Sunday Quote!- The Flame of the LORD

Every Sunday, I will share a quote from something I’ve been reading. The hope is for you, dear reader, to share your thoughts on the quote and related issues and perhaps pick up some reading material along the way!

The Flame of the LORD

Too often, we are afraid to talk about the love of God in any but the most circumspect way. Richard Davidson, in his  massive study on sexuality in the Old Testament, Flame of Yahweh, does a magnificent job discussing this topic with clarity and poetry. The Song of Songs (or Solomon) is at the center of his discussion. He writes that human love is the…

very flame of Yahweh, then this human love at its best—as described in the [Song of Songs]—points beyond itself to the Lord of Love. The human ‘spark of the Eternal Flame’ reveals the character of that divine flame… ‘Christians can discern the eternal dance… of divine Persons in the reciprocal love of a man and a woman.’ [citing Robin Payne.]…

[H]uman sexual love, already so highly esteemed elsewhere in Scripture, is here given its highest acclamation. The song of Songs thus becomes the… supreme statement on the theology of sexuality… in the OT. We have indeed reached the holy of holies, ablaze with the flame of Yahweh. (630-632, cited below)

Within this book of Scripture, the Song of Songs, we find the fullest expression of human sexuality and wholeness. It is filled with doctrinal content, and Davidson fantastically draws out the implications of the book for readers. Moreover, the entire work is a survey of and commentary on every major (and minor) passage that deals with sexuality throughout the entire Old Testament. I very highly recommend his book, Flame of Yahweh to you.

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Source

Richard M. Davidson, Flame of Yahweh (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007).

SDG.