Daily Tidbits 2/13 – Puppy – Little Guy in the Eye

The Hebrew word for puppy is כלבלב ‘keluvluv.’ This word comes from כלב ‘kelev’ which means a dog. כלב is a combination of two words. כל meaning ‘all’ and לב meaning ‘heart.’ This is the exact nature of a dog as it an animal of emotion full of love, loyalty and courage.

In Biblical times, the dog was the companion of the shepherd who clung to him in love, whose job was to help guard the sheep (Job 30:1). Who is the Shepherd? Messiah (Psalm 23:1; 80:1; Ezekiel 34:11; 37:24; John 10:11-14) . The name of the Messiah יהושוע ‘Yahshua’ comes from the root meaning to keep watch over the flock. The root of יהושוע is שע.

The English word ‘cleave’ comes from כלב ‘kelev’ which means a dog. This is the nature of dogs to cleave to their masters.

Cleaving is linked to love.
Gen 2:24 Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh.
Deu 11:22 For if keeping you will keep this command which I am commanding you, to do it, to love YHWH your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him,
Deu 30:20 to love YHWH your God, to listen to His voice, and to cleave to Him. For He is your life, and the length of your days so that you may live in the land which YHWH has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give it to them.

Love:
The English word love traces back to the Hebrew words לוה and לב. The Old English lufu is love; leuf means ‘beloved.’ In Latin libido is desire from leubh which means to care for or love. In Hebrew לב ‘lev’ means heart and is the original source of the English word love.

Son 4:9 You have ravished My heart, My sister, My spouse; you have ravished My heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.
Son 4:10 How beautiful are your loves, My sister, My spouse! How much better are your loves than wine, and the scent of your ointments than all spices!

This is the nature of our pet dogs. All heart…Unconditional love…This is the love of our Lord.
1Jn 4:8 The one who does not love has not known God, because God is love.
1Jn 4:16 And we have known and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and the one abiding in love abides in God, and God in him.

The English word ‘puppy’ comes from the same Hebrew word בבה ‘baba’ as the English word ‘baby.’ בבה means the pupil of the eye.’

Zec 2:8 For so says YHWH of Hosts: He has sent Me after glory, to the nations who plundered you; for he who touches you touches the pupil of His eye.

בבה in Hebrew means the pupil, the apple of one’s eyes. As any parent has held their baby in their arms against their bosom they recognize that this is the epitome of love and intimate relationship (apple of the eye/little guy in the eye).

In Hebrew the word family is משפחה ‘mishpocha’ the same root as שפח ‘shaphach’. שפח ‘shaphach’ is the root of the English word ‘crucifixion’ which gathers all the family of the earth. Interestingly, another Hebrew word for ‘swaddle’ is טפח which comes from the same parent root פח as שפח.

Messiah came from the bosom of the Father.

Joh 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, that One declares Him.

He gathers and then carries in His bosom His people, linking to the crucifixion. It is through the work of Messiah on the cross that mankind is brought into His family. (Isaiah 40:10-11; Psalm 89:50-51; Ephesians 2:8-19)

There are multiple words in Hebrew for love, all linking back to the bosom. The most common is אהב which has the meaning of a gift and the expressions and actions of one towards the family. The pictograph meaning displays the gift of the Father to mankind of His only begotten Son. Again linking the bosom, the family and the crucifixion.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Joh 15:13 Greater love than this has no one, that anyone should lay down his soul for his friends.

From the root:

The Pictograph meaning of Love

The first and last letters spell out the word for Father (ab) and the middle letter is a picture of a man with outstretched arms. The Love of the Father is revealed through the Messiah on the tree, gathering all mankind back to their Creator.

The puppy is further connected to love through the phrase ‘puppy love.’ In Hebrew, the phrase ‘puppy love,’ is rendered אהבה ראשונה ‘ahavah reyshonah’ which literally means ‘first love.’

Messiah warned the believers of Ephesus not to lose this love. The believers of Ephesus were zealous for truth and exposing evil but without their first love, the lawlessness of the world caused their love to grow cold.

Rev 2:1 To the angel of the Ephesian assembly, write: These things says the One holding the seven stars in His right hand, He walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:
Rev 2:2 I know your works, and your labor, and your patience, and that you cannot bear evil ones; and you tried those pretending to be apostles and are not, and found them to be liars.
Rev 2:3 And you bore up and have patience and on account of My name you have labored and have not wearied.
Rev 2:4 But I have against you that you left your first love.
Rev 2:5 Then remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works. And if not, I am coming to you quickly, and will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Rev 2:6 But you have this, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Rev 2:7 The one who has an ear, hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To the one overcoming, I will give to him to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

Mat 24:12 And because lawlessness shall have been multiplied, the love of the many will grow cold.

Puppy love is sometimes referred to as a ‘crush.’

Isa 53:1 Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of YHWH revealed?
Isa 53:2 For He comes up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form nor magnificence that we should see Him; nor form that we should desire Him.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and abandoned of men, a Man of pains, and acquainted with sickness. And as it were hiding our faces from Him, He being despised, and we did not value Him.
Isa 53:4 Surely He has borne our sicknesses, and He carried our pain; yet we esteemed Him plagued, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His wounds we ourselves are healed.

Literally, he was ‘crushed’ for our iniquities. The word for ‘bruised’ in verse 5 is דכא ‘dakah’ which literally means to break or crush something. The first love, or puppy love, that we experience towards our Savior is when we fully come to know what He did for us at Calvary. We must endeavor to hold fast to that love as we grow in relationship with him.