The Meaning Of El Shaddai
Jeff A. BennerThe following is an excerpt from Jeff Benner’s Book “His Name is OneAnd when Abram was ninety nine years old and the LORD appeared to Abram, and he said to him, I am El Shaddai, walk before me, and be perfect
Before examining the word Shaddai, let us take a moment to discuss some of the problems with Biblical translations.
Translations
The translators task is compounded by the presence of words and phrases whose original meanings have been lost. In these cases the translator will attempt to interpret the words and phrases as best as possible based on the context of the word and the translators opinion of what the author was attempting to convey. When the reader of the translation comes across the translators attempts at translating the difficult text, the reader makes the assumption that the translator has accurately translated the text. The following passage will give an adequate example of some of the difficulties the translators face when attempting to convert the text into understandable English rendering.
Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. Genesis 6:16
A light you do to an ark and to a cubit you complete it from to over it and a door of the ark in its side you put unders twenty and thirty you do.
Let the land produce living creatures.Genesis 1:24
and the man became a living being.Genesis 2:7
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What Religion Refers To God As The Most High
4/5GodGod Most High
Yahweh and El merged at religious centres such as Shechem, Shiloh and Jerusalem, with El’s name becoming a generic term for “god” and Yahweh, the national god, appropriating many of the older supreme god’s titles such as El Shaddai and Elyon .
Similarly, what are the 7 names of God? Seven names of God. The seven names of God that, once written, cannot be erased because of their holiness are the Tetragrammaton, El, Elohim, Eloah, Elohai, El Shaddai, and Tzevaot.
In this way, what is God called in different religions?
Allahâmeaning “the god” in Arabicâis the name of God in Islam. The word Allah has been used by Arabic people of different religions since pre-Islamic times. More specifically, it has been used as a term for God by Muslims and Arab Christians.
What is the true name of God?
biblical literature: The documentary hypothesisHebrew personal name for God, YHWH , is predominantly used, those inâ¦
Let God Be Your El Shaddai
God said to the Jews in Isaiah 54:2, Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. As believers and children of God, God wants us to enlarge, stretch, lengthen and strengthen. God says we can easily to all of these things if we would let Him be our El Shadddai.
Who is this El Shaddai and what do I mean when I say let God be your El Shaddai?
El Shaddai is another name for God that explains another aspect of who God is. God first introduced Himself as El Shaddai to Abraham in Genesis 17:1. When Abraham was 99 years old, God simply said to Abraham, I am Almighty God. That is what we read in the English version of the Bible but what God actually said in Hebrew to Abraham was, I am El Shaddai.
With that name, God was revealing to Abraham and to us as the spiritual seeds of Abraham, that He is the Almighty God, the All-Sufficient God, and the God of More Than Enough.
God revealed Himself more and more to us throughout His word as El Shaddai when He said, There is nothing that I cannot do because there is nothing too hard for God. With me all things are possible and with me nothing is impossible. God also said, I am able to give you buildings you did not build. I am able to give you vineyards you did not plant. I am able to give you crops you did not harvest and if I be for you, who can be against you.
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Where In The Bible Does The Name El Shaddai Appear
In the Old Testament, the name, El Shaddai, appears at least 40 times. Many of those times are in the book of Job and several are in the book of Genesis.
We first see God identify Himself as El Shaddai when talking with Abraham in the book of Genesis. Abraham was 99 years old and the LORD appeared to Abram and identified Himself as El Shaddai. Abram fell face down before the LORD. God asked Abram to walk before Him and to live righteously, and He promised that He would make a covenant with him.
If Abram walked before Him in righteousness, El Shaddai promised to make Abram very fruitful. Though, Abrahams body was old and frail, God was showing Himself as the God who was mighty in the face of the impossible. He was all powerful and all sufficient to meet every need of Abrams.
In Genesis 28:3, we see Isaac blessing his son, Jacob as he sends him away to find a wife with the words, May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. Again, in this verse we see God identified as the Almighty God who will sustain Jacob and make him fruitful.
In Genesis 43:14, Jacob blesses His sons as they go looking for food in Egypt during the famine that ravished the land. Jacob blesses his sons asking God Almighty to bless them protect them, and grant them mercy as they go.
El Shaddai In Human Form
Finally, God Almighty came to this earth in human form. God the Son was born as Jesus Christ. And we see Gods omnipotence displayed in Him. He spoke, and demons fled. He broke a few pieces of bread, and thousands were fed. The storm became silent after He rebuked the winds. He touched eyes, and the blind received light. He knew what was in the heart of everyone He encountered. We saw what it means to be El Shaddai.
