Yahshua, Jesus or Yeshua ?
by Avram Yehoshua
The name Yeshua is literally a transliteration of the Messiah’s name. When one says, ‘Yeshua’ he is speaking Hebrew. This is the name that all the Apostles would have known Him by and what His mother would have called Him.1 Literally, it’s pronounced Yea-shu-ah, the ‘Yea’ rhyming with the ‘ay’ in ‘say,’ although many pronounce it Yih’shua, which is also acceptable. In the Tanach (the Hebrew ‘Old Testament’) the Hebrew name of Messiah is seen in 29 places, mostly in Ezra and Nehemiah.2 In these places the name Yeshua is easily seen in English Bibles as Jeshua, which is the shortened form for the Hebrew Yehoshua (Joshua). The name Yeshua was used at least five hundred years before Messiah was born.
The name ‘Jesus’ comes into English from the Greek New Testament. The Greek Yea’sous is a semitransliteration of the Hebrew Yeshua. The Greek alphabet didn’t have the ‘sh’ sound to fully transliterate the Hebrew name Yeshua into Greek. Because of this the best that Paul and the other writers of the New Testament could do was to write Yeasous. (The final ‘s’ sound is the sigma showing that the name is masculine.) So, instead of a possible Yea’sue’ah it became Yea’sue’ous (i.e. Yea’sous).
It’s the ‘sous’ at the end that trips some people up into thinking that somehow Messiah’s name got transferred or associated with the pagan god Zeus. Some people believe we shouldn’t say ‘Jesus’ because the ‘sus’ in Je’sus is very similar to the sound ‘Zeus’ makes. This thinking is flawed.
First, the name Yeasous was written and given to us by the Holy Spirit through the writers of the New Testament. In the Greek Gospels, Acts, Letters and Revelation the name of Messiah is Yeasous. Obviously, the writers didn’t think they were calling upon the chief god of Mt. Olympus when they did it. Those that espouse that we shouldn’t say the name Jesus, and that Yeasous in Greek means another
god, are contending with the Holy Spirit who inspired Luke, Paul and John, etc., to refer to Yeshua in Greek as Yeasous. If the Holy Spirit, who inspired writers, didn’t think it was wrong to use Yeasous as the Greek name for Messiah Yeshua, there’s no need for us to think that the name Yeasous is wrong.Second, to demand that we don’t say the name Yeasous (or Jesus) because it sounds like Zeus may seem reasonable because of the similarity of the sounds, but it’s not rational. It carries the same logic of prohibiting the word ‘raisin’ because it has the word ‘sin’ in it, and yes, there are some who don’t say the word ‘raisin’ because of that.
Daniel Botkin pinpoints the interchangeableness of the names, Joshua and Jesus, noting that Neh. 8:17 has Yeshua (Jesus) for Yehoshua (Joshua).3 Joshua’s name in Greek is also Yeasous and is seen in the Septuagint (Josh. 1:12; 2:11; 3:1; 4:4, etc.), which predates Messiah’s birth by more than 200 years. Botkin also says that this, too, is proof that ‘Yeasous has no connection to Zeus’4 for the Jewish Sages, who wrote the Septuagint, would have been well aware of the pagan god by that name and wouldn’t have used those Greek letters to form Joshua’s name if they had thought there was a connection to it (or to ‘Hail Zeus!’ as some wrongly infer). These wrong concepts are the product of people who don’t know Hebrew or Greek.
