The Mistaken "J"
A
Book
Often heard in the churches of our land is the
refrain sung about the Savior, “There’s something about that name…” In our
English-speaking world we have been taught that the saving name of the
Redeemer of Israel is “Jesus.”
So accepted is this name that few stop to consider its
authenticity.
But the truth is, there is indeed “something about
that Name.” That “something”
is the inescapable fact that the Savior’s name is not Jesus, and never
was. What’s more, the Name of
the Heavenly Father is not Jehovah, a designation that is only five
centuries old.
Churchianity has so thoroughly immersed the world in
the error of this tradition for the past 500 years that few even think to
research the matter or to consider the consequences of calling on the
wrong name. As a result, most
continue believing that the Hebrew Savior is called by a
Latinized Greek name that could not possibly have existed at the
time He walked the earth.
It’s a name that would have been completely foreign to Him.
Eminent French historian, scholar, and archaeologist
Ernest Renan acknowledges that the Savior was never in His lifetime called
“Jesus.” In his book, The
Life of Jesus, Renan doubts that the Savior even spoke Greek
(p.90). Greek was mostly the
language of business and commerce in cosmopolitan circles.
As for the Father’s Name, the hybrid “Jehovah” came
into existence through the ignorance of Christian writers who did not
understand the Old Testament Hebrew.
Credit for the error is given to Petrus Galatinus, confessor to
Pope Leo X in the 16th century.
Modern scholarship recognizes “Yahshua” as the best
rendition for the Name of the Savior, while “Yahweh” is the closest
transliteration for the Name of the Creator as found in ancient Scriptural
manuscripts. In returning as
nearly as we can to the Bibles’ original language and meaning, we come to
a deeper and more accurate understanding of the truths contained within
it.
As we will learn, the Father and Son’s revealed,
personal Names are the foundation on which other vital, salvation truths
rest. It was not without
reason that Yahweh established the foundation of the Ten Commandments with
the clear declaration of His sacred Name: “I, Yahweh, am your
Elohim…” Exodus 20:2. Our
Savior, as well, opened His Model Prayer with the words, “hallowed be
Thy Name.”
Yahweh devoted the Third Commandment to warn of the
sin of taking His Name in vain (a meaning that includes bringing His Name
to uselessness, as has been done for centuries), Exodus 20:2, 7. Our Redeemer’s Name is critically
important as well, or else our Creator would not have inspired the writer
of Acts to proclaim, “Neither is there salvation in any other.
For there is none
other name under heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved,”
Acts 4:12.
Back
to the Basic Truths of the Bible
It should be evident to anyone that through time and
tradition, observances change, are added to, and also lose some of what
they first had. This is
especially true of the worship originally practiced in the Bible. Our primary goal as True
Worshipers should be to return to fundamental truths, like His true Name,
once known and taught by the early Assembly but that have been neglected
or ignored through the centuries.
Shouldn’t this be the desire of every sincere Bible believer—to
worship in ALL truth? Why go
only halfway, or put another way, why continue worshiping partly in
error?
Jude 3 speaks directly to us: “Beloved, when I gave
all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful
for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend
for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” This original faith as practiced
in the early New Testament Assembly is being restored now, just before the
Savior Yahshua returns to earth.
Acts 3:21 say the heaven must receive the Savior until the time of
restitution of all things.
“Restitution” is the Greek apokatastasis and means
re-establish from a state of ruin (Write for the explanatory ministudy,
This Is the EliYah Message.)
Foundational to this original truth being restored by
Yahweh’s New Covenant Assembly is the identity of the One we worship. Nothing in existence is more holy
than the Father and His personal, revealed Name Yahweh. Paul wrote that Yahweh has given
His Son a Name that is above every name, Philippians 2:9. The prophet Malachi tells us that
if we will not give glory unto Yahweh’s Name that He would send a curse
upon us (2:2).
With a sense of gravity of the sacred Name, let’s
examine why any substitute name employing the letter J is erroneous on its
face. We will look at the
facts and the overwhelming evidence and carefully evaluate our findings,
using numerous sources revealing the truth. Much of the information we cite
here is readily available in your public library, or found in references
you may even have at home. We
urge you to look into this important issue and prove it for yourself.
The
‘J’: A Letter Come Lately
Among the many reasons that both “Jesus” and
“Jehovah” are erroneous is the simple fact that they begin with the letter
J, the most recent letter added to our English alphabet. The Savior’s name could not begin
with the letter J because it did not exist when He was born –not
even a thousand years later!
All good dictionaries and encyclopedias show that the letter
J and its sound are of late origin.
A chart on both the Hebrew and Greek alphabet is
found on page 48 in this booklet.
Take special note that there is no letter equivalent to J in
either Hebrew or Greek even today.
Here are what major references tell us about the J and its
development:
The Encyclopedia Americana contains the
following on the J:
“The form of J was
unknown in any alphabet until the 14th century. Either symbol (J, I) used
initially generally had the consonantal sound of Y as in year. Gradually, the two symbols (J,
I) were differentiated, the J usually acquiring consonantal
force and thus becoming regarded as a consonant, and the I becoming
a vowel. It was not until
1630 that the differentiation became general in England.”
The New Book of Knowledge reads:
“J, the tenth
letter of the English alphabet, is the youngest of the 26 letters. It is a descendant of the letter
I and was not generally considered a separate letter until the
17th century. The
early history of the letter J is the same as the history of the
letter I. I is
a descendant of the ancient Phoenician and Hebrew letter yod and
the Greek letter iota” (Vol. 10, 1992 ed.).
The Random House Dictionary of the English
Language says about the J:
“The tenth letter of the
English alphabet developed as a variant form of I in Medieval
Latin, and except for the preference for the J as an initial
letter, the two were used interchangeably, both serving to represent the
vowel (i) and the consonant (y). Later, through specialization, it
came to be distinguished as a separate sign, acquiring its present
phonetic value under the influence of the French.”
The Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th
Edition, under “J,” offers additional information:
“J, a letter of the
alphabet which, as far as form is concerned, is only a modification of the
Latin I and dates back with a separate value only to the
15th century. It
was first used as a special form of initial I, the ordinary form
being kept for use in other positions. As, however, in many cases initial
i had the consonantal value of the English y in iugum
(yoke), &c., the symbol came to be used for the value of y, a value
which it still retains in German: Ja! Jung, & c. Initially it is pronounced in
English as an affricate dzh.
The great majority of English words beginning with j are of
foreign (mostly French) origin, as ‘jaundice,’ ‘judge’”…(p.103).
Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopedia (1979
edition), volume 14, page 94 under “J,” states:
“J, the tenth
letter and seventh consonant in the English alphabet. It is the latest addition to the
English script and has been inserted in the alphabet after I, from
which it was developed, just as V and W follow U, the
letter from which they arose.
In form, J was originally merely a variation of I;
J appeared first in Roman times, when it was used sometimes to
indicate the long i vowel sound, but was often used interchangeably
with I. The Romans
pronounced I as a vowel in some words, such as iter, and as
a semi-vowel in others, for example, iuvenis, spelled presently
juvenis. The only
difference in spelling, however, was the occasional use of double i
for the y sound for example, in maiior, spelled presently
major. In the Middle Ages the
elongated form (j) was used as an ornamental device, most often
initially and in numeral series; many old French manuscripts indicate the
numeral 4 by the letter sequence iiij. The use of j as an initial
led ultimately to its specialized use to indicate both the old semi-vowel
sound y, found in German, and the new palatal consonant sounds (z)
and (dz), found in French, Spanish and English. Not until the middle of the
17th century did this usage become universal in English books;
in the King James Bible of 1611, for example, the words Jesus and judge
are invariably Iesus and iudge.
Long after the invention of printing, j thus became more
than a mere calligraphic variation of i (which in Latin could be
either vowel or semi-vowel), and, j became restricted to a
consonantal function.
“In English, j has the composite sound of d +
zh, as in journal. In French,
on the other hand, the zh sound alone is given the letter, as in jour;
German has retained the original y sound of the Latin i consonant, as in
jahr; and Spanish has introduced a new sound resembling a guttural ch, as
in Jerez. In Middle English,
before the differentiation of i and j, the combination
gi was sometimes used to represent the dzh sounds, such as in Giew
for Jew, and in modern times the soft g is used for the same sound,
as in general…”
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary
confirms how the J developed from the I and became a
consonant only a few centuries ago:
“J, j (ja),
n. 1. The tenth letter of the English alphabet: formerly a variant of
I, i, in the seventeenth century it became established as a
consonant only, as in Julius, originally spelled Iulius.”