The most beautiful thing of seeing who El Shaddai is in Jesus Christ, is that at the same time we see Gods deep love for sinners. Yes, Jesus is almighty. But He allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross, so that we would receive forgiveness of sins. His love goes deeper than any human love. His power is greater than any earthly power. He is our El Shaddai. We receive eternal life out of His almighty and loving hands.
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William Branham’s Use Of The Scofield Bible
The Emphatic Diaglott is a Greek Interlinear version of the New Testament published by the Watchtower Society, so William Branham’s suggestion that it contains a reference to Genesis 17 is specious. Additionally, William Branham admits that he did not use the Thompson Chain Reference Bible, so his reference to it is hypothetical and based on assumption. The Bible that he admits to using almost exclusively is the Scofield Bible. The “Thompson Chain” is only referred to by Branham on 4 occasions and always in the same paragraph as a reference to the Scofield Bible.
Interestingly, William Branham plagiarized Clarence Larkin’s works on a significant basis but only mentions him 3 times in all of his sermons and never by attribution of an idea that he took from Larkin. Scofield, on the other hand, is mentioned over 40 times.
- Turn the next page in your Bible, 17th chapter. See if God keeps His Word. Abraham’s an old man. He’s a hundred years old. He was lacking one year he was ninety and nine. And the Lord appeared to him in the Name of El-Shaddai, “the bosom.”
- Excuse me, young ladies, my sisters. “El,” comes from the word “a strong One” “Shad” means “breast.” “Shaddai” means “breasted.” God, He said, “I am Almighty God.”
What Does The Word El Shaddai Mean
According to Bible Study Tools, the term el shaddai means God Almighty. Shaddai means mighty, and el means God. One suggested origin of this is the overpowered, which means that God will overpower all opposition and do what he purposes to do. Some also interpret the word shaddai to mean sufficient, referring to God as the all-sufficient one. Either interpretation means that God almighty is enough, is power and provision, and is sufficient to meet any need. One other possible meaning comes from a derivation of a root word, the Akkadian word shaddu, meaning mountain, which would mean el shaddai means God of the Mountain. This could be a reference to Mount Sinai, when God met Moses and he received the Ten commandments, or his presence on the same mountain reminding the Israelites of His power, leading them from Egypt.
There are many different languages that also contain words that mean el shaddai. You might notice that a lot of these words look and sound similar to one another. This is probably because they share a common language or origin or root. Often, cognates which are words that look, sound, and mean something similar across languages are formed when two words share a common ancestor such as Latin or Greek. This list of translations for the word el shaddai is provided by Word Sense.
- Greek:
- Old Prussian: Diws , diws
- Finnish: jumala, Jumala
- Romanian: Dumnezeu , dumnezeu
- Tagalog: Diyos
- Hindi: , ,
- Italian: Dio
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Does Our Culture Discount El Shaddai
In modern culture, the proclamation of Gods power has gone silent in many churches. A God of love is more palpable, more easily received, than the God who is sovereign and powerfulthe Mighty God who can turn the hearts of kings and direct nations to do His will.
Habakkuks prayer expressed some of the reasons the prophet trembled over a report about the Lord. He recounted the Lords mighty character and works, His anger over sin, and His sovereignty over the nations. When Gods prophets spoke His words with power, sometimes people and nations listened and turned to the Lord but others resisted God. So it is today when Gods people speak up about His power and might.
If pastors preach the whole counsel of God, they will remind Gods people to see Him as He is: the reigning Lord God Almighty who will someday exert His great power and reign forever. He is the God who chooses us to make us a holy people and He transforms us with His power. He is to be honored with reverence and aweholy fear of the Lord.
What Does El Shaddai Adonai Mean
4.1/5El ShaddaiElAdonaimeaning
Biblical translationsThe Septuagint sometimes translate “Shaddai” as ” Almighty”. It is often translated as “God”, “my God”, or “Lord”. However, in the Greek of the Septuagint translation of Psalm 91.1, “Shaddai” is translated as “the god of heaven”.
Also, why was Adonai used in place of YHWH? In a word, No! According to jewish law, jews are forbidden to say the name of God . Instead of saying it as it is written, jews are commanded to replace it with the word adonai which means “Lord”. To indicate this, the hebrew text shows the letters of Yahweh, but with the vowel pointing of Adonai.
Also asked, what does Adonai mean in the Bible?
??????, lit. “My Lords”) is the plural form of adon along with the first-person singular pronoun enclitic. As with Elohim, Adonai’s grammatical form is usually explained as a plural of majesty. In the Hebrew Bible, it is nearly always used to refer to God .
What does El Rohi mean?
