In this lesson, students learn that God is Almighty. He called himself El Shaddai.
Devotion
Exodus 6:3
I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name, the Lord, I was not known to them.
In today's lesson we will try to understand what it means to be Almighty--infinitely powerful. The words God gave to Moses illustrate two important aspect of His work. The patriarchs felt very alone in their lives. They were far from their families in a foreign land and needed to know that God was powerful enough to watch out for them. He tells us that while they heard and knew the name Jehovah, His loving care wasn't the work He needed to emphasize with them.
We think of the president as the most powerful man in the world. We have been emphasizing a different aspect of God. He also wants us to know that He cares for us individually. Would we ever think that the president would even know our names? But God wanted Moses to know that He was individually concerned about each of the children of Israel. He had seen their suffering and was ready to act on their behalf. So at the right time, He would be El Shaddai, the Almighty, and deliver them from the most powerful man of their day, Pharaoh.
God is still El Shaddai today. We can know that He is powerful enough to do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. Being Almighty means there is nothing He can't do. It also means that He can't get tired or run out of power because He has it all.
There are times when people like to talk about how great and powerful they are, but Jesus puts them in their place, when He tells them that they would have no power if He does not give it.
He used some of that power to conquer our sin, and give us eternal life.
The lesson
A relief of Ramses II from Memphis showing him capturing enemies: a Nubian, a Libyan and a Syrian, circa 1250 BC. Cairo Museum.[25
6 The Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. Because of a mighty hand[a] he will send them away, and because of a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.”
2 Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name, the Lord, I was not known to them.[b] 4 I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they were residing as aliens. 5 I certainly have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 “Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from being their slaves. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land which I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”
Exodus 6:1 Or with a strong hand. The question is whether Pharaoh is forcing them to go, or the Lord is forcing him to let them go.
Exodus 6:3 The name Lord does appear in Genesis, so perhaps this means that the full impact and meaning of the name were not experienced by the patriarchs as they were during the events of Exodus. Others solve the problem by reading this as an unmarked question: Did I not make myself known to them?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPWSv7UJ7dk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efug--txDCc
Questions.
שַׁדַּי Means Shadday or almightyt.
.παντοκράτωρ pantokrator all-strong
A study of physics tells us that energy and matter are related. Energy is the ability to do work and work divided by time is power. So since God is infinite in time, it follows that He is infinite in power or might. The ramifications are incredible. He can do anything without diminishing His power.