What's In A Name? [Part 3]

 What's in a Name? [Part 3]

Variations on a Theme

And there is salvation in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved

[Acts 4v12]

While I have used the spelling 'Yeshua' throughout these articles so far, it will come as no surprise that there is something of a controversy regarding the exact spelling and/or pronunciation of Jesus's Hebrew name. Needless to say, some of these discussions can become very heated indeed and are no credit to the Messiah who bears the name, whatever the form of it. Certain groups simply cannot agree on which form is 'correct' and some even declare that you must use the form they say is the right one, or you are calling upon a false god.

Many, if not most, of these variants have come from the Sacred Names movement (which has origins from around the 1930s) and are perpetuated by the Hebrew Roots movement (which appears to have originated in the 1990s, though both would say they can trace their history back to the Bible). That is not to say that all within these movements use the alternative spellings, nor that these spellings are not used outside these groups, but in general, this is where they stem from. However, those who do use them are usually quite adamant that their particular spelling/pronunciation is the correct one:

Despite the image declaring otherwise, the most common variant is Yahshua, followed  by Yashusha/Yahushua. We have already considered the form 'Jesus' and will not be repeating that here, but will be looking at the forms: Yahshua and Yahushua/Yahusha. Where did these other forms come from? And, more importantly, which form is the correct one, if any? Of course, there are some who will stick doggedly to whichever form of the name they choose, regardless of any evidence pointing to a different form.

To come to any sort of conclusion in relation to those questions, we first need to understand something about Hebrew linguistics and etymology (origins of words). I am no authority on the Hebrew language and so I have to rely on those who are. Now there are some who will say that as I am not an expert, I have no business writing articles addressing the issue. However, the documented research of actual Hebrew experts and native speakers is well attested on the internet and in the library; anything I say here therefore can be looked up and verified - or not, as the case may be. 

Yahshua/Yahshuah

The first mention of the spelling Yahshuah (יהשוה‎)  can be traced to the latter half of the 16th century and used by a group known as the Christian Renaissance Occultists. The Renaissance Occultists (without the 'Christian') began with a man named Georgius Gemstus Pletho, who was a renowned Greek scholar in the early 1400s. He held major responsibility for the revival of Greek philosophy in western Europe. He rejected Christianity, instead mixing ancient Zoroastrian wisdom with worship of the classical Hellenistic gods. How Christians became involved with this movement and created the 'Christian Renaissance Occultists' I have been unable to determine. But we can deduce that the spelling of Yahshuah has this as its origin.

Much later, in the 1930s, the name was revived with the creation of the unique spelling of Yahshua, without the final 'h'. In order to create this name, the tetragrammaton was combined with the Hebrew name of Joshua (Yehoshua). It was not uncommon in the later scriptural period to shorten names  that started with yeho- to ye-, hence Yehochanan (John) became Yochanan and Yehoshua became Yeshua. These names and those with the suffix -yahu, such as Eliyahu (Elijah) and Yeshayahu (Isaiah), used these letters to signify the name of God and were the form of the tetragrammaton that was widely used in nomenclature in Biblical times and beyond.

Those who wish to use the tetragrammaton within the name of Yeshua insist that the pronunciation of those four Hebrew letters is Yahweh. Their reasoning is that if God's name is Yahweh, then it follows that 'Yah' must appear within the Saviour's name (the main reason for this is a misinterpretation of John 5v43 and other similar references, which I shall address later in this article).

In addition, the four letter tetragrammaton is considered to be so holy that it is never to be pronounced. The vowel points, which were added later by scribes to enable easier reading of the text, have been 'lost' for this particular word. It is possible they might never have been added in the first place, but whatever that case, they are now lost or forgotten. Therefore no-one actually knows how to pronounce the word correctly - some say Yehovah, other Yahweh, others Yahuah. It is therefore impossible to say definitively that Yeshua's name should contain 'Yah'

A movement associated with the Sacred Names movement, known as Yahweh's Assembly in Yahshua states:

"Yahshua is the correct name of the Saviour, a contraction of the combination of Yahweh and Hoshea, the same as given to Joshua the son of Nun by Moses." 

 In order to come to this conclusion, the name of Hoshea must be changed to Hoshua, a spelling that is nowhere found in any dictionary of Hebrew names, past or present. There is no 'oo' sound found anywhere in the name Hoshea. The Messianic Bible Project says:

"In short, to arrive at this version of Yeshua's name [Yahshua], one has to start with a made-up name".

"In my name..."/"My name is in him"

There are a few verses in Scripture that have led some in the Sacred Name movement to conclude that the name 'Yah' should, or even must, be somewhere within the spelling and pronunciation of Yeshua's name. To use any other form of the name is to call upon a false deity.

Tow of these references appear Exodus and John's gospel:

"Behold, I am sending an angel before you...listen to his voice and do not defy him...for my name is in him" [Exodus 23v20-21]

Notice that the reference does not say 'My name is in his name', it says 'My name is in him', giving the Angel mentioned the authority to act of God's behalf. In history, if a messenger was sent with a message from the King, the King would send sealed letters (sealed with the King's own seal - and instantly recognisable by the recipient), or would send his ring, containing the seal, along with the messenger. This way, the message would be authenticated as having come from the King himself, even though it was through an intermediary, the messenger. Whatever the messenger said or did was as if the King himself had said or done it.

