God speaking, and making a covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to greatly increase their number and be fruitful. All the references to El Shaddai paint a picture of a God who is mighty to do as He says. What He says comes to pass.
You only need to look in Genesis 1: ‘And God said, “let there be light, and there was light.’ He is Almighty. He has spoken. El Shaddai is first mentioned in Genesis 17:1-2 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty, walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”This was God’s covenant with Abraham, and when Abraham heard it his reaction, in verse 17, was to fall face down and to laugh, because it seemed a ridiculous notion for a man 99 years of age, and his wife of 90, to have children. But in verse 19 God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son.” So, in the face of a natural impossibility, God declares that Abraham and Sarah will have descendants. ‘I am El Shaddai. It will be so because I have said so and I am Almighty.’ And true to his word Abraham did, of course, have a son Isaac, father of Jacob.