The following reveals how the English name of Jesus came to be from the Hebrew Yeshua and the
Greek Yeasous:“The English name Jesus derives from the Late Latin name Iesus, which transliterates the Koine Greek name Ἰησοῦς Iēsoûs. In the Septuagint and other Greek-language Jewish texts, such as the writings of Josephus and Philo of Alexandria, Ἰησοῦς Iēsoûs is the standard Koine Greek form used to translate both of the Hebrew names: Yehoshua and Yeshua. Greek Ἰησοῦς or Iēsoûs is also used to represent the name of Joshua son of Nun in the New Testament passages Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8.”5
“During the second Temple period (from 538 BC—70 AD), Yeshua first became a known form of the name Yehoshua. All occurrences of Yeshua in the Hebrew Bible are in I Chron. 24:11, II Chron. 31:15, Ezra, and Nehemiah where it is transliterated into English as Jeshua.”6
“In English the Name has gone through some interesting changes reflecting its origin from the Greek Yeasous. In Middle English (1066–1450 A.D.) the Name was written as IHS ‘an abbreviation of (the) Greek IHSOYS (‘Iesous’).’7 In the 16th century the Name was Iesu or Iesus and in William Tyndale’s 1526 New Testament we find Mt. 1:1 being written as ‘The boke off the generacion off Ihesus Christ,’ with Mt. 8:29 as ‘O Iesu the sonne off God.’”8
In the 17th century the J replaced the I to make Jesu. By the 18th century the ‘s’ was added to make our familiar ‘Jesus.’9 The point of this is that the name Jesus has evolved linguistically directly from the ancient Greek New Testament which was a proper way of saying Yeshua in Greek. The name Jesus is OK. Changing Messiah’s Hebrew name to Yeasous was not unbiblical or a sin. It was the Greek way of saying Yeshua.
He came in His Father’s Name
Another aspect of Messiah’s Hebrew name is the penchant for so-called Sacred Name organizations to write it as Yahshua or some derivation with ‘Yah’ in the front. This is a theological statement on their part whose shaky foundation rests on a poor interpretation of the words of Messiah who spoke of coming in His Father’s name (Jn. 5:43). As that name is generally seen to be Yahveh (pronounced Yah-vay), which they mispronounce by saying Yahweh (there being no ‘w’ sound in modern or ancient Hebrew), or some form thereof, they deem it necessary ‘to correct’ how Yeshua’s name is spelled, hence, the name ‘Yahshua.’ Their theological reasoning is as valid as those who won’t say ‘raisin’ because it has ‘sin’ in it. The ambassador from the United States to France comes ‘in the name of the President of the United States,’ but the ambassador doesn’t add either the ‘United States’ or the name of the current President to the name that he was born with. Coming in the name of the President of the United States means that the ambassador comes in the authority of the President.
When the Messiah of Israel was born, the name ‘Yeshua’ was a popular name given to Jewish baby boys. ‘Yeshua was a common name among Jews of the Second Temple Period.’10 Also,
“In the context of the documentary entitled The Lost Tomb of Jesus, archeologist Amos Kloner stated that the name Yeshua was then a popular form of the name Yehoshua and was ‘one of the common names in the time of the Second Temple.’11
‘In discussing whether it was remarkable to find a tomb with the name of Jesus (the particular ossuary in question bears the inscription ‘Yehuda bar Yeshua’), he pointed out that the name had been found 71 times in burial caves from that time period.”12
In 1st Samuel 25:9 David sends some men to seek food from Nabal, a wealthy, but foolish sheep owner. It’s written,
‘When David’s young men came they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David’s name. Then they waited.’
The men came in the authority of David because David had sent them. Are we to assume that all the men changed their names to incorporate ‘David,’ or a portion of his name, into their names? Placing the Yah of Yahveh into Messiah’s name doesn’t have any biblical or linguistic foundation. Sanford Howard says that the so-called Sacred Name groups’ Yahshua cannot be found in the Scriptures:
‘In our own day, some…assert that there is but one name and one name only by which The Messiah, The Son of God, should be known, and that it is Yashuah’ (or Yahshua/h). ‘This is far from the truth and certainly not in harmony with the Holy Scriptures. Nowhere in the Bible, Hebrew or Greek, can one find such a name.’13
Botkin confirms this and writes that the name Yahshua didn’t come on the scene until 1936, and that, by people that didn’t know Hebrew. Dr. Ben-Gigi states, ‘there is no such name in Hebrew’ and that people invented ‘the name Yahshua to fit their theology.’14
