October 16, 2008 – 10:10 am
HT: Suzanne
In 1990, Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz (1903-1994) summarized an interpretation of the meaning of El Shaddai by Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (1135-1204), popularly known as Maimonides:
[Maimonides] explains El Shaddai in terms of “the God for whom it is sufficient (shaddai lo): the God who is sufficient in Himself, whose essence is Himself, not in functions [...]
Every once in a while you run across a verse or two that make you pause and scratch at your nose in bewilderment:
Give strong drink to the hapless
And wine to the embittered.
Let them drink and forget their poverty,
And put their troubles out of mind.
Proverbs 31:6-7 (Tanakh Translation, JPS)
These verses are bookended by the admonishments for [...]
November 5, 2007 – 9:36 am
Suzanne has added two more posts on her discussion of the various translations of El Shaddai:
Psalm 68: Shaddai cont. — Suzanne includes some of my earlier comments on the “God of the Mountain” and “God of Shaddai” possibilities, then quotes from the Jewish Encyclopedia.com on the exegesis of “He is sufficient”: “It is conjectured also [...]
November 1, 2007 – 6:20 am
As part of her series on Psalm 68, Suzanne has written a new article at Better Bibles titled “Psalm 68: Breasts and Mountains“, in which she explores some of the etymological roots of the ancient name of God, El Shaddai:
“In seeking the meaning or connotation for El Shaddai I have come up with no answers [...]
I had to chuckle yesterday. I was browsing through my blogroll links, checking out new posts while drinking my morning coffee. Seems like there’s always something new on Iyov’s blog, even if most of it requires more time than I have in the morning to properly digest. In any case, my eye was drawn down [...]
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai - ‘God Almighty’. Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.” (Genesis 17:1, NLTse)
While some Bibles, such as the NLTse above and the New Jerusalem Bible, include the name El Shaddai in the text, most Bibles footnote the Hebrew [...]