The Youth

Exploring the Jewish mystical theme of the shiur koma (the body of God), C. R. Morray-Jones writes, “the evidence suggests that the shiur koma tradition was originally concerned with two separate figures: the kavod of God himself, to whom the scriptural throne-theophany verses were applied, and the Youth, who was identified as the Beloved of the Song of Songs.  For reasons which are not yet clear, the latter identification was unacceptable to the rabbinic redactors of the tradition, who preserved the character of the Youth but transferred the description of the Beloved to the kavod .”

“The Youth” was called the “son of God” and in one place is linked with the name “Yedidah,” “Beloved of Yah,” the name given to Solomon.

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