The letter J was
often used instead of the letter I, especially at the beginning of
a word. This became common in
the 1600s (World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, 1995 ed). Medieval scribes added a tail to
the second I when two I’s appeared together. Because a beginning I
almost always has a consonant sound, the long form, J, came to be
used generally for the consonant sound of the letter (New Book of
Knowledge).
It became necessary to
distinguish between the J and the I when the dictionary came
into being. In the
seventeenth century, the dictionary’s appearance forced a consistent
spelling. Using either
I or J became mandatory to ensure proper alphabetical
positioning. Owing to this
close kinship with I, J was inserted immediately following I
in our English alphabet.
Note the
substantiating comments on the J from the Encyclopedia
Americana:
“It is one of the few permanent additions to those
alphabets, made in medieval or modern times. More exactly, it was not an
addition, but a differentiation from an existing letter, I, which
in Latin, besides being a vowel (as in index), had also the consonantal
value of ‘Y’ (as in maior, pronounced ‘mayor’).
“At a later state, the
symbol ‘J’ was used for the distinctive purposes, particularly when the
‘I’ had to be written initially (or in conjunction with another
‘I’). Either symbol
used initially generally had the consonantal sound of ‘Y’ (as in
Year) so that the Latin pronunciation of either Ianuarius or Januarius was
as though the spelling was ‘Yanuarius.’ While in some words of Hebrew and
other origin (such as Hallelujah or Junker), ‘J’ has the phonetic
value of ‘Y.’”
We discover, then, that
the letter J derived from the vowel letter I and originally
had the same sound as the vowel I. That is why the lower case
j still has a dot over it.
The letter I represents the Greek iota (I), which
usually corresponds to the Hebrew yothe (Y as in yes). The letter J has a Y
sound (as in “hallelujah”) in Latin, German, and Scandinavian
languages. In Spanish,
J is an aspirate, having the sound of H.
The J was first
pronounced as the I at the time of the introduction of the printing
press. Dutch printers
fostered utilizing the J, especially at the beginning of a
word. The letter J
eventually acquired its own sound.
It was the French who gave the letter J the present sound of
the soft letter g as in “large” or “purge.” In Latin, German, and other
languages the J is pronounced more like Y with an “ee”
sound. The Spanish J
is more like an aspirant as in San Jose. Some old European maps still show
the spelling of countries like Jugoslavia (Yugoslavia) or Sowjet (Soviet)
Russia. It is only in the
last century that the letter J has firmly taken on the French
pronunciation as in joy or journal.
Webster’s Universal Dictionary (1936)
reinforces the fact of the early relationship of the letter J to
I:
“As a character it was
formerly used interchangeably with ‘I,’ both letters having
originally the same sound and after the ‘J’ sound came to be common
in English, it was often written where this sound must have been
pronounced. The separation of
these two letters is of comparatively recent date, being brought about
through the influence of the Dutch printers.”
First
Letter of the Sacred Name is Y
As we have shown, the
J came from the letter I. The New Book of Knowledge
shows the letter I (hence the J as well) derived from the
Hebrew yothe (y), which is the
first letter of Yahweh’s Name (hwhy, YHWH, known as the Tetragrammaton
or “four letters”; Hebrew is read from right to left). It is also the first letter of
Yahshua’s Name. The letter I
(yothe or yod) in Hebrew carries the sound of “ee” as in
“police.”
The King James Version and
other Bibles employ the Latinized-Greek “Jesus.” But the facts of etymology prove
that this cannot be His true name.
If the King James and other Bibles are in error in calling the
Savior “Jesus,” how did the error come about? And how can we determine exactly
what that precious Name is?
The fact is, the first
copies of the 1611 King James Bible did not use the letter J (see
production at top). And no
evidence is found to show that the letter I had the consonantal
sound of J. This has
been shown in the New Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopedia:
“Not until the middle of
the 17th century did this usage become universal in English
books; in the King James Bible of 1611 for example, the words Jesus and
judge are invariably Iesus and iudge.”
Oscar Ogg’s books, The
26 Letters, which gives a history of each letter of the English
alphabet, explains how the J, along with the U and W,
were the last to be added to the alphabet:
“The three missing
letters, J, U and W, were not used by the Romans at
all. U and W
developed from V about a thousand years ago, and J developed
from the letter I about five hundred years ago,” p. 106.
As already confirmed, most
of our American vocabulary employing the letter J stems from the
French. Nearly all words
containing the letter J in English are pronounced as in French, such as
journal or major, although French has a considerably softer pronunciation
of J than English. In
Spanish the J is more of an h aspirate as in “San Jose.”
After development of the
letter J, the Savior’s Name was changed by the translators to
Jesus, but continued to be pronounced much like the letter Y. However, the pronunciation of the
J soon changed completely from its former “yee” sound to our
present “juh” through French influence.
In Latin the J was
pronounced as a Y.
Even today, the German tongue, among others, pronounces the
J like a Y (July – Yulee; Ja = Ya; Major in German is
pronounced as “mayor;” June is “Yunee”). Note the comments of author F.F.
Bruce in his The Books and the Parchments: “In the English
Bible, Hebrew proper names with yod are represented with j, which
in modern English has quite a different sound from y. Thus ‘Jehovah-jireh’ would have
been pronounced in Hebrew something like Yahweh yeereh” (footnote, p.
40).
In his book, Story of
the Letters and Figures, Hubert M. Skinner provides an excellent
summation of the discordant transformation inflicted on the Savior’s
Name:
“In some way, various
modern peoples who received the J from the Romans have lost the
original sound, and have substituted something very different. We retain the former sound in our
word ‘hallelujah,’ but we generally give the letter the disagreeable soft
sound of G. Yod
is the initial of the name Jesus.
It is unfortunate that a name so dear and so sacred is pronounced
in a manner so different from that of the original word. The latter sounded very much as if
it were Yashoo-ah, and was agreeable to the ear. Our sounds of J and hard
S are the most disagreeable in our language, and they are both
found in our pronunciation of this short name, although they did not exist
in its original,” pp. 122-123.
‘Jesus’: A Word Out of Place and Time
The Bible clearly reveals that salvation is available
in only one name: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there
is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved” (Acts 4:12). The
name the angel gave to Hebrew-speaking Mary and Joseph was Yahshua,
meaning “Salvation of Yah.”
This original Name has been made a hybrid by
translators and changed to the Latinized, Grecianized name Jesus – a name
that came into our language about the time of Christopher Columbus. (For a detailed explanation,
request the revealing ministudy, How the Savior’s Name Was
Changed.)
The following Biblical study references clearly
explain that “Jesus,” used in place of the Savior’s true Name Yahshua, is
erroneous. (Some of these
references correctly show the Y or I superior to the
Mistaken J.)
Þ
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature:
“Import of the Name. –There can be no doubt that Jesus is the Greek form
of a Hebrew name…Its original and full form is Jehoshua (Num. 13:16). By contraction it became Joshua,
or Jeshua; and when transferred into Greek, by taking the termination
characteristics of that language, it assumed the form Jesus” (vol. 4, pp.
873-874).
Þ
The Anchor Bible Dictionary: “Jesus [Gk. Iesous]. Several
persons mentioned in the Bible bear this name, which is a Greek form of
Joshua (Heb. Yehosua; cf. the Gk of Luke 3:29; Acts 7:45; Heb.
4:8)…’Jesus Christ’ is a composite name made up of the personal name
‘Jesus’ (from the Gk Iesous, which transliterates Heb/Aram yesu(a),
a late form of Hebrew yehosua, the meaning of which is ‘YHWH is salvation’
or ‘YHWH saves/has saved’)…” (III, p. 773).
Þ
The Anchor Bible (note on Matthew 1:1): “Jesus. The word is the Greek rendering of
a well-known Hebrew name. It
was Yahoshu first, then by inner Hebrew phonetic change it became
Yoshua, and by a still northern dialectal shift,
Yeshua. The first
element, Yahu (=Yahweh) means ‘the Lord,’ while the second comes
from shua ‘To help, save.’ The most probable meaning is ‘O Lord,
save.’” (Vol. 26, p.2)
Þ
The New International Dictionary of The Christian Church: “Jesus
Christ, The Founder of Christianity bore ‘Jesus’ (the Greek form of Joshua
or Jeshua) as His personal name; ‘Christ’ (Gk. Christos,
‘anointed’) is the title given Him by His followers…” (p.531).
