GENESIS CHAPTER 16 - 16:3 AND CHAPTER 17

GENESIS  CHAPTER  16

16:3 Hagar is a type of the law "which gendereth to bondage" ( GALATIANS  4:24__25 ).

GENESIS  CHAPTER  17

17:1 "Almighty God" ( Hebrew  El Shaddai )
( 1 ) The etymological signification of Almighty God ( El Shaddai ) is both interesting and touching. God ( El ) signifies the "Strong One" ( GENESIS  1:1 ). The qualifying word Shaddai is formed from the Hebrew word "shad," the breast, invariably used in Scripture for a woman's breast; Genesis  49:25; Job  3:12. Shaddai therefore means primarily "the breasted." 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. As a fretful, umsatisfied babe is not only srengthened and nourished from the mother's breast, but also is quieted, rested, satisfied, so El Shaddai is that name of God which sets Him forth as the Strength-giver and Satisfier of His people. It is on every account to be regretted that "Shaddai" was translated "Almighty." The primary name El or Elohim sufficiently signifies almightiness. "All-sufficient" would far better express both the Hebrew meaning and the characteristic use of the name in Scripture.

17:1 ( 2 ) Almighty God ( El Shaddai ) not only enriches, but makes fruitful. This is nowhere better illustrated than in the first occurrence of the name ( GENESIS  17:1__8 ). To a man ninety-years of age, and "as good as dead" ( HEBREWS  11:12 ), He said: "I am the Almighty God [ El Shaddai ] . . . I will . . . multiply thee exceedingly." To the same purport is the use of the name in Genesis  28:3__4. 
( 3 ) As Giver of fruitfulness, Almighty God ( El Shaddai ) chastens His people. For the moral connection of chastening with fruit-bearing, see John  15:2;  Hebrews  12:10;  Ruth  1:20. Hence, Almighty is the characteristic name of God in Job, occurring thirty-one times in that book. The hand of El Shaddai falls upon Job, the best man of his time, not in judgment, but in purifying unto greater fruitfulness ( JOB  5:17__25 ). See, for other names of Deity: Genesis  1:1;  2:4;  2:7  1  Samuel  1:3. 

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