Drawing from this same kind of love , Proverbs 17:17 continues by stating , “ A friend ( re-ah , neighbor as in Exodus 20:16,17 ) loves ( ahav , lover ) at all times , and there is a brother who is born for adversity .” This theme is continued in the New Covenant in John 15 where Yeshua exhorts , “ Greater love ( agape , Godlike love ) has no one than this , that someone lays down his life for his friends ( philos , companions ).” Call me a romantic , but it seems to me that a real “ friend ” is a lover of the best kind .
Can I say then , that true friendship is born out of a love that is loyal and trustworthy ? I am reminded of the friendship ( or love ) between David of Bethlehem and Jonathan the son of King Saul . This friendship literally saved the life of David more than once , and even preferred David above his own right to the throne of Israel . Jonathan demonstrated a kind of lover and friendship that Yeshua was speaking about many years later . So it is safe to say that a true friend is one who lives the philia kind of love in a relationship with you . A friend is a lover of the purest kind ; and then there ’ s Yeshua … He says that there is a friend and lover who carries a higher kind of love , ( agape in the Greek ) that would even lay his own life down for his friends .
Now this really gets my mind spinning . What kind of friend am I ? Do I have these kinds of friendships in my life ? Thankfully , I do .
First , I married my best friend . I didn ’ t know it at the time , but I have come to appreciate her love and friendship through more than 45 years of challenges , disappointments , victories and defeats that have proven the kind of friendship-love , AGAPE-friendshiplove , which Yeshua was speaking about . How well I have returned that friendship-love is not for me to say . I only hope it is of the quality that she so richly deserves . And yes , there are several men in my life with whom I share this special covenant kind of relationship with as well .
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 3 • T I K K U N A M E R I C A R E S T O R E | 2 6