Patriarchinity Appendix 2: Understanding El Shaddai - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

© Chris Jacob Schaefer 2009

This fascinating title, El Shaddai (Al Shaddee), is really a double entendre of sorts. What? There’s wordplay in Ancient Hebrew? Absolutely. Its meaning is dependent upon the context in which it is found--especially with the meanings of shad vs. shaddahee seeming very different from one another.

El /Al = Mighty One or Power
Shad = the breast of a woman, pap, teat
shaw-dad' / shaw-day’= to be burly, i.e. (figuratively) powerful (passively, impregnable); by implication, to ravage -- dead, destroy(-er), oppress, robber, spoil(-er), utterly, (lay) waste.
shad-dah'-ee = almighty, most powerful

1 Thesis: El Shaddai* is Feminine.

Beresheeth/Genesis 35:11 (Abrahamic-Faith Nazarene Study Torah)

11 Also Elohim said to him, “I am El-Shaddai*: be fruitful and multiply; a nation; and a company of nations; shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body;”

Beresheeth/Genesis 43:14 (AFNST)

14 And El-Shaddai* give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother, and Benyamin. If I lose my children, then I lose my children.

* (AFN note: In Biblical Hebrew El Shaddai means the Mighty Breast that feeds and nourishes.)

We can see this from the meanings of the phonetic glyphs.

And in the above cases it is verified by the context which speaks about being fruitful (it is the feminine which bears fruit)-- even when a man is fruitful and multiplying, it is his wife or wives that are bearing the children. Obtaining mercy is often a feminine action. Also in the glyphs, the feminine nurturing aspect of the Ruach HaQodesh can be seen here, for it was the mother who taught her children Torah, and it is the Ruach HaQodesh Who reveals/teaches Scripture to believers.

2 Antithesis: El Shaddai* is Masculine.

In other contexts, the meaning of El Shaddai has a completely different gist.

Yehezqel/Ezekiel 10:5 (RSTNE)

5 And the sound of the cheruvim's wings was heard even to the outer courtyard, as the voice of El-Shaddai when He speaks.

Gilyahna /Revelation 16:7 (RSTNE)

7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Master YHWH El-Shaddai, true and righteous are Your judgments.

In the contexts of those verses, it can be seen that the main themes are authority over others, and judgement. The literal rendering in these cases would be: Almighty Highest Power. So in these instances El Shaddai is most likely referring directly to Father YHWH. Although the Gilyahna/Revelation passage could be Yehoshua.

3 Synthesis: El Shaddai Contains Both Masculine and Feminine Aspects Within the Structure of Divine Patriarchal Plurality.

There is a way to unify these diverse understandings of El Shaddai that would in fact be all-encompassing for all contexts.

YHWH the Father yokes with and leads the Breasted One (Ruach HaQodesh) when completing His (the Father’s) work with almighty unfathomable power-- El Shaddai: worthy of worship.

*note: the thesis and antithesis could be easily switched. Currently they are in chronological order, with the feminine context occurring first in Scripture. However, if the frequency of usage types were presented first, then the masculine contexts would be the thesis, while the feminine contexts would be the antithesis.

Reply by Lev/Christopher on July 25, 2009 at 5:50pm

Interesting study. What about the thesis in some Messianic circles that a shad is a demon and El Shaddai is the Power [that rules over] Demons? Since Shaddai evidently has application to both the Father and Mother(s), depending on the context, then might it not also have an angelic (good and evil) aspect (depending on context) too?

Reply by Yaacov on July 25, 2009 at 7:18pm

Well, I did mention this when i said "The literal rendering in these cases could be: Highest Power overpowering even shadim (demons). " However, in the contexts in which El Shaddai is used, demons did not seem to be a major theme.

Reply by Lev/Christopher on July 26, 2009 at 2:03am

Right - I was thinking primarily of the author of the RSTNE who takes this position - do you know on what grounds he bases such an interrpetation?

Reply by Yaacov on July 26, 2009 at 6:12am

No, the more i searched it out, the more marginal it seemed.

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Understanding “El Shaddai” (in 3 easy steps)

1 Thesis*: El Shaddai is Feminine.

2 Antithesis*: El Shaddai is Masculine.

3 Synthesis: El Shaddai Contains Both Masculine and Feminine Aspects Within the Structure of Divine Patriarchal Plurality.

**Understanding “El Shaddai”** (in 3 easy steps)

1 Thesis: El Shaddai* is Feminine.

2 Antithesis: El Shaddai* is Masculine.