Þ
Mercer Dictionary of the Bible: “Jeshua: An Aramaic form of the
name Joshua, meaning ‘Yahweh is salvation.’ It occurs only in postexilic
biblical literature, which supports the later origin of the name. Joshua, the son of Nun, is
referred to in one passage as Jeshua (Neh. 8:17)” (p.444).
Þ
Newberry Reference Bible (on Matt. 1:24): “Jesus, Heb. Joshua, or
Jehoshua. Compare Num. 13:8,
16, where ‘Oshea,’ verse 8, signifying ‘Salivation,’ is altered in
v.16 to ‘Jehoshua,’ ‘the Salvation of Jehovah,’ or ‘Jehovah
the Savior.’”
Þ
The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia: “Jesus
(Iesous) is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew ‘Joshua’ (ucwhy,
Yehoshua) meaning ‘Jehovah is
salvation.’ It stands
therefore in the LXX and Apoc for ‘Joshua,’ and in Acts 7:45 and Heb. 4:8
likewise represents the OT ‘Joshua.’
In Mt. 1:21 the name is commanded by the angel to be given to the
son of Mary, ‘for it is he that shall save his people from their sins…It
is the personal name of the L-rd in the Gospels and in the Acts…’” (Vol.
3, p.1626).
Þ
The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary: “The given name Jesus means
‘savior,’ it is the Greek equivalent of Jeshua (Heb. Yesua, from
yehosua ‘Yahweh saves’ [=Joshua]. Christ is the title, indicating
that he is the ‘anointed one,’ the Messiah from Hebrew masiah).”
…”Jeshua (Heb. Yesua ‘Yahweh is salvation’)” (p.573).
Þ
The Bible Almanac: “The name Jesus (which is identical with Joshua
and means ‘God is Savior’) emphasizes His role as the Savior of His people
(Mat. 1:21). Christ is the
New Testament equivalent of Messiah, a Hebrew word meaning ‘anointed
one’…” (p.522).
Þ
Holman Bible Dictionary: “Jesus Christ: Greek form of Joshua and of
title meaning ‘Yahweh is salvation’ and ‘the anointed one’ or ‘Messiah.’”
(p.775).
Þ
New International Dictionary of the New Testament Theology, “OT
Iesous is the Gk. Form of the OT Jewish name Yesua, arrived
at by transcribing the Heb. And adding an –s to the nominative to
facilitate declension.
Yesua (Joshua) seems to have come into general use about the
time of the Babylonian exile in place of the older Yehosua. The LXX rendered both the
ancient and more recent forms of the name uniformly as Iesous. Joshua the son of Nun, who
according to the tradition was Moses’ successor and completed his work in
the occupation of the promised land by the tribes of Israel, appears under
this name…It is the oldest name containing the divine name Yahweh, and
means ‘Yahweh is help’ or ‘Yahweh is salvation’ (cf. the verb yasa,
help save). Joshua also
appears in one post-exilic passage in the Heb. OT (Neh. 8:17) as
Yesua the son of Nun, and not as in the older texts,
Yehosua” (Vol. 2, pp.330-331).
Þ
The Classic Bible Dictionary (Jay P. Green), page 633, under Jesus:
“Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew ‘Joshua,’ meaning ‘Jehovah is
salvation.’ It stands
therefore in the LXX and Apocrypha for ‘Joshua,’ and in Acts 7:45 and Heb.
4:8 likewise represents the OT Joshua.”
Author Green also comments on the Greek word
“Christ:” “Christ
(Christos) is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Messiah, meaning
anointed.”
Thus we see that the Savior’s name as well as the
descriptive title “Messiah” have been undermined and appear in Greek in
changed form. Our Savior has
been stripped of His Israelite roots.
Þ
The SDA Bible Dictionary, page 565: “Jesus Christ [Gr.
Iesous] (a transliteration of the Aramaic Yeshua, from the Heb.
Yehoshua, ‘Joshua,’ meaning ‘Yahweh is Salvation’), Christos
(a translation of the Heb. Mashiach, ‘Messiah,’ meaning anointed or
anointed One).] The English
form ‘Jesus’ comes from the Latin.”
Þ
In Strange Facts About the Bible, author Garrison notes on page 81:
“In its English form, ‘Jesus’ goes back to church Latin Iesus which
is a transliteration of the Greek Iesous. But in its original Hebrew form it
was Y’hoshua (‘Yahweh saves’), frequently abbreviated to Joshua…”
Þ
Ian Wilson’s Jesus: The Evidence, says on page 66; “’Yeshua’, as
Jesus would actually have been addressed, means ‘God saves’, and is merely
a shortened form of the more old fashioned ‘Yehoshua (‘Joshua’ of the Old
Testament).”
Þ
New Bible Dictionary (edited by J.D. Douglas) reads under Jesus:
“The name Jesus is not strictly a title for the person who bore
it. It is, however, a name
with a meaning, being a Greek form of ‘Joshua’, i.e. ‘Yahweh is
salvation’. The NT writers
were well aware of this meaning (Mt. 1:21). The name thus indicated the
function which was ascribed to Jesus, and this later found expression in
the title Saviour…” (p.584).
Þ
Alford’s Greek Testament, An Exegetical and Critical Commentary:
“Jesus –The same name as Joshua, the former deliverer of Israel.”
Þ
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion: “Jesus (The Name) –Matthew’s
Gospel explains it as symbolic of His mission, ‘For He will save His
people from their sins.’ This
agrees with its popular meaning as ‘Yahweh saves…’” p. 1886.
Þ
A Dictionary of the Bible, by James Hastings: “Jesus –the Greek
form (Ihsous)
of the name Joshua (ucwhy) or
Jeshua. Jeshua – Yahweh is
salvation or Yahweh is opulence” (pp.603-602).
Þ
New International Dictionary of the Christian Church: “Jesus
Christ, The Founder of Christianity bore ‘Jesus’ (the Greek form of Joshua
or Jeshua) as His personal name; ‘Christ’ (Gk. christos,
‘anointed’) is the title given Him by His followers…” (p. 531).
All of these authorities
and scholars agree. His name
is not the Latinized Grecianized name “Jesus,” but reflects His Hebrew
heritage and the mission He was given to save His people through the Name
of the Heavenly Father Yahweh.
So how did He end up with the name so many
erroneously call on today?
Greek Not the Original New Testament Language
Very early in history, even before the
Messiah, Greek had become a world language. Alexander the Great conquered the
lands east and south of Greece, establishing Hellenistic culture and
society as far as the Indus River and south into Egypt.
The koine or common Greek dialect prevailed,
becoming dominant in the wake of Alexander’s exploits. Greek survived the ravages of
Roman persecution, as well as the crusades, and continued to be spoken up
to the time of the Muslim conquest of the Mediterranean area.
Following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.,
Rome crushed the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 C.E. The Roman army destroyed anything
Jewish, especially religious scrolls and books, including their
Torah. This was followed by
the Catholic inquisitions in Europe, eradicating anything Jewish. The crusaders made fair game of
the Jews, ruthlessly destroying any vestiges of Hebrew writings.
Thus, between the suppression carried out by the
Romans and the later Crusades, any Hebrew copies of both Old and New
Testament writings were lost.
Only Greek copies survived.
Neither are there any original Hebrew Old Testaments manuscripts,
only copies of copies of copies.
An increasing number of competent Bible scholars now
agree with scholar Charles Cutler Torrey (Documents of the Primitive
Church) that the New Testament in whole or part was first written in
Hebrew and only later translated into Greek. (Write us for a list of renowned
Bible scholars who uphold an original Hebrew New Testament, as well as the
ministudy, Was the New Testament Originally Greek?)
In the September 12, 1986 issue of The Washington
Times, David Bivin notes that Yahshua, like His contemporaries, most
likely spoke Hebrew, Bivin, the director for the Jerusalem School for the
Study of the Gospels, also believes that the original account of Yahshua’s
life was written in Hebrew, not Greek of Aramaic. In addition, he and his Jerusalem
scholars agree that by considering the Evangels Hebraic, many textual
difficulties are cleared up, strongly suggesting that the Evangels were
first written in Hebrew.
