El Shaddai: The God Who Supplies My Needs
The amazing truth about being mighty is that unless it comes with tenderness, it is no good to humans. Mighty Mouse, Mighty Superman are pretty cool in a movie or cartoon, but when it comes to living with one or around one, they are better off in the circus. Cool to watch but not so cool to take home. El Shaddai is the God with Strength and Might, but with love and compassion to use that strength to fulfill His Word,His Promises and to meet our needs.God is Titanium-strong enough to solve our problems Velvet-tender in His care for us.
The meaning of Almighty God
The different names of God are a compound of El (Elohim-God) or Jehovah (LORD), plus an attribute.
El is the Strong God/Creator.
Shaddai is His protection and sufficiency in time of pressure. Sometimes promises cannot be kept. Good reasons often lie behind a failed promise, but one reason, the lack of power or authority to keep the promise, is devastating. “A promise should not be made if it cannot be kept” is a familiar cliché. The Almighty God never failed to keep His promises; He had the power and the strength to see His promises through.
The name shadday means “All Powerful”; it occurs thirty-one times in Job and nine times elsewhere. It may come from the root shadad, which means “to be mighty.” Or, more likely, it may come from combining she plus day, meaning “the one who is sufficient.” In the Hebrew Bible, it is compounded with ʾel to form ʾel shadday, meaning “God Almighty.” This name of God is used with the patriarchs six times and always in connection with the Almighty’s promises of keeping His covenant with them. He promised to multiply their descendants and give them the land of Canaan (Gen. 17:1-8; 28:3; 35:11). Jacob prays that the Almighty would grant his sons success in bringing Benjamin back from Egypt (Gen. 43:14), thus, preserving the promised seed. Using “God Almighty” in these cases ensured that the promises made were kept.
As the Almighty, God provided visions to Balaam, the Mesopotamian seer (Num. 24:4, 16). God could bring destruction as only the Almighty could do (Isa. 13:6; Joel 1:15). By His might, He scattered the enemies of Israel (Ps. 68:14); His voice was like the roar of the wings of the Cherubim and other creatures in Ezekiel’s visions (Ezek. 1:24; 10:5). Yet, the psalmist says that to abide under the shadow of the Almighty is to find complete rest and safety (Ps. 91:1-2). In the time of Moses it was made clear that ʾel shadday was Yahweh,
the covenant God of Israel (Exod. 6:2-5). The name of the “Almighty,” shadday, was on the lips of Job and his “friends” thirty-one times in the poetic sections of the book (Job 5:17; 40:2). Yet, the use of the name Yahweh twenty-one times in the prose sections, and six times in the poetic sections, shows that Yahweh and ʾel shadday are one and the same God. Job appeals to the Almighty to argue his case, but ultimately he submits to the greatness and almighty power of the Lord (Job 40:1-5).
The promise inherent in the name Shadday is that the Almighty can do everything He has promised. No man or other power can thwart His ways. He is an awesome God.
—Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words
Shaddai and the Hebrew word for shad, meaning breast, are different words, but sound alike (see Gen. 49:25; Job 3:12; Ps. 22:9). Some say El Shaddai really means "The Many Breasted One" (see notes below). Taken together El Shaddai mean that God is both mighty and caring. He has the strength and power that can provide for the greatest as well as the tiniest of needs. El Shaddai appears 48 times in the Old Testament, which includes 31 times in the book of Job. Under pressure, Job called on the names of a tough-but-tender caring God. Job was counseled not to despise chastening. Job was counseled, "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty." (Job 5:17)
El Shaddai occurs 12 times in the New Testament, which includes 9 times in the book of Revelation (see 2 Cor. 6:18; Rev. 1:8). (The translation "Almighty" goes back to ancient times, at least as far back as the LXX, which translates shadday as pantokratōr (greek) "all powerful." This is also reflected in the Vulgate, omnipotens—Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament)
The First Reference to "El Shaddai"
God appears to Abram after long testing (see Gen. 15-17:2). Abram is 99 years old (see 17:1) and "as good as dead" (Heb.11:12).
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly."
God reassures Abram of His promise and in so doing, introduces Abram to a new name, for God is not only Jehovah, "covenant keeper", God is now "Shaddai" the one mighty enough and
compassionate enough to bring it to pass.
New problems demand a new understanding of God, which is received by learning a new name for Him (see Exod. 3:13,14; 6:2,3). Abraham (name changed from Abram: see Gen. 17:5) was supernaturally given a son, conceived at age 99 (see vv. 1,2), born at age 100 (see vv. 15-17; 21:2). We need faith to carry us from His Promise to His Provision.
El Shaddai: He Strengthens and Satisfies
Abraham passes the name El Shaddai to Isaac, who later used it in his prayer for his son Jacob to find a wife (see Gen 28:3). Jacob used the name to bless his son Joseph (see Gen 49:22,25). God is faithful to his nature (see 1 Thess. 5:24) to chastise when we rebel (see Heb. 12:5,6,10) and to bless when we obey (see Ps. 1:1-3, Deuteronomy 28,29).
El Sha ddai may delay, but He never ignores.
