Introduction
Some believe that El Shaddai, a name or designation of God that is used several times in the Hebrew Bible, is a feminine name and that it means “the God with breasts” or something similar. Here is some information on this idea.
We don’t really know the sense behind El Shaddai. We can only go by etymology (the common meanings of parts of the word) and by context. However, etymology can be misleading and the context of verses where El Shaddai appears is varied. See, for example, Gen. 17:1; 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; Exod. 6:3; Ezek. 10:5. (The Christian Standard Bible, used for automatically highlighted texts on this website, usually translates El Shaddai as “God Almighty.”)
The Hebrew word shad (שַׁד), which is grammatically masculine, can mean “breast” but it also has other meanings, and I see no compelling evidence to translate El Shaddai (which is also grammatically masculine) as “the God with breasts.”
Shaddai Translated in the Septuagint (LXX)
The translators of the Septuagint (the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament) did not believe El Shaddai had anything to do with breasts. Hopefully, there was still some memory of how El Shaddai was used among the ancient Israelites when the translators were translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the third to first centuries BCE.
When referring to God, the word shaddai (with or without El) is usually translated in the Septuagint simply as theos (“God”). However, in Job 5:17, 27:13, 32:8, 33:4, 34:10, and 37:22, shaddai (without El) is translated as pantokratōr (“almighty/ omnipotent”). Furthermore, shaddai (without El) is translated as ouranos (the Greek word for “heaven/ sky”) in Psalm 91:1. And shaddai (in El Shaddai) is transliterated as “saddai” in Ezekiel 10:5. The Septuagint never translates shaddai with a word that means breasts when referring to God.
Shaddai in Hebrew Lexicons
While Hebrew scholars today give suggestions on what El Shaddai might mean, none draw firm conclusions. Here are some entries for Shaddai (šadday), as it relates to El Shaddai, in respected Hebrew dictionaries and lexicons.
Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT)
This paragraph in TDOT discusses the unlikely possibility that šadday means breast.
Breast. The understanding of Heb. šadday as “breast” is related to šadû, “mountain,” but moves away from this etymological basis in scholarly discussion in that this interpretation of ʾēl šadday as a god with breasts takes place against the background of the promises of increase in the book of Genesis (cf. Zoller). The “God with breasts” is explained by way of an assimilation of Canaanite fertility gods with Yahweh, a process leading to an “androgynous monotheism” (cf. Biale). The accompanying textual interpretations, however, are rather far-fetched, and as such the explanation of ʾēl šadday based on them is untenable.
Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (TLOT)
Here are two excerpts from TLOT that discuss Shaddai. Note the last line.
(f) Like the ancient transls., the etymologies suggested more recently also differ rather considerably. No consensus has yet developed. Since the material presently available does not permit an assured decision concerning a given hypothesis, reference will be made in the following to the more important older—also in terms of the history of the discipline—and more recent explanations suggested and briefly to the pertinent critical objections.
. . .
(4) šadday is related to the Sem. word for “breast” (Ug. ṯd, Hebr. dual šādayim, Aram. dual tedayyāʾ, Arab. ṯady) and is the name of a fertility deity. Cf. Buxtorf, op. cit. 276, who refers to the classical designation of goddesses (!) as mammosa (Ceres, Diana, Isis); cf. also P. Haupt, FS Wellhausen 212; and Albright and Zoller under (6). Since šadday is a masc. deity, this etymology deserves little attention.
New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDOTTE)
The NIDOTTE simply says, “‘God of the breasts’ has also been suggested.”
4. El Shaddai. The identification with Yahweh is made clear in Exod 6:3 (יְהוָה), which links God’s revelation to the ancestors by the name of El Shaddai to Mosaic Israel (see Gen 17:1; 28:3; 35:11; 48:3, texts often associated with the P tradition). Its common usage in poetic texts is noteworthy, as is its association with creation and blessing (Gen 49:25). The name occurs extensively throughout Job, a book without specific Israelite references. The name also occurs in association with the non-Israelite Balaam (Num 24:4, 16); in v. 16 it is par. to El Elyon (elsewhere only in Ps 91:1). The meaning of the name remains uncertain. Most often it is linked to mountains (hence, “God, [one] of the mountain[s]”), as gods often were in the ANE. “God of the breasts” has also been suggested. The translation “God Almighty” is based on the LXX; an abstraction of an originally concrete image, this may reflect an educated guess as to meaning on the part of the LXX translators.
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT)
Here are two excerpts from the entry on El Shaddai in TWOT. It only mentions what it considers to be “tenable suggestions.” There is no mention of “breasts.”
… We need to mention only some of the more tenable suggestions. One is that shadday is to be connected with the Hebrew verb shadad “to destroy,” hence “my destroyer.” A second possibility, and this is the most widely accepted today, is that shadday is to be connected with the Akkadian word, šadu “mountain.” Thus El Shaddai would translate into English something like “God/El of the mountain,” i.e. God’s abode. The ending –ay is to be understood as an adjectival suffix (and thus the translation “of the…. “)
. . .
