Happy Valentine’s Day! And Now, “The Most Excellent Way”

I believe that the one most revealing, the most essential characteristic of our Creator is love. By His love He made us, and because of His love He redeemed us. We are closest to His nature and what He created us to be when we are living our lives according to His idea of love.

He also told us that His entire law can be summed up with one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” What does that mean? What does it mean to love your neighbor as you love yourself?

First of all, who is our “neighbor?” Most of us have heard of “The Good Samaritan.” Through this parable, Christ taught us that our neighbor means more than those who live near us, or those within our circle of family and friends. In effect, what He was saying was that loving our neighbor also means loving our enemies.

Secondly, how do we “love” ourselves? If we are honest, we should all admit that there are times when none of us is particularly loveable. In fact, most of us have probably been pretty disappointed in and disgusted by our own behavior, and thus, in ourselves. We may even have seen ourselves as downright nasty.

Therefore, loving our neighbor does not mean always having pleasant feelings about him or being happy with everything she does. As C.S. Lewis put it, it does not mean “thinking them nice either.” In fact, love in the Christian sense isn’t a feeling at all. It is a matter of the will.

First of all, who is our “neighbor?” Most of us have heard of “The Good Samaritan.” Through this parable, Christ taught us that ...

Ruth is the [strong's] dictionary entry right before raz, mystery.

Ruth (רות): friendship ---> 7468

7468 (רְעוּת) reh-ooth'; from H7462 in the sense of H7453; a female associate; generally an additional one:— another, mate, neighbour.

7462: (רָעָה) raw-aw'; a primitive root; to pasture, tend, graze, feed
to tend a flock; i.e. pasture it; intransitively, to graze (literally or figuratively); generally to rule; by extension, to associate with (as a friend):

7453: (רֵעַ) rea', from 7462. The KJV translates Strong's H7453 in the following manner: neighbour (102x), friend (42x), another (23x), fellow (10x), companion (5x), other (2x), brother (1x), husband (1x), lovers (1x), neighbour (with H1121) (1x).

John 21

14 This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.
15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest [agapao] thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love [phileo] thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest [agapao] thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love [phileo] thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest [phileo] thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest [phileo] thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love [phileo] thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest [phileo] thou me?

The usual commentaries run along the lines of Peter responding with a 'lesser' form of love than the one Jesus meant, but as you can see, the text itself equates agapao with phileo.

phileo, from philos: friend, associate... IOW, neighbor (Hebrew rea').

Matthew 5

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love [agapao] thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love [agapao] your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love [agapao] them which love [agapao] you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour [rea'] as thyself: I am the LORD.

Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest [phileo] thou me?

But Jesus used the verb agapao the first two times.

Be ye therefore perfect, discerning no difference between philos and agapao. "Feed my sheep."

Ruth is known as the quintessential convert. Her famous words:

Ruth 1.16. And Ruth said, Do not entreat me to leave you, or to keep from following you; for wherever you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God:

Ruth appears in the Strong's dictionary right before raz, mystery.

Mark 4

11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?
14 The sower soweth the word.

There are many explanations given for the reading of Ruth on Shavuot. The most quoted reason is that Ruth’s coming to Israel took place around the time of Shavuot, and her acceptance into the Jewish faith was analogous of the acceptance of the Jewish people of God’s Torah.

A second explanation relates to genealogy. Since the Book of Ruth ends with the genealogy of David, whose forbearer Ruth was, it has been suggested that it is read on Shavuot because there is a legend that David died on Shavuot.

Another reason for the reading of Ruth on Shavuot is that its story takes place at harvest time, and Shavuot also occurs at the time of the spring harvest.

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/why-do-we-read-the-book-of-ruth-on-shavuot/

There's an easy line to cross for those not paying attention, as rea' (רֵעַ), neighbor, is the same "word" (spelling) as ra' (רַע), evil, wickedness.

In any case,

third time's the charm

Prov. The third time you try to do something, it will work.

It's an interesting question. Regarding the etymology, not really, because

The very ancient word רחל (rahel), meaning ewe, occurs in several Semitic languages, all with the same meaning. We have no idea what the root of this word might be or what it may have meant.
http://www.abarim-publications.com/Dictionary/r/r-ht-l.html

However, I do have quite a few studies on Rachel, what she was doing, what she perceived. There's quite a list.

But in considering your question, I noticed on the above page a cross-reference to another name:

אחרחל

http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Aharhel.html

The name is really rich with allusions to Rachel and what she saw. How he himself fits in I don't know [yet], but the name certain provides a lot of material.

Ach (brother) + Rachel, but also reads as a portmanteau of achar (another) + Rachel, joined at the resh.

Acharchel was a descendant of Judah. And when Rachel named Joseph...

Genesis 30:24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another [achar] son.

This will all tie together evenutally. Thanks for the question, or I wouldn't have gone over to that page. This stuff finds *me*.

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