Even Martin Luther recognized the Hebrew roots of the
New Testament. He wrote in
Tischreden, “Although the New Testament was written in Greek, it is
full of Hebraisms and Hebrew expressions. It has therefore been aptly said
that the Hebrews drink from the spring, the Greeks from the stream that
flows from it, and the Latins from the downstream pool” (translated by
Pinchas E. Lapide in Hebrew in the Church, p.10).
Where is the justification for changing the Savior’s
Name? Even in a Greek
context, there is no J or J sound in the Koine or in
any Greek dialect known. The
Greek New Testament of the Bible provides the basis for our present Latin
and English translations.
Obviously the J came from another source, as Greek has no
phonetic equivalent of the letter J in its 24 characters of the
alphabet. Neither does
Hebrew. The words judge,
journal, jack, jam, jet, jog, etc., likely would all be spelled beginning
with the Greek iota (English I) and would be pronounced as
“ee.” In English the letter
j would be replaced by the letter i. We would read iudge, iournal,
iack, iam, iet, iog, etc.
Some orthographers would prefer that these examples begin with
today’s letter y instead of i.
We cannot ignore the fact that there was no letter
J in ANY language until around the 15th century, and
therefore must conclude that the name “Jesus” never existed before 500
years ago. Let us not forget
that we read from a Hebrew Bible.
It is the account of Yahweh’s dealing with His people Israel. Yahweh spoke to a people who
understood Hebrew. Yahweh is
the Mighty One of the Hebrews.
Remember also that there was no Jew before the time of Abraham,
Isaac or Jacob. So the Sacred
Name is not Jewish.
The seeker of truth must not shy from the Hebrew
roots of true Biblical faith, for we are children of Abraham, a Hebrew
(Gen. 14:13). Hebrew means to
“cross over,” and we are to “cross over” the falsity and error of this
world and join in pure worship of Yahweh and His Son Yahshua.
Savior’s Name Explained in Bible Versions
Inspired Scripture calls attention to a singular Name
wherein rests our eternal salvation.
The following Bible versions have these footnote
explanations on Matthew 1:21, the verse where the angel tells Joseph
(Yowceph) what to name the Redeemer of mankind:
· “’Jesus’ (Hebr. Jehoshua) means
‘Yahweh saves’”—The Jerusalem Bible.
· “’Jesus’ is the Greek form of
Joshua, which means ‘the Lord saves’” –New International
Version.
· “’Jesus,’ from the Greek form of a
common Hebrew name (Joshua) derived from yasha, ‘he saves’” –Harper
Collins Study Bible
· “She will give birth to a son, and
you are to name him Yeshua, [which means ‘Adonai saves’], because he will
save his people from their sins” –Jewish New Testament, David
Stern, translator.
· “Heb. Yoshia, reflected in
the name Yeshua (Gr. Jesus)” –The Original New Testament, Hugh J.
Schonfield.
· “Jesus: The Greek form of
‘Jeshua’….The full significance of the name ‘Jesus’ is seen in the
original ‘Yehoshua,’ which means ‘Jehovah the Savior,’ and not merely
‘Savior,’ as the word in often explained” –Weymouth’s New Testament in
Modern Speech.
· “Jesus Christ. The name ‘Jesus’ is from the Greek
(and Latin) for the Hebrew ‘Jeshua’ (Joshua), which means ‘the Lord is
salvation.’ ‘Christ’ is from
the Greek for the Hebrew ‘Meshiah’ (Messiah), meaning ‘anointed
one’”—Ryrie Study Bible
·
“Jesus, Yeshua, meaning
‘Jehovah Is Salvation’” –The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the
Greek Scriptures.
The following commentaries add their
observations on the Savior’s Name:
¨
Matthew Henry’s Commentary (on Matthew 1:21): “Jesus is the same name
with Joshua, the termination only being changed, for the sake of
conforming it to the Greek.”
¨
Interpreter’s Bible (Note on Matthew 1:21): “Jesus for He shall save:
The play on words (Yeshua, Jesus; yoshia, shall save) is possible in
Hebrew but not in Aramaic.
The name Joshua means “Yahweh is salvation.”
¨
Barnes’ Notes (Note on Matthew 1:21): “His name Jesus: The name Jesus
is the same as Saviour. It is
derived from the verb signifying to save. In Hebrew it is the same as
Joshua. In two places [Acts
7:45 and Hebrews 4:8] in the New Testament it is used where it means
Joshua, the leader of the Jews [Israel] into Canaan, and in our
translation the name Joshua should not have been retained.”
The prefix Yah is the short or poetic form of
YAH-weh the Heavenly Father’s Name as found in HalleluYAH and in names of
many Biblical personalities, as we will see. Thus, the Savior’s Name begins
with the prefix “Yah” that begins Yahweh’s Name, as revealed in Psalm
68:4: “Sing unto Elohim, sing praises to his name: extol him that rides
upon the heavens by his name JAH [YAH], and rejoice before him.” “Shua,” the last part of the
Savior’s Name, carries the primary meaning of “salvation.” Thus, Yahshua means “the salvation
of Yah.”
When Israel crossed over the Red Sea, Moses sang a
song of thanks to Yahweh in Exodus 15. The saving name appears in verse
2, “Yah is become my salvation,” which was to be Yahshua!
The following reasons
clearly show why the name Jesus could never have been the Savior’s
Name:
Þ
There is no letter J or equivalent in Hebrew.
Þ
There is no letter J or equivalent in Greek.
Þ
There was no letter J in English until about 500 years ago.
Þ
“Jesus,” an etymological hybrid from Greek and Latin, has no inherent,
etymological meaning in Greek or Latin, not to mention Hebrew or
English.
Þ
Joseph (“Yowceph” in Hebrew), a Hebrew and a Jew, was told by the angel
Gabriel that Mary (Miriam), a Jewess, would give birth to One Who would
“save His people Israel from their sins,” Matthew 1:21. Only the Hebrew name “Yahshua”
means “Salvation of Yah” (“Yah”shua). He Himself said that He is come in
His Father’s Name (“Yah”weh/”Yah”shua) and “you receive me not,” John
5:43.
Þ
Mary, a Hebrew, was told the same thing that Joseph was, Luke 1:31.
Þ
Would a celestial being announce the coming Savior to Jews who spoke
Hebrew (or Aramaic), proclaiming a Romanized, Grecian name beginning with
a letter J that did not exist, but would originate in a European
tongue 1500 years later?
Remember it was to Israel, a Semitic people who spoke and
understood Hebrew, that His saving Name was first revealed.
Þ
Would HEBREW parents give their baby a hybridized GREEK name devoid of any
meaning – especially such an important name that would identify the very
Savior of the world?
How Did ‘Yahshua’ Become ‘Jesus’?
It is necessary that we understand the prefix “YAH”
has come to us in the form “YEH” (a type of which is found in “Yeshua”
commonly used for Yahshua).
It is also manifest in the names JEHovah and Jesus.
Almost any scholarly reference work will acknowledge
that Rabbinic tradition has suppressed the true Name Yahweh centuries
before the Messiah came at Bethlehem. Writing Yahweh’s Name in the
Hebrew, Jewish scribes inserted a shewa (:) instead of the proper
qamets (T), thus changing the vowel sound “ah” in “Yah” to
“eh.” This was done to
conceal the sacred Name, thus yielding the improper Yehovah and
Yeshua.
This is practiced even today by such groups as the
Jews for Jesus, who contend that “Y’shua’ is the Jewish way to say
“Jesus.” This may have been
done to avoid offending the Jews and their proscription against even the
short form YAH.
Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary clearly shows the
erroneous vowel pointing of YAH to YEH in the first column of page 48
where the resulting “YEH” is obvious. In every name in this column, a
shewa (:) appears under the Hebrew letter yod (y:), and the pronunciation given
following the Hebrew spelling begins with the prefix “YEH.”
Using the “e” instead of the proper “a” is another
ploy of the Adversary to do away with the family Name YAH, the first
syllable of both Yahweh’s and Yahshua’s Name.
This explains how the “e” came about in the name
Jesus. The next letter in
Jesus, s, results from the fact that Greek has no “sh” sound, only “s”
(sigma) sound. This
was incorporated into the Latin text. The “u” in Jesus comes from the u
in Yahshua. The New
International Dictionary of New Testament Theology explains,
“Iesous is the Greek form of the Old Testament Jewish name Yesua
[Yahshua], arrived at by transcribing the Hebrew and adding an s to the
nom. to facilitate declension.”