As El Shaddai God manifested himself to the patriarchs (Exo 6:3): specifically to Abraham, Gen 17:1; to Isaac, Gen 28:3; and to Jacob, Gen 35:11; Gen 43:14, Gen 48:3. The context for most of these references is the covenant, more precisely the command for obedience and faithfulness on the part of the vassal and the promise of progeny by God. It is not to the hills (natural phenomenon) that these men of faith looked for confidence but to the Lord of these hills, the Lord of the mountain (Psa 121:1-2).
El Shaddai in Commentaries
Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16–50, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 2
Gordon Wenham has a few paragraphs on El Shaddai on pages xxxii-xxxiii in his WBC commentary on Genesis. In a discussion on the word El, he writes,
The most common “El” name in Genesis is El Shaddai, often translated “God Almighty.” This may be the oldest name for God in Genesis (so T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 67–72). Unfortunately, the meaning and etymology of “Shaddai” are obscure. Two suggestions have had a wide following. “Shaddai” is related to Akk[adian]. šadû “mountain,” and this refers to the ancient belief that El dwelt on a high mountain, where he presided over the divine council (e.g., Cross, Canaanite Myth, 52–56). Another possibility is that it is a modification of an Amorite title for God, bêl šadê “lord of the steppe” (R. de Vaux, Early History, 276–78), which would be another link between the patriarchs and Amorites ….
Genesis never gives an explanation of the epithet “Shaddai,” another indication of its antiquity, but the title “El Shaddai” always occurs in Genesis in connection with the promise of descendants (17:1; 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; 49:25). This is particularly fitting, for El is the only Canaanite deity who can grant children (de Moor, Rise of Yahwism, 69). The title “creator of heaven and earth” (14:19) is also paralleled outside the Bible.
Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16–50, vol. 2, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word 1994), 19–20.
The Commentators’ Bible: Genesis; The Rubin JPS Miqra’ot Gedolot
Here are how some Jewish commentators have responded to El Shaddai in Genesis 17, etc. None of them mention breasts.
RASHI
I am El Shaddai. I am the one she-dai, who has enough in My divinity for each of My creatures. So “walk in My ways” and I will be your divine patron. This is the meaning of that name everywhere in the Bible it appears: He “has enough.” It must be understood appropriate to the context in each place. …
IBN EZRA
El Shaddai. “Shaddai” is not a name but rather an adjective: “God Almighty” (OJPS); compare “the voice of the Almighty” (Ezek. 1:24) and “the Almighty will be your treasure” (Job 22:25). For a word of this same pattern, see “my heart is sick” (Lam. 1:22). Many would explain the term as coming from a root meaning “to destroy,” implying victory and power. The name is used in this chapter to frighten Abram into circumcising himself. …
KIMHI
… I am El Shaddai. That is, “Almighty” (OJPS) and victorious. Even though your wife is old and barren, and you are old and feeble and have still further weakened your seed, I can overcome all this—I am God Almighty. Nature stems from Me, and I can change it as I please.—As He told Moses, “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai” (Exod. 6:3). For all three of them had barren wives who ultimately gave birth by God’s will. …
NAHMANIDES
El Shaddai. These are two separate names, each with its own meaning. “El” refers to power, as in “the mighty men of Moab” (Exod. 15:15). As for Shaddai, see Rashi’s comment, which is amplified by Maimonides, who says in the Guide that He has no need for the existence of what He has brought into existence or of any other existence than His own; His own existence is sufficient in and of itself. What Ibn Ezra says in the name of Samuel ha-Nagid of blessed memory about its being related to the root meaning “destroy” is in fact correct. This is a reference to the divine aspect of “Might,” which rules the world—what the Sages call “the lower aspect of justice.” The reason this name is invoked now is because that is the name through which hidden miracles are done for the righteous, “saving them from death and sustaining them in famine” (Ps. 33:19), and “redeeming them from the sword in time of war” (Job 5:20), like all the miracles done for Abraham and the other Patriarchs, as well as those promised in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. …
Michael Carasik, ed., Genesis: Introduction and Commentary, trans. Michael Carasik, The Commentators’ Bible (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2018), 143–145.
Conclusion
Does El Shaddai mean “the God with breasts” or “many-breasted one”? Does it connote femininity, maternity or fertility? Probably not.
Explore more
My article, Is God Male or Masculine? is here.
Robin Cohn has an interesting discussion on El Shaddai here.
All 48 occurrences of shaddai in the Hebrew Bible are on BibleHub here.
Image Credit
Photo by Big Element via Pexels (cropped).
You can support my work for as little as $3 USD a month at Patreon.
Become a Patron!