Songs are sung in all Christian communities and churches. Traditional and also modern texts and music. The modern and popular variants include “El Shaddai”. A song that also uses the term “Adonai”. A name that, in its current use, could also have a very dubious background.
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“El Shaddai, El Elyon, na Adonai”
Singing Christian songs is obligatory in almost every community. For harmony, before the sermon, after the sermon and also at the end of the service.
A very well-known song that is also sung in numerous evangelical free churches is “El Shaddai” from 1982. The lyrics and melody were written by Michael Card and John Thompson. “El Shaddai” was made famous by the singer Amy Grant.
The part sung in the repeated text passages (refrain) is: “El Shaddai, El Shaddai, El-Elyon na Adonai”.
El Shaddai
“El Shaddai” means “God Almighty” and occurs numerous times in the Bible, for example in Genesis 17:1:
“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.”
Genesis 17:1:
El Elyon
“El Elyon” means “God the Most High, the true God, God the Most High”, and can be found, for example, in Genesis 14:18:
“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.”
Genesis 14:18:
Adonai
“Adonai” is an “extension” for the biblical name “Yahweh” and means something like “my Lord”. In the Jewish faith, if the name of God appears when reading from the Tanach, the name “Yahweh” is not pronounced and instead replaced with “Adonai”. In the German translation, the term “Lord or Ruler” is usually used at this point, for example in Exodus 6:3:
“And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them..”
Exodus 6:3:
“Adonai” often used as a substitute name
“El Shaddai” and “El Elyon” appear several times in this wording in the Bible. The term “Adonai” is usually used together with “Yahweh”. “El Shaddai” and “El Elyon” describe God and His attributes respectively. “Adonai”, on the other hand, stands as an emphasis for “Yahweh”, the name of God.
This song pays homage to an Almighty and God [the Highest] with the address “Adonai”.
Which “scholars” decided on the replacement?
According to general explanations, it was the tradition not to pronounce the name “Yahweh” for fear of offending God with the possible mispronunciation. This is why the scholars of ancient Israel used the term “Adonai.” But as with other contexts, one always misses the question at this point as to which scholars were actually involved. The Old Testament is full of accounts of a hopelessly apostate people of Israel, be it Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel or Ezekiel.
Only a few people in Israel remained loyal to the true Creator God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who brought Israel out of Egypt with an outstretched arm and a mighty hand. False gods, mixing with the religions of the pagan peoples, idolatry and abandonment of God’s statutes repeatedly prevailed. The respective courts followed. Jesus Christ also wept over the apostate Jerusalem and lamented the persecutions and murders of God’s messengers, the prophets.
Nowhere is it ever questioned whether these scholars came from the ranks of the apostate people with their polytheism and false gods or from the small remnant of those who were faithful to God.
“Adonai” has been used several times
The name “Adonai” has a very interesting history and is truly not an exclusive name as an extension of the biblical name “Yahweh”. Even if the name “Adonai” is often used as a substitute for “Lord”, on the one hand this does not necessarily apply to the origin and on the other hand it could also mean other Lords.
Wikipedia explains that the name “Adonai” stands for “God” in the Jewish faith (Source). “Modern rabbinic Jewish culture considers it forbidden to pronounce this name [Yahweh],” a statement said. That’s why “Adonai” comes into play. The Orthodox Jews find this name too sacred to pronounce and use “HaSehm” (“The Name”).
The “Sun God” of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) is called “Baal” and in a broader sense also means “Lord”.
The many deities of ancient paganism have a lot in common. This particularly includes the “Sun God” revered in these religions. The other “gods and sub-gods” and their relationships with each other also show similarities in the respective pantheon. The world of gods of ancient Egypt can certainly be identified as a common denominator.
Albert Pike knew the term “Adonai”
The term “Adonai” found a place in Hebrew, but was also quite common in other languages. Albert Pike (1809-1891), an American lawyer, journalist, author and Scottish Rite Freemason, among other things, dealt with this topic. The name Pike may not be familiar to everyone, but for people with an affinity for “roses, eagles and stars” the name is not only a household name, but also a luminary in the field of “polytheism”. In 1871, Albert Pike published Morals and Dogma. Not just a reference work, but rather considered a “holy text of this guild”.
