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A. Verb.
(
, 157), or
(
, 157), “to love; like.” This verb occurs in Moabite
and Ugaritic. It appears in all periods of Hebrew and around 250 times in the Bible.
Basically this verb is equivalent to the English “to love” in the sense of having a
strong emotional attachment to and desire either to possess or to be in the presence of the
object. First, the word refers to the love a man has for a woman and a woman for a man.
Such love is rooted in sexual desire, although as a rule it is desire within the bounds of
lawful relationships: “And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took
Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her …” (Gen. 24:67). This word may
refer to an erotic but legal love outside marriage. Such an emotion may be a desire to
marry and care for the object of that love, as in the case of Shechem’s love for Dinah
(Gen. 34:3). In a very few instances
(or
) may signify no more than pure
lust—an inordinate desire to have sexual relations with its object (cf. 2 Sam. 13:1).
Marriage may be consummated without the presence of love for one’s marriage partner
(Gen. 29:30).
*
(or
) seldom refers to making love (usually this is represented
, “to
know,” or by
, “to lie with”). The word does seem to have this added meaning,
however, in 1 Kings 11:1: “But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with
the daughter of Pharaoh …” (cf. Jer. 2:25). Hosea appears to use this nuance when he
writes that God told him to “go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress
…” (3:1). This is the predominant meaning of the verb when it appears in the causative
stem (as a participle). In every instance except one (Zech. 13:6)
(or
) signifies
those with whom one has made or intends to make love: “Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and
lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed”
(Jer. 22:20; cf. Ezek. 16:33).
*
(or
) is also used of the love between parents
and their children. In its first biblical appearance, the word represents Abraham’s special
attachment to his son Isaac: “And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom
thou lovest …” (Gen. 22:2).
*
(or
) may refer to the family love experienced by
a daughter-in-law toward her mother-in-law (Ruth 4:15). This kind of love is also
represented by the word
*
(or
) sometimes depicts a special strong
attachment a servant may have toward a master under whose dominance he wishes to
remain: “And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my
children; I will not go out free …” (Exod. 21:5). Perhaps there is an overtone here of
family love; he “loves” his master as a son “loves” his father (cf. Deut. 15:16). This
emphasis may be in 1 Sam. 16:21, where we read that Saul “loved [David] greatly.”
Israel came “to love” and deeply admire David so that they watched his every move with
admiration (1 Sam. 18:16).
A special use of this word relates to an especially close attachment of friends: “…
The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own
soul” (1 Sam. 18:1). In Lev. 19:18: “… Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself..” (cf.
Lev. 19:34; Deut. 10:19)
(or
) signifies this brotherly or friendly kind of love.
The word suggests, furthermore, that one seek to relate to his brother and all men