Most Hebrew words can be broken down into a three-consonant root word that contains the essence of the word’s meaning. The root word of ahava is “ahav.” The term ahav in Hebrew means, “to give.” True ahava, true love, is more concerned about giving than receiving. Being the center of someone’s attention isn’t love. And love isn’t about getting some feeling or fix. Ahava is about giving devotion and time. Giving is the vehicle of love. YHWH so loved the world that He GAVE His only Son. Meaningful relationships have mutual giving. Love may focus on receiving, but ahava is all 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 spelled “aleph, hei, bet, hei.” The root word ahav is spelled “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.” Hang on for some amazing and alarming Hebrew insights!
Hebrew is read from right to right to left. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is also the first letter in “ahav.” This is the aleph. The letter aleph is number one. Aleph symbolizes the one and only Eternal Elohim / God. In Revelation 22:13, Y’shua called Himself the Aleph and the Tav. Aleph is a picture of YHWH and His creation. There is one YHWH. Y’shua said that this is the number one commandment. “The first of all 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 lev (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 like it, namely this; You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There are no other commandments greater than these,” Mark 12:29-31. Ahava starts with Aleph. Real ahava starts with loving YHWH first. Then, as a person who has a relationship with YHWH, one can love his neighbor properly.
The next letter of ahav is the “hei.” The letter “hei” is the fifth letter of the aleph-bet. Five is the number of chesed/grace. It is highly symbolic. There are five books of the Torah, 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. Mankind loves YHWH back through the fifth letter hei. How? Ahava is shown to YHWH through hei – through the five books of the Torah. “If you love me, obey my mitzvoth / commandments. If a man loves Me, he will guard 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 ahava. You love and give to YHWH by your actions of obedience.
The form 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 with thought, deed, and words. The top horizontal line is the realm of thought. A person’s thoughts should be focused 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. The speech comes directly from thought. The unattached line to the left is a deed. Though actions should be connected to our intentions, they often are not.
“There are many plans in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of YHWH shall stand,” Mishlei / Proverbs 19:21. Man is to unite the three lines through devotion and service. Loving YHWH with thoughts, words, and deeds is the goal of the hei.
The Beit is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is the third letter in “ahav.” This letter vividly demonstrates the purpose of all creation. How? Beit is a picture of a house. YHWH created the world to be a dwelling place in this world below. The first letter in the Torah is a beit, found in the word “Beresheet.” And the tabernacle was made to create a bayit, or a house, for YHWH. “Know you not that you are the temple of YHWH, and that the Spirit of YHWH dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16. The objective of loving YHWH is to be conformed to His image and represent Him to the world. The two are to walk together. Beit, is also the number two. YHWH plus His servant equals two. Yet in the beit, the two shall become one. Y’shua said, “For where two, or three will assemble together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them,” Matthew 18:20. Ahava starts with loving YHWH first and foremost through word, deed, and thought. This type of ahava creates a house for YHWH to inhabit. You make a dwelling place 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 can’t intimately love someone unless you intimately know them. We know YHWH through His word. We connect with YHWH through acting out His will. Our love for YHWH is called obedience. Deuteronomy 11:1, “Love YHWH and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws, and his commands always.” When you really love YHWH you give Him every bit of your life.
Your submission to the lifestyle of the Scriptures is the world’s proof that we love Him and are committed to YHWH. “This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of YHWH is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: the one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked,” 1 John 2:3-6.
We show our love to YHWH through obedience to His commandments. YHWH shows His love towards us through His grace. When a person is born again they receive 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 to a newborn baby, YHWH loves us though we have done nothing but cause Him pain. It is unending love. “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest, YHWH appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you,” Jeremiah 31:2-3. YHWH’s chesed should empower us to be faithful during the stress of life. He has said, “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Again, YHWH loves us by showering his grace upon us on good and bad days.
Love isn't about getting some feeling or fix, it is about giving devotion and time. It is better to give than 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 have your walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve YHWH your Elohim with all your lev and all your being. To guard the mitzvot of YHWH, and His rulings, which I commanded you this day for your good," Deuteronomy 10:12, 13. Moshe is saying that all YHWH wants from Israel is love! He wants Israel to be devoted to Him alone. He wants you!
