Torah Vayera – And He appeared.
B’resheet (Genesis) 18:1 – 22:24
Melekim Bet (II Kings) 4:1–37
Ya’aqov (Jacob, James) 2:14-24; Kefa Bet (2 Peter) 2:4-11
Every human being has a deep need for love and affection. Many find true love elusive, remaining empty, disillusioned, and unsatisfied in their quest. What is true love and where can we first find what we all yearn for deep inside?
The First Occurrence of Love
The first time the Hebrew word for love, ahav, is found in the Scriptures is when YHWH spoke to Abraham about his relationship with his son:
And He said,”Now take your son, Isaac, your only one whom you ahav (love), and go into the land of Moriah. And there offer him for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will say to you.” Genesis 22:2
love – ahav – begins in the Scriptures. Father Abraham was commanded to give his only son up as a burnt offering. Abba was testing Abraham’s love for Him, for He is a jealous God (Second Commandment, Exodus 20:5). Was Abraham willing to give up his most precious son Isaac?
Yeshua tells us, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15
He also challenged His disciples with these words on where our heart should be in whom and how we love:
“‘You shall love YHWH your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38
Loving YHWH is where keeping the commandments must begin. Getting closer to home, Yeshua warned His followers of the same test in this way:
“He who loves father or mother more than Me isn’t worthy of Me, and he who loves son or daughter more than Me isn’t worthy of Me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow after Me isn’t worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10:37-39
Our Father in Heaven would only require of Abraham what He would do – give His only-begotten Son, Yeshua, Whom He greatly loved. We now find the foundation for the most popular Scripture of all time:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
John, the disciple whom Yeshua loved, reveals to us that Abba gave His only beloved Son as a sacrifice out of deep and profound love for us. We must not forget – this is where love begins!
Where Love Begins in the Hebrew Language:
From the perspective of the Hebrew language, let’s go back to YHWH commanding Abraham to offer up his son, whom he loved – the first occurrence of the Hebrew word for love or affection –ahav. What relationship does ahav have with other words and letters in the aleph-bet that point to where love begins? It all starts with the two-letter Hebrew word for father:
father, chief, head of household. The first two letters of the alephbet, and the first word in the Hebrew dictionary. In paleo Hebrew, the word ‘av’ means – the strength of the house is a father who has a strong plan for building his house.
to love, to have affection for. Inserts the letter hey into av, father. Strength is revealed inside the house, by the love of the father, av, where love begins.
love, affection. Adds a second letter hey. Strength revealed inside the house is beheld outside. The father’s heart of love is revealed to others outside his house.
gift, give, (abstract) love. This is the other two-letter root for ahav (Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible). Love is a gift that reveals what is inside the giver’s heart. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…
Now let’s take a look at how the letters for ahav – aleph, bet, hey, reveal the love of the Father in Heaven through the forefather of our faith – Abraham.
self-existent, eternal. Has two letter heys. The working hand revealed; the Wow-Man nailed revealed. The Name of the Father reveals the work of His Son.
exalted father. By faith, Abram became the father of our faith.
father, or chief of a multitude. Believers in Yeshua would become the Seed, the multitude of Abraham (Gal 3:16). YHWH inserted the letter hey in Avram. Avraham now contains the three letters aleph, bet, hey, the letters that make up ahav – love.
princess. In paleo – my head turner. Her beauty turned Abram’s head.
noblewoman, adds the letter hey. The head turner revealed. Her beauty turned heads, but even greater, her faith would turn heads to behold her dignity for generations.
Son of God. This title of Yeshua contains the three letters aleph, bet, hey, spelling ahav. Yeshua is the Father’s love expressed to the world.
The Two Heys of Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey in YHWH:
YHWH (Yod Hey Vav Hey) infused His Hey from His Name into the name Avram, breathing revelation and a very part of His character, transforming Avram into Avraham. Like with the name Avraham, the Hebrew word ahav is a word infused with the letter hey, the letter of revelation breathed into the word for father.
What was that characteristic? The Father’s love. Infusing His character into the name Avraham, YHWH formed ahav, love into his character and his life. YHWH did the same for Sarai, infusing His second letter Hey into her name to change her name to Sarah. YHWH breathed reproductive life and multiplicity into the father of our faith, Avraham, and his wife, Sarah.
Simply put, ahav, the word for love, is the word abba, spelled aleph bet, with the letter hey inserted in the middle. This makes the word spell – aleph hey bet – ahav. The paleo-Hebrew meaning of ahav is that the father, who is the strength of the house, reveals his power as love.
Isn’t Hebrew just awesome? The revelation of the Father’s love is in giving His beloved Son as an offering for us so that we could be brought back into His house as children whom He loves!