Botkin also sounds a note of warning about some Sacred Name publications that are less than honest in ‘quoting sources’ to prove that Yahshua is the correct name of Messiah. One such writer made it appear that the prestigious Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, along with other resources, used the names of Yahoshua and Yahshua, but when Botkin looked up the references he found that no such names were used.15
It’s not only Sacred Name groups and their insistence on a wrong name for Messiah. If it were only that it would just be a minor pronunciation problem. The name Yahshua for them becomes an issue of salvation when they say that anyone not saying ‘Yahshua’ isn’t saved. This is an extreme heresy:
“Those who follow Sacred Name teachings (such as the Assemblies of Yahweh) believe that it is essential to salvation to use the correct pronunciation of the name of the one most Christians call ‘Jesus.’”16
Scholars who know Hebrew disagree with calling Messiah ‘Yahshua.’ These scholars say that the Hebrew name of Messiah is Yeshua, not Yahshua:
‘Opponents’ (of Sacred Name groups) ‘claim this pronunciation of’ Messiah’s Name ‘first came into use during the early days of the Sacred Name movement in the 1930s, perhaps developed by leaders such as Angelo Traina and C. Dodd. Christians, historians, and linguists outside the Sacred Name movement for the most part reject the term Yahshua in favor of Yeshua ( ישוע ) as the original pronunciation.”17
Some Sacred Name groups go so far as to say that Messiah is not God the Son (although some give their ‘Yahshua’ sonship after the Resurrection). This is Arianism, an ancient heresy. It teaches that Jesus was a created being, not equal to the Father in deity. Yet, the New Testament, as well as the Old, proclaim Messiah to be God the Son.18 The sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah is able to cleanse us of our sins and give us eternal life because His Life, the Life of God the Son, was in His blood (Lev. 17:11). All the animal sacrifices had to be animals that were without defect or blemish,19 and as such, symbolized their innocence, purity and sinlessness. The animal sacrifices pointed to the sinless sacrifice of Messiah Yeshua.
If Messiah Yeshua were a man that was given the Holy Spirit to become the Messiah, as many of those cults speak of, He would have been a sinner. No sinful man can die to remove the sins of another sinful man. That’s why the Father sent His Son, so Yeshua could die in our place (as the animals died in the place of sinful Hebrews). The sacrifice of animals, ordained by the God of Israel, offered forgiveness of sins (Lev. 4:1-35), but the shed blood of God the Son offers forgiveness of sins, a new nature and eternal life (Heb. 5:5-10; 9:12-14; 10:11-14; 1st Peter 1:1:3-5; etc.).20
Sanford Howard goes on to say that the Son coming in the ‘name’ of the Father meant that as the Father has names that point to His role in saving His people, so the Son would, too. This applies to His ability to pardon sins (part of salvation), but is not limited to it. The name Yeshua means salvation of Yahveh as Yeshua ‘is a contraction of Yehoshua.’21 Richard Weymouth further explains that the name Jesus comes from ‘Joshua’ and speaks of Yahveh as Savior:
‘The Greek form of ‘Joshua’, which later (like ‘Joram’ 2nd Kings 9:14 for ‘Jehoram’ 2nd Kings 9:15; ‘Joash’ 2nd Kings 12:20 for ‘Jehoash’ 2nd Kings 12:1; and ‘Jonathan’ most commonly for the ‘Jehonathan’ which we find in the Hebrew in 1st Sam.), is contracted from ‘Jehoshua’ or rather ‘Yehoshua.’22 ‘The full significance of the name ‘Jesus’ is seen in the original ‘Yeho’shua,’23 which means Yahveh is Savior or Yahveh saves.
Howard, in seeing ‘the name’ of the Father ‘in the Son’ as a function of what the Son would do writes that when the Messiah came to Earth and took upon Himself human flesh,
“the Father sent His angel to declare the Messiah’s name, ‘Yeshua’ (Mt. 1:21). Since Yeshua means ‘Salvation of Yahveh,’ we can now understand what the Messiah meant when He said, ‘I am come in My Father’s name’; and what the Father meant when He said, ‘My name is in Him.’”24
The Son coming in the Father’s name speaks of the authority that the Son had in displaying redemption– salvation to Israel through His words and miraculous deeds. He had the authority of the One who had sent Him (Jn. 14:8-10). It doesn’t mean that Messiah’s name has to have ‘Yah’ in it.
Coming ‘in the name’ of Yahveh means that Yeshua came in the authority of His Father. This is what Yeshua meant when He said that He had been sent by the Father.25 John 4:34 is one place of many that presents this:
John 4:34: “Yeshua said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.’”