Steps for El Shaddai's Provision
What we know about problems: We can't run from them; we can't stop them; and we can't solve them. We need El Shaddai.
1. Separate - negative holiness. "Come out from among them, and be ye separate…touch not the unclean thing….And ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty [El Shaddai]" (2 Cor. 6:17,18).
2. Seek - His presence-positive holiness. "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty [El Shaddai]" (Rev. 4:8; Rev 1:8; Rev 15:3; Rev 19:6).
3. Rest - in His presence or promise. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty [El Shaddai]" (PS. 91:1; see also Ps 27:14).
4. Follow - to follow or obey His commands. "I am the Almighty [El Shaddai] God; walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1).
5. Evaluate - your spiritual health. (Hebrews 12:5-11)
The problems may indicate a spiritual problem (sin, rebellion, calloused heart). (see Heb. 12:8).
6. Claim by faith His promise. "The Almighty [El Shaddai]…shall bless thee with blessings" (Gen. 49:25; also I Thess 5:24).
If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, and He indwells you; then you know El Shaddai. Being in human form he is now touched by every infirmity. His compassions are not just unfeeling. He has experienced everything we have, and more, for He felt it infinitely! But now He reigns with all-power, awaiting that day when His redemption can be completed, and Satan's reign completely obliterated.
Jesus is El Shaddai
Interesting Clarifications about El Shaddai: | Writer | Verse/Subject | Context |
| Adam Clarke | Ge 17:1
I am the Almighty God | I am the Almighty God—אני אל שדי ani El shaddai, I am God all-sufficient; from שדה shadah, to shed, to pour out. |
| Adam Clarke | Ge 48:3
God Almighty | God Almighty—אל שדי El Shaddai, the all-sufficient God, the Outpourer and Dispenser of mercies, (see Genesis 17:1), appeared to me at Luz, afterwards called Beth-El; see Genesis 28:13; 35:6, 9. |
| Matthew Henry Unabr. | Ex 6:2-8 | When the salvation of the saints is completed in eternal life, then he will be known by his name Jehovah (Revelation 22:13); in the mean time they shall find him, for their strength and support, El-shaddai, a God all-sufficient, a God that is enough and will be so, Micah 7:20. |
| Spurgeon (MTP) | Christ's Prayer And Plea | You do not see this in our translation, but in, the Hebrew it is, "Preserve me, O El. ... But our Savior, whose knowledge of God was perfect, here selects a name of God peculiarly suitable to the condition in which he was when he offered this prayer; for, according to most commentators, the word "El" means "The strong One. ... " Others say that "El" means "The Ever-present One. ... What a blessed title is that of Shaddai which Bunyan uses in his Holy War,-El Shaddai, God-all sufficient or, as some render it, "The many-breasted God," the God with a great abundance of heart, full of mercy and grace, and supplying the needs of all his children out of his own fullness! |
| Thomp. Companion | Genesis 17:1: Commentary | The Hebrew for "God Almighty" in this verse is El-Shaddai, a special name of God. ... El-Shaddai means "the God who is manifested in his mighty acts" or "God Almighty. ... " In the Septuagint the Hebrew name Shaddai is translated a number of times as the Greek word ikanos, which can be translated "all sufficient. ... Thus in this name, Shaddai or El-Shaddai, the idea is conveyed of the sufficiency of the Almighty One (Php. 4:19; De. 2:7; 1Ki. 19:6; 2Ki. 4:6; 7:8). |
I hate to admit it, but I’m a huge science fiction fan. Going where no man has ever gone before has always been my dream. To explore and discover has been my heart’s desire ever since childhood. A great book series that produced a poor movie was DUNE. In one scene in the movie Paul Atreides tells the Fremen warriors of Sietch Tabr to hit this large rock, that looks like an obelisk. 
They try kicking it, hitting it, sawing it, but the rock is untouched, undamaged. Then Paul shows them the ‘weirding way’, and by directing his voice through a ‘weirding module’, he obliterates the rock. It is totally destroyed. However powerful the ‘weirding way’ was, it was not powerful enough to penetrate the defensive ‘Shield Wall’ surrounding Arrakeen (a large rock wall). For that, they used Atomics.
The Jews saw God as a Rock that was indestructible, impenetrable. He is the Rock of Refuge, the one David ran to for protection from his enemies. “Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.”(Ps 71:3)
”(Isa 48:21) In like manner God broke His only Son, Jesus Christ, and through His death on the cross, Rivers of Water gush forth through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has now become our Rock, the Rock of Water, the Rock of Refreshing, the Rock of Redemption. He has become our life, 
our strength, our refuge. All who are weary and heavy laden find rest in Him. All who are thirsty find refreshment in Him. All those lost in sin find forgiveness and redemption in Him.
How do you view God? Is He just another rock, something in your path that you stub your toe on? Or is He the Almighty, Eternal, Invincible Rock of your salvation. You can’t ignore Him. He will always be in your path. He will either cause you to stumble, or He will provide you shelter and refuge. The choice is yours. May you rejoice with David: “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!” (Psalm 95:1)
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