Tag: promise

El Shaddai

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When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
Genesis 17:1 (NIV)

There is so much depth in the Hebrew names of God, and the English has a hard time capturing it succinctly.

Yes, “El Shaddai” means “God Almighty.” But it also means so much more.

Shaddai is a word that has several meanings. The root is assumed to be SH-D-D, related to power, force, and destruction. The related Hebrew word “shadad” means to devastate, ravage, or plunder.

The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
Proverbs 11:3 (NIV)

The scriptures use this word as power against unrighteousness. Divine judgement.

But some scholars suggest that the root of “El Shaddai” may be something else. Focusing on the last part of the word (dai), the Hebrew meaning becomes “sufficient” or “enough.”

Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
Exodus 36:6-7 (NIV)

In this, they see El Shaddai as:

The God who is self-sufficient.
The God who is enough.
The God who says ‘it is enough.’

And it’s from this third name (The God who says ‘it is enough’) that we arrive at this teaching that says “with the name יְהֹוָה (I AM), God creates the world and it expands; with the name אֵל שַׁדַּי (God Almighty), God stops the expansion, so the world is contained.”

As the rabbis explored this name, they also saw something special about this covenant of Genesis 17.

Abram was already given a promise of land and progeny in Genesis 15; this new covenant can’t seal those two things which were already unconditionally promised.

So what is new?

God uses this Hebrew word “olam” four times in this chapter, which means “everlasting.”

It’s not the first time the word shows up. Previously, God mentions the “everlasting covenant” with all humanity after the flood.

I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
Genesis 17:7 (NIV)

Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
Genesis 9:16 (NIV)

But what’s different here is this promise of **relationship.**

In Genesis 9, God promises not to destroy the world by flood, but in Genesis 17, God promises to always be Abram’s God and the God of Abram’s descendants.

But this is conditioned on circumcision. An outward sign.

This is the nature of relationships: It has to go both ways. God is not merely “out there” keeping the universe from flying apart. He’s right here, desiring intimacy with us. He wants us to be whole hearted with Him as He is with us.

And if we will not? If Abram refused?

The rabbis see something else in the “sufficient” part of El Shaddai: Perhaps God says if we will not participate with Him, then there is no point to any of it. The world could end in fire and God will still be holy and have kept His word: “shadad = destroyer.”

To be “self-sufficient” is to need nothing. God can do it all himself.

And yet… God desires to engage the world with us, through us, in relationship. He wants us involved. He loves us. Though He is self-sufficient, God *wants* us.

To love God back is to respond.

In this way, our “works” in response earn us nothing. It doesn’t save us from fire or elevate us in righteousness. It is purely the manifestation of relationship: to be circumcised is to dedicate ourselves in relationship. To be circumcised of heart is to belong to God.

There is another meaning of “El Shaddai,” and it is tied to nurturing. It is the word “shad,” or “breasts.”

… because of your father’s God, who helps you,
because of the Almighty, who blesses you
with blessings of the skies above,
blessings of the deep springs below,
blessings of the breast and womb.
Genesis 49:25 (NIV)

In Genesis 49, Jacob blesses his sons, and “shaddai” and “shad” are tied together here.

And there is both a meaning of blessing of progeny and of comfort, like a mother holding her child against her body. Nurturing. Compassion.

El Shaddai cares deeply for you.

All of this in a name of our God: mighty, sufficient, nurturing, compassionate… for us. For you.

Come and meet my God.

Slave of Sarai

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The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
Genesis 16:7-8 (NIV)

When the angel first speaks to Hagar, he identifies her as “slave of Sarai,” and the rabbis debated over why this title is applied. Isn’t slavery bad?

It may be that the angel was telling her that she would be a slave forever, stating that this is her identity.

But there is another view, and it’s far more hopeful. After saying “slave of Sarai,” the angel draws a line in the sand:

Where have you come from?
Where are you going?

In these questions, perhaps clarity is given to us: the blessing Hagar is about to receive is not because of her status as an Egyptian, where hard labor and works defined her worth, but as her status as a member of the house of Abram. Of the blessings of God.

It’s awful that Sarai is harsh and cruel and that she chooses vengeance instead of grace, and that Abram says nothing. We can be that way at times.

Despite this, perhaps the angel is affirming Hagar’s proximity to God’s blessing. Perhaps it’s not about her her slave status.

If you’ve been mistreated by the people of God, but long to draw near to God anyway, perhaps the angel of God will come to you and ask you the same:

Where have you come from?
Where are you going?

God is with you.