Yeshua had the authority of the One who sent Him (Dt. 18:15-18; Jn. 14:8-10). Interesting to realize is that Moses was also sent by God from Mt. Sinai. He, too, came in the Name of Yahveh (Ex. 3:13-16f.), but that didn’t change his name to Yah’moses,26 unless, of course, one’s name is Rocky Balboa: ‘Yo! Moses!’
More on the Name
This next series of quotes has much insight into Messiah’s name and those who insist it’s Yahshua:
“A relatively new thing is referring to Yeshua as ‘Yahshua.’ I've never met a native Hebrew speaker who says Yahshua. Greek uses the dipthong Ie to make the Y sound and it’s impossible to say a Greek word with an ‘h’ in the middle of it. Also, male names are generally given the ‘us’ suffix (literally ous in Greek because the ou makes the oo as in ‘boot’ sound…and please ignore the myth that ‘Jesus’ is from the name Zeus—it’s a lie—most Greek names end with us, os, or as). Thus, Yeshua is properly rendered Iesus in Greek, just as the Jewish translators of the LXX27 translate the name Yeshua (Jeshua) as Iesus into Greek (and they were not pagans). Note that the Apostolic Writings do not render His Name Iasus (Yahshua) in the Greek. It’s Iesus.”
“Indeed, Yahshua is not very good Hebrew because it creates the impossible construction of having two inflections in one word (the Yah and the shu both want to carry the inflection, an impossibility in Hebrew). Yeshua (actually Yeishua) means ‘He Saves’ as in, ‘You shall name Him Yeshua, for He shall save His people from their sins.’ Yeshua was a ‘common name in the first century and rendered Jeshua where it appears in the Tanach (see Strong’s number 3442). Even Rambam, in one of his writings, called Yeshua ‘Yeshua’ (rather than the derogatory Yeshu)28 and not Yahshua…The Jews don’t say Yahshua. So where does Yahshua come from?’”
“I have been told that people say Yahshua based on the verse where Yeshua says He came in His Father’s Name (John 5:43)—that’s it. It’s not based on an understanding of the Hebrew language. It’s not based on the Greek translation. It’s not based on historical documents. It’s based on a myopic Western understanding of one verse. What they don’t understand is that Yeshua’s statement is a Hebraic way of saying that He came with His Father’s authority, not that His Name contains His Father’s Name (David told Goliath that he came in the Name Yahveh, and Jerusalem is the place where God chose to place His Name—neither of which contain ‘Yah’).29
Hebrews with no Yah
The following is a partial list of Hebrew names that don’t begin with ‘Yah,’ to further debunk the myth that Messiah’s Name has to begin with it:
The Hebrew name of the Messiah is spelled Yeshua (literally pronounced, Yea’shua, but when spoken in the Hebrew language by native and non-native speakers it sounds more like Yih’shua, hence, Yeshua as an English spelling). The name Yeshua comes from the Hebrew verb יָשַׁע (ya’sha), which means ‘to save:’
יָשַׁע“ (ya’sha) vb. Hiph. deliver; Hiph. 1. deliver, save…abs. Specif. save, from evils and troubles:” This is the verb that Messiah’s name comes from.
יֵשַׁע“ (yea’sha) n.m. deliverance, rescue, salvation.”
יְשׁוּעָה“ (yih’shua) n.f. salvation. 2. deliverance. 3. salvation by God, primarily from external evils, but often with added spiritual idea.”36 (This masculine noun, without its last Hebrew letter, are the consonants that spell Yeshua.)
The verb yasha means ‘to deliver or save,’ and so, Messiah’s name, Yeshua, which is a masculine noun, literally means savior or deliverer. This is why the angel Gabriel told Joseph to name Him Yeshua, saying, ‘He will save His people from their sins’ (Mt. 1:21). It’s a Hebraic play on words. In Hebrew it’s pronounced, ‘tikra shemo Yeshua key hu yo’she’ah et amo may’ha’toe’taytem’ (‘call His name Yeshua because He will yo’she’ah save His people from their sins’). Yeshua will yo’she’ah save His people. (Yo’she’ah also comes from the verb yasha, to save.)
The Rabbis changed the Name!
