I remember reading long ago that we can never understand the old testament unless we understand Hebrew. And I thought oh oh, that's me then. Looking forward to your help now!
Slight nitpick: as far as I'm aware, most scholars of Hebrew interpret the name El Shaddai to mean God of the mountain, which may be a reference to the Canaanite deity El (whom Yahweh was identified with and has imagery applied to him that belonged to that deity) who was believed to reside on the sacred Mountain Lel where the confluence of the Waters above and below the heavens met. Shaddai has been interpreted by some to mean breasted, but I'm fairly convinced that the mountain understanding of the title is probably the most correct. I do however disagree with Raby's view about consistency in how God is portrayed, because I think that for an atheist to say that because there's no consistent portrayal of God it therefore must mean that God doesn't really exist. The problem that I have with such a statement is that it's true there is no consistency with how did he is portrayed across cultures, but the conflicting nature of how a god, the Jewish god, or any God for that matter is portrayed I don't think necessarily means that those deities do not exist. People's perceptions of reality can be wrong and can perceive things differently, plus there is the whole subjective nature of reality as well, and of course as I mentioned beforehand it may very well be the case that all of these different gods are real different portrayals of deity can both be existed and contradictory. the only problem that I would have with such an understanding though would be that there are fundamental disagreements among different religious systems about the fate of the dead. Some believe in a definite afterlife, others reincarnation and others simply non-existence or the soul as wandering. That would be the only area of contradiction I would see in religious systems, I think for anyone to make the claim that inconsistency regarding portrayals of deity as an argument against the existence of God is ironically enough a faith-based argument because it is based on assumption rather than concrete evidence.
Yes, El Shaddai also can be translated as mountain, without question... Nice post here. Let me mull it over and I shall get back with you. Appreciate your time in posting and writing it!
Very interesting!...something you should be mindful in your quest to read the Old Testament in Hebrew which is to remember you are reading an Eastern, Ancient, Hebrew cultural text that was thought of, composed in, and written in Hebrew from that perspective. It was not written from a Western, Gentile, Modern, Scientific, Greek cultural perspective. That means there are passages of text which are organized by Block Logic (common in Hebrew literature) rather than always in a linear, chronological, cause and effect organization (common in Greek literature), Hence you fell into the fallacy that Abram's encounter with Melchizedek in Gen 14:18-20 occurred chronologically in the King's valley after the battle right before he met and talked with the king of Sodom. This is Hebrew Block Logic. verses 18-20 show how Abram was with a righteous king to highlight by contrast verses 21-24 of how he was with an unrighteous king. If you want to be chronological then verses 18-20 should be placed at the end of the chapter. Then the story has a more familiar flow if you go from verse 17 directly to verses 21 through 24. Block Logic, as I understand it (and I am not an expert), is better observed in Hebrew poetry like in the Psalms.
The concept of a God is so ill-defined and can and can only be described through ad-hocs and special pleading. And what is described turns out to only be a claim. I’m not sure why someone would believe in that
