El Shaddai

Let’s return to that gripping scene in the Judean wasteland. Imagine Jesus walking around his desert camp, fasting, praying, quoting Scripture, and no doubt declaring aloud Psalm 91, “El Shaddai is my refuge and fortress ...”

It’s interesting to know that El Shaddai can be translated God of the wilderness:

While the traditional English translation of Shaddai is based on the Greek ..., the Hebrew epithet Shaddai (שדי) has been understood by most scholars as deriving either from “mountain” (Akkadian šadû) or “field/wilderness” (Hebrew שדה). Hence, El Shaddai should more correctly be understood as the “God of the Mountains” or the “God of the Wilderness.”

“You are with me in the wilderness, God of the wilderness; you are my stronghold, God of the mountain crags.”

Now picture the evil one circling Jesus’ camp like a leopard or panther, just outside the firelight, watching intently, listening to the man he does not yet fully understand as the incarnate God declaring Psalm 91 aloud. I believe this is why Satan throws it back in his face:

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

Folks, the very next verse foretells his downfall:

You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

Clearly, clearly the reader is meant to understand the lions and cobras of Psalm 91 to refer to foul spirits. Satan knew that he was the very serpent Psalm 91 promises victory over, for he was the serpent in the garden that Almighty God promises would be crushed by a coming messiah!

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