Posted on 12/21/2012 2:56:23 PM PST by SeekAndFind
RE: El Shaddai, a Hebrew name for God meaning “many breasted one”.. Men don’t have breasts.
Jesus also said that like a mother hen, he would have wanted to protect Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37), does that make Jesus female?
Let’s not confuse an image that God wants to project to people with how He says we are to address Him.
The word El Shaddai is translated as GOD ALMIGHTY in English texts and word shad has the meaning of “breast” in Hebrew (some other scholars believe that the name is derived from an Akkadian word Šadu, meaning “mountain,” suggesting strength and power).
This refers to God completely nourishing, satisfying, and supplying His people with all their needs as a mother would her child.
Connected with the word for God, El, this denotes a God who freely gives nourishment and blessing, God is “Shaddai,” because He is the Nourisher, the Strength-giver, and so, in a secondary sense, the Satisfier, who pours himself into believing lives. He is our SUSTAINER and our ALL SUFFICIENCY.
THAT IS ALL THERE IS TO IT. Let’s not go further and then infer that God wants us to refer to Him as HER or as “Our Heavenly Mother” from this simply because babies derive their milk from the mother’s breast.
That is going beyond what scripture teaches.
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