Some that hold to the name Yahshua say that the Rabbis, or others who copied the Tanach, changed the name Yeshua (Jeshua), where it’s listed many times in Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles,37 so that Messiah’s ‘right’ name would be hidden. As shown above, they would have also had to change a lot of other names in other books. Also, the vowel pointing wasn’t put in until the Masoretes (700 A.D.). This means that it would have to have been changed at that time or later.
In Chronicles there are two Hebrew men with the name of Jeshua (Yeshua) who lived before the Babylonian captivity. This is important because Sacred Name people insist that the name Yeshua isn’t found before the Babylon captivity. They teach that the name Yeshua is an Aramaic name, and not a Hebrew name, so, how could the Messiah of Israel have such a name?!
In the first book of Chronicles there is a descendant of Aaron the High Priest, who lived in the days of King David (about 1070 B.C; 1st Chron. 24:11). In the second book of Chronicles there’s a man named Yeshua who is listed as a descendant of Levi. This man lived in the days of King Hezekiah (about 700 B.C; 2nd Chron. 31:15). Both these men named Yeshua lived before the Babylonian captivity. This reveals that the name Yeshua was a Hebrew name, a contraction of Joshua (Yehoshua).
These two witnesses to the name Yeshua reveal that it was a Hebrew name many centuries before the Babylonian captivity and that the name Yeshua didn’t come out of Babylon or that it’s Aramaic. It also reveals that the name of the Messiah wasn’t pronounced as Yahshua. Of course, some might say that it was changed from Yahshua to Yeshua by the copyists of the book of Chronicles who didn’t want us to know the proper name of the Messiah, but this dastardly deed must be specifically proven by them. Otherwise, it’s just a simple ruse to deflect us from Messiah’s Hebrew name, Yeshua.
David Talshir, who wrote a book on biblical Hebrew names, says that the name Yeshua is a Hebrew
name and not an Aramaic name:‘The Greek transliteration Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous) /jesu-os…can stand for both Classical Biblical Hebrew Yehoshua (Joshua) and Late Biblical Hebrew Yeshua (Jesus). This later form developed within Hebrew (not Aramaic).’38
Another problem that the Sacred Name groups fail to address is that of time. The writers of Chronicles lived centuries before Messiah Yeshua. They would have had absolutely no reason to change the name. The name Jeshua (Yeshua) would not have meant anything special to them because Messiah hadn’t been born yet, and the ‘Rabbis’ hadn’t vilified Him, yet. Actually, the ‘name change’ wouldn’t involve changing Hebrew letters, but changing Hebrew vowels, which only began to be put into the text by the Masoretes (on and after 700 A.D.), but if they did alter the pronunciation of the name there would have been an historical controversy about it. No such controversy is recorded in history, therefore, they didn’t change the way the name of the Messiah was pronounced, but actually reveal it.
The charge of ‘changing names’ in Chronicles, etc., is just a smoke screen. Sacred Name groups don’t have any biblical or historical evidence to base such an accusation on.
Other Names with Yeshua in them
The name Yeshua is also seen within the name Abishua, which was the name of both a grandson of Benjamin (about 1450 B.C.?), one of the 12 sons of Jacob (1st Chron. 6:4) and also a great grandson of Aaron the High Priest (about 1350 B.C.? 1st Chron. 6:50). The name means ‘my father is savior.’ The last four Hebrew letters of the name for Abishua (Hebrew–Avishua אֲבִישׁוּעַ ) spell Yeshua.39One of King Saul’s son’s was Malchishua (1020 B.C; 1st Sam. 14:49; 31:2; 1st Chron. 8:33; 9:39; 10:2). The name in Hebrew is מלכישוע , which means, ‘my king is savior.’ The name consists of two nouns and a personal pronoun (like Avishua above); ‘malki’ for ‘my king’ and shua for ‘savior.’ Shua is the major part of Yeshua and at the end of malki is the י yod, the Hebrew letter that is the first letter of Yeshua’s name (as it was in Avishua), therefore, the name Yeshua is literally seen in the name, Malchishua, too, with the last four Hebrew letters spelling Yeshua, as we also saw in Avishua.
