The Hebrew verb chashaq (ΧΦΈΧ©Φ·ΧΧ§) expresses a profound, attachment-based love β to be bound to, to cleave to, to set one's affection upon another with deep desire. Unlike ahav (general love) or chesed (covenant faithfulness), chashaq denotes the passionate, elective love that fixes itself upon an object not because of the object's worthiness but because of the lover's sovereign choice.
The most theologically significant use of chashaq is Deuteronomy 7:7: "The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the LORD loved you.\” The word used for "set His love" is chashaq β God's attachment to Israel was sovereign, gratuitous, and unconditional. He bound Himself to a weak, small, often rebellious people simply because He chose to.
This is the grammar of grace: God's love is not a response to our attractiveness but the expression of His free, self-determining affection. Paul echoes this in Ephesians 1:4-5 β chosen in Christ "before the foundation of the world" not because of foreseen merit, but according to the purpose of His will.