El Shaddai is the Hebrew name translated as 'God Almighty' in the KJV, and Les Feldick teaches that its distinctive emphasis is on God's all-sufficiency and the fruitfulness He gives.
In the English Bible, readers see 'Almighty God,' but in Hebrew the name is El Shaddai. Les points out that this name is consistently used in Scripture in connection with fruitfulness—such as 'be fruitful and multiply'—so El Shaddai describes the all-sufficient God who enhances fruitfulness.
Genesis 17:1 — This is where God reveals the name El Shaddai to Abram as 'Almighty God,' the Hebrew name Les ties to fruitfulness.
Genesis 28:3 — Isaac invokes El Shaddai when blessing Jacob with fruitfulness.
The King James Version translates the Hebrew name El Shaddai as 'Almighty God.' Scripture first attaches this name to God in Genesis 17:1, when the LORD appears to Abram and says, 'I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.' The same name appears in Isaac's blessing in Genesis 28:3, where he prays, 'And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people.' In Genesis 35:11, God again identifies Himself to Jacob in these words: 'I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.' These verses consistently show the name El Shaddai appearing in the context of fruitfulness and multiplication.
Les Feldick accepts the English rendering 'Almighty God' but shows from the Hebrew that El Shaddai is more specific. In Clip1, he tells his class, 'El Shaddai always is used in association with fruitfulness,' and points to the wording 'And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful.' He explains that whenever Scripture links God with someone being fruitful, the Hebrew term is El Shaddai. In Clip2, he calls El Shaddai 'the fruitfulness of God, the God of fruitfulness.' In Clip4, he says the name 'always refers to God as being the all-sufficient but also the one who enhances fruitfulness.' For Les, El Shaddai therefore points to the all-sufficient God who makes His people fruitful.
Les teaches that the Hebrew name El Shaddai is not used randomly. Every time the Old Testament connects God to someone being fruitful, the name behind the English 'Almighty God' is El Shaddai. He points to passages such as Isaac's blessing, 'And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful,' and God's words to Jacob, 'I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply.' In Clip4, he says the name refers to 'the all-sufficient but also the one who enhances fruitfulness.'
In Genesis 17:1, God says to Abram, 'I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.' Les uses this same verse to draw attention to the name El Shaddai and to clarify the word 'perfect.' He teaches that 'perfect' in Scripture, Old Testament or New, never means sinless perfection; it always means spiritual maturity.
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criticism was that group of theologians beginning in about the late 1800s, especially in Germany, who began to just scoff at certain parts of Scripture that they thought were unbelievable. And this was one of them. The higher critics just scoffed at the idea of using straw to make bricks.
El Shaddai Always Tied to Fruitfulness
Les corrects himself from 'Adonai' to 'Shaddai' and shows that El Shaddai is the name used whenever Scripture speaks of God making someone fruitful, as in Isaac's blessing.
El Shaddai as the God of Fruitfulness
Les points to Genesis 17 as the place where El Shaddai appears and describes the name as 'the fruitfulness of God, the God of fruitfulness.'
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After these things, the word of the Lord, or the word of Jehovah, all capitalized, came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, thy exceeding great reward. Verse 2, And Abram said, Lord God—now we've got to stop. What's different? The casual reader won't ever notice it. The word Lord is not capitalized. Typographical error? No.
The All-Sufficient One Who Enhances Fruitfulness
Les teaches that El Shaddai always refers to God as the all-sufficient One who enhances fruitfulness, and he clarifies that 'perfect' in Genesis 17:1 means spiritual maturity.
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Next one is in Judges 6.24, and it's the account of Gideon when he had defeated the armies that were about to destroy Israel. And after Gideon had destroyed the enemy in chapter 6, then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and he called it Jehovah Shalom. You all know what Shalom means, peace. And translated it's in the Hebrew, I am your peace. Meeting every need now of the nation of Israel.
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where Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called there, on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. Now the word in the Hebrew is olam. Now we covered all this way back when we were in Genesis. But this is another one of the names of deity. That the everlasting God is in the Hebrew word olam.
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Now here we have the term of deity spelled G-O-D in our English, but in the Hebrew it was Elohim, and Elohim in the Hebrew is a plural word. In other words, if you have a text in your Old Testament that referred to the pagan gods, plural, G-O-D-S, it's the same Hebrew word only without the capitalization. It's the small e, Elohim, see? And so it's the triune God of a plurality of persons.
Genesis 17:1: And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
This is the key verse where God reveals the name El Shaddai, translated 'Almighty God' in the KJV.
Genesis 28:3: And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
Isaac uses the name El Shaddai when blessing Jacob with fruitfulness and multiplication.
Genesis 35:11: And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
God uses the same name El Shaddai when telling Jacob to be fruitful and multiply.
El Shaddai is the Hebrew name commonly translated 'God Almighty' in the KJV. Les Feldick teaches that this name is used in connection with fruitfulness and describes God as the all-sufficient One who enhances fruitfulness for His people.
El Shaddai appears in passages rendered 'Almighty God' in the KJV. Key examples include Genesis 17:1, where God speaks to Abram, Genesis 28:3, where Isaac blesses Jacob, and Genesis 35:11, where God speaks to Jacob.
Les Feldick uses the phrase 'God of fruitfulness' to describe El Shaddai. He explains that every time Scripture links God to someone being fruitful, the Hebrew term is El Shaddai, so the name highlights God's all-sufficiency in making His people fruitful.
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