neighbor correctly.
The next letter of ahav is the “hei”. The letter “hei” is the fifth letter of the alphabet. Five is the number of chesed/grace. It is highly symbolic. There are five Torah books, five fingers on the hand, and King David gathered five smooth stones to kill Goliath. It is through grace or chesed that YHWH loves us. Humanity loves YHWH from the fifth letter hei. How? Ahava shows YHWH through hei, through the five books of the Torah. “If you love me, obey my mitzvot/commandments. If a man loves Me, he will keep My words, and My Abba will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our stay with Him”, said Y’shua in John 14:15, 23. The hei is the means that a person expresses ahaha. You love and give to YHWH by your actions of obedience.
The shape of the letter hei, the number five, shows how to correctly love YHWH and man. The three lines of hei are a picture of loving YHWH in thought, deed, and word. The upper horizontal line is the realm of thought. A person’s thoughts must focus upward on YHWH and his word. The vertical line to the right is speech. From the abundance of the heart/mind/horizontal line, the mouth speaks. Speech comes directly from thought. The loose line on the left is a script. Although actions should be connected to our intentions, they often are not.
“There are many plans in the heart of man; however, the counsel of YHWH will stand”, Mishlei / Proverbs 19:21. Man must unite the three lines through devotion and service. Loving YHWH with thoughts, words and deeds is the goal of hei.
The Beit is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is the third letter in “ahav”. This card vividly demonstrates the purpose of all creation. How? Beit is an image of a house. YHWH created the world to be a dwelling place in this world below. The first letter of the Torah is a beit, which is found in the word “Bereshit.” And the tabernacle was made to make a bayit, or a house, for YHWH. “Do you not know that you are the temple of YHWH, and that the Spirit of YHWH dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16. The goal of loving YHWH is to be conformed to his image and represent him to the world. The two must walk together. Beit, is also number two. YHWH plus his servant equals two. However, at the bet, the two will become one. Y’shua said, “For where two or three gather in My Name, there I am in their midst,” Matthew 18:20. Ahava begins by loving YHWH first and foremost through words, deeds, and thoughts. This type of ahava creates a house for YHWH to inhabit. You make a dwelling or house for YHWH when you show love by giving to others.
Ahava is the sum and goal of everything in the Bible. True ahava is rooted in deep relationships. You cannot love someone intimately unless you know them intimately. We know YHWH through his word. We connect with YHWH through doing his will. Our love for YHWH is called obedience. Deuteronomy 11:1, “Love YHWH and always keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commandments.” When you truly love YHWH, you give Him every bit of your life.
Your submission to the scriptural lifestyle is proof to the world that we love and are committed to YHWH. “This is how we are sure that we have come to know him: by keeping his commandments. He who says, “I have come to know him,” but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of YHWH is perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: he who says he abides in Him, let him walk just as He walked,” 1 John 2:3-6.
We show our love for YHWH through obeying His commandments. YHWH shows His love for us through His grace. When a person is born again, he receives the Father’s love through unmerited favor and mercy. Grace, or “chesed” in Hebrew, is YHWH’s gift of love to us. We don’t deserve it and we can’t earn it. Like the love a mother shows a newborn baby, YHWH loves us even though we have done nothing but cause him pain. It is endless love. “The people who survived the sword found grace in the desert; when Israel sought rest, YHWH appeared to them from afar. I have loved you with an eternal love; therefore I have kept you faithful,” Jeremiah 31:2-3. YHWH’s chesed should enable us to be faithful during the stresses of life. He has said: “My grace is sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect in weakness.” Once again, YHWH loves us by showering his grace on us in good and bad days.
Love is not about feeling or fixing, it is about giving devotion and time. It’s better to give than to receive. And when true love is found, a person is never the same. However, do you consider YHWH as your true love? “And now Israel, what does YHWH your Elohim require of you, but to fear YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, and to love him and serve YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being? . To keep the mitzvot of YHWH and his decrees, which I commanded you today for your good. Deuteronomy 10:12, 13. Moses is saying that all YHWH wants from Israel is love! He wants Israel to be devoted to Him alone. He wants you!