The final “s” in “Jesus” is the Greek nominative
masculine singular ending.
Matthew 1:8-11 contains the genealogy of Joseph’s line, where we
can find similar examples of “s” added to produce Greek-inflected Hebrew
names: Uzziah becomes Ozias; Hezekiah becomes Ezekias; Jonah becomes
Jonas, etc. The errors that
we find among names in most versions can be traced to translators. The early Christian translators
relied upon the Greek translation called the Septuagint as their source of
the Hebrew Scriptures.
Is it not significant that even though these Hebrew
names were Grecianized, that they still are recognizable? Why then in English versions does
Yahweh’s Name become changed to a completely foreign “God,” while
“Yahshua” mutates into “Jesus,” a substitute that is not even close to the
original?
Why the change, when even the name of the Adversary –
Satan – retains its original Hebrew form and close pronunciation?
(Saw-tawn, Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary No. 7854).
Adam Clarke’s respected comments on the inferior
early translations are informative: “Through the ignorance and
carelessness of transcribers innumerable mistakes have been made in
ancient names. These also
have suffered very greatly in their transfusion from one language to
another, till at last the original name is almost totally lost…Besides,
neither the Greeks nor Romans could pronounce either the Hebrew or Persian
names; and when engaged in the task of transcribing, they did it according
to their own manner of pronunciation,” Clarke’s Commentary, vol. 3,
pp. 393-394. Clearly, some
over-zealous scribe tampered with the text of the King James Bible and
what we have is a New Testament in which the Name of Yahshua has been
adulterated and almost obscured.
For an example of this, look at Acts 7:45 in the King
James Version. The sentence
reads, “Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus
into the possession of the Gentiles whom [Elohim] drave out before the
face of our fathers, unto the days of David.” But the account is actually
speaking of the Old Testament Joshua, the son of Nun!
Another example is found in Hebrews 4:8, “For if
Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of
another day.” Many study
Bibles will have notes on these two verses pointing out that the more
correct name is JOSHUA the son of Nun.
Certain translations other than the King James have
corrected this error and inserted “Joshua” in the text. Thus, we can see that this name is
the same as that given by Moses to his successor in Numbers 13:16. It is also the name of the Savior
(corrected with the “Yah”).
This shows how the translators overzealously changed all the
“Yahshua’s” to “Jesus”—even when it referred to someone in the Old
Testament not the Savior.
Go to Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary and peruse
page 47, taking special note of the second name from the top of the right
column, No. 3050, YAHH.
Notice this is the correct spelling and pronunciation of the short
form YAH and includes the qametes under the yod:
(3050. Yahh, yaw).
Although author James Strong is noted for his classic
concordance, his understanding of the Name was lacking and he used the
erroneous Jehovah. However,
his is correct in listing No. 3050 YAHH, spelling it with the vowel a
instead of e and the double hh to bring out the “ahh” sound.
The importance of the short form YAHH takes on
additional significance when we read John 5:43, “I am come in my
Father’s name….” We
understand this to mean that He came in the authority and power of the
Heavenly Father. Yet, we must
understand that His Name Yahshua also included His Father’s Name,
YAH. It is the short form,
the prefix of the Name Yahshua!
(Followers of Yahshua will be carrying that Name in the Kingdom,
Eph. 3:14-15; Dan. 9:19).
The custom of reading a substitute name when the
Tetragrammaton was encountered in the Hebrew Scriptures was carried over
into the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the LXX
(Septuagint). The translation
was said to have been made by seventy Hebrew translators for the King of
Egypt who wanted a copy of this great book of the Hebrews for the grand
library of Alexandria in Egypt.
The letters LXX (meaning “70”) are often used as an
abbreviation for the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old
Testament.
In making the Greek translation, the copyists
inserted the four characters of the Tetragrammaton in gold letters of the
Hebrew, namely hwhy, wherever the
name Yahweh was to appear.
However, the pronunciation was pointed with the vowels of
Adonai. After the death and
resurrection of the Messiah, there arose a demand for a Latin version of
the Hebrew Old Testament by the expanding church. These early translators were not
skilled in the Hebrew language, and actually detested the Jews and refused
to learn the Aramaic or Hebrew tongue. They were ignorant of Hebrew and
were often ridiculed by the Jews for their ludicrous pronunciation of
Hebrew. (See this booklet’s
section, “Why the Terms ‘God’ and ‘Lord’?” on page 26).
And What About ‘Jehovah’?
Scholars know that Jehovah could never be the name of
the Heavenly Father. Aside
from the error with the letter J, this word has other
problems. Even the Catholics,
who have been given the distinction of inventing the word “Jehovah,” know
it is not the Father’s Name.
Note what the New Catholic
Encyclopedia (1967) says under “Yahweh”: “Judging from Greek
transcriptions of the sacred name, YHWH ought to be pronounced
Yahweh. The pronunciation
Jehovah was unknown in ancient Jewish circles, and is based upon a later
misunderstanding of the scribal practice of using the vowels of the word
Adonai with the consonants of YHWH,” p. 1065.
In the preface to the
Revised Standard Version of the Bible is the following: “The form Jehovah
is of late medieval origin; it is a combination of the consonants of the
Divine Name and the vowels attached to it by the Masoretes but belonging
to an entirely different word.
The sound of Y is represented by J and the sound of
W by V, as in Latin.
The word ‘Jehovah’ does not accurately represent any form of the
Name ever used in Hebrew,” pp. 6-7.
In the introduction to The
Emphasized Bible, editor Joseph Rotherham writes, “The pronunciation
Jehovah was unknown until 1520, when it was introduced by
Galatinus; but was contested by Le Mercier, J. Drusius, against
grammatical and historical propriety.” Rotherham continues his analysis
of this ghost word, “Erroneously written and pronounced Jehovah,
which is merely a combination of the sacred Tetragrammaton and the vowel
in the Hebrew word for Lord, substituted by the Jews for YHWH, because
they shrank from pronouncing The Name…To give the name YHWH the vowels of
the word for Lord (Heb. Adonai) and pronounce it Jehovah, is about
as hybrid a combination as it would be to spell the name Germany
with the vowels in the name Portugal –viz., Gormuna”
(pp.24-25).
Perhaps the best explanation of how the word Jehovah
came about is made in the prestigious Oxford English
Dictionary. A photocopy
of its entry on “Jehovah” is shown at the top of the page.
The
sacred Name was deemed too holy to pronounce. Either because of this fact or
because its four letters are also employed as vowels, the Masoretes did
not vowel point the Tetragrammaton.
Instead, the vowel points for “Adonai” were inserted, alerting the
reader to say “Adonai” rather than blurting out the sacred Name
Yahweh. Along came Christian
scholars in late medieval times who didn’t realize what had been
done. Not skilled in Hebrew,
they mistakenly combined these added vowels with the Tetragrammaton and
the result was the hybrid combination “Jehovah.”
The Jewish
Encyclopedia says about the name Jehovah, “This name is commonly
represented in modern translations by the form ‘Jehovah,’ which, however,
is the a philological impossibility…This form has arisen through
attempting to pronounce the consonants of the name with the vowels of
Adonai…” (p.160).
The Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves admit that
“Jehovah” is inferior to “Yahweh.”
In their book, Let Your Name Be Sanctified (p.16),
they quote the Roman Catholic translator of The Westminster Version of the
Sacred Scriptures, saying, “I should have preferred to write ‘Yahwh,’ in
which, although not certain, is admittedly superior to
‘Jehovah,’”
On page 17 of this same book the Jehovah’s Witnesses
write, “In harmony with the practice that had developed among the
superstitious, the vowel signs for Elohim or for Adonay were inserted at
the accustomed places in the text to warn the Hebrew reader to say those
words instead of the divine name.
By combining those warning vowel sings with the Tetragrammaton the
pronunciation Yahowih and Yehowah were formed.”
Then
on page 20 they quote the Lexicon for the Books of the Old
Testament, by Koehler and Baumgartner, under the Tetragrammaton: “’The
wrong spelling Jehovah (Revised Version: The LORD) occurs since about
1100,’ and then it offers its arguments in favor of Yahweh as ‘the correct
and original pronunciation.’”
