Yeshua
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- For the article on the Hebrew phrase "yemach shemo vezichro", meaning "May his name and memory be obliterated" and its different applications, see the Yeshu article. For the article on the person, teaching, and acts of Jesus Christ, see the Jesus article. For information on the various adherents to the religious teachings of Jesus, see the articles on Christianity and Messianic Judaism.
Yeshua, spelled יֵשׁוּעַ in Hebrew, is believed by some scholars [1] and religious groups [2] to be the Hebrew or Aramaic name for Jesus. It is extensively used by Messianic Jews and Hebrew Christians, as well as others, who wish to use what some believe to be the original Hebraic pronunciation of Jesus' name. This pronunciation and spelling, as with many religious and scholarly issues remains the subject of ongoing debate.
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Etymology
Among the Jews of the Second Temple Period, the Late Biblical Hebrew name יֵשׁוּעַ "Yeshua" was common: the Hebrew Bible mentions ten individuals with this name. This name is a feature of the later Hebrew dialect spoken at this time and evident in biblical books like Ezra and Nehemiah and in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and not undisputedly attested in texts from other periods.
This name "Yeshua" (= Jeshua) is a later form of the famous Classical Biblical Hebrew name יְהוֹשֻׁעַ Yehoshua (= Joshua), which can also be spelled יְהוֹשׁוּעַ. The Late Biblical Hebrew spellings for earlier names often contracted the theophoric element Yeho-. Thus the name יהושוע Yehoshua contracted to ישוע Yeshua, and, similarly, יהוחנן Yehokhanan contracted to יוחנן Yokhanan.[1]
The original name Yehoshua was a compound of Yeho-shua: Yeho- יְהוֹ is a shortened form of יָהוּ Yahu, a theophoric element standing for the personal name of God Yhwh, and שׁוּעַ shua is a noun meaning "a cry for help", "a saving cry",[2][3][4] that is, a shout given when in need of rescue. Together the name literally means, "'God' is a saving-cry," that is, shout to God when in need of help.
In the 1st century, Philo of Alexandria renders this figurative meaning in Koine Greek, in an explanation of the name change of the biblical Joshua Ben Nun (from הוֹשֵעַ Hoshea "He saved" to יְהוֹשֻׁעַ Yehoshua): "And Iesous", which stands for the Hebrew name Yehoshua, refers to "salvation of the Lord" (Ἰησοῦ δὲ σωτηρία κυρίου) (On the Change of Names 21.121).[5]
The noun שׁוּעַ shua derives from the Hebrew three-letter root שוע sh-w-`.[6] This root possibly derives indirectly, via a denominating from שַׁוְעָה, from an early form of a root relating to the root ישע y-sh-`, whose verb form הוֹשִׁיעַ hoshia means "he saved".
Although they may be related indirectly, the later name יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua does not derive directly from root ישע and thus is not identical to the noun form יְשׁוּעָה yshua ("salvation") or to any verb form such as יוֹשִׁיעַ yoshia ("he will save").
Nevertheless, the letters of the traditional spelling of the name Yehoshua יהושע could be reread midrashically with different vowels and a silent letter He, as if a third person imperfect Hifil verb form of the root ישע, so that it could be interpreted improperly as "he will save", yoshia יהוֹשִׁע (properly יוֹשִׁיע). Possibly this rereading is behind the Gospel's account where the angel instructs Joseph (Matthew 1:21): "You are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins." If so, this would mean that the author understood the name Jesus to derive from the traditional Hebrew name יְהוֹשֻׁעַ Yehoshua (= Joshua).
Pronunciation
The traditional Tiberian Hebrew vocalizes the Late Biblical Hebrew name ישוע as יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua /je.ˈʃu.aʕ/. (For example: Ezra 5:2.) The yodh is vocalized with the Hebrew vowel, tsere, a long e (IPA /e/) as in "neighbor" (but not diphthongized) not with a shva (IPA /ə/) (as Y'shua) or segol (IPA /ɛ/)(Yesh-shua). The final consonant is the voiced pharyngeal fricative ayin (IPA /ʕ/), sometimes transcribed by "`" (Yeshua`), a sound not found in Greek or English. The "a" represents the patach genuvah ("furtive" patach) indicating the diphthongization of the "u" vowel due to the effect of the final `ayin - in simple terms the "a" is not an additional syllable but indicates a modification of the "u" vowel which due to the `ayin was pronounced somewhat like the oo of English moor as opposed to that of food.
Yeshua as the original name for Jesus
The claim that the form Yeshua is the original name for Jesus is debatable. The English name Jesus derives from the Late Latin name Iesus, which transliterates the Koine Greek name Ἰησοῦς Iēsoûs. In the New Testament, this may stand for either Yehoshua or Yeshua or the Greek form itself may be the original name.
In the Septuagint and other