As an example, when the police knocked on your door in times past, they would shout 'open in the name of the law'. Did that mean if their names did not contain some form of the word 'law' in them, the door could remain closed? Of course not - it meant they had the full power and authority of the law behind them to demand that you open your door. 

Likewise, when Yeshua said "I have come in My Father's name" [John 5v43] he was not saying the Father's name had to be part of His own name, literally, but that He came with His Father's authority, to do and say those things the Father told Him. 

Dr. Daniel Botkin states:

"Yahshua is a mistranslation by Sacred Name advocates to fit an erroneous interpretation of John 5v43"

Some Scholarly Quotations

To conclude, I want to quote from some respected grammatical and biblical scholars of today.

Dr Daniel Botkin, Eden Messianic Congregation and Hebrew scholar says,

" The opponents of the Yeshua form claim that this pronunciation [Yeshua rather than Yahshua] is a Jewish conspiracy to hide the Saviour's true name [and are] denying His name or degrading Him by the use of the Yeshua form".

In reality, Jews today do not use the Yeshua form when referring to Jesus, but rather the Yeshu form. Yeshu-Eisenmenger mentions several possible reasons for this:

1. Jews do not recognise Yeshua as their Messiah

2. Because He was unable to save Himself (ie He did not come down off the cross), the last letter (the ayin) is removed, in order to remove the full meaning of the word as 'saviour' or 'deliverer'.

3. Jews are both allowed and commanded to mock false gods and to defame (by changing) their name

4. Jews are forbidden to mention the names of false gods (see Exodus 23v13) and they believe Yeshua to be a false god, the god of the Christians.

So rather than the change name from Yahshua to Yeshua being a 'Jewish conspiracy', we can see that the Jews in fact do not call Him by either name, but refer to Him as Yeshu. How then can the Yeshua form be a Jewish conspiracy to hide the Father's name when they do not even use it?

Dr Danny Ben-Gigi, Head of Hebrew Studies at Arizona University:

"There is no such name in Hebrew [as Yahshua]"...It is "a name that people invented...to fit their theology" 

 Dr Michael Brown, Hebrew scholar:

"The original Hebrew-Aramaic name of Jesus is Yeshua, which is short for Yehoshua (Joshua) just as Mike is short for Michael...Why do some people refer to Jesus as Yahshua? There is absolutely no support for this pronunciation - none at all - and I say this as someone holding a PhD in Semitic languages. My educated guess is that some zealous but ignorant people thought that Yahweh's name must have been a more overt part of our Saviour's name, hence YAH shua, rather than Yeshua - but again, there is no support of any kind for this theory... The original form of the name Jesus is Yeshua, and there is no such name as Yahshua (or Yahushua or the like)"

And also:

"There is no such name as YAHSHUA. It didn't exist in biblical times and it has not existed as a genuine Hebrew name in history - until people who really didn't understand Hebrew made it up...there's no such name (either) as Yahushua - Joshua was pronounced Ye-ho-shu-ah...and God's name was NEVER pronounced Yahua or the like."

(Ditto)

Dr Daniel Botkin:

"Proponents of the Yahshua form claim that the Messiah's name was the same as Joshua's, written vwhy or wvwhy (Strongs #3091). The only problem is that neither of these Hebrew spellings can possibly be pronounced 'Yahshua'."

In fact, anyone bearing the same name today uses the form Yeshua, and not Yahshua, Yahushua or even Yoshua!

Conclusion

Obviously Yeshua's name is important. After all, "there is no other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved" and "at the name of Yeshua, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord".

But which is the best form to use? And does it matter?

The pronunciation Yahshua is phonologically impossible; Hebrew linguistics does not allow the waw/vav to be silent. In Yehoshua, there is a waw/vav after the first 'h'. To remove the 'o', you also need to remove the 'h'. This may explain the origin of the form Yahushua, where the 'u' is reinserted after the 'h'. 

This spelling (Yahshua/Yahushua) is not found anywhere in any Hebrew biblical manuscripts, rabbinical or historical literature of the period, or archaeological discoveries, such as inscriptions or in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In fact, we have shown that it is at least based on a made up form of Joshua that just does not exist. 

Those who claim other forms of the name suggest that the name 'Jesus' is made up, yet those who use Yahshua/Yahushua are simply using a made-up name too. At least it is clear where the form 'Jesus' came from! In my view, it is better to keep to the conventions of the biblical period, using 'yeho-', 'yehu-', '-yahu', or simply 'ye-' which are the grammatically proper prefixes or suffixes. If it is indeed more desirable to keep the sacred name intact within the Saviour's name, then Yehoshua would be the correct form. But as we saw last time, Yehoshua and Yeshua were used interchangeably in biblical times and beyond. As I said before, I use and will continue to use the form Yeshua, which is the closest we can get to His original Hebrew name.

(To be continued...)