? ???) is one of the names of God in the Hebrew Bible. It is commonly translated as “the God who sees me” and is both a descriptive epithet for God using the word “El” and a modifier indicating a quality of God.
?Be sure to visit our updated 16 Names of God & What They Mean post as well.
- Who is God to you?
- El Elyon
- Adonai
- Jehovah Nissi
- Jehovah Raah
- Jehovah Rapha
- Jehovah Shammah
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Shaddai Related To Wilderness Or Mountains
According to Ernst Knauf, “El Shaddai” means “God of the Wilderness” and originally would not have had a doubled “d”. He argues that it is a loanword from Israelian Hebrew, where the word had a “sh” sound, into Judean Hebrew and hence, Biblical Hebrew, where it would have been aday with the sound shin. In this theory, the word is related to the word adé meaning “the field”, the area of hunting . He points out that the name is found in Thamudic inscriptions , in a personal name “aday`amm” used in Egypt from the Late Bronze Age until Achaemenid times, and even in the Punic name “bdd” .
Another theory is that Shaddai is a derivation of a Semitic stem that appears in the Akkadian languageshadû and shadd`û or shaddû`a , one of the names of Amurru. This theory was popularized by W. F. Albright but was somewhat weakened when it was noticed that the doubling of the medial d is first documented only in the Neo-Assyrian period. However, the doubling in Hebrew might possibly be secondary. According to this theory, God is seen as inhabiting a holy mountain, a concept not unknown in ancient West Asian mythology ” rel=”nofollow”> El), and also evident in the Syriac Christianity writings of Ephrem the Syrian, who places the Garden of Eden on an inaccessible mountaintop.
No El Shaddai Does Not Mean God With Breasts
As LifeSite News reported, earlier this month, The Episcopal church in the Diocese of Washington, D.C., passed a resolution . . . to stop using masculine pronouns for God in future updates to its Book of Common Prayer.
The resolution to stop using gendered language for God was passed quickly by delegates to the Diocese’s 123rd Convention.
To be sure, this is not the first group to move in the direction of gender-inclusive language when it comes to the deity.
Back in 2011, I documented how some gay churches replaced God as Father with God as Creator in their hymns. And last year, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden voted to urge its clergy to use more gender-neutral language when referring to God and to avoid referring to the deity as Lord or he.
As explained by Archbishop Antje Jackelen, a woman, and the head of this church, Theologically, for instance, we know that God is beyond our gender determinations, God is not human.
That, of course, is true, and none of us think that God has biological sex or that His image is not found in women as well as men.
At the same time, He revealed Himself to us as Father, He inspired the human authors of Scripture to refer to Him with male pronouns, and He is called Lord multiplied hundreds of times in the Scriptures. Not only so, but when He took on flesh, He did so in the person of His Son , as a man named Yeshua . And should I mention that Hes also described in the Bible as a Man of War?
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How Is God Mighty
I want to focus on shaddai as almighty.” What does God is Almighty look like in practical terms?
The most obvious expression of Gods might is as the Creator. He is the Maker of all things in the universeincluding humans. That isnt open to dispute in Scripture. All things were made by Him, and without him was not any thing made that was made . All things were through the Lords power and for Him.
Think of the greatest construction workers you know and the beautiful things they build. God is infinitely a better Constructor than that! Hebrews 3:4 says it this way: the builder of all things is God.
Gods might is far beyond ours because He is eternalthe everlasting God from before time and into the timeless future. He is the everlasting King of heaven and as the Sovereign God, He is answerable to no one!
God does great and awesome wondersmiracles! There is nothing too hard Him. He has unlimited power. We cannot even imagine all El Shaddai can do!
The Paradox Of Might And Humility
The Psalmist says, Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power. The Psalmist looked forward to the Messiah who would come in power and Zechariahs words in Luke 1:68 were a song of praise for Gods redemption in Christ.
Yet the wonder of all wonders is that the God who is El Shaddai would humble Himself to bring us salvation in His Son. The redeemed church is to thank and praise the meek and mighty Savior.
The watching church will see the Mighty God of Isaiah 9:6 come again with power and great glory. This One who has the name above all names will be honored throughout eternity for the mercy He extended to those who call on His name. In heaven, all of Gods creation will ascribe to Him glory, majesty, power and authoritythe praise El Shaddai is due forevermore.
Dawn Wilson and her husband Bob live in Southern California. They have two married sons and three granddaughters. Dawn assists author and radio host Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth with research and works with various departments at Revive Our Hearts. She is the founder and director of Heart Choices Today, publishes Upgrade with Dawn, and writes for Crosswalk.com. Dawn also travels with her husband in ministry with Pacesetter Global Outreach.
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