Ahavah Is God, Love Begins with God
And we have known and believed the love (ahavah) that God has for us. God is Ahavah, and he who stays in Ahavah, stays in God, and God in him. By this, ahavah has been perfected with us, so that we might have boldness in the day of judgment because as He is so are we in this world. There is no fear in ahavah, but perfect ahavah casts out fear, because fear holds punishment, and he who fears has not been made perfect in avahah. We love (ahav) Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:16-19
In my youth, I used to think love began with good looks and warm, gushy feelings for the opposite sex. The sinner I was wanted some excitement with how I felt about loving someone. Disillusioned, I failed to find true love and often wondered what love truly is.
Soon after I had received the good news that our Heavenly Father loved me and sent His only Son to die for me, I had an unforgettable experience of the Father’s love. One day when praying and praising my God while driving my car, what I can best describe is that fathomless billows of Abba’s love cascaded down over and through my soul. All I can say was He baptized me in His Spirit with love so real, so tangible, and weighty that I can remember that I thought my body couldn’t take anymore. Then the waves lifted. The entire time I had perfect shalom. There was no trace of fear or anxiety because perfect love casts out all fear(1 John 4:18).
Why do I go back to my early experiences with my Father in Heaven lately? His answer for me is in the first commandment of the Ten Words:
I Am YHWH Your Elohim, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Exodus 20:2
Only my Father in Heaven through His Son Yeshua could bring me out of the miserable Egypt and the house of bondage I had been enslaved in as a sinner. I should never forget that it was Yeshua Who set me free from my sin and bondage, not me by my own strength or abilities. I remember how He loved me in an ungodly state. He first put this love in my heart, no one else.
Before I was born again, I had no love on the inside. I wasn’t capable of loving anyone or anything, including myself. I didn’t love life, I hated it. M heart was stone cold and empty.
Since His love broke through, putting this love in my heart, I now can and do love Him and my neighbor as myself. In my life, love began with my Father’s love for me through His Son Yeshua. Without Yeshua, I’m nothing and void of any true love.
I can’t forget that, especially in these last days when true love is really hard to come by, for Yeshua said:
“Because Torah-lessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:12-14
Back to the Beginning – Our First Love
What’s the answer to most people’s love growing cold, including my own heart in these last days? What do we do about it? Let’s give an ear to Yeshua’s admonition to one of the seven churches:
“But this I have against you, that you have forsaken your first love. Remember then from where you have fallen. Repent and do the deeds you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your menorah from its place – unless you repent.” Revelation 2:4-5
Let’s go back to our first love, our first encounter with our loving Elohim, back to where love begins. If we don’t, it doesn’t matter what good I do for others, what my expressions of the Spirit are, if I don’t have love, it means nothing. I’ve gained nothing from it. Paul nailed it!
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all that I own and if I hand over my body so I might boast, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Unless I abide in the love of Yeshua, I am nothing. Love begins with Him, continues in Him, and ends with Him. There’s nothing more important in life than that!
So let’s keep the main thing the main thing!
But now these three remain – faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
Keeping the Love of God
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Master Yeshua the Messiah to eternal life. Jude 1:20-21
How do we build ourselves up in the most holy faith? Paul wrote that our faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). In other words, what motivates the believer’s heart to do good works is the compelling love of Yeshua on the inside. His love propels my feet to follow Him. The selfless love of God inside my heart for others is what drives me to do good and to share with them.
How do we keep ourselves in the love of God? Remember the first occurrence of love is when our Father in Heaven called for our forefather Abraham to offer up his only son on Mount Moriah. We have sacrifices to make out of love for Him. Most of us will exhort one another to bring Him the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. That’s the language of faith and love.
Through Yeshua then, let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips giving thanks to His Name. Hebrews 13:15
Another sacrifice is what we can do for others out of love for them. Let’s take heart what the next verse says:
Do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Hebrews 13:16
Look at ‘doing good and sharing’ as sacrificial gifts before our God.
That’s one way to return to our first love – don’t forget to do good and share with others, especially with those who are in need. We all have something to offer – whether it’s food, a helping hand, a listening ear, an encouraging word, our prayers. He’s blessed us all with something we can do good with and share with others. When we look for ways to show our love, He’ll present opportunities for us. From a heart infused with love, let’s make the most of every opportunity to reveal the love of our Father in Heaven.
Continuing on reading 1 John on where love begins, the apostle wrote that love should flow from our love for the Father out as love to our brother and sister:
We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God Whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. 1 John 4:19-21
May the faith, the love and the blessings of Abraham be with us, our households and our neighbors in the Father’s love,
David Klug