Thread: El Shaddai - Real Meaning

Hagin said it means "more than enough." That's good enough for me.

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

The fertility goddess is worshipped across different cultures and would of been in direct opposition to the Israelites when they entered Canaan.
The pagans had this goddess as their provider and nourisher but the Israelites had the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as their source.

If we use the many breasted goddess to make a spiritual comparison about the real God then we can use Zeus, Krishna or any other pagan god to make similar points....but is that wise and scriptural

Using a different name for God that is used about a pagan god would have been wrong but recall that they referred to God as a God of war. That "title" was applied to many other pagan deities at that time. The fact that pagans ascribe characteristics to their gods that are also ascribed to God is not a problem in and of itself.

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

When Israel rejected God they embraced the false queen of heaven and they believed she provided and gave them sustenance

Jeremiah 44:17 - But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble.

Jeremiah 44:18 - But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.

The main problem was that they sought sustenance (and protection from aggressors) in the queen of heaven instead of in God. Not that there was a similarity between the gods, including in terms of descriptions. I'm sure there were pagan gods that had feathers and took their subjects under their wings, just like God is described in the OT. And some were creator gods just like Brahma in hinduism.

Originally Posted by Nikos

Hagin said it means "more than enough." That's good enough for me.

Thanks Nikos

The discussion can now end

Let's all stick to the topic

Originally Posted by Valiant Woman

Oh, so now you quote him because he said something you agree with.

What?!! I like Hagin. He was a great story teller. Very inspirational.

As a Hebrew speaker I find the term "El Shadai" interesting for another reason. Yes, shad is the Hebrew for breast. The odd part is that it is not written in the plural form. Instead, it is written in the personal possessive form. It might be that a better translation would be, "God of my breast." Or perhaps better yet, "God who is here, within me."

Originally Posted by Tehilah Ba'Aretz

As a Hebrew speaker I find the term "El Shadai" interesting for another reason. Yes, shad is the Hebrew for breast. The odd part is that it is not written in the plural form. Instead, it is written in the personal possessive form. It might be that a better translation would be, "God of my breast." Or perhaps better yet, "God who is here, within me."

God reveals himself as El Shaddai twice in Genesis, both times he tells Abraham and then Jacob that they will multiply exceedingly. That works well with the interpretation of El Shaddai as provider, sustainer, the one who makes everything fertile. Jacob also says this at the end of his life :

Gen 49:25 By the God of your father who will help you,
And by the Almighty who will bless you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

It's interesting that he invokes the name Shaddai after already having referred to God and then he starts mentioning fertility related blessings.

Shaddai is used the most in the book of Job though. 31 out of 48 occurences are from that book. It isn't used about fertility related blessings and the interpretation of "Almighty" makes more sense there. So it could be that the real meaning in Genesis is that God is all powerful so therefore he is able to bless Abraham and Jacob exceedingly.