El Shaddai

“El Shaddai” is a name of God that occurs 48 times in the Bible and is usually translated as “God Almighty.”

There is debate around the origins of “Shaddai,” but contenders for the etymological root are words for “mountain”, “wilderness”, “strength” or “breast”. It is also suggested the name may come from a mountain in Syria called “Two breasts.”

It seems to me that we do not necessarily have to pick between these possible roots – that the name El Shaddai may have come to encompass all these connotations. “Shad,” meaning “breast,” may surely have both ‘masculine’ connotations of “strength” and ‘feminine’ of “nurturing.” The feminine form may suggest mountains (witness the place in Syria), which can simultaneously evoke both strength and remoteness.

The name “El Shaddai” is first used when God speaks to Abram when he is 99 and changes his name to “Abraham” with the promise to make him the “father of a multitude of nations.” (Gen 17:1-8) El Shaddai is our strength and our shield, who nurtures us even in the wilderness where all seems barren.