El Shaddai

 

Many of us have heard messages on the names of God used in the Bible. One of the classic titles bestowed on God is El Shaddai, which is first seen in Genesis 17 where God introduces Himself to Abraham. Most English Bibles have translated El Shaddai as “God Almighty”— “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God; walk before me and be blameless (Genesis 17:1).’”

 

Almighty is a great word. Unfortunately, this translation causes us to miss out on what God was really trying to say about Himself. We often use this verse to speak on God’s omnipotence, to portray Him as a commanding military general able to save the day. There is a better title for that. Yahweh Sabaoth is translated as Lord of hosts or Lord of heaven’s armies, as in Psalm 24:10– “Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.” Shaddai definitely does have connotations of might and power (See Joel 1:15), but I don’t believe that is the main idea.

 

El Shaddai is not so much about God’s might and power as it is His power to supply our needs. Shaddai comes from the Hebrew root shad, which means breast (we see it so translated in Genesis 49:25, for example). Dr. Charles Parkhurst has written that Shaddai could be thought of as “The Breasted One,” and Dr. Herbert Lockyer agrees, saying that El Shaddai “supplies us with a delicate yet precious metaphor, seeing it presents God as the One who nourishes, supplies, and satisfies.” 

 

Continuing this thought, Dr. G. Campbell Morgan points out that the idea behind the use of Almighty to translate Shaddai was intended to highlight God as “the mighty One of resource and sufficiency.” He went on to say that Shaddai suggests “perfect supply and perfect comfort. We should reach the idea better by rendering [it] ‘God All Bountiful’ or ‘God All-Sufficient’…To gather sustenance and consolation from the bosom of God is to be made strong for all the pilgrimage.” Parkhurst has also translated Shaddai as the pourer forth of blessings. 

 

This makes sense in light of Naomi’s statement in Ruth 1:20-21. Her name meant “pleasant,” but she told everyone instead to call her “bitter” because, “The Almighty (Shaddai) has dealt bitterly with me.” In calling God Shaddai, she was emphasizing the fact that God was supposed to pour forth blessings, but in her estimation He had failed to do so. Just as she made a play on her own name, she made a play on God’s name. The supplier stopped supplying, so pleasant became bitter. 

 

El Shaddai, God Almighty, is a God of blessings. That is why Isaac invoked that name when blessing Jacob— “May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples (Genesis 28:3).” Just as a child is dependent upon his mother to nurse him, children of God must never fail to reach up to heaven and ask our Father for His blessings, that He may nourish us for the pilgrimage that is this life. 

 

 

 

   

 

The Wonderful God of Oz

 

“We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Those words comes from the classic 1939 movie (which was based on the 1900 children’s story by L. Frank Baum). In the movie The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her dog Toto follow a yellow brick road to the Emerald City in hopes that the wizard will be able to send her back to Kansas, where she lived before she was displaced by a tornado. When Toto pulls back the curtain the cast learns that the wizard was really just a fraud, a man working machinery but devoid of power. At the end of the movie Dorothy famously declares there is no place like home. 

 

The Wizard of Oz is a fun story with lovable characters, including the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow. They are all disappointed to realize that the wizard they longed to see was actually powerless. He couldn’t give the lion courage, the tin man a heart, and the scarecrow a brain; he couldn’t even take Dorothy home. It would be crushing to learn that the one they sought, the one they believed would help them, was just a fake. 

 

I have good news. When it comes to our God, we never need to worry about the man behind the curtain. We will never discover that God is actually powerless, or that He is a fraud. The Bible tells us that God is powerful. We often describe Him as being omnipotent, or possessing all power. 

 

Psalm 62:11 says, “Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God.” Just a chapter later we read, “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory (63:2).” God even likes to introduce Himself as El Shaddai—God Almighty (Genesis 35:11 for example).  

 

The power that is used to describe God in the Psalms and elsewhere is actually the Hebrew word oz. Because our God is El Shaddai, we do not serve the Wizard of Oz, but the Wonderful God of Oz. The wizard told Dorothy that he is “a good man but a terrible wizard.” Our God is not terrible, or even good; our God is great. He is not a trickster (or a “humbug” as the wizard calls himself). He possesses all power and is able to fulfill every promise He has ever made. 

Among those promises are forgiveness of sin to whoever calls on the Lord, and a promised home with the Him forever. Because of the Wonderful God of Oz, all who trust in Him will one day be able to say, “There’s no place like home.”