His Name is YESHUA

Shalom partner and friend of Israel,

This month’s teaching is dedicated to Yeshua (Jesus) our Messiah whom we love with all our hearts… "Let this mind be in you which was also in Messiah Yeshua, who, being in the form of Elohim, did not consider it robbery to be equal with Elohim, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore Elohim also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Yeshua Messiah is Lord, to the glory of Elohim the Father." Philippians 2:5 – 11

How did "Yeshua" become "Jesus"…? The first letter in the name Yeshua (Jesus) is the "yod" (sometimes pronounced yud). Yod represents the "Y" sound in Hebrew. Many names in the Bible that begin with "yod" are mispronounced by English speakers because the "yod" in these names was transliterated in English Bibles with the letter "J" rather than "Y." This came about because in early English the letter "J" was pronounced the way we pronounce "Y" today.

All proper names in the Old Testament were transliterated into English according to their Hebrew pronunciation. But, when English pronunciation shifted to what we know today… these transliterations were not altered.

Thus, such Hebrew place names as "ye-ru-sha-LA-yim;" "ye-ri-HO;" and "yar-DEN" have today become known to us as "Jerusalem;" "Jericho;" and "Jordan" and Hebrew personal names such as "yo-NA;" "yi-SHAI;" and "ye-SHU-a" have become known to us as "Jonah;" "Jesse"… and "Jesus."

The "yod" is the smallest letter of the alphabet… which is why Yeshua (Jesus) used it in His famous saying in Matthew 5:18; "Until heaven and earth pass away not one "yod" meaning "jot" ("iota" in the Greek text) or one "kots" (meaning "thorn") will pass from the Torah."

Not many people know that the English word "iota" in the sense of a very small amount, as in the sentence; "I want you to do what I tell you to the last iota," goes back to the Hebrew expression "the thorn of a yod." Originally, an iota was simply the Greek letter, whose name was pronounced "yota" and comes from the Hebrew or Phoenician yod or yoda. For emphasis to Matthew 5:17… Yeshua incorporated in this saying a well known Hebrew expression… "lo' yod ve-LO' ko-TSO shel yod"… "Not a ‘yod’ and not a ‘thorn’ of a yod" – i.e. "Not the most insignificant and unimportant thing!" When Yeshua (Jesus) declared that heaven and earth might sooner disappear than the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, or the smallest stroke of a letter, He was simply saying that the Torah ("Law or Teaching") of Moses would never cease to be… Therefore the Old Testament is not Old or merely a history book!

The second sound in Yeshua’s name is called "tse-RE," and is pronounced almost like the letter "e" in the word "net." Just as the "Y" sound of the first letter is mispronounced in today's English, so too the first vowel sounds in "Jesus." Before the Hebrew name "Yeshua" was transliterated into English, it was first transliterated into Greek. There was no difficulty in transliterating the tse-RE sound since the ancient Greek language had an equivalent letter which represented this sound. And there was no real difficulty in transcribing this same first vowel into English. The translators of the earliest versions of the English Bible transliterated the tse-RE in Yeshua with an "e." Unfortunately, later English speakers guessed wrongly that this "e" should be pronounced as in "me," and thus the first syllable of the English version of Yeshua came to be pronounced "Jee" instead of "Yeh." It is this pronunciation which produced such euphemistic profanities as "Gee" and "Geez."
Since Yeshua is spelled "Jeshua" and not "Jesus" in most English versions of the Old Testament (for example in Ezra 2:2 and 2 Chronicles 31:15), one easily gets the impression that the name is never mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures…

Yet ‘Yeshua’ appears there twenty-nine times, and is the name of at least five different persons and one village in the southern part of Yehudah ("Judah"). In contrast to the early biblical period, there were relatively few different names in use among the Jewish population of the Land of Israel at the time of the Second Temple.

The name Yeshua’ was one of the most common male names in that period, tied with Eleazer for fifth place behind Simon, Joseph, Judah, and John. Nearly one out of ten persons known from the period was named Yeshua.