These names, which have Yeshua within them, dating from the days of Moses and King Saul, speak against Messiah’s name beginning with ‘yah.’ It also confirms that the name Yeshua wasn’t an Aramaic name. These two names, Abishua and Malchishua, show that the basic form for the name Yeshua was used many centuries before the Babylonian captivity and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that there were a number of Hebrews named Yeshua from the time of Moses until the Babylonian captivity that just aren’t mentioned in the Tanach.
Conclusion
The name Jesus is not a pagan name or a name that relates to the Greek god Zeus. There is no linguistic, biblical or historical connection to it. It only sounds similar.
Sacred Name groups that insist on using the fabricated name Yahshua don’t have any biblical, historical or linguistic support to do so. Insisting that Yahshua is the only name that saves a person is heresy because the name of Jesus has come down into the English language from the inspired writers of the Greek New Testament, verified by the ancient Septuagint before it, carried over into Latin and then into the English language. No recognized Hebrew scholar, whether Jewish or Gentile, uses the name Yahshua because it’s not a Hebrew name. The name Yahshua is linguistically impossible and only a recent aberration. Hebrew scholars agree that the Hebrew name of Messiah is Yeshua.
Sacred Name groups that insist on Messiah’s name being Yahshua spin off one verse in Scripture to support their name. They say that Messiah ‘came in the name of His Father,’ but overlook the simple interpretation that this means that Messiah came in the authority of His Father. There is no biblical reason why the first part of the name of Yahveh has to be within Messiah’s name.
Sacred Name groups speak of the Rabbis or others changing Messiah’s name in the Tanach to hide it from us, but this doesn’t take into account that the writers of the books of Chronicles, etc., would have also have had to change many other Hebrew names in order to accomplish that wicked deed. They also fail to realize that it would have had to have been done after Messiah Yeshua was resurrected. There would have been no reason for it to have been done before that. By speaking like this, those who say that the name Yahshua was changed ‘by the Rabbis,’ say it because they lack scriptural, linguistic and historical evidence to prove their position on the Name. In other words, there’s nothing that supports their position that ‘the Rabbis’ changed the way the name of Yeshua was pronounced in the books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah.
Yahshua is not the name of the Messiah of Israel. His name is Yeshua, the name Gabriel gave to Joseph and Mary (Mt. 1:20-21, 24-25; Lk. 1:30-31), and calling Him Jesus certainly isn’t a sin.
ENDNOTES
1. David Talshir, Rabbinic Hebrew as Reflected in Personal Names, Scripta Hierosylamitana vol. 37 (Hebrew
University in Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1998), p. 374f. “The Hebrew name of the historical Jesus is probably
pronounced ‘Yeshua,’ although this is uncertain and depends on the reconstruction of several ancient Hebrew
dialects.” Talshir writes, “even though Galileans tended to keep the traditional spelling for ‘Yehoshua’
יהושוע …they still pronounced the name similarly to how the Judeans did, as ‘Yeshua,’ who tended to spell
the name phonetically as ”.ישוע
2. Ezra 2:2, 2:6, 2:36, 2:40, 3:2, 3:8, 3:9, 3:10, 3:18, 4:3, 8:33; Neh. 3:19, 7:7, 7:11, 7:39, 7:43, 8:7, 8:17, 9:4,
9:5, 11:26, 12:1, 12:7, 12:8, 12:10, 12:24, 12:26; 1st Chron. 24:11; and 2nd Chron. 31:15, and also in Aramaic
at Ezra 5:2. In Nehemiah 8:17 this name refers to Joshua, son of Nun.
3. From http://www.yashanet.com/library/Yeshua_or_Yahshua.htm.
4. Ibid.5. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshua_%28name%29#cite_ref-3.
6. James D. Price, Yehoshua, Yeshua or Yeshu; Which one is the name of Jesus in Hebrew?
7. See Spotlight on…Jesus at http://www.takeourword.com/Issue068.html; the first article on the page.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Tal Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity Part I: Palestine 330 BCE–200 CE (Texte und Studien
zum Antiken Judentum 91…Tübingen, Germany: J.C.B. Mohr, 2002), p. 129. Also, David Stern, Jewish
New Testament Commentary (Clarksville, Maryland: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1992), pp. 4–5.
11. Roi Mendel, “Ha-‘chasifa’ shel qever Yeshu: qiddum mkhirot,” Yedioth Ahronoth, 25 February 2007, at
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3368783,00.html.
