Shaddai As A Theonym
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Balaam's vision described in the Book of Numbers 24:4 and 16, is explained as coming from Shaddai along with El. In the fragmentary inscriptions at Deir Alla, though Shaddai is not, or not fully, present, shaddayin, lesser representations of Shaddai. These have been tentatively identified with the shedim of Deuteronomy 32:17 and Psalm 106:37-38,, which are Canaanite deities.
According to Exodus 6:2, 3, Shaddai (שַׁדַּי) is the name by which God was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The name Shaddai is again used as a name of God later in the Book of Job.
The root word "shadad" (שדד) means "to overpower" or "to destroy". This would give Shaddai the meaning of "destroyer", representing one of the aspects of God, and in this context it is essentially an epithet.
Another theory is that Shaddai is a derivation of a Semitic stem that appears in the Akkadian shadû ("mountain") and shaddā`û or shaddû`a ("mountain-dweller"), one of the names of Amurru. This theory was popularized by W. F. Albright but was somewhat weakened when it was noticed that the doubling of the medial d is first documented only in the Neo-Assyrian period. However, the doubling in Hebrew might possibly be secondary. According to this theory, God is seen as inhabiting a mythical holy mountain, a concept not unknown in ancient West Asian mythology (see El), and also evident in the Syriac Christian writings of Ephrem the Syrian, who places Eden on an inaccessible mountaintop.
Read more about this topic: El Shaddai