-
Thirteen years go by since Ishmael's birth; enough time for Abram to easily
forget God's covenanted promises. Abram was prospering materially,
Ishmael was growing into young manhood, the land was at peace, and quite
possibly Abram and Sarai had by now given up all hope of ever having any
children of their own because Sarai, at 89, is past the age of bearing
children.
Abram had no way of knowing, but God was just insuring that Sarai couldn't
possibly have children of her own except by a miracle, rather than via
natural reproduction. In other words; it appears to me that it was God's wish
that He be the paterfamilias of Sarai's one and only son; and therefore the
paterfamilias of the special line that descends from the son; viz: Jacob.
Till now, God spoke of a covenant with Abram only one time (Gen 15:18). In
this chapter God will use that word no less than thirteen-- nine times it will
be called "My" covenant, three times it will be called an "everlasting"
covenant and once it will be called the covenant "between Me and you"
†. Gen 17:1a . .When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord
appeared to Abram and said to him: I am El Shaddai.
"Shaddai" is from Shadday (shad-dah'-ee) which means: almighty. The word
"El" is not actually in the original Hebrew text but was penciled in by
translators. God's declaration could just as well be worded: I am all-mighty.
Webster's defines almighty as: having absolute control over everything;
which of course includes power over not just money and politics; but also
power over all the powers of nature; viz: quantum mechanics, magnetism,
electricity, gravity, inertia, wind, thermodynamics, pressure, fusion,
radiation, light, and of course the power of life; which is a power that
nobody yet as of this date has been able to figure out how it works.
The power of life is so far a mystery about which man knows even less than
he knows about the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
Anyway; this is the very first occurrence of the word Shadday in the Bible;
and from here on in, from Genesis to Malachi, without exception, it will
always refer to the Bible's God; and used to identify no other person.
Almighty became a name of God (cf. Rev 1:8) and was God's special
revelation of Himself to Abram.
Although Abram was aware of God's other name yhvh it was not by that
name that Abram became familiar with his divine benefactor. Abram's
progeny would get to know God better by the name Yhvh because it's a
name of God with special emphasis upon the aspect of rescue; whereas
Shadday has special emphasis upon providence.
†. Gen 17:1b . .Walk in My ways and be blameless.
Very few qualify as the kind of people with whom God prefers to associate.
He's picky that way.
This concept of walking with God was introduced back at Gen 5:22-24.
Apparently Enoch had it down pat; but Abram had a ways to go.
A principle woven throughout both the Old Testament and the New is that
worship is meaningless when it's unaccompanied by pious conduct. Take for
example the first 23 verses in the first chapter of the book Isaiah.
Yhvh's people were attending Temple services on a regular basis. They were
bringing sacrifices and offering. They observed all the feasts, and all the holy
days of obligation. They prayed up a storm; and they kept the Sabbath. But
Yhvh rejected every bit of their covenanted worship because their personal
conduct was unbecoming. In other words: their conduct didn't compliment
their worship. Yhvh was disgusted with their hypocrisy: they made Him
angry and gave Him a headache.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Thirteen years go by since Ishmael's birth; enough time for Abram to easily
forget God's covenanted promises. Abram was prospering materially,
Ishmael was growing into young manhood, the land was at peace, and quite
possibly Abram and Sarai had by now given up all hope of ever having any
children of their own because Sarai, at 89, is past the age of bearing
children.
Abram had no way of knowing, but God was just insuring that Sarai couldn't
possibly have children of her own except by a miracle, rather than via
natural reproduction. In other words; it appears to me that it was God's wish
that He be the paterfamilias of Sarai's one and only son; and therefore the
paterfamilias of the special line that descends from the son; viz: Jacob.
Till now, God spoke of a covenant with Abram only one time (Gen 15:18). In
this chapter God will use that word no less than thirteen-- nine times it will
be called "My" covenant, three times it will be called an "everlasting"
covenant and once it will be called the covenant "between Me and you"
†. Gen 17:1a . .When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord
appeared to Abram and said to him: I am El Shaddai.
"Shaddai" is from Shadday (shad-dah'-ee) which means: almighty. The word
"El" is not actually in the original Hebrew text but was penciled in by
translators. God's declaration could just as well be worded: I am all-mighty.
Webster's defines almighty as: having absolute control over everything;
which of course includes power over not just money and politics; but also
power over all the powers of nature; viz: quantum mechanics, magnetism,
electricity, gravity, inertia, wind, thermodynamics, pressure, fusion,
radiation, light, and of course the power of life; which is a power that
nobody yet as of this date has been able to figure out how it works.
The power of life is so far a mystery about which man knows even less than
he knows about the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
Anyway; this is the very first occurrence of the word Shadday in the Bible;
and from here on in, from Genesis to Malachi, without exception, it will
always refer to the Bible's God; and used to identify no other person.
Almighty became a name of God (cf. Rev 1:8) and was God's special
revelation of Himself to Abram.
Although Abram was aware of God's other name yhvh it was not by that
name that Abram became familiar with his divine benefactor. Abram's
progeny would get to know God better by the name Yhvh because it's a
name of God with special emphasis upon the aspect of rescue; whereas
Shadday has special emphasis upon providence.
†. Gen 17:1b . .Walk in My ways and be blameless.
Very few qualify as the kind of people with whom God prefers to associate.
He's picky that way.
This concept of walking with God was introduced back at Gen 5:22-24.
Apparently Enoch had it down pat; but Abram had a ways to go.
A principle woven throughout both the Old Testament and the New is that
worship is meaningless when it's unaccompanied by pious conduct. Take for
example the first 23 verses in the first chapter of the book Isaiah.
Yhvh's people were attending Temple services on a regular basis. They were
bringing sacrifices and offering. They observed all the feasts, and all the holy
days of obligation. They prayed up a storm; and they kept the Sabbath. But
Yhvh rejected every bit of their covenanted worship because their personal
conduct was unbecoming. In other words: their conduct didn't compliment
their worship. Yhvh was disgusted with their hypocrisy: they made Him
angry and gave Him a headache.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=