12. Ed Pilkington; Rory McCarthy, Is this really the last resting place of Jesus, Mary Magdalene—and their
son? The Guardian (27 February 2007) at http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,2022252,00.html.
13. Sanford R. Howard, L’Chayim: Finding The Light of Shalom (Thorsby, AL: Sabbath House, Inc., 1999), p.
254. New International Encyclopedia, second edition, vol. 12, p. 625.
14. From http://www.yashanet.com/library/Yeshua_or_Yahshua.htm. Ben-Gigi is an Israeli professor, author of
First Steps in Hebrew Prayers and designed the Living Israeli Hebrew language learning course.
15. From http://www.yashanet.com/library/Yeshua_or_Yahshua.htm. Botkin writes, “In one popular booklet
published by a well-known Sacred Name organization, the anonymous author makes this statement: “Most
reference works agree with Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the NT statement on page 284, which states
that the name Yahoshua was shortened after the exile to the short form Yahshua.” This statement makes it
sound like Kittel uses the forms Yahoshua and Yahshua. I went to the library and looked at this page in Kittel’s.
The words Yahoshua and Yahshua do not appear even one time on this page. This can be verified by
going to a library and looking up this page. (It’s in Volume III.)’ ‘This same Sacred Name organizationanothwhich
misrepresents Kittel’s also misrepresented a Jewish author. In a magazine article written by this
organization’s main leader, a lengthy segment is quoted from a book published by KTAV, a Jewish publishing
house. When copying this quotation for his magazine article, this Sacred Name author freely used
Yahshua, making it appear that the Jewish author used that transliteration in his book. I got the book from
the library, though, and discovered that “Yahshua” did not appear in the book. I wrote to this Sacred Name
leader asking for an explanation. I told him that unless he had some other explanation, I could conclude one
of three things: either he deliberately misrepresented the facts, or he did it accidentally, or the book I got
from the library was a different version from his, in which case I would owe him an apology. My letter was
sent September 1, 1997, and I am still waiting for a reply.”
16. From the official website of the Assemblies of Yahweh at http://assembliesofyahweh.com/SOD.htm: “We
affirm that it is necessary and most important to our salvation that we accept the revealed, personal Name of
our Heavenly Father YAHWEH and the Name of His Son, our Savior YAHSHUA the MESSIAH.”
The House of Yahweh (a different Sacred Name group than the Assemblies of Yahweh) from Wikipedia at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Yahweh: “Along with other Sacred Name Groups, the House of Yahweh
recognizes Yahweh as the name of the Creator and Heavenly Father. They recognize Yahshua as the
name of Yahweh’s Son and Messiah. Unlike other sacred name groups however, the House of Yahweh uses
the names of Yahweh and Yahshua exclusively. The House of Yahweh teaches that all other titles, such as
God (El, Elohim, Theos, Deus, etc.), Lord (Ba’al, Adonai, Kyrios, Dominus, etc.), Jesus and Christ are
names or titles of pagan beings that were forced onto the true ‘Mighty One.’ Hawkins’ (the founder of the
cult) ‘refuses to even call Yahweh a god, teaching that Scripture refers to Satan, not Yahweh, as ‘the god of
this world.’ The use of the names ‘Yahweh’ and ‘Yahshua’ are believed to be essential to salvation.”
17. Tal Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity Part I: Palestine 330 BCE-200 CE, p. 129.
18. Ps. 2:7; Micah 5:2; Mt. 16:16; 17:1-2, 5; 26:63-64; Mk. 14:61-61; Lk. 1:32, 35; 3:22; 4:3; Jn. 1:1-3, 32-34;
5:22-23; 8:58-59; 9:35-38; 19:7, etc.
19. Ex. 12:5; 29:1; Lev. 1:3, 10; 3:1, 6, etc.
20. For more on the Mosaic sacrificial system in relation to the sacrifice of Yeshua see The Mosaic Sacrifices
and the Blood of Jesus, and Sacrifice in the New Testament at http://seedofabraham.net/sacrific.html.
21. Howard, L’Chayim: Finding The Light of Shalom, p. 256. New International Encyclopedia, second edition,
vol. 12, p. 625.