In the foreword of their Bible,
The New World Translation of the Christian Greek
Scriptures (published by the Jehovah’s Witness Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society), they say on page 25:
“While inclining to
view the pronunciation ‘Yahweh’ as the more correct way, we have retained
the form ‘Jehovah’ because of people’s familiarity with it since the
14th century.
In our search for truth we
must retrace our steps and boldly proclaim His true Name, and not follow
tradition or erroneous understanding.
Biblical Names Reveal the Person
Our culture today looks on names as little more than
labels, although we still talk about having a “good name” and speak of
being “true to one’s name.”
These expressions are carryovers from a time when a name expressed
and conveyed a person’s attributes and character.
In the Hebrew,
Bible names all have meaning.
At times Yahweh or Yahshua (or sometimes parents) changed the name
of individuals, giving them a special name that had new meaning. For example, Abram means exalted
father; later his name was changed to Abraham, which means “father of a
multitude.” Isaac means
“laughter” (because his mother laughed when promised a son in her old
age). Jacob (Yacob) means
“heel-grabber” or “supplanter,” because he supplanted his firstborn
brother Esau. His name was
changed to Israel, meaning “contender” or “perseveres with El,” when he
wrestled with the angel in Genesis 32.
An eye-opening study of the
names of the 12 tribes of Israel appears in Genesis chapter 29-30. Situations surrounding the birth
of each of these sons is reflected in their individual names. The Hebrew Dictionary found at the
back of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance provides a
fascinating exercise in the meaning of names.
In his book, Our
Father Abraham, Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith, Marvin R. Wilson
writes: “In Hebrew thought, the name of an individual was considered to be
more than a title or a label for identification. Rather, a name was believed to
reveal the essence, character, reputation, or destiny of the one to whom
it was given. This is why the
moral law of Moses forbids defamation of another’s name by false witness
(Ex. 20:16). Thus the name of
every Hebrew sent out some sort of message with it.”
The message of
Yahweh’s Name throughout Scripture is that it is sacred, and one either
accepts it or finds oneself in opposition to Him. The Eerdmans Bible
Dictionary explains: “[Yahweh’s] name reveals his character and
salvation in which people may take refuge (Ps. 20:1; cf. Isa. 25:1, 56:6);
to treat [Yahweh’s] name as empty is to despise his person (Ex. 20:7),” p.
747.
Yahweh: The Most Sacred of All Names
Yahweh’s Name is high on a level all its own. No name is more important than the
personal Name of the One we worship.
Not only is this true because names have great significance in
Hebrew, but also because Yahweh Himself tells us to revere His Name and
not to bring it to obscurity through substitution and disuse, Exodus
20:7. The word “vain” in the
Third Commandment –“Thou shalt not take the Name of Yahweh thy Elohim
in vain” –is the Hebrew shoaw, meaning to rush over, bring to
devastation, uselessness, ruin, and by implication, neglect.
The one attribute describing Yahweh’s Name more than
any other is its holiness.
His Name is not to be blasphemed (Lev. 24:16) or desecrated. It is to be treated with
reverential awe, because it expresses the essence of Yahweh Himself.
We can bring His Name to ruin by falsifying it. If you remove an author’s name
from the books he wrote and reprint them with another name in them you
falsify his works. The same
is true when translators take His Name from the Scriptures and insert
generic titles in its place.
How can we presume to call upon Yahweh and His Son
Yahshua with titles like “god” and “lord” that are used in the worship of
other deities? Elijah
(EliYah, “my El is Yah”) was calling the people’s attention to the same
issue in 1Kings 18 –demonstrating that the True Heavenly Father has a
personal Name and that they in their ignorance were calling on titles of
Baal (“Baal Gad” = Lord God) in their worship (see Harper Collins
Study Bible note on Hosea 2:16). Baal was the chief “deity” of the
Canaanites.
Yahweh charged that they had forgotten His Name for
Baal, Jeremiah 23:26-27. If
Yahweh was displeased with the substitution “Baal,” why would He not be
just as provoked with today’s substitution of an equivalent word,
“Lord”?
Yahweh’s Name is so central to salvation that the
Savior’s Name bears it as well.
He is the Son, and the salvation Yahweh sent. You could say “Yah” is the family
Name of the Heavenly Majesty.
Author Wilson notes,
“The fact that Jesus was a Jew by birth is crucial
for understanding the nature and person of Jesus as presented in the
Gospels. Jesus was given the
Hebrew name Yeshua. (‘Jesus’
is the Latin form of ‘Iesous,’ the Greek transliteration of Yeshua.) The name Yeshua, derived from the
Hebrew verb yashua, revealed the destiny he was to fulfill in his life and
ministry on this earth” (Our Father Abraham, Jewish Roots of the
Christian Faith).
All religions generally are known by the one they
worship or give homage to.
Anciently the god of the Akkadians was Marduk; the god of the
Ammonites was Moloch; the god of the Greeks was Zeus; the god of the
Romans was Jupiter; the god of the Moabites was Baal-peor; the god of the
Hebrews was…God?! Using an
all-inclusive, indefinite, impersonal title simply does not identify the
One you worship! Capitalizing
that title doesn’t help, either, no more than the title “mr.” suddenly
becomes a name if we make it “Mr.”
Strange, isn’t it, that all the pagan “deities” have
their own special names, yet we are expected to believe that the TRUE
Mighty One of the Bible goes by general terms that can apply to any
“deity”?
In fact, the Name Yahweh appears 6,823 times in the
Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures, from which we ultimately derive all
versions of the Old Testament.
It should have appeared 100 times in the New Testament. But rarely does one hear the Name
used or even mentioned in churches that supposedly honor those same
Scriptures.
The majority of Bible versions have changed the holy
Name to the titles God and Lord.
You can restore it when you read the Scripture, however. In many King James Bibles,
whenever you see the words LORD or LORD GOD in capital letters in the Old
Testament, the Masoretic Hebrew Script has the Hebrew characters for
Yahweh, hwhy. (To help when you read your Bible,
request the bookmark, Correcting the Name in Your
Bible.)
Yahshua: A Name Given in Hebrew to a Hebrew
Because there is no J sound in the Hebrew, the prefix
“Je” does not exist in Hebrew.
The combination word “Jesus” is not Greek, it’s not Hebrew. In fact, it is completely without
philological meaning in any language. Yet, Gabriel told Mary and Joseph
that the Messiah’s Name, being given from the very highest Authority in
the heavens, was special. It
had a specific connotation, a precise and very important MEANING. The angel said He would be given
this Name because “He shall save His people from their sins.” Scholars acknowledge that the name
given through Gabriel was the Hebrew Yahshua. (See any good study Bible with
marginal notes on Matt. 1:21 and Luke 1:31, as well as the Biblical
sources listed here.)
“Yahshua” means “Yahweh is salvation.”
It must be noted that whenever a message was given
from on high, it was to those who understood Hebrew, which is called by
some the “heavenly language.”
Thus, when the angel told Joseph, a Jew, that the Savior would be
born of Mary, a Jewess, that he was to call the baby a specific name, this
name would hardly have been a Latin-Greek name such as Jesus! How His name came to us as Jesus
in our English Bible such as the King James instead of Yahshua is
interesting.
The Savior’s true Name in Hebrew letters look like
this: ucwhy. Read from right to left, as in all
Semitic languages, His Name begins with a (y) (known in English Bibles as “jot,”
Mat. 5:18, but in the Hebrew is the yothe or yod).
Yothe carries the sound of i as in
machine. This “ee” sound is
then followed by an a, which is much like an “ah” sound. This diphthong is pronounced
“ee-ah” or “Yah,” which is the short form of the Heavenly Father’s name
“Yah-weh.” We see it in the
suffix “halleluYah” and in the names of many people of Scripture (IsaYah,
JeremiYah, ObadiYah, ZechariYah, ZephaniYah, etc.).
Add the suffix “shua” (meaning “salvation”) and we
have Yahshua, the “Salvation of Yah.”
That the language spoken was Hebrew is clear from
Matthew 1:23, where the Savior is referred to as Emmanuel, a purely
Hebrew word meaning “El with us,” and is so transliterated for us
in that passage.
