El Shaddai (Updated)

This is a post that I have been thinking over for many weeks. I've finished reading through Psalm and I'm getting ready to dive into Proverbs. But I feel like I can't leave Psalm behind without sharing a few more thoughts.

Aside from being the name of my favorite song of all time (as sung by Amy Grant) El Shaddai comes in a close second as my favorite name of God. First place without question is El Roi, The God-Who-Sees.

I actually think that El Shaddai, which means The All-Sufficient-One, is an amazing companion to El Roi. There is so much in this world that is terribly hard to understand. So much suffering and pain and tragedy. Because God is El Roi, we know that He sees all of it, the good and the bad. But because He is El Shaddai, the All-Sufficient-One, we can run to Him for comfort when the difficulties of this world become overwhelming.

El Shaddai is also translated as Almighty God. Apparently there is some debate about which is the clearer translation, so I thought I'd let you know about both of them. I'm not scholarly enough to know which translation is more appropriate, but the one that I love is The All-Sufficient-One.

Here is a quote from The Names of God by Andrew Jukes:

"The thought expressed in the name "Shaddai"...describes power, but it is the power, not of violence, but of all-bountifulness. "Shaddai" primarily means "Breasted," being formed directly from the Hebrew word Shad, that is, "the breast," or more exactly, a "woman's breast."

Hold up! Are we talking about boobs here? Why yes, we are indeed, but only in the purest way possible.

If you are a mother, particularly one who has breast-fed an infant, and particularly if you were successful at it, you will get this connection instantly. Imagine the tiny squirming infant, wailing and helpless, unaware of anything besides the need to be soothed and filled with life-sustaining milk. That squalling, thrashing infant is you and me.

Now, imagine as the mother tenderly takes the infant in her arms, pulls him close to her skin and offers her heavily filled breast. A mother's breast milk is the perfect provider of everything that the infant needs. It lacks nothing, it is completely sufficient to meet every need of the infant-nutrition, liquid, warmth, tenderness, contact, and soothing.

Don't worry, I'm not going to suddenly diverge into a discussion of the divine female or anything. But you get my point. God is the provider of everything that we need. There is not one single thing in the entire universe that we need, which God is unable to supply, and supply abundantly.
You think of it, He can provide it when necessary.

I know a woman who loves to discuss the idea that God has very intentionally created us and our relationships with other people, to point back to Himself. I think this concept of El Shaddai as the All-Sufficient (breast) is a perfect example of this. The mother who provides for every need of her distressed infant helps us to understand the God who provides for every need of His distressed children.

Here is the first time we see the name El Shaddai in scripture, as it was revealed to Abram, in the same encounter in which God changes Abram's name to Abraham.

Genesis 17:1-2

"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am El Shaddai; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.""

Did you notice the part about "multiply you exceedingly?" I think that the "woman's breast" aspect of El Shaddai is reinforced by the way in which this name is first revealed to mankind.

Another passage of scripture where we see the name El Shaddai and the idea of "being multiplied" occurs in Genesis 28:3, when Isaac is sending his son Jacob to find a wife.

Genesis 28:3

"May El Shaddai bless you,
And make you fruitful and multiply you,
That you may be an assembly of peoples."

See what I mean?

You might be wondering what any of this naming of God in the book of Genesis possibly has to do with anything in the book of Psalm. I'm glad you asked, because I see El Shaddai all over Psalm 131, a very short Psalm, that has recently become one of my favorites.

Psalm 131

Simple Trust in the LORD
A Song of Ascents. Of David.

LORD, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.

Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever.

It is the part about a weaned child with his mother that made the connection for me. Only after you have come to know God as El Shaddai, The All Sufficient One, will you have a calmed and quieted soul. Only after you have climbed up in the lap of Abba, Father, who is also characterized with motherly love and provision here in Psalm 131, will you have a soul like a weaned child.

A weaned child has passed the stage of infancy. He has taken what was given and it has not only become a part of his physical being, but has also caused him to grow and become strong and mature. That is exactly what I need when I have spent too much time thinking about all of the sin and darkness that El Roi has witnessed in this world. I need time of close contact and nurturing from El Shaddai. And then, only then, can I sit and be calmed and quieted.

I also don't think that understanding El Shaddai as the All-Sufficient-One takes anything away from the translation of Almighty God. Both translations encompass the power of God and His ability to provide and accomplish whatever He desires. But the idea of sufficiency ties in so well with the picture of the woman's breast, that I can't help but prefer that first definition.

***I meant to add this part yesterday but forgot:

There is another verse in Psalms that immediately makes me think of the woman's breast reference in El Shaddai.

Psalm 81:10

"I am the LORD your God,
Who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."

One of the commentaries I looked over talked about the image of a baby bird with its mouth agape waiting for its mother to drop food inside and satisfy its hunger. But, once again, if you have ever nursed a very young infant, another image may come to your mind like it did mine. I remember this reflex so clearly showing up when my oldest was in the hospital. Although she never did breastfeed, it wasn't for lack of the rooting reflex, where an infant turns her head to one side and opens that little mouth as wide as possible, trying to find a source of food-the mother's breast.

The context of Psalm 81, is that God is commanding Israel to turn away from all foreign gods, and worship Him, the only true God. He is warning them that no other idols or gods will be able to provide for them. Only the LORD can fill their waiting mouths. And He wants them to open those mouths WIDE so He can fill them.

I can look back at so many times in my own life when I felt like I did not have everything I needed. So many years of feeling as though my needs were not provided for. Now that I have a little bit of perspective, I have come to realize two things. First, most of my felt needs were not really needs at all. God did in fact provide for all of my needs, just not necessarily all of my wants. And second, in almost every single instance, I was not turning to God as a helpless child, totally dependent on Him, with a mouth wide open and waiting. I was doing exactly what God warns against in Psalm 81, I was chasing after useless idols.