The Fire That Burned Beneath the Sea

In 1993, marine scientists discovered something that defied everything they thought they knew about fire. Deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, volcanic vents called "black smokers" blazed at temperatures exceeding 700 degrees Fahrenheit — surrounded on every side by crushing, frigid water. Millions of tons of ocean pressed down on these flames, yet they could not be extinguished. The water did not win. The fire simply kept burning.

The ancient Hebrews had no submarines, no knowledge of hydrothermal vents. Yet Solomon wrote with a prophet's precision: "Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away." He compared love to a shalhebetya — a flame of Yah, a fire that belongs to God Himself. This is not the flickering candle of a Hallmark card. This is a blaze with a divine signature, fierce as the grave's unyielding grip, relentless as death itself.

And then Solomon adds the detail that stings the modern ear: "If one were to give all the wealth of one's house for love, it would be utterly scorned." You cannot purchase this fire. No contract secures it. No prenuptial agreement contains it.

The love described in Song of Solomon 8:6-7 is not a feeling to be managed. It is a force to be marveled at — a flame burning at the bottom of the ocean, answering to no power but the One who lit it.