El Shaddai
As we close off our series on the names and attributes of God, we'll be looking at three more Hebrew names that were used for God.Today we look at "El Shaddai".
This name is used in two ways in the OT: "El Shaddai" appears 7 times and "Shaddai" appears 41 times (with more than 20 of these being in the book of Job). While there is great debate about the origins and possible meanings of "Shaddai", the broad consensus is that the word implies "Almighty" or "Sovereign". This is particularly appropriate in the book of Job where Job is resisting "the Almighty".
There are seven occurrences where "Shaddai" ("the Almighty") is combined with "El" ("God"). Our passage in Ezekiel is one of these. There are a couple of things to note about this passage:
Firstly, "El Shaddai" is used in parallel with "Yahweh" ("LORD" in the text) implying that Israel's "I am" is also "God Almighty". Secondly, this is the very sad picture of the glory of the Lord departing from the Jerusalem temple. It is a reminder that God was not "enclosed" by the temple. The prophet Jeremiah had repeatedly warned the Israelites that their belief that the safety of Jerusalem was guaranteed by God's presence in the temple was unfounded. Ezekiel reminds us that God is Almighty, He is not "trapped" by the rituals and buildings of humankind. Thirdly, we know that the presence of the Lord moves from the temple and appears to Ezekiel at the Kebar river in Babylon and that the "creatures" pulling the "chariot" described by Ezekiel resemble the creatures depicted in the temples of the Babylonian gods. In other words, God is Sovereign and Almighty over all other gods - they are just beasts of burden in His service.
"El Shaddai" appears five times in Genesis where we get a clear sense that He is the God of generations who blesses us with offspring and a future.
So what do we learn?
God is Almighty. Job learned that he couldn't "take the Almighty to court". From Ezekiel we learn that God can't be caged and that He goes where He pleases and is sovereign over all other "gods". Genesis reminds us that He is the God of generations who blesses us with fruitfulness.
| Then the glory of the LORD rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the LORD. The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks. (Ezekiel10:4-5) |