You can see for yourself that the name of your Savior
was Yahshua by referring to Strong’s Concordance Greek
Dictionary. Look up the
name “Jesus” in Strong’s, which shows that it first appears in
Matthew 1:1, with the reference No. 2424. Turn to the Greek Dictionary
in the back of Strong’s (Greek, because it is in the New Testament)
and note the following entry:
‘IhsouS
Iesous, ee-ay-sooce’; of Hebrew origin [No.3091]; Jesus
(i.e. Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other
Israelites:-Jesus.
We learn the Savior’s name is of Hebrew origin from
No. 3091. In the Hebrew
section of Strong’s, No. 3091 has the Hebrew characters that are
transliterated into English as follows:
uwcwhy
Yehowshuwa’,
yeh-ho-shoo’-ah: or
ucwhy Yehowshu’a, ye-ho-shoo’-ah from No. 3068 and No. 3467;
Jehovah-saved; Jehoshua (i.e. Joshua), the Jewish leader:
-Jehoshua, Jehoshuah, Joshua.
Compare Nos. 1954, 3442.
By the time of Yahshua’s birth, the accepted form
among the Jews was not Yahoshua, but the shortened form Yahshua. In the Old Testament this name is
spelled Joshua and is found in Numbers 13:16 of the King James text where
Moses changed the name of the Israelite general from Oshea (or Hosea) to
Yahshua. That is, from
salvation or savior to “Salvation of Yah.”
Most reference works agree with Kittle’s
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament statement on page 284,
which states that the name Yahoshua was shortened after the exile to the
short form Yahshua.
The fact that the Greek Dictionary (No. 2424) refers
the reader back to the Hebrew section of Strong’s Concordance
clearly shows that the name Jesus stems from the Hebrew
Yahshua.
It is rather doubtful the derivation of Jesus
is from the pagan deity “Zeus” of the Greeks. However, some draw a relationship
to the “salvation” or “healing” of Ea-Zeus. According to the Dictionary of
Comparative Religion (p.622), “The Greeks generally identified the
chief god of other peoples with Zeus (e.g. Amun, Hadad, Yahweh).” From Bux and Schone, Worterbuch
der Antika, under “Jesus,” we find: “Jesus: really adapted from the
Greek, possibly from the name of the Greek healing goddess Ieso
(Iaso).”
Although some evidence could support a conclusion for
a Greek deity connection, it is more likely that “Jesus” resulted from a
crude attempt to transliterate (bring over the sound) from Hebrew to Greek
to Latin and then to English, losing the true vocalization with each
step.
Young’s Analytical
Concordance has one line for Jesus which reads:
JE’-SUS, Ihsous,
from Heb. uwcy savior.
As already noted, the early Christians were ignorant
of Hebrew and cared less for the language of “those detestable Jews.” Therefore, they relied upon the
Greek Septuagint (LXX) Old Testament as their source instead of
going directly to the Hebrew texts.
We are not free to reject the
Name Yahshua, the very Name sent directly from Yahweh through the
archangel Gabriel. Nor are we
absolved to call Him by the man-made, Greco-Latin Jesus.
We
trust you will prayerfully act on this vital truth and prove to yourself
that His true Name as given to mankind from the Highest Authority in the
universe is Yahshua, “Yah’s salvation.” Realize that when you call on the
Name Yahshua you are invoking the Father’s Name as well, and petitioning
the only One who can give salvation.
‘Adonai’ Replaces Sacred Name
The early translators who gave us the English version
of the Bible were not Hebrew scholars. They based their understanding
mostly on the Greek texts, the Septuagint for the Old Testament and the
extant Greek texts for the New Testament. Generally they were ignorant of
Hebrew and sometimes lacked in their knowledge of Hebrew grammar, syntax,
and vocabulary.
Because of the animosity between the Jews and their
Roman rulers, it was a common practice for Roman soldiers to search for
and destroy any religious Hebrew texts of the Jews and Messianic believers
alike. Initially, the Romans
made no distinction between Jews and converts of the early Assembly, for
their worship appeared basically the same. Both worshiped on the weekly
Saturday Sabbath and observed the annual festivals, both read from the
same Old Testament Hebrew scrolls in their study and worship. It was not until the third century
that a distinction was made between traditional Jewish worship and those
who had gone on to accept Yahshua as the Messiah.
The admitted ignorance of the early Christian
scholars of the Hebrew language lies at the root of the misspelling and
variations of the sacred Name.
The Jews often ridiculed and derided these Christians who claimed
to be scholars, but stumbled in their efforts to pronounce Hebrew
words.
By the time of the Messiah the custom of not
pronouncing the sacred Name in public by the Jews became mandatory. This practice had apparently
developed from the warning in Leviticus 24:16, “And he that blasphemes
the name of Yahweh shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation
shall certainly stone him: as well as the stranger, as he that is born in
the land, when he blasphemes the name of Yahweh shall be put to
death.” By not using the
Sacred Name, one could not blaspheme it, and so it was not invoked except
by the high priest on the Day of Atonement.
Thus came about the custom in the synagogue of
reading “adonai” instead of the Sacred Name when the Tetragrammaton (hwhy) appeared in the texts. The logic being, by calling upon a
substitute instead of invoking the Name, the Name could not be
blasphemed.
In Jeremiah 44:26 we read another verse that stifled
any public utterance of the Sacred Name, especially during the
captivity. “Therefore hear
you the word of Yahweh, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; behold,
I have sworn by My great name says Yahweh, that My name shall no more be
names in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying,
‘Yahweh Elohim lives.’”
This became especially critical when the Jews were
taken captive to Babylon.
Psalm 137 relates that they refused to sing the songs of Zion
(using Yahweh’s Name) in a strange land lest the Name and worship be
subject to ridicule by the gentiles.
Thus the ban on uttering the sacred Name became firmly entrenched
and was the general practice by the time the Savior came to earth.
While the Jewish zealots would not invoke (vocalize)
the sacred Name, it was their custom to write it in the sacred texts,
carefully placing the vowels of Adonai over the Tetragrammaton to warn the
reader not to utter the sacred Name, but to use “adonai.” The scribes did, however, place
the Hebrew Tetragrammaton in the Greek Septuagint translation. Christian scholars did not
understand these sacred four Hebrew letters (hwhy) and translated them into the
Greek as pipi, thinking it was the doubling of two Greek letters – pi
(pipi)
--- read left to right rather than from right to left as in Hebrew. When the proper pronunciation was
pointed out to them they inserted the Greek letters Iao,
which closely corresponded to YHWH.
Kurios, Theos: Greek Substitutes for Name
Recent discoveries of Greek manuscripts of the Old
Testaments reveal that the sacred Name was preserved in Hebrew or Aramaic
letters in the first and second centuries B.C.E.
Writings in the Journal of Biblical Literature,
professor George Howard observes, “From these findings we can now say with
almost absolute certainty that the divine name hwhy was not rendered by Kurios [Kurios] in the
pre-Christian Greek Bible, as so often has been thought. Usually the Tetragram was written
out in Aramaic or in paleo-Hebrew letters or was transliterated into Greek
letters” (Vol. 96, 1977, p. 65).
The Greek translators later entirely eliminated the
Hebrew Tetragram, a Greek word meaning “four letters,” substituting the
Greek Kurios [Lord] or Theos [God] for the Hebrew
Tetragrammaton, as they believed that the Greek text was as sacred as the
Hebrew. However, neither
Kurios nor Theos is a transliteration of the Hebrew hwhy. Kurios and Theos are
not names. They do not
represent the Tetragrammaton, nor do they have the same meaning.
Howard writes, “Toward the end of the first
Christian century, when the church had become predominately Gentile, the
motive for retaining the Hebrew name Yahweh was lost and the words kyrios
and theos were substituted for it in Christian copies of Old Testament
Septuagint’s…Before long the divine name was lost to the Gentile church
except insofar as it was reflected in the contracted surrogates or
remembered by scholar,” Biblical Archaeology Review, March
1978.
Thus, the sacred Name not only was obscured by
zealous Jews, but also the Greek substitutes soon found their way into
both the Old and New Testament translations.
Why the Terms ‘God’ and ‘Lord’?
It can readily be seen that if the Greek text was
considered as sacred as the Hebrew, then the Greek replacements for the
Tetragrammaton were thought to be on an equal footing with the Hebrew
Name. When the Bible was
translated into other languages, the Greek texts were used because
translators had a better understanding of the Greek than they did the
Hebrew.
