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When Messiah said in John 13:34-35 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples.
Was it really a new commandment?
Or ….was He reaffirming what all Israelites already knew?
Many say this phrase signifies a pivotal moment in Messiah’s teachings, highlighting the introduction of a commandment that transcends the existing Mosaic Law….. but did it?
Because Yeshua/Jesus said the Word of God would never pass away! So how could that be?
In Matthew 5:17 (NKJV), Yeshua declares, “Do not think that I came to destroy the (Mosaic) Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” Yeshua/Jesus fulfilled the law in several ways and this statement indicates that the Torah/Law will remain until its purposes are fully realized and completed according to the Fathers plans and purposes.
First we must remind ourselves that He was speaking to Jewish people who only had the TaNaKH, what we call the Old Testament or Covenant and it included the Torah first 5 books of the Bible also called the books of Moses. The New Testament was not yet written.
We are remiss if we do not encompass the whole Word of God, all Scripture, when we try to interpret what it means or what Messiah was teaching.
Yeshua/Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is, and He answers that you should love the Lord God with all your heart. He was quoting a verse that was quoted every day by every orthodox Jew in his morning prayer which is Deuteronomy 6:5.
In these verses in Mark 12:30-31, He says And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandments greater than these.
In Deuteronomy 6:5 the word love is ahav, (sometimes spelled ahab.) אָהַב which is a standard word for love in Hebrew.
Then Yeshua/Jesus quotes Leviticus 19:18 where we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
Recall the question was asked of Him… who is my neighbor in Luke 10:25-37 and the parable of the good Samaritan.
Messiah points to our neighbor being whoever we come across in daily life that we can lovingly assist, just as we would need help.
Again the Hebrew text uses the word ahav.
אָהַב
In 2 John 4-6 John refers to the already known Torah scriptures (Old Testament).
I found some of your children disciples living in truth just as the father commanded us.
Also other references:
Matthew 22:39
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Mark 12:31
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Romans 13:9
The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 5:14
The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
James 2:8
If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
Matthew 5:43-44
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ / But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
1 John 4:21
And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.
1 John 3:11
This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
John 13:34
A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.
Ahav/love in the messianic community is linked to obedience to God verse 5 as seen in the V’Ahavta the scripture that follows after the shema (Hear O Israel…) in Deuteronomy/D’varim. And you shall love God with all your heart soul and mind and strength and your neighbor as yourselves . So John/Yochanan, exhorts us in v6 to live by it. Deuteronomy 11:13-21.
The prayer that called ” V’ahavta ” is actually the continuation of the Sh’ma/Shema. Traditionally, the Sh’ma consists of three biblical passages from the Torah:
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Deuteronomy 11:13-21
Numbers 15:37-41
So we are beginning to understand this is
not a new commandment,
as in a commandment never known before.
Another factor that we sometimes forget in reading and studying our English translations is that Yeshua/Jesus was not speaking in English, He was speaking a Northern Galilean dialect of Aramaic, which although a sister language of the Hebrew, is still a different language. Classical Hebrew has only about 7,500 words, Aramaic has many more words, so it is a more comprehensive language. This means that one word in Hebrew can have a very broad range of meanings and when one uses such a word in the Aramaic language, there is a variety to choose from. In the Aramaic text, the Peshitta, the language that Messiah spoke, He uses two different words for love in order to express the ancient classical Hebrew word ahav/love. Yeshua/Jesus was taking advantage of the broader language of Aramaic and there is a very subtle change of words, a little play on words here that He was using.
Again we have to realize the extreme orthodox religious Pharisees and Scribes were trying to catch Yeshua out in His teaching and they were really dealing with an age-old question. If you ahav /love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, then how can you have the same love/ahav for others?
It would seem logical that if we give our Heavenly Father such priority in our love we must love others less than God because we cannot love God and man equally. They were asking in other words, is a man to love his wife and children more than God, equally as God, or less than He loves God?
So Yeshua/Jesus didn’t misquote the Old Testament/Torah/TaNaKH, He only clarified it for the understanding of the scribes.
When Messiah, speaking in Aramaic, answered their question, it should be a helpful insight for us in understanding this text because He used two different Aramaic words; which both are equivalent to the Hebrew word love/ahav but give a better understanding of love/ahav. If these Aramaic words were translated into Hebrew, one would most likely use the single Hebrew word ahav. However in reference to loving God/our Heavenly Father with all your heart, Yeshua/Jesus used the word racham, which is to love someone as much as they love you. This is the word David used in Psalms 18:1 when he said he loved God and it is a love which is only possible with God/our Heavenly Father.
This is a love that is reciprocated and is a love that is equal to the love that is given, which infers that we are to love God our Heavenly Father, as much as He loves us. This meaning aligns with the Hebrew word ahav.
Messiah did not misquote the Old Testament/Torah commandments; He only used the broader Aramaic language to give a greater depth to its meanings, clarifying it for the understanding of the scribes who were questioning Him.
For Further References:
(We are to love our Heavenly Father like He loves us, only with Him loving us it’s used in an intensive form of the language; where we are loving Him it’s used only in the Aramaic as a Pael, (similar to the Hebrew Qal, simple verbal form) and in a Pael or Qal form, racham/love is a love that is like Hebrew ahav in a Piel (intensive form. (Piel is Peal in Aramaic.)
Online References Include: Blue Letter Bible and Bible Hub.
The Complete Aramaic English Interlinear Peshitta Old Testament available free download at:
Also
Messiah used the Aramaic word chav with reference to ‘loving your neighbor,’ chav is very similar to the Hebrew word ahav; the difference is the use of a letter Chet rather than a letter Hei. Here He was using a little play on words that a scribe would quickly notice. Chav is spelled Chet, Beth which is a Semitic root word that is found in most ancient Semitic languages and it has its origins in the descriptive image of a stick burning in a fire. Because of this reference, Chav has been used both for a stick and/or for kindling of a fire and put together, chav is (like) a kindling love.
Kindling is commonly used to start a fire and anyone who has the need to build one begins by using small twigs, and then adding larger sticks as the fire begins to burn. It’s all started from some little chav – חב/twigs/kindling, and those twigs will catch fire and begin to burning the bigger branches.
Because He already loves us, loving our Heavenly Father is easy as we simply need to return that love, but sometimes its not so easy to love our neighbor. In the beginning they often don’t love us, and that’s why Messiah used the word chav and not racham (Strongs#7356) with the command to love our neighbors. We are to love our neighbor when they don’t love us or even really know us, as in the story of the good Samaritan.
If when our neighbors resist our love, we will not give up, we’ll be like chav, the little twigs that keep burning and catch alight the bigger sticks. That’s what we are called to be, a continual action, being doers of the word and love our neighbors with a kindling love.
It is evident that loving our Heavenly Father and our neighbor is not a new commandment in itself, rather one we needed a deeper understanding of; and maybe a new way to approach something we may have found difficult to do, if not impossible at times. It may be also helpful to realize that we are to first love ourselves with that same chav/kindling love, and the source of that chav/kindling is the racham/love we share with our Heavenly Father.
Shalom shalom
‘Mishpachah’
‘Family/Tribe’
משפחה
Mish-pa-KHa,
friends, visitors and every reader…
Please don’t leave this page before making certain you are His
and are truly born again from above.
Know of a certainty that Jesus/Yeshua is
your Redeemer, Savior, Lord
and soon returning King
and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.
NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry.
I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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