what does El Shaddai mean? I think it's Almighty God but my sunday school teacher said its not it.?

Answer 1

אֵל שַׁדַּי or "El - Shaddai" means "El" of the Mountain or God of the Mountain.

Answer 2

El Shaddai (Hebrew: אל שדי) is one of the Judaic names of God. See El (god) and Names of God in Judaism#Shaddai. Literaly means "God of the mountian"

Answer 3

Shaddai has it's root in the hebrew word Shad meaning breast. El is a hebrew word for elohim-one of the substitute words for the unspeakble word for god.

There is much literary, artistic, and even psychoanalytical, precedent in imaging mountains or hills as breasts. God's name, Shaddai, a name invoking God's mightiness, is first mentioned in Genesis 17:1, where Plaut, in his Bible commentary, notes that some scholars derive the word Shaddai from the Akadian word for mountain. (The Torah: A Modern Commentary , p.116) . This name of God, often found on mezuzot (see footnote 14), is homophonically imaged in hills, because shad (or shaddaim, pl.) is the Hebrew word for breast(s), suggesting this visual/aural image connection to God's Name. In Zoharic terms, hills are supernal hills, the transit point through which Shechinah draws blessings down from Hesed to Yesod to transmit them to those waiting expectantly below, those who are "lifting up their eyes". (Tishby, Vol.I, p.434). So here I suggest mother's milk viewed as the flow of blessings from the supernal Mother-- Shechinah--to us below. These breasts, this nourishing milk, will bring the comfort asked for in the ensuing question.

Answer 4

The traditional understanding of the expression is "Almighty". This is already found in the earliest Greek translations of the Old Testament (Greek word = pantokrator). So most have translated "El Shaddai" as "God Almighty", its short version "Shaddai" as "Almighty"

There has LONG been a lot of debate about exactly where this word in this form CAME from. But please note that is not exactly the same thing as disputing what it means in its FINAL form. In other words, you might think it had some ancient connection to one of SEVERAL roots --meaning "breast" or "mountain" or "destruction" or "mighty"-- but STILL conclude that "Almighty" is a reasonable understanding of the final word. That's about where I, with most others I think, end up.

Here, briefly, are the main suggestions of the word's ancient root/history (with links to dictionary entries giving these other words):

1) shadad - "destroy with great violence/force" (and shad - violence, destruction); some suggest this at times may not involve violence, but simply mean 'act with power'... though this specific meaning is not clearly found in Hebrew
This meaning may reflect the same ancient origin as a similar Arabic word for "mighty"
http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/words.pl?strongs=07703
http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/words.pl?strongs=07706
** note that Isa 13:6//Joel 1:15 uses 'destruction' to refer to acts of Shaddai. This might just be taken as a wordplay, not necessarily proof of the name's meaning.

2) recently popular view --relates it to an Akkadian word for "mountain" [Akkadian or 'Assyro-Babylonian' was the Semitic language of ancient Mesopotamia... another branch of the Semitic languages from Hebrew]
This connection might mean the word is being used as symbolic for greatness and power (as a mountain)
One problem -- the Old Testament much more often uses "Shaddai" (WITHOUT the "El"), which would suggest the meaning "The Mountain" (or "The mountain one"??) which may be a bit awkward as a name for God (though he IS also called "the Rock")
** note that we end up at a similar place -- the word denotes great MIGHT

3) relate to Hebrew "shad" 'breast'
Some argue for this from Gen 49:25 - end of verse refrers to 'blessings of the breasts & womb' (that is fruitful in bearing children)
But this need not be anything more than a wordplay. (At any rate, the argument from the use in the same verse is no stronger than that for 'destruction' in Isaiah 13 above.)
http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/words.pl?strongs=07699

Some suggest this points to a view of God as providing blessings, compared to those of a mother gently caring for her own. Others have, I believe, become quite fanciful here, including trying to connect it originally to another female idea. Even if there IS some ancient connection of the name to the word "breast" that does NOT mean the title is 'the Breasted One'. For that matter, if this word for 'breast' is related to an ancient word for 'mountain' (which is easy enough to understand).

The strongest argument for an emphasis on his POWER (whether associated with wreaking destruction, being like a mountain, or whatever) and NOT on more 'feminine' traits, is that MANY of the uses of the word are in contexts where God is acting with might, whether to bless or judge. A mighty God can destroy AND be a strong refuge for his people. But the 'feminine' interpretation doesn't work well in these passages.

Perhaps more important is the association of this title with the period of the PATRIARCHS --and association with those in and outside of Israel who worshiped God, esp. BEFORE the time of Moses. Thus we find most of the references in Genesis, Job (set in a patriarchal time in another land [31 of the Bible's 48 uses!), Numbers (by Balaam, a non-Israelite), in Ruth (in the context of one of the book's many allusions to God's dealings with the patriarchs). (This accounts for all but five verses -in the Psalms, Isaiah, Joel and Ezekiel).

In fact, Exodus 6:3 explicitly connects this as a title by which the patriarchs had known God (vs. "Yahweh").

By the way, the choice of "El Shaddai" for the title of the popular song (lyrics by Michael Card, sung by Amy Grant) is hardly by chance; the song is based on stories of God's acts for the patriarchs.


See also:
http://cf.blb.org/Search/Dictionary/viewTopic.cfm?TopicList=10497&Topic=GOD,+NAMES+OF&DictID=4#ISBE