Saturday 31 January 2009

The Name Of God - Shaddai

ok i'm really sorry but i didnt take any notes, so this is all from a bad memory.

We started off by looking at John 1v1 and how other religions thought that it meant that Jesus was God here, and we went to v14 where it says 'The Word became flesh' which shows Jesus is the manifestation of God's word.

Ruth 1v21 'I went out full and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?'
We looked at this verse because it had the mention of 'the Almighty' adn it was such a great way to describe God - The Almighty, and the english of Shaddai is 'Almighty'


Then we looked at Deuteronomy 12 v 3 +4. '3.And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. 4. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.' Which was showing that there was only one God, and all the wooden images (Asherim) will be struck down with fire.

Also we said that Yahweh meant - I will be who i will be


our homework was to find the last use of the word Shaddai and say what we think it means and what it says about it.

my comment:
Revelation 21:22 'And i saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the lamb'
i think what it is saying here is that ther was no temple because the temple is Shaddai.

2 comments:

Jon said...

Hmm... nice try Eilidh - The verses are there but the reasons we visited them have been lost slightly...

Admittedly the discussion about John at the beginning of class was a 'tangent' so we'll not worry about that...

In the book of Ruth, Naomi refers to herself, or re-names herself 'Mara' meaning 'bitter'. In the context of the passage it may appear to us that she is angry with God. But because she refers to God by the title 'Shaddai' meaning 'Almighty, all-powerful' then the passage could also be interpreted as someone who is struggling with her lot in life but who also accepts that ultimately it is the 'Almighty' who is in control.
Therefore, by understanding God's names and titles we can understand more about him but also more about scripture and how it and God is being presented to us.

The Deut. passage is where the Jews of years gone by were put in fear of writing God's name for fear of the written form being destroyed either intentionally or unintentionally. Because of this the true spelling and pronunciation of some of God's titles and names has been lost.

Now for your homework explanation...
Your answer in context to the verse is quite correct. However, you've found the last instance of the English translated word 'Almighty', not 'Shaddai' which would only appear in the Old Testament and not the New Testament which was written in Greek.

If there are no other offers of an answer i'll post my solution during the week.

debbie said...

The last use is in Joel 1:15 I think?
"Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty"

I think what its saying here is obviously that the Kingdom is coming - from what we've learnt about Yahweh relating to God's manifestation in the Kingdom - and the same God who brings that Kingdom is All mighty - and can destroy all those who don't want or try to be a part of it.

?