Lavah: JOINED by Heart-strings

Join/Attach/Lend/Borrow- lavah (Strong’s 3867)

Root: לָוָה

Sounds like: la’vah or la’wah

This past week I tidied up an old posting on the Hebrew word for heart: leb/lev. At the same time it occurred to me that the priestly tribe of Levi might mean my heart: lev (heart), i (my).  If that was the case, the priestly tribe was meant to represent God’s heart. This makes sense. As God’s image bearers, we are to represent His heart on earth. Even Peter highlighted that we were all to be like God’s royal priests:

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

We were to be royal priests representing, as God would say, My heart (levi/lebbi). However, it’s not quite so simple. There are two Hebrew letters which make a V sound. The beyt letter makes a V/B sound (used in the Hebrew word for heart (leb/lev) and the vav letter makes a V/W sound used in the name Levi. By ear they can sound the pretty much same, by letter they are different.

Leah’s Attachment

Let’s take a look at when Levi, son of Jacob and Leah, was born. His mother, Leah, was not loved by Jacob, her husband. In fact, the word used was s’nuah, from the verb sanay meaning to hate. Jacob hated Leah. He was tricked into marrying her, and he resented her for it. So when Leah had her sons, she hoped he would start to feel differently:

Genesis 29:31-35a

Now YHWH saw that Leah was unloved hated, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was unable to have children. Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben [meaning ‘son of seeing’], for she said, “Because YHWH has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” 

Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, “Because YHWH has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon [meaning ‘He has heard’].

And she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me [yi-laveh יִלָּוֶ֤ה], because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi [Levi לֵוִֽי] [meaning ‘attached to me’].

And she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, “This time I will praise YHWH.” Therefore she named him Judah [from root yadah meaning to give thanks/praise]. 

By her third son Leah was still hoping to garner some affection from her husband so she named him Levi because she hoped that Jacob would become attached to her. The word attached is the Hebrew word lavah, a verb meaning to join, attach, unite. But by the fourth son Leah basically conceded: “Forget Jacob! I’m just going to praise YHWH!”

Interesting that Judah was the son from which the line of David and the line of the Messiah would descend. When Judah was born, Leah stopped focusing on the love she wasn’t getting from her husband and celebrated the love she experienced from YHWH. Her son Judah would carry forth the line that would bring Yeshua to tabernacle with us on earth. This was worthy of praise!

Leah had hoped that Levi would cause an attachment (lavah) between her and Jacob. That hope failed, but she recognized, by her fourth son, that the love of YHWH never failed. Attachment between humans can be fickle, joining with YHWH is an assurance.

An Economic Attachment

In another angle, lavah was also the word used for the verbs to borrow and to lend. When you lend or borrow, you are attached, in an obligatory way, to another person. So we get passages in the Bible like this:

Deuteronomy 28:12

YHWH will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless every work of your hand; and you will lend [w-hi-l’vita וְהִלְוִ֙יתָ֙] to many nations, but you will not borrow [lo ti-l’veh לֹ֥א תִלְוֶֽה].

Lending and borrowing is an economically created attachment. It is a social construct joining two parties together. This works between humans and humans, and between humans and God:

Proverbs 19:17

One who is gracious to a poor person lends to YHWH [ma-l’weh YHWH מַלְוֵ֣ה יְ֭הוָה], and He will repay him for his good deed.

When we give to those in need, we are lending to YHWH, and He will pay us back. We are building on our attachment to God, joining with Him in solidarity to further His Kingdom of love, generosity, and kindness. It paints quite a picture.

Psalm 112:4-7

Light dawns in the darkness for the upright— for the gracious, compassionate, and righteous. It is well with the man who is generous and lends [u-ma-l’weh וּמַלְוֶ֑ה] freely, whose affairs are guided by justice.

Surely he will never be shaken; the righteous man will be remembered forever. He does not fear bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in YHWH.

To lend to those in need is to act justly. It makes us righteous (as in having right relationship with our fellow humans), regardless of our differences.

Jews and Gentiles JOINING Together

Of course, we are all so very different from each other, which is why it’s important to join together in unity, praising YHWH. The Bible was quite adamant that Jews and Gentiles were all beloved of YHWH. 

Isaiah 56L1-7

This is what YHWH says:

“Guard justice and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is a man who does this, and a son of man who takes hold of it; who keeps from profaning the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

Let not the foreigner who has joined [ha-ni-l’wah הַנִּלְוָ֤ה] himself to YHWH say, “YHWH will certainly separate me from His people.” Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” 

For this is what YHWH says:

“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold firmly to My covenant, to them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which will not be eliminated.

“Also the foreigners who join [ha-ni-l’wim הַנִּלְוִ֤ים] themselves to YHWH, to attend to His service and to love the name of YHWH, to be His servants, every one who keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it, and holds firmly to My covenant; even those I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”

Gentiles were never to say, I’m separated from God’s people, because they were equally made to be God’s people. The Jews were the chosen family to usher forth the Messiah. Yeshua, born a Jew, came to unite all of God’s children into one family of fellow citizens:

Ephesians 2:13-20

But now in Christ Jesus you [Gentiles] who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace; and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone…

Followers of YHWH are to be an attached, joined-together, people.

Play on Words

So the priestly tribe of Levi doesn’t officially mean “my heart”, but there could be hints in that direction. Although lavah and lev/leb have a different letter, the writers used these words cleverly to make a literary impact. Wordplay, rhyming, alliteration, metaphors and the use of homonyms (words that sound the same but with different meanings) were all used in Biblical narrative, in much the same way as we use them in English. For example:

He threw the dart through the heart. 

Through and threw are homonyms; dart and heart rhyme; and the sentence suggests a metaphor rather than a literal, violent, definition. Levi and libbi/lev may be different words, but they suggest a connection. The name of Levi may have officially meant my attachment, but people would have also heard the word for love imbedded in the name. My attachment and my love certainly express similar emotions because true love emits an attachment that is hard to break. Leah didn’t find that love in Jacob, but she certainly found it in YHWH.

Next week: Passover