When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless.” (Genesis 17:1)
One of the more well-known names for God, “El Shaddai,” simply means God Almighty. This was the name by which Abraham came to know God. As mentioned before, the name “Yahweh” was known in Abraham’s time, but God had not revealed the true nature or character of His name. It was later that God spoke to Moses, “I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them” (Ex 6:2–3). Abraham did not consciously know Him as the God who was committed to acting on his behalf but simply as a deity whose abilities were without limit.
If we take the genealogical accounts literally, Abraham was the 10th generation from Noah, and Noah’s father was born before Adam (of the Garden of Eden fame) died. This infers that Noah was alive for the first 58-60 years of Abraham’s life, and therefore Abraham would have learned about the flood from those who built the ark! And Noah was only one generation removed from direct contact with Adam. However, the family line strayed from the Creator God, Elohim, into idolatry (Josh 24:2), probably leaving Abraham with only a faint memory of the God of his ancestors.
Genesis 12:1 records that it was the LORD (Yahweh) who called him out of his paganism and gave him the pivot promises that would affect the entire human race (Gen 12:1-3). We must remember that Moses wrote this account, many years later, and Moses knew God as Yahweh, and thus used that name in recording the account. Abraham though did not know Him in the character of that name; nonetheless, God was indeed acting in the character of that name.
To Abraham (called here Abram), God revealed Himself by the name “God Almighty,” El Shaddai. Melchizedek, the priest of God Most High, had already introduced God to him as “God Most High,” El Elyon (Gen 14:18-19), But when he was 99 years old, God promised him a son by Sarah, his 90-year-old wife. Even in those days of longer life spans, they were long past childbearing age. But as Jeremiah wrote much later, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jer 32:27). God showed Himself to be almighty in overriding the normal course of nature and caused Sarah to become pregnant! Impossible for them, but not for God Almighty.
LORD God Almighty, I do believe that nothing is impossible for You. I trust You in my present circumstance. I believe; help my unbelief!
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