Article December 28, 1935 Issue

Bible Notes

"Almighty God" (Gen. 17:1)—In the original, the words used are "El Shaddai," and in our Common Version they are uniformly rendered either "God Almighty" or "Almighty God." It may be noted, however, that the literal meaning of "El" is "strong or mighty one;" while the most probable derivation of "Shaddai" connects it with the word "shad," regularly used in the Old Testament in the sense of "a woman's breast" (see Gen. 49:25; Ps. 22:9, etc.). "God is 'Shaddai,'" Scofield remarks, "because he is the Nourisher, the Strength-giver, and so, in a secondary sense, the Satisfier, who pours himself into believing lives. ... So El-Shaddai is that name for God which sets him forth as the Strengthener and Satisfier of his people." Other students feel that by its derivation the double name "El Shaddai" suggests at one and the same time the might and the motherhood of the Supreme Being.

"I AM THAT I AM" (Exod. 3:14)—It may be remarked that "the Lord" (verse 15, etc.) is our English rendering of the Hebrew form "YHWH" (often pronounced "Yahweh," and sometimes "Yahwah")—which is generally agreed to come from the same root as "ehyeh"—namely "HWH"—"to be or become." "YHWH" is often taken to mean "He who is" or "the Eternal" (compare Moffatt's translation), or, again, "the self-existent One," "the Ever-living."

"Who is a strong Lord like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?" (Ps. 89:8)—In the original, the phrase rendered "a strong Lord" follows "who is like unto thee," and is similar in appearance to a word meaning "thy lovingkindness." Moffatt evidently concludes that the latter word formed the original reading; hence his translation: "Who can compare with thee in all thy love and faithfulness?"

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Testimony of Healing

From childhood I longed to belong to a church that followed...