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El Shaddai

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This article is about the name of the Judaic god. For other uses, seeEl Shaddai (disambiguation).
"God Almighty" redirects here. For other uses, seeGod Almighty (disambiguation).

El Shaddai(Hebrew:אֵל שַׁדַּי,romanized:ʾĒl Šadday;IPA:[elʃadːaj]) or justShaddaiis one of thenames of God in Judaism.El Shaddaiis conventionally translated into English asGod Almighty.(Deus Omnipotensin Latin,Arabic:اللهالشديد,romanized:ʾAllāh Al-Shadīd)

Elmeans "God"in theUgariticand theCanaanite languages.The literal meaning of Shaddai, however, is the subject of debate.[1]Some scholars have argued that it came from Akkadianshadû( "mountain" )[2]or from the Hebrew verbshaddadשדד meaning "Destroyer".[3]Shaddai may have also come fromshadשד meaning mammary;shaddaiis a typical Biblical Hebrew word (שדי). The plural (Shaddayim-- שדיים) is the typicalModern Hebrewword forhuman breastsindual grammatical number.[4]TheDeir Alla Inscriptioncontainsshaddayinas well aselohinrather thanelohim.Scholars[5]translate this as "shadday-gods," taken to mean unspecified fertility, mountain orwildernessgods.

The form of the phrase "El Shaddai" fits the pattern of the divine names in theAncient Near East,exactly as is the case with names likeʾĒl ʿOlām,ʾĒl ʿElyonandʾĒlBēṯ-ʾĒl.[6]As such,El Shaddaican convey several different semantic relations between the two words, among them:[7]the deity of a place calledShaddai,a deity possessing the quality ofshaddaiand a deity who is also known by the nameShaddai.[6]Other deities are attested in various cultures. One is Ammonite Šd-Yrḥ.[8]

Occurrence

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Third in frequency among divine names,[9]the nameShaddaiappears 48 times in theBible,seven times as "El Shaddai" (five times inGenesis,once inExodus,and once inEzekiel).[10]

The first occurrence of the name comes inGenesis 17:1,"WhenAbramwas ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am El Shaddai; walk before me, and be blameless,'[11]Similarly, inGenesis 35:11God says toJacob,"I am El Shaddai: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins." According toExodus 6:2–3Shaddaiwas the name by which God was known toAbraham,Isaac,andJacob.

In the vision ofBalaamrecorded in theBook of Numbers24:4 and 16, the vision comes from Shaddai, who is also referred to asEl( "God" ) andElyon( "Most High" ). In the fragmentaryinscriptions at Deir Alla,shaddayin[12]appear (Hebrew:שדין;the vowels are uncertain, as is the gemination of the "d" ), perhaps lesser figurations of Shaddai.[13]These have been tentatively identified with thešēdim"demons" (Hebrew:שדים) ofDeuteronomy32:17 (parashah Haazinu) andPsalm 106:37–38,[14]who areCanaanitedeities.

The name "Shaddai" is often used in parallel to "El" later in theBook of Job,once thought to be one of the oldest books of the Bible, though now more commonly dated to a later period.[15][16]

TheSeptuagintoften translatesShaddaiorEl Shaddaijust as "God" or "my God", and in at least one passage (Ezekiel 10:5) it is transliterated ( "θεὸς σαδδαΐ"). In other places (such as Job 5:17) it appears as" Almighty "("παντοκράτωρ"), and this word features in other translations as well, such as the 1611King James Version.

Etymology

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The origin and meaning of "Shaddai" are obscure, and a variety of hypotheses have been put forward.

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According to Ernst Knauf, "El Shaddai" means "God of the Wilderness" and originally would not have had a doubled "d". He argues that it is aloanwordfromIsraelian Hebrew,where the word had a "sh" sound, into Judean Hebrew and hence,Biblical Hebrew,where it would have beenśadaywith the soundśin.[17]: 750 In this theory, the word is related to the wordśadé"the (uncultivated) field", the area of hunting (as in the distinction between beasts of the field,חיות השדה,and cattle,בהמות). He points out that the name is found inThamudicinscriptions (asʾlšdy), in a personal nameŚaday ʾammīused in Egypt from theLate Bronze AgeuntilAchaemenid times,and even in thePunic languagenameʿbdšd"Servant of Shadé or Shada".[17]: 750 

Another theory is that Shaddai is a derivation of aSemitic rootthat appears in theAkkadian languageshadû( "mountain" ) andshaddāʾûorshaddûʾa"mountain-dweller", one of the names ofAmurru.This theory was popularized byW. F. Albright,but was somewhat weakened when it was noticed that the doubling of the medialdis first documented only in theNeo-Assyrian Empire.[citation needed]However, the doubling in Hebrew might possibly be secondary. According to this theory, God is seen as inhabiting a holy mountain, a concept not unknown in ancient West Asian religion, and also evident in theSyriac Christianitywritings ofEphrem the Syrian,who places theGarden of Edenon an inaccessible mountaintop.[citation needed]

