SHOD

SHOD

In Genesis 35:8-11 shortly after Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, dies, God appears to Jacob, changes his name to Israel, and gives himself the name God Almighty. What I noticed recently was the fact that God’s name God Almighty is El Shadai. In the context of the previous couple of verses it seems likely that a pun may be intended. Deborah was Rebekah’s nurse, literaly “Rebekah’s one who gave suck”. “Shod” is the word in Hebrew for breast, and maybe this is a stretch, but God is also our ‘nurse’ in some sense. Israel literally means ‘God preserves or perseveres’, and there is a very real sense in which a nurse does the same thing. Just after Rebekah’s nurse has died, God reveals himself as El Shadai, and shadai has the same root letters with an extra suffix. I’m not necessarily arguing against the translation ‘almighty’, I just think there’s more going on than the English can reveal.