22. Ibid., p. 256. The New Testament in Modern Speech, 4th edition, p. 4, The Pilgrim Press.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid., p. 260.
25. There are 39 cites in the book of John that speak of Yeshua being sent: John 3:34; 4:34; 5:23-24, 30, 36-38;
6:29, 38-39, 44, 57; 7:16, 28-29, 33; 8:16, 18, 26, 29, 42; 9:4; 10:36; 11:42; 12:44-45, 49; 13:20; 14:24;
15:21; 16:5; 17:3, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25; 20:21 (and also Heb. 3:1 where the word ‘apostle,’ a word from Greek
(apostolos) means ‘sent one’).
26. Ex. 3:12, 13, 14; 4:28; 5:22; 7:16; Num. 16:28; Dt. 34:11.
27. LXX stands for Septuagint, the Greek ‘Old Testament’ written about 250 B.C.
28. Yeshu is a Hebrew acronym for, ‘May his name and memory be blotted out’ from the Book of Life. It’s spoken
of apostates. It just so happens that Messiah’s name is similar to the acronym.
29. “Yah, with the dagesh in the Hei (otherwise, it would not be pronounced as a consonant, and there is a
dagesh in it—see HalleluYah) must carry the inflection because it’s a long vowel in a closed syllable (closed
by the dagesh in the Hei), otherwise it wouldn’t be a kamatz ah sound, it would be the completely different
vowel o (as in ox) sound (kamatz katan). So, if we accept it’s HalleluYah and not YalleluYoh, then Yahshua
must be a kamatz within a closed dagesh. However, the last letter, Ayin, contains the patach ah. Like ‘RUach,’
it is a furative patach, meaning the patach is pronounced before the Ayin, and the inflection MUST be
on the preceding syllable—the shu. Hence, it is pronounced yeiSHUah, not YEIshuah or yeishuAh. By rendering
it Yahshua, one creates the impossible YAH-SHUah, two inflections: an impossibility. Hebrew
corrects this by dropping the Yah to Y’ho—hence Y’hoSHUa (Yehoshua/Joshua)—meaning, ‘Yah saves.’”
The above quotes were taken from a post that I failed to get the URL from. It was written by C. Shippee.
Some things were edited to clarify it.
30. Although many Sacred Name people say ‘Yah’huda’ no Hebrew speaker or linguist does.
31. The is the second name in Torah (chronologically) containing Yahveh as a part of the name. The first name
is Moses’ mother Jochebed (Yocheved– יוֹכֶבֶ ). HALOT, 2:397.
32. Joshua’s name in Hebrew is spelled two ways in Scripture; the second time with an extra vav. Both times it’s
pronounced the same way.
33. This is the more ancient way of saying Jerusalem.
34. Jonathan’s name is actually pronounced in two different ways, as is brought out in the Hebrew above and the
phonetic spelling.
35. ספר הבריתות Hebrew–English Bible (Jerusalem: The Bible Society of Israel, 2006), pp. 3-4.
36. Dr. Francis Brown, Dr. S. R. Driver and Dr. Charles A. Briggs, based on the lexicon of Professor Wilhelm
Gesenius; Edward Robinson, Translator and E. Rodiger, Editor, The New Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius
Hebrew and English Lexicon (Lafayette, IN: Associated Publishers and Authors, 1978), pp. 446-447.
37. Jeshua (Hebrew for Yeshua; 29 times) 1st Chr. 24:11; 2nd Chr. 31:15; Ezra 2:2, 6, 36, 40; 3:2, 8–9; 4:3; 5:2;
8:33; 10:18; Neh. 3:19; 7:7, 11, 39, 43; 8:7; 9:4–5; 10:9; 11:26; 12:1, 7–8, 10, 24, 26.
38. David Talshir, Rabbinic Hebrew as Reflected in Personal Names, Scripta Hierosylamitana vol. 37, p. 374ff.
39. אֱלִישׁוּעַ is the Hebrew name Elishua, a son of King David (2nd Sam. 5:15; 1st Chron. 14:5). Eli means ‘my
God’ and shua means ‘savior.’ Again, the last four Hebrew letters of his name spell Yeshua.
Email Avram — avramyeh@gmail.com
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