Being that Kurios and Theos are Greek
terms, a more familiar substitute was customarily used in each language in
which the Scriptures were translated. Thus, “Kurios” was rendered “Lord”
in English texts and “Theos” was replaced with “God.” These designations, however,
should never have been used as surrogates for the sacred Name. Their connotations tell why.
Lord comes from the Old English hlaford,
meaning “keeper of the loaf.”
It refers to a person who feeds dependents, as in the head of a
feudal estate (Webster’s New World Dictionary). The meaning of Lord corresponds
almost precisely with the heathen deity Baal. “God” derives from the Old
Teutonic root gheu, meaning to invoke and to pour, as in a molten
image (“God,” Oxford English Dictionary). (See further explanations
below.)
This base root for god, gheu, has another
derivative – giddy—from the Old English gydig, and gidig,
meaning “possessed, insane, from the Germanic gud-igaz, “possessed
by a god” (American Heritage Dictionary under gheu). This source makes the remarkable
statement, “Giddy can be traced back to the same Germanic root gud-that
has given us the word God.”
Ancient Roots of ‘God’ and ‘Lord’
Many Bible references reveal that the Hebrew word
“Baal” has the same meanings as our English word “Lord.” See the footnotes and center
column references on Hosea 2:16 in various Bibles (for example: “Baali =
My Lord” – Companion Bible note). Throughout the Book of Judges we
find that Israel continually fell back into the worship of the Baalim
(Lords). In 1Kings
16:29-17:1, Ahab became a king and plunged Israel into full-scale Baal
worship. An interlinear
version will show that in 1Kings 18:19 and 21 the word is “ha Baal,”
meaning “the Lord.” For an
apostate Israel, Yahweh had become the “ha Baal” (the Lord) of
Israel. (See top of page 37,
“Baal – Lord”.)
Rather than having a special, close relationship with
Israel through His Name, Yahweh now found Israel worshiping in a common
title used for the idols of the nations around them.
The prophet Isaiah excoriated Israel for their
abominations in serving pagan idols.
One of the most prominent was the Syrian god of fate or luck,
otherwise known as Gad: “But you are they that forsake Yahweh, that
forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that
furnish the drink offering unto that number” (Isa. 65:11). “Troop” is translated from the
Hebrew Gad, pronounced “God” (see Strong’s Hebrew and Chaldee
Dictionary, No. 1409, and note the phonetic Gawd in this
reference.).
Our word “God” and its Germanic roots “Gott” and
“Gut” are connected to the ancient Syrian idol “Baal Gad,” which Yahweh
judged Israel for worshiping.
The New Bible Dictionary says of Gad, “A pagan deity
worshiped by the Canaanites as the God of Fortune for whom they ‘prepare a
table’” (Isa. 65:11)
Read what The Anchor Bible Dictionary says
about “Gad”: “A Deity (or spirit) of fortune mentioned in Isa. 65:11 as
being worshiped, along with Meni (a god of fate or destiny), by apostate
Jews, probably in postexilic Judah,” Vol. II, p. 863. Further, this resource tells us,
“The place name Baal-gad (Josh. 11:17) could be interpreted as ‘Lord Gad’
or as involving an epithet (gad) joined to the divine name Baal”
(Ibid.)
Do you grasp the significance of what you just
read? The heathen nations
that Joshua was directed to destroy had a place called Baal-gad, which is
none other than “Lord-God,” a reference to Isaiah 65:11 and the worship of
this “deity” by those who forsake Yahweh! As the Anchor Bible Dictionary
affirms: “The apostates of Isa. 65:11 were looking to Gad [God], not
Yahweh, as the source of well-being and prosperity” (Vol. II, p. 864).
In Hastings’ A Dictionary of the Bible, we
find that the word Gad or God was “originally an appellative” and used as
a divine name in pagan worship (see Gad, p. 76).
Lips Speaking Guile
A few who would contest the truth of the sacred Name
will counter with an argument like, “You are saying that I need the exact
Hebrew pronunciation of the Savior’s Name or I have no salvation. So anyone with a lisp and unable
to form the exact Name as in Hebrew is lost.”
With this argument they summarily reject the ONLY
NAME under heaven given to mankind for salvation by Yahweh Himself. Acts 4:12 says there is only ONE
Name by which we are saved.
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved.”
Rest assured that He Who has created man’s tongue
would not give us a Name we cannot pronounce! If a physical disability makes the
Name difficult to pronounce, Yahweh would surely look with favor on one’s
willingness to do so regardless of the success. Yahweh seeks a ready and compliant
heart (2Cor. 9:7); that is what matters. We are to walk joyfully in all
truth as Yahweh reveals it to us, growing in grace and knowledge,
Ephesians 4:13.
Some may also ask whether those who never knew or
called on His saving Name in their lifetimes would be relegated to the
lake of fire. The teaching of
Scripture is that we are judged by what we know, not by what we don’t
know. If we don’t know
something is wrong, we must first be taught that it is wrong before we can
be held accountable. This is
clear from Acts 17:30, in what Paul told the ignorant Athenians who were
worshiping idols on Mars Hill:
“And the times of this ignorance Yahweh winked at;
but now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). “Winked at” means overlooked. What constitutes sin for which we
are held accountable is when we know the truth but reject it (James
4:17). (See Yahshua’s comment
in Matt. 11:21-23.)
His People Will Revere His Name
Posing arguments to circumvent the Name is nothing
but a futile attempt to spurn deeper truth. It amounts to sheer rebellion –a
stubborn effort to absolve oneself of any responsibility to call upon the
one and only revealed, saving Name.
The real test is whether one seeks to follow ALL
truth without argument or polemics, and to do so as closely as one is
able. As we demonstrate our
complete desire to rid our worship of every error, Yahweh sees our
dedication and adds His blessings to our obedience.
Yahshua said that the mark of His true Assembly is
that it would not reject His true Name. He tells the true Philadelphia
Assembly, “I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open
door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have
kept my word, and HAVE NOT DENIED MY NAME” (Rev. 3:8).
We must revere and call upon His rightful Name with
the deepest respect and reverence, because it belongs to our soon-coming
King. We may choose to deny
His Name now, but we will not DARE deny it as we prostrate ourselves
before the King of the universe when He comes in His full, majestic glory
and in His royal Name Yahshua!
For those who reject the Name and scorn those who
hallow it, Yahweh issues some stern warnings. “Hear the word of Yahweh, you
that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out
for MY NAME’S SAKE, said, Let Yahweh be glorified: but he shall appear to
your joy, and they shall be ashamed” (Isa. 66:5).
Do YOU Break the Third Commandment?
To those who consider themselves sincere Bible
students striving to please our Heavenly Father by keeping His
Commandments, the following should prove most interesting. Many verses in the Bible teach
that the truly converted who love Yahweh will keep His Commandments
dealing with proper worship of the Heavenly Father (Deut. 6:5-6; John
14:15, 21; 1John 2:5; Rev. 22:14).
“For this is the love of Yahweh, that we keep His
Commandments: and His Commandments are not grievous” (1John 5:3).
Sabbath-keeping groups, especially, strive to keep
the Commandments, contending that they properly keep every one of the
Ten. But the Third
Commandment is the most overlooked or ignored of all the Ten! It is broken virtually every
day.
The Third Commandment expressly deals with the
holiness of Yahweh’s Name.
“You shall not make wrong use of the name of Yahweh your Elohim:
for Yahweh will not leave unpunished the man that misuses His name,”
TSS. Ridiculing, disregarding, ignoring or denying His Name and
using a substitute is certainly the wrong use of His Name, and is breaking
the Third Commandment.
Many Called By His Name – Yesterday and Today
The short form “Yah” in the Name “Yahweh” is found in
the King James Version in Psalm 68:4, where modern translators mistakenly
rendered it “Jah.” As we know
by now, the J should by a Y.
The poetic form “YAH” is found as the suffix in many
Hebrew names such as IsaYAH, JeremiYAH, ZachariYAH, ZephaniYAH, HezekiYAH,
and NehemiYAH. His Name is
also found in the prefix of a number of Hebrew names such as YAHchobed
(Jochobed, mother of Moses), YAHed (Joed), YAHel (Joel), YAHezer (Joezer),
YAHha (Joha), and YAHnadab, (Jonadab). Most of these have also been
disguised with the mistaken letter J.
Many of the Psalms command and encourage all to call
upon Yahweh’s Name. Notice
these examples, taken from The Sacred Scriptures, which instead of
the title “L-rd,” has the proper names restored:
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