My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
Our next set of names (#4 through #22) are considered His compound names, which typically uses His primary name and attaches a specific descriptor to it. These are the names that originally got me chasing this topic, and now it has developed into a much bigger study than the original intent, but I digress, for I have already mentioned this!
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly was a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
| 5 |
| EL SHADDAI (ALMIGHTY GOD) |
| Genesis 17:1 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, |
| We have considered Elohim in post #1 of this series, and I would like to consider the secondary term in this compound name, for I have discovered an aspect of “Shaddai” that I had never understood before. The Hebrew transliteration of the term for Shaddai is šaday, and as I was “rootin’ about”, I clicked on the root word etymology of this term. Blue Letter Bible took me to H7703 – šāḏaḏ. To be a root word means that all derivatives of the root finds some truth in the root word. Shaddai, as we are considering today, is rooted in the šāḏaḏ. This is where I became somewhat shocked at what I found, for until this finding, I had always assumed Shaddai was simply referring to God (El) as being powerful, most powerful, all powerful or almighty. And I have no doubt of this fantastic truth. When we explore the root word šāḏaḏ, it refers to one who spoils, wastes, assaults or deals violently. The term describes the apparent outcome of the power. An example of šāḏaḏ found in the Word, in relation to God’s power being exercised is Jeremiah 25:36 A voice–the cry of the shepherds, and the wail of the lords of the flock! For the LORD is laying waste šāḏaḏ their pasture. Now before anyone starts calling me a heretic, I am not claiming that the blessed God, who is the Almighty, has evil intent or uses His great abilities simply for destruction! There is no way I believe that. Yet His power may bring about violent happenings, as Jeremiah notes in the verse above, and that which when the shepherds witnessed, brought about crying and wailing. For we must remember that the same God who is described as Almighty, is also described as all knowing, and full of wisdom. He exercises His power in perfect righteousness, without staining His character, though we often struggle with that! We all will admit we want things to always be peachy keen and for every day to be full of sunshine. We know this is a pipe dream. Bad things happen, and yet our God is the Almighty. Though some of His acts may bring about destruction (from our point of view) faith rises above that and recognizes the God of the Bible as the One hanging on the cross, bearing the suffering we deserved, accepting the shame resulting from our sinful decisions. He is the Almighty, yet He voluntarily hung on that instrument of death, “powerless” to free himself but for one reason. The power of love, greater than all His suffering and shame, shone forth on that ol’ rugged cross, when the Almighty became weak for our sake. He is the Almighty God (El Shaddai), mighty in power and love to His creation. Praise His name today! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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[…] a year ago, I posted my fifth post on the names of God, with a title “Names of God – EL SHADDAI (ALMIGHTY GOD) – 5“. Granted this name of God is essentially the same Hebrew word construction, but with the […]
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