Agape and Hesed-Ahava. David L. Goicoechea

New Testament Jesus is seen as the son

      of David and his kingdom of love or agape

      is seen as the fulfillment of this kingdom of hesed.

      Matthew sees Jesus’ altruistic agape as extending

      this hesed to the entire human family and

      the followers of Jesus are to be missionaries

      who bring the Good News of God’s love to everyone.

      This promise makes sense of suffering, which

      can be seen as punishment bringing us to God.

      Ahava is quite different from hesed

      as we see in Deuteronomy 6:5

      Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one,

      the only Yahweh. You must love Yahweh

      your God with all your heart, with all

      your soul, with all your strength.

      Ahava is very different from hesed in that

      hesed is a duty to do good to the other whereas

      ahava is a felt desire to be with and is

      what we mean by the various kinds of love

      such as affection, friendship, eros, and agape.

      The root ahava is used well over 200 times

      in the Hebrew Bible and is an emotional feeling

      that is contrasted with any sort of hatred.

      Ahava has to do with our love for God

      and our love for our neighbor and thus

      ahava is the source of the Jewish ethics.

      The Song of Songs gives a beautiful description

      of ahava in which each image expresses

      a quality of ahava and its lovely love,

      for his banner over me is ahava

      and I am sick with ahava

      for Ahava is stronger than death

      and many waters cannot quench ahava

      for Yahweh’s conversation is sweetness itself

      and we belong to each other

      and my love’s desire is for me

      and all my desire is for him.

      So hesed is a promise of love from God

      if we do our duty to him and others.

      Ahava is the yearning to be close to

      and a love for each other with our very veryness.

      As we can see in the Psalms there is

      a variety of ways to understand hesed

      and ahava for in Psalm 5 we wonder

      if hesed is primarily God’s love for man

      and in Psalm 69 it is indicated that

      we must love our neighbor with hesed.

      Psalm 119 tells us

      that we come to see God’s ahava for us

      which he shows us with his hesed.

      So in the Psalms these terms get

      opposite meanings and in the prophet Hosea

      that opposite usage is very evident,

      for according to Hosea

      Yahweh has ahava for Israel

      and she should have

      a responsible hesed to him.

      She goes a whoring with a false ahava

      but God’s Davidic hesed will save her.

      For even though Israel betray ahava

      and then betray hesed

      Yahweh’s hesed will bring her back to Ahava.

      This last statement seems to be

      an excellent understanding of hesed and ahava

      but what goes before seems confused.

      In any case the Hebrew view is that

      because God first loved the Jews they

      are God’s chosen people and they will

      be able to love God and each other.

      And if they do not God will be merciful

      and bring them even through punishment to love.

      As we ponder how the agape of Matthew’s Jesus

      will fulfill the hesed and ahava of the Jews

      we might in general terms think of Ahava

      as belonging to the Mosaic covenant theology

      and hesed as belonging to the Davidic

      promise theology with its emphasis on duty.

      The command to love with Ahava tells us

      that we should have as our main task

      to nourish a loving heart that can feel

      great affection for God and for our neighbor.

      God’s promise of an everlasting hesed to David

      can be associated with his grace

      that will help us to grow in piety and do

      the right thing and if not we will be punished.

      But that punishment is a type of grace itself

      and it can help David and the children of David

      do their duty and be loyal to Yahweh.

      The Hasidic Jew who is faithful to

      the covenant will go beyond what

      the law requires and strive to be selfless.

      The promise to David shows an

      unconditional loyalty of God’s hesed

      toward the family of David forever.

      Agape’s traits of eternal love and

      unconditional love are already there

      in hesed and it is this Davidic promise,

      which is given to Abraham, that

      he will have land, nation, and name.

      And in the Davidic promise of hesed there

      is even something of universal love,

      for Abraham is promised that his name

      will be a blessing for all peoples of the earth.

      Matthew’s Agape Fulfills Hesed-Ahava

      In the Sermon on the Mount we hear how

      the agape of Jesus fulfills hesed and ahava

      for at Matthew 5:43–47 we read

      You have learned how it was said:

      you must love your neighbor

      and hate your enemy.

      But I say to you: love your enemies

      and pray for those who persecute you.

      In this way you will be

      sons of your Father in Heaven,

      for he causes his sun to rise

      on bad men as well as good,

      and his rain to fall on honest

      and