The third sound of the second syllable of Yeshua is the "sh" sound. It is represented by the Hebrew letter shin. However Greek, like many other languages, has no "sh" sound. Instead, the closest approximation, the Greek sigma, was used when transcribing "Yeshua" as "Iesus." Translators of English versions of the New Testament transliterated the Greek transcription of a Hebrew name, instead of returning to the original Hebrew. This was doubly unfortunate, first because the "sh" sound exists in English, and second because in English the "s" sound can shift to the "z" sound, which is what happened in the case of the pronunciation of "Jesus."

The fourth sound one hears in the name Yeshua is the "u" sound, as in the word "true." Like the first three sounds, this also has come to be mispronounced but in this case it is not the fault of the translators. They transcribed this sound accurately, but English is not a phonetic language and "u" can be pronounced in more than one way. At some point the "u" in "Jesus" came to be pronounced as in "us," and so we say "Jee-zuhs."
The "a" sound as in the word "father" is the fifth sound in… Yeshua’ name. It is followed by a guttural produced by contracting the lower throat muscles and retracting the tongue root an unfamiliar task for English speakers. In an exception to the rule, the vowel sound "a" associated with the last letter "ayin" (the guttural) is pronounced before it, not after. While there is no equivalent in English or any other Indo-European language, it is somewhat similar to the last sound in the name of the composer, "Bach." In this position it is almost inaudible to the western ear. Some Israelis pronounce this last sound and some don’t, depending on what part of the dispersion their families returned from. The Hebrew Language Academy, guardian of the purity of the language, has ruled that it should be sounded, and Israeli radio and television announcers are required to pronounce it correctly. There was no letter to represent them, and so these fifth and sixth sounds were dropped from the Greek transcription of "Yeshua"…the transcription from which the English "Jesus" is derived.

So where did the final "s" of "Jesus" come from…?

Masculine names in Greek ordinarily end with a consonant, usually with an "s" sound, and less frequently with an "n" or "r" sound… In the case of "Iesus," the Greeks added a sigma, the "s" sound to close the word… The same is true for the names Nicodemus, Judas, Lazarus, and others. English speakers make one further change from the original pronunciation of Jesus’ name. English places the accent on "Je," rather than on "sus." For this reason, the "u" has shortened in its English pronunciation to "uh."

In the West, a child's name is often chosen for its pleasant sound, or because another family member had it. The Jews of the Second Temple period also named after relatives (Luke 1:59 - 63). However, almost all Jewish names have a literal meaning. Occasionally this is seen in English names too, such as Scott (a person from Scotland), Johnson (son of John), and Baker (bread maker). But, with Hebrew names it is the rule, rather than the exception.
The name Yeshua literally means The Lord’s Salvation or Salvation from the LORD. In comparison, prior to being transliterated from the Hebrew Bible, the name "Iesus" did not exist in Greek. Through multiple translations and changes in pronunciation, a tradition of saying "Jesus" has obscured His name, "Yeshua." It has shifted His perceived message and identity from Hebrew… to Greek!

Yeshua (Jesus) was born a Jew… and is a real, historical person, born in the Land of Israel, during the Roman occupation, in approximately the year 3 BC. However, at the time His name was actually pronounced, “Yeshua,” and that is the name we prefer to use. Yeshua was born Jewish… is one of the least contested truths of the Bible. The very first verse of the New Covenant reads: “The book of the genealogy of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ), the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1) Who were Abraham and David? Abraham was the first Hebrew. God changed his name from Abram (Genesis 17:5).

In Genesis 14:13 he is called “Abram” the Hebrew. So we can see that Yeshua (Jesus) is descended from “Abram the Hebrew.” Even to this day, Jews are also called “Hebrews,” and the language of the Jews is “Hebrew.” Abraham and his descendants were given the unconditional covenant of the Promised Land (Genesis 17:8) and the covenant of circumcision (Genesis 17:10). Abraham is the father of the Jews (Acts 3:12-25). Isaac was his son and Jacob was his grandson (Matthew 1:2). Thus, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are known as the Patriarchs, the fathers of the Jews. Jacob’s name was changed by God to “Israel” (Genesis 35:10-12) and he had twelve sons (Genesis 35:23-26) from whom come the Twelve Tribes of Israel. All of their descendants are known collectively throughout the Bible as the Children of Israel (Exodus 1:6-7).