Comments on: Two Hebrew words for love

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:25:19 +0000

A friend of mine had this to say when I asked him about these words (he’s an Israeli)

“Chesed means ‘charity,’ not love. Chasid is a charitable person. In English it is written as ‘Hassidic’, and is used to describe ultra-religious Jews (the ones in black suits).

Ahava means ‘love.’ It’s exactly the same as the English usage, not a close approximation.”

By: Glen

Glen — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:12:49 +0000

The Hebrew meaning of ahab is, “I give”. Love is giving. Giving a sacrifice was important in the old testament, but Christ chastised the Pharisees for observing the letter of the law and ignoring the spirit of the law, that is mercy and justice. Healing on the sabbath was more important than observing the letter of the law concerning the sabbath.

By: Cipa

Cipa — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:19:39 +0000

Do you think that Christ was Hesed in a tangible form? It is hard to compare the two because like you said…two different languages, but i don’t think it’s a far stretch to say that what Christ was talking about was the ultimate display of God’s Hesed.

By: Vitali

Vitali — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:03:23 +0000

Hi Leke,

To say these words, Jesus used Greek, not Hebrew. That is probably a topic of another post.

By: Leke

Leke — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:56:46 +0000

Hi Vitali,

Any idea the hebrew equivalent of Christ’s word when he said ‘no greater love hath a man than this, than he should lay down his life for his friends’ and especially because he adds ‘love one another - by this shall men know ye are my disciples’?

Cheers

By: Vitali

Vitali — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 04:46:00 +0000

Please do!

By: Hannah

Hannah — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 04:43:00 +0000

Thank you for your words of insight! I did a google search on the word “hesed” since I stumbled across it in my Bible study and am fascinated by all it means for us as children of God. Would you mind if I shared your thoughts with others?