Va'eira - Exodus 6:2-9:35

There is a lot of meat in the second verse of this week's parashah.

וָאֵרָא, אֶל-אַבְרָהָם אֶל-יִצְחָק וְאֶל-יַעֲקֹב--בְּאֵל שַׁדָּי; וּשְׁמִי יְהוָה, לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם.

Here is a translation (mine):

"And I [YHVH] appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as/with El Shaddai. And/but My name, YHVH, I did not make known to them." 

So let's break down the important components.

Appeared

The idea of an infinite God appearing to anyone was so problematic that the Aramaic Targum changes "I appeared" to, "I revealed Myself".

Remember, this is Moses, interacting with God, who encountered Him on "Elohim's Mountain", turned his face away so as not to look at YHVH, then left to do His bidding, and when Pharaoh sent him away, Moses went back to the mountain to talk to YHVH.

Yes, "appeared" is the simple reading, and the most suitable.

as/with El Shaddai

It is interesting that "El Shaddai" is typically rendered as "God Almighty" in most translations. If you read the Biblical texts, you will see that whenever this name is used, it refers to a fertility/protecting God. In fact, today, Jews still have the name "Shaddai" on their doorposts (usually written on the outer side of the mezuzzah scroll) and that item has often been referred to as a protecting symbol for the home.

Here is a list of the 10 times that "El Shaddai" appears in the Torah. The only exception to this reference are spoken by the Sorcerer Bilaam, who will be uttering a blessing to protect the Jews on El Shaddai's behalf.

Now, it can be argued that El Shaddai is another name for God. In fact, some translations render this verse as "...but my name EL Shaddai, I did not make known to them". But nowhere does this verse call "El Shaddai a "name".

Then you have that pesky prefix of the letter bet (ב) which is often treated as the letter kof (כ) by many.

What's the difference?

The letter bet refers to the location-relationship between to objects, such as "in, with, for, by, because of, at", which the letter kof as a prefix refers to a "not quite exactly the same"-relationship between two objects, such as "approximately, like, as, when (Biblically).

In this verse, it is being treated by most translations as though it is using a kof ("as") rather than the actual letter bet ("with").

The reason is that "I appeared...with El Shaddai..." causes some ideological problems.

I did not make known to them

The Exodus author is apparently unaware of some of the verses that the Genesis authors had used. Here's a meme to express that:

Also, Genesis 27:20 has Esau acknowledge to his father, Isaac, "Because your God, YHVH, sent me with good speed.". Genesis 28:13 has YHVH telling Jacob that he is YHVH, the God of Abraham and Isaac. 

Yes, this name was made known to them.

Conclusion

This verse has an anthropomorphic Deity who has appeared to others in the past, has spoken with them, and has called them by name, a Deity that exists with "other Gods" within a henotheistic (monaltry) mindset, who had appeared with El Shaddai (or perhaps as El Shaddai if you prefer, which doesn't make it much better), contradicting earlier texts composed by other authors.

It makes for an interesting discussion, don't you think? ;)