Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Exodus 6:1–8
“I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them” (Ex. 6:3).
In a study earlier this week, we visited Exodus 3, the occasion when God revealed His name Yahweh to Moses and called him to deliver Israel from Egypt. By Exodus 6, however, Moses had encountered difficulties in Egypt and was questioning the wisdom of proceeding with efforts to free the Israelites. But God came to him, announcing Himself as Yahweh and proclaiming, “ ‘I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty,’ ” or El Shaddai (see Gen. 17:1; 35:11). It is unclear why God made this point until we read that God went on to say, “ ‘I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan.’ ” God seems to have been saying to Moses: “You know Me as Yahweh, but your forefathers knew me as El Shaddai, the Almighty One, the One with the strength to fulfill the great and mighty promises I made to them. And they believed I would do what I said. You, therefore, believe, too.”
The name El Shaddai is composed of the root El, the generic Semitic word for “God,” and Shaddai. There are different theories as to just what this Hebrew word means; it is variously translated as “He who is sufficient,” “the Thunderer,” and “the Overpowerer.” But the accent in all these translations is clearly on the power of God. The word speaks of His strength by which He exercises His sovereignty. That it why the name El Shaddai is translated “the One who is all-powerful” in the New Testament.
It is interesting that the vast majority of the uses of Shaddai in Scripture occur in the books of Job and Revelation. In his bitterness, Job questioned God. In response, God questioned Job, asking whether he could do the things God could do. Question after question from God drove Job deeper into humility, until he finally declared, “ ‘I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You’ ” (Job 42:2). He had learned the power of El Shaddai. And in Revelation, God is repeatedly praised as El Shaddai, the Almighty One who has accomplished all His purposes by the power of His strong right arm.
When we come to church, we should come in the fear of God, not just because of His majesty, glory, holiness, righteousness, and authority, but because of the power of El Shaddai.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
As human beings, we tend to behave differently in the presence of “powerful” people. Do you find that you conduct yourself in a different way in the presence of God? Reflect today on the proper posture with which to come before El Shaddai. Pray that His benevolent strength will call forth worship from your heart this Lord’s Day.
for further study
- Psalm 18:1–2
- Psalm 24:8
- Psalm 68:34
- Psalm 93:1
- Jeremiah 50:34
- Revelation 18:8