188C] dVJ [Lesley. 



nothing, but it balances the 78 El of the first division of the verse. In the 

 five previous occurrences, which are all prose, El and Shedi occur in com- 

 bination ; in this sixth occurrence, in a poem, the El and the Shedi are 

 separated, but instead of El Shedi the poet writes Et Shedi. 



Exodus 6 : 3. Here we have a legendary commentary on the use of El 

 Shedi in Genesis. "Then Jebovah said to Moses * * * I am Jehovah. I 

 appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as Q)* El Shedi, and by my name 

 Jehovah was I not known to them ; and I established my covenant with them 

 to give them the land of Canaan * * * I remember my covenant * * * I 

 will bring you out of Egypt," &c, &c. It is surprising how the ideas of 

 covenant and land cling to this term El Shedi, and how not a suggestion 

 of violence, or the need of almightiness, is made in any of the legends 

 which carry the term El Shedi. The god thus named is evidently the 

 family or tribal deity of the Abrahamidte, quite different from the Jehovah 

 of the later Jewish cult. This is the only place in the book of Exodus 

 wbere El Shedi appears, nor does it appear at all in Leviticus. But in 



Numb. 24 : 4, it turns up again and significantly enough in the rhapsody 

 of the Chaldean prophet Balaam Ben Beor : " And he took up his parable 

 and said : Balaam Ben Beor speaks ; the man of open eyes speaks ; he 

 speaks who hears the words of El, who sees the vision of Sliedi, entranced 

 (?) open eyed," &c. Here again El Shedi are poetically parted for sake of 

 the rythm. But the same old theme is harped upon. It is always El 

 Shedi' s covenant and promise of Canaan to Abram : " How goodly are 

 thy tents oh Israel ! * * * As the valleys * * * gardens * * * trees * * * 

 planted * * * pour water from his buckets * * * seed in many waters 

 * * * his king higher than Agag, his kingdom exalted. El brought him 

 out of Egypt, strong as a unicorn, he shall eat up the nations his enemies, 

 break their bones, pierce them with arrows, crouching like a lion," &c. 



Here we see the first and current idea of fertility (shet), supplemented 

 at length by the idea of violence (shet), and the two combined in the most 

 poetic style. It is needless to add that all thought of Jehovah is absent. 

 The story belongs to Moab or the lands east of the Dead sea. 



Ruth 1 : 20, 21. We meet with no El Shedi in Deuteronomy, which is 

 wholly given up to Jehovah worship, nor in Joshua, nor in Judges. But 

 in another Moabite legend — that of Ruth — Naomi says to her old acquaint- 

 ances in Bethlehem, after her return from Moab : "Call me not Naomi 

 (the pleasing), call me Mara (bitterness), for Shedi has dealt very bitterly 

 with me. I went out full and Jehovah has brought me home empty. Why 

 call me Naomi, since Jehovah has testified against me, and Shedi has 

 afflicted me. 



In the Arabic poem of Job (included among the sacred books of the Jews) 

 we might expect El Shedi to appear frequently, from the facts already 

 mentioned, and also from the striking fact that the name Jehovah occurs 



* If this 3 were a 3 we could account for it; but an exact translation with 3 

 should read " I appeared to Abraham . . . in El Shedi," as if it were the name of 

 a place, i. e. Bethel. It is hardly possible that *7frO should here be Baal. 



