El Shaddai
Stop
Today we look at a second name used to describe God from our recent readings in Genesis. El Shaddai.
Listen
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. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous (Genesis 17:1-2).”
Reflect
God describes Godself to Abram by saying, “I am God Almighty.” What images does that phrase bring to your mind? For me, the term almighty denotes power. I see a superpower rising up above the earth, looking down on everything. That’s an image I would not want to mess around with or get angry.
That is how the vast majority of theologians have imagined the “God Almighty” throughout the centuries. Here is the sad, and frustrating, truth. They’ve been wrong about this word.
The Hebrew term being translated is El Shaddai. We learned in the previous devotion that El means spiritual being (god). Shaddai is a term that can mean either, a) breast, like a mother’s breast ready for nursing, or b) mountain, like the place you go for refuge when in trouble (think “head for the hills!”), or c) both breast AND mountain.
What if Genesis 17:1 was translated, “the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am the well-breasted one, the mountain refuge, who supplies all you need for food, shelter, and comfort; walk before me, and be blameless.” How might that translation change our image of God?
The men (emphasis on masculine exclusivity) who translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek were not comfortable with this feminine and maternal image of God, so they chose the Greek word kurios, or Lord, to translate Shaddai. Later, Jerome translated the Greek into Latin and continued the distortion, leading to our English translation “Lord God Almighty.”
I think the world needs El Shaddai back. I know I could use a God that offers the comfort of a mother’s breast and mountains of refuge in these disturbing times. How about you?
Pray
El Shaddai, we long for your comfort and refuge. Grant us the courage to reimagine you as more than a distant, exalted King. Amen.
Carry On
My hope for you today is that you can head for the hills and find comfort in God today. No matter how scary our world may seem, God’s faithfulness, love, and nurture is always present.