The term "El Shaddai" may mean "god of the mountains", referring to theMesopotamiandivine mountain.[18]This could also refer to the Israelite camp's stay atbiblical Mount Sinaiwhere God gaveMosesthe Ten Commandments. According toStephen L. Harris,the term was "one of the patriarchal names for the Mesopotamian tribal god".[18]In Exodus 6:3, El Shaddai is identified explicitly with theGod of Abrahamand withYahweh.[18]The term "El Shaddai" appears chiefly inGenesis,only with a fertility association.

Shaddai meaning destroyer

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The root word "shadad"(שדד) means to plunder, overpower, or make desolate. This would give Shaddai the meaning of "destroyer", representing one of the aspects of God, and in this context it is essentially anepithet.[3]The meaning may go back to an original sense which was "to be strong" as in the Arabic "shadid"(شديد) "strong",[19]although normally the Arabic letter pronounced "sh" corresponds to the Hebrew lettersin,not toshin.The termination "ai",typically signifying the first person possessive plural, functions as apluralis excellentiaelike other titles for the Hebrew deity,Elohim( "gods" ) andAdonai"my lords". The possessive quality of the termination had lost its sense and become the lexical form of both Shaddai and Adonai, similar to how the connotation of the French wordMonsieurchanged from "my lord" to being an honorific title.[19]There are a couple of verses in the Bible where there seems to be word play with "Shadday" and this root meaning to destroy (the day of YHWH will come as destruction from Shadday,כשד משדי יבוא,Isaiah 13:6 andJoel1:15), but Knauf maintains that this is re-etymologization.[17]: 751 

Shaddai as a toponym

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It has been speculated that thetellin Syria calledTell eth-Thadeyn( "tell of the three breasts" ) was called Shaddai in theAmorite language.There was a Bronze-Age city in the region calledTuttul,which means "three breasts" in theSumerian language.[20]

Shaddai meaning breasts

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The Hebrew nounshad(שד) means "breast".[21]Biblical scholarDavid Bialenotes that of the six times that the name El Shaddai appears in theBook of Genesis,five are in connection with fertility blessings for thePatriarchs.He argues that this original understanding of Shaddai as related to fertility was forgotten by the later authors of Isaiah, Joel, and Job, who understood it as related to root words for power or destruction (thus explaining their later translation as "all-powerful" or "almighty" ).[22]

Šad, which sounds like the eventual Akkadian, Ugaritic, and Hebrew words meaning "breast", means "to extend" (lengthwise) in proto-Afrasian and into "pre-proto-Semitic"[23]whilešdhmeans a plain in Canaanite but a mountain in Sumerian.[24]

Shaddai in the later Jewish tradition

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God that said "enough"

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A popular interpretation of the name Shaddai is that it is composed of the Hebrew relative particleshe-(Shin plus vowel segol followed bydagesh), or, as in this case, assha-(Shin plus vowel patach followed by a dagesh).[25]The noun containing the dagesh is the Hebrew worddaimeaning "enough, sufficient, sufficiency".[26]This is the same word used in thePassoverHaggadah,Dayeinu, which means "It would have been enough for us." The song Dayeinu celebrates the various miracles God performed while liberating the Israelites from Egyptian servitude.[27]TheTalmudexplains it this way, but says that "Shaddai" stands for"Mi she'Amar Dai L'olamo"(Hebrew:מי שאמר די לעולמו‎) – "He who said 'Enough' to His world." When he was forming the earth, he stopped the process at a certain point, withholding creation from reaching its full completion, and thus the name embodies God's power to stop creation. The passage appears in the tractate Hagigah 12a.[28]

There is early support for this interpretation, in that theSeptuaginttranslates "Shadday" in several places asὁ ἱκανός,the "Sufficient One" (for example, Ruth 1:20, 21).