Morals and Dogma, pages 201-202
“The Hebrew word, in the old Heberew and Samaritan character, suspended in the East, over the five columns, ist ADONAI, one ofthe names of God, usually translated Lord; and which the Hebrews, in reading, always substitute for the true Name, which is for them ineffable.“
Morals and Dogma, page 78
“From Kur or Khur, the Sun, comes Khora, a name of Lower Egypt. The Sun, Bryant says in his Mythology, was called Kur; and Plutarch says that the Persians called the Sund Kuros. Kurios, Lord, in Greek, like Adonai, Lord, in Phoenician and Hebrew, was applied to the Sun. […] The Egyptian Deity called by the Greeks ‘Horus’, was Her-Ra, or Har-ocris, Hor or Har, the Sun. Hari is a Hindu name of the Sun. Ari-al, Ar-es, Ar, Aryaman, Areimonios, the AR meaning Fire or Flame, are of the same kindred. Hermes or Har-mes, (Aram, Remus, Haram, Harameias), was Kadmos, the Divine Light or Wisdom. Mar-kuri, says Movers, ist Mar, the Sun.
In the Hebrew, Aoor, is Light, Fire, or the Sun. Cyrus, said Ctesias, was so named from Kuros, the Sun. Kuris, Hesychius says, was Adonis. Apollo, the Sun-god, was called Kurraios, from Kurra, a city in Phocis. The people of Kurene, originally Ethiopians or Cuthites, worshipped the Sun under the title of Achoor and Achor.“
Morals and Dogma, pages 103-104
“The first Druids were the true children of the Magi, and their initation came from Egypt and Chaldaea, that is to say, from the pure sources of the primitive Kabalah. They adored the Trinity under the names of Isis or Hesus, the Supreme Harmony; of Belen or Bel, which in Assyrian means Lord, a name corresponding to that of ADONAI; and of Camul or Camael, a name that in the Kabalah personifies the Divine Justice. Below this triangle of Light they supposed a divinde reflection, also composed of three personified rays: first, Teutates or Teuth, the same as the Thoth of the Egyptians, the Word, or the Intelligence formulated: then Force and Beauty, whose names varied like their emblems. Finally, they completed the sacred Septenary by a mysterius image that respresented the sacred Septenary by a mysterius image that represented the progress of the dogma in its future realization.This was a young girl veiled, holding a child in her arsm; and they dedicated this image to ‘The Virgin who will become a mother’: – Virgini pariturae.
Hertha or Wertha, the young Isis of Gaul, Queen of Heaven, the Virgin who was to bear a child, held the spindle of the Fates, filled with wool half white and half black; because she presides over all forms and all symbols, and weaves the garment of the Ideas.“
The last passage with the Egyptian “goddess” Isis is very reminiscent of the mother-child image of Mary and Jesus Christ as an infant favored by the Roman Catholic Church (Info).
Morals and Dogma, pages 204-205
Pike points here to the tradition of using the name “Adonai”, its modification in later writings, as well as the prevailing superstition about the “ability” to correctly pronounce the true name. A ban on saying the name of God, as found in the Bible, also existed in the pagan religions, especially those coming from India.
“We know that for many centuries the Hebrews have been forbidden to pronounce the Sacrad Name; that wherever it occurs, they have for ages read the word Adonai instead; and that under it when the masoretic points, which represents the vowels, came to be used, they placed those which belonged to the latter word. The possesion of the true pronunciation was deemed to confer on him who had it extraordinary and supernatural powers; and the Wort itself, worn upon the person, was regardet as an amulet, a protection against persnal danger, sickness, and evil spirits. We know that all this was a vain superstition, natural to a rude people, necessarily disappeariing as the intellect of man became anlightened; and wholly unworthy of a Mason.
It is noticeable that this notion of the sanctity of the Divine Name or Creative Word was common to all the ancient nations. The Sacred Word HOM was supposed by the ancient Persians (who were among the earliest emigrants from Northern India) to be pregnant with a mysterius power; and they taught that by its utterance the world was created. In India it was forbidden to pronounce the word AUM or OM, the Sacred Name of the One Deity, manifested as Brahma, Vishna, and Seeva.“
The “last document” is missing
The term “Adonai” is therefore not an exclusive “extension” for “Yahweh” in the Bible, but rather a common name for their sun god, also used in peoples with idolatry. This doesn’t mean that “Adonai” in the context of the Bible automatically secretly addresses an idol God; there is still no definitive evidence for this, but “caution is the mother of the china box.” Who can verify today what the “scholars” had in mind more than 2,500 years ago and after? Were these “scholars” among the millions who had fallen away from God, or were they among the tiny minority of God’s faithful? Furthermore, there is no reason to follow any traditional superstition.
If, along with songs like “El Shaddai” being played in congregations, there are also images showing a person with their arms outstretched to the sun, then it would be appropriate to ask the pastor and those responsible for the liturgy.
For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
Mark 13:22
Bible verses from King James Version
