Concept
El Shaddai
Overview
El Shaddai (Hebrew: אֵל שַׁדַּי, romanized: ʾĒl Šadday; IPA: [el ʃadːaj]), or just Shaddai, is one of the names of God in Judaism. The Latin Vulgate rendered it as Deus Omnipotens (English: God Almighty), which is why many English translations render it as God Almighty.
In Hebrew, 'el plainly means "God." However, the meaning of shaddai is the subject of much debate. Some scholars have argued that it is part from the Akkadian shadû (English: Mountain), and Francesca Stavrakopoulou has suggested understanding the title as referring to unspecified fertility gods or wilderness gods.
The form of the phrase El Shaddai fits the pattern of the divine names in the Ancient Near East, exactly as is the case with names like ʾĒl ʿOlām, ʾĒl ʿElyon and ʾĒl Bēṯ-ʾĒl. As such, El Shaddai can convey several different semantic relations between the two words, including the deity of a place called Shaddai, a deity possessing the quality of shaddai, and a deity who is also known by the name Shaddai.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
7), light being an accident; yoẓer harim, “That formeth the mountains” (Amos iv. 13), i.e., that gave them their shape. In the same sense the verb is used in the passage, “And the Lord God formed (va-yiẓer) all the beasts,” etc. (Gen. ii. 7).
Moses Maimonides, The guide for the perplexed
States what El Shaddai is.
Thus Damascene (De Fide Orth. ii) holds as one heaven all the space between the waters and the moon's orb, calling it the aerial. According to him, then, there are three heavens, the aerial, the starry, and one higher than both these, of which the Apostle is understood to speak when he says of himself that he was "rapt to the third heaven." But since this space contains two elements, namely, fire and air, and in…
Aquinas Thomas, Summa Theologica, Part I
States what El Shaddai is.
In like manner miracles were called works of God, as being especially marvelous; though in reality, of course, all natural events are the works of God, and take place solely by His power. The Psalmist calls the miracles in Egypt the works of God, because the Hebrews found in them a way of safety which they had not looked for, and therefore especially marveled at. As, then, unusual natural phenomena are called works…
Benedictus de Spinoza, The Philosophy of Spinoza
States what El Shaddai is.
Related ideas
- Book of Genesis
- Hebrew language
- Moses
- Ten Commandments
- Semitic languages
- Hebrew Bible
- Talmud
- Achaemenid Empire
- Koine Greek
- Yahweh
- Zohar
- Book of Job
- Epithet
- Loanword
- Patriarchs (Bible)
- Book of Exodus
Place in the tradition
Part of Henotheism.