However, Day's overview says a "rabbinic view understanding the name meaning 'who suffices' (Se + day) is clearly fanciful and has no support."[29]

Apotropaic usage of the name "Shaddai"

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The name "Shaddai" often appears on the devices such as amulets or dedicatory plaques.[30][31][32]More importantly, however, it is associated with the traditional Jewish customs which could be understood asapotropaic:malecircumcision,mezuzah,andtefillin.The connections of the first one with the name Shaddai are twofold: According to the biblical chronology it is El Shaddai who ordains the custom of circumcision in Genesis 17:1 and, as is apparent in midrashTanhumaTzav 14 (cf. a parallel passages in Tazri‘a 5 and Shemini 5) thebrit milahitself is the inscription of the part of the name on the body:

The Holy One, blessed be He, has put His name on them so they would enter the garden of Eden. And what is the name and the seal that He had put on them? It is "Shaddai". [The letter]shinHe put in the nose,dalet– on the hand, whereasyodon the {circumcised} [membrum]. Accordingly, {when} He goes to{His eternal home}(Ecclesiastes 12:5), there is an angel {appointed} in the garden of Eden who picks up every son of which is circumcised and brings him {there}. And those who are not circumcised? Although there are two letters of the name "Shaddai" present on them, {namely}shinfrom the nose anddaletfrom the hand, theyod(...) is {missing}. Therefore it hints at a demon (Heb.shed), which brings him down to Gehenna.

Analogous is the case with mezuzah – a piece of parchment with two passages from the Book of Deuteronomy, curled up in a small encasement and affixed to a doorframe. At least since the Geonic times, the name "Shaddai" is often written on the back of the parchment containing theshema‘and sometimes also on the casing itself. The name is traditionally interpreted as being an acronym ofshomer daltot Yisrael( "the guardian of the doors of Israel" ) orshomer dirot Yisrael( "the guardian of the dwellings of Israel" ).[33]However, thisnotarikonitself has its source most probably inZoharVa’ethanan where it explains the meaning of the word Shaddai and connects it to mezuzah.[34]

The name "Shadday" can also be found on tefillin – a set of two black leather boxes strapped to head and arm during the prayers. The binding of particular knots of tefillin is supposed to resemble the shape of the letters: the leather strap of thetefillah shel roshis knotted at the back of the head thus forming the letterdaletwhereas the one that is passed through thetefillah shel yadforms ayod-shaped knot. In addition to this, the box itself is inscribed with the lettershinon two of its sides.[33]

Biblical translations

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TheSeptuagint[35](and other early translations) sometimes translate "Shaddai" as "(the) Almighty". It is often translated as "God", "my God", or "Lord". However, in theGreekof the Septuagint translation ofPsalm91:1, "Shaddai" is translated as "the God of heaven".[36]

"Almighty" is the translation of "Shaddai" followed by most modern English translations of the Hebrew scriptures, including the popularNew International Version[37]andGood News Bible.

The translation team behind theNew Jerusalem Bible(N.J.B.) however, maintains that the meaning is uncertain, and that translating "El Shaddai" as "Almighty God" is inaccurate. The N.J.B. leaves it untranslated as "Shaddai", and makes footnote suggestions that it should perhaps be understood as "God of the Mountain" from theAkkadian"shadu", or "God of the open wastes" from the Hebrew "sadeh" and the secondary meaning of the Akkadian word.[38] The translation in theConcordant Old Testamentis 'El Who-Suffices' (Genesis 17:1).

In Mandaeism

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In Book 5, Chapter 2 of theRight Ginza,part ofMandaean holy scriptureof theGinza Rabba,El Shaddai is mentioned asʿIl-Šidai.[39]

References

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  1. ^Steins 1974,p. 420.
  2. ^Steins 1974,p. 421.
  3. ^abDewrell, Heath D. (2024). "The Etymology ofŠadday".Vetus Testamentum.74(2): 297–302.doi:10.1163/15685330-bja10132.ISSN0042-4935.
  4. ^"Hebrew Academy".
  5. ^Stavrakopoulou, Francesca (2022-01-25).God: An Anatomy.Knopf.ISBN978-0-525-52045-0.
  6. ^abAlbright, William (December 1935). "The Names Shaddai and Abram".Journal of Biblical Literature.54(4): 180.doi:10.2307/3259784.JSTOR3259784.
  7. ^Biale, David (February 1982). "The God with Breasts: El Shaddai in the Bible".History of Religions.21(3): 244.doi:10.1086/462899.S2CID162352850.
  8. ^Aharoni, Y. (1950)."A New Ammonite Inscription".Israel Exploration Journal.1(4). Israel Exploration Society: 219–222.ISSN0021-2059.JSTOR27924450.Retrieved2024-03-10.
  9. ^Lutzky 1998,pp. 15–36.
  10. ^Steins 1974,p. 424.
  11. ^'the LORD' replaced with 'El Shaddai' in Genesis 17:1 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'.English Standard Version (ESV). 2016.
  12. ^The word "שדין‎ "appears in theketivof Job 19:29, where it is somewhat obscure ( "גורו לכם מפני־חרב כי־חמה עונות חרב למען תדעון שדין‎ "). Knauf suggests that this may mean" revenger gods "in his article on Shadday, see reference later.
  13. ^Harriet Lutzky, "Ambivalence toward Balaam"Vetus Testamentum49.3 [July 1999, pp. 421–425] p. 421.
  14. ^J. A. Hackett, "Some observations on the Balaam tradition at Deir 'Alla'"Biblical Archaeology49(1986), p. 220.
  15. ^Fokkelman, J. P. (2012).The book of Job in form: a literary translation with commentary.Leiden: Brill. pp. 20–21.ISBN9786613683434.
  16. ^ Mears, Henrietta C.(15 January 2016) [1953]. "14: Understanding Job".What the Bible Is All About: KJV Bible Handbook(revised ed.). NavPress.ISBN9781496416063.Retrieved17 September2023.[Job] is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, books in the Bible.
  17. ^abcArticle on Shadday by E. A. Knauf invan der Toorn, Karel;Becking, Bob;van der Horst, Pieter,eds. (1999).Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible(2 ed.). pp. 749–753.ASINB00RWRAWY8.
  18. ^abcHarris, Stephen L.,Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto, California: Mayfield. 1985.
  19. ^ab"Gesenius' Lexicon (Tregelles' translation)".Blue Letter Bible.Archived fromthe originalon 13 May 2021.Retrieved12 January2015.
  20. ^George E. Mendenhall (2001).Ancient Israel's Faith and History: An Introduction to the Bible in Context.Westminster John Knox Press. p. 264.ISBN978-0664223137.
  21. ^"Shad Meaning in Bible – Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon - New American Standard".biblestudytools.Retrieved2020-04-13.
  22. ^Biale, David (February 1982)."The God with Breasts: El Shaddai in the Bible".History of Religions.21(3): 240–256.doi:10.1086/462899.JSTOR1062160.S2CID162352850.Retrieved2021-11-25.
  23. ^Ehret, Christopher (1995-08-30).Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian).Berkeley: Univ of California Press. p. 245.ISBN0-520-09799-8.
  24. ^MacLaurin 1962,pp. 439–463.
  25. ^Marks, John; Roger, Virgil (1978). "Relative pronoun".A Beginner's Handbook to Biblical Hebrew.Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press. p. 60, par. 45.
  26. ^"dai".Ben Yehudah's Pocket English-Hebrew/Hebrew-English.New York, New York: Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster. 1964. p. 44.
  27. ^It is understood as such byScherman, Nosson; Zlotowitz, Meir, eds. (1994). "Exodus 6:3 commentary".The Stone Edition of the Chumash (Torah)(2nd ed.). Brooklyn, New York City, New York: Art Scroll / Mesorah Publications. p. 319.Art Scroll is an Orthodox Jewish publisher.
  28. ^Talmud,b.Chagigah 12a.1–36
  29. ^Day 2000,p. 32.
  30. ^Sabar, Shalom (2009). "Torah and magic: The Torah scroll and its appurtenances as magical objects in traditional Jewish culture".European Journal of Jewish Studies.3:154–156.doi:10.1163/102599909X12471170467448.
  31. ^Schniedewind, William Michael (2009). "Calling God names: An inner-Biblical approach to the tetragrammaton".Scriptural Exegesis: The shapes of culture and the religious imagination – essays in honour of Michael Fishbane.Oxford University Press. p. 76.
  32. ^Trachtenberg, Joshua (1975) [1939].Jewish Magic and Superstition: A study in folk religion.New York, New York: Temple Books / Antheneum. pp.148.ISBN0-689-70234-5.LCCN39-14212.Retrieved23 Sep2023.
  33. ^abKosior, Wojciech (2016). "The apotropaic potential of the name"Shadday"in the Hebrew Bible and the early rabbinic literature ".Word in the Cultures of the East: Sound, language, book.Cracow: Wydawnictwo Libron. pp. 33–51.ISBN978-83-65705-21-1.
  34. ^Aviezer, Hillel (1997). "Ha-Mezuzah – beyn Mitzvah le-Qamiya".Ma'aliyot.19:229.
  35. ^Job5:17, 22:25 (παντοκράτωρ) and 15:25 (Κύριος παντοκράτωρ)
  36. ^New Jerusalem Bible Standard Edition.London: Dartman, Longman & Todd. 1985. p. 908.ISBN0-232-51650-2.
  37. ^Goodrick, Kohlenberger (1990).The NIV Exhaustive Concordance.London: Hodder & Stoughton. p. 1631.ISBN0-340-53777-9.
  38. ^New Jerusalem Bible Standard Edition.London: Dartman, Longman & Todd. 1985. p. 35.ISBN0-232-51650-2.
  39. ^Gelbert, Carlos (2011).Ginza Rba.Sydney, Australia: Living Water Books.ISBN9780958034630.

Bibliography

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  • The dictionary definition ofשדat Wiktionary
  • The dictionary definition ofEl Shaddaiat Wiktionary
  • Quotations related toEl Shaddaiat Wikiquote
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