Idolary of Family and Nation

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The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”
Genesis 12:1 (NIV)

“Family first” and “I pledge Allegiance” are the catch phrases of idolatry. Perhaps Abram’s departure from his own family and nation in Genesis 12:1 is a lesson in leaving that mindset behind.

Gifts from the Empire

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Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
Genesis 16:1-2 (NIV)

The text is quite clear. We are not called to use the gifts of Empire to try to force God’s blessing into our lives.

It’s not by our efforts, nor the might of Empire that moves God to keep His promises.

To Life!

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She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
Genesis 16:13-14

Translators and our concordances provide us with the plain and literal meanings of things, which is useful.

In Genesis 16, “Beer Lahai Roi” can be understood as the “well of the Living One seeing me.” The text basically explains itself in the passage.

But the Rabbis point out something else interesting here.

“Beer” (or Be-ayr) is well, or pit, or spring of water.
“Hai/Chai” means “living one,” like souls or living beings.
“Roi” means to see, but also the way a prophet sees. Just not eyeball vision, but like… having a vision.

So we get this “well of the living one who sees.”

Here it is in Hebrew: בְּאֵר, followed by חַי, and then רֹאֶה combined into this one compound word: בְּאֵר לַחַי רֹאִי

Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
1 Samuel 25:6 (NIV)

Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra says the phrase “beer l’chai” is like the phrase “ko l’chai,” which we read in 1 Samuel 25. It’s a cheer of blessing, which means “To life!” or “So may you live!”

If you’ve studied Hebrew or listen to Jewish people, you may have heard the phrase “lechaim” (or “L’Chaim”) which contains the same phrase as a cheer: “To life!” It’s the same thing.

That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
Genesis 16:14 (NIV)

So in this verse, ibn Ezra directs us to this phrase: “It is still there.”

The well was so called because the Ishmaelites held annual festivities at this well. It is still in existence and is called the well of zamum.
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 16:14b

In his commentary, he writes that even at his time (ibn Ezra lived from 1089 to 1167), it was common knowledge that the sons of Ishmael once held festivities there as an annual tradition.

He reasons that the phrase “l’chai roi” was a cheer of blessing, meaning “to seeing life NEXT YEAR!”

So the name of the well can also be understood as a promise to Hagar that Ismael will be born next year: it’s in the next year that you’ll see the promised life. L’chai Roi.

BEER-LAHAI. Beer lahai means the well of him who will be alive next year.
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 16:14a

The astute student of Scripture should get goosebumps here.

But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
Genesis 17:21 (NIV)

In our typical speed-run through scripture, we read that God later tells Abram that Ishmael is not the son of the covenant, but “by this time next year,” the covenant with Isaac will be established.

But this “life by next year” was already given to Hagar.

This doesn’t take away from Isaac or Abram and the covenant God makes with them. But what it does is firmly establish that God cares deeply for the oppressed: those who suffer will get God’s attention first. God will not abandon those who cry out to him due to their afflication.

In due time.

L’chaim.

Even in Death

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As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
Genesis 15:15 (NASB)

The English renders the Hebrew word “bo” here as “go,” and it makes the place of the dead seem far away, like a distant place to arrive after a long journey through life.

But the rabbis say this word more often means “come.” As in, even in death there is nearness to God.

In the Beginning, God.

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Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you into a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-3 (NASB)

Genesis 12 introduces us to the relationship between God and His people by way of a Promise that God makes. God makes the promise. God will keep it.

But this isn’t new. It has always been this way. Even Genesis 1:1 starts with “In the beginning, God…”

First, God.

Will Shem have Children?

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Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.
Genesis 10:21 (NIV)

Jewish commentaries say the phrase “were also born” is a narrative device that’s meant to come after a pause. The readers should wonder if Shem will have children. The writer delays giving the answer.

“Blessed” Noah had no more children, so how will God fulfill his Promise to bless the world? Would the blessing on Shem be the same or something different? And now we have the answer. Shem will also have children.

The Bow in the Sky

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Most translations render the symbol of God’s covenant to Noah and humanity as “rainbow,” and we all agree that’s what God was referring to, but the Hebrew word here also the word for “bow,” as in an archer’s bow. A weapon of war.

The imagery is that God has hung up the weapon.

My bow I have given in the cloud, and it hath been for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth; and it hath come to pass (in My sending a cloud over the earth) that the bow hath been seen in the cloud, and I have remembered My covenant which is between Me and you, and every living creature among all flesh, and the waters become no more a deluge to destroy all flesh; and the bow hath been in the cloud, and I have seen it — to remember the covenant age-during between God and every living creature among all flesh which [is] on the earth.’
Genesis 9:13-16 (YLT)