SPECIAL TOPIC: SHADDAI and EL SHADDAI

Shaddai
1. This is the non-Hebrew term/title, Shaddai (always PLURAL), not the common "El shaddai," which was the Patriarch's name for Deity, cf. Exod. 6:3). The word Shaddai (BDB 994, KB 1420) is an unknown root. Notice the possibilities.
  1. שׁדד, BDB 994 , KB 1418, a VERB that means “to deal violently with” or “despoil” (NOUN, “violence” or “havoc,” BDB 994)
  2. שׁד, BDB 993, KB 1417, an Assyrian or Akkadian word for a protecting spirit or a demon (cf. Deut. 32:17; Ps. 106:37)
  3. שׁד, BDB 994, KB 1416, a woman’s breast (cf. Job 24:9) or mother animal (i.e., goat in Exod. 3:8)
  4. שׁדה, BDB 994, KB 1420, a rare word, possibly “to pour out” (i.e., YHWH as rain giver, not Ba'al)
  5. שׁדי, BDB 994-5, KB 1420-1422, root meaning unknown; here are some guesses
    1. self-sufficient (rabbis)
    2. mighty (from #1 and/or Arabic root)
    3. rain giver (from #4)
    4. high god (Assyrian) or mountain god (Akkadian)
2. As is common in the ANE, the names and titles of one deity are often applied to another deity. The closest parallel language to biblical Hebrew is Canaanite (Ugaritic). In the poems to Ba'al, the male fertility god of the Canaanite pantheon, he is called both
  1. Elyon
  2. Shaddai
    SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, B.
3. The book of Job uses several names for Israel's Deity.
  1. Elohim ‒ only in Job 1-2 ( SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, C.)
  2. El ‒ many times, first in Job 5:8 ( SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, A.)
  3. Eloah ‒ many times, first in Job 3:4
  4. Shaddai ‒ 31 times, first in Job 5:17, but mostly in chapters 21-22; 27
    It is first used without "El" in Num. 24:4,16 and again in Ruth (cf. Ruth 1:20,21). It is found in the Psalms only twice without "El" (cf. Ps. 68:14; 91:1). It is found in the Prophets only in
    1. Isa. 13:6
    2. Ezek. 1:24
    3. Joel 1:15
      
      SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, A., C.
El Shaddai
The title "God Almighty" is literally El Shaddai. Rabbinical Midrash says that it means "self-sufficiency." The LXX and Vulgate follow this understanding by translating it "God (El) Almighty." Apparently this was the patriarchal name for God (cf. Exod. 6:3). It is used six times in Genesis and thirty-one times in Job (both in the historical settiing of the second millennium B.C.. Although the etymology of the trilateral Semitic root is uncertain, there are several theories about its origin
1. Albright asserted that it is from an Akkadian root that can mean "mountain" or "rock" (cf. Ps. 18:1,2). If the term implies "God of the mountain" as the true meaning, then it must reflect Canaanite mythology (cf. Isa. 14:13; Ezek. 28:2).
2. Babylonian religion (i.e., ziggurats being raised or human-built mountains, cf. Genesis 10) on which to worshp their gods.
3. Whatever the original intent, as early as Exodus 19-20 the focus will change to the God of Mt. Sinai (cf. Jdgs. 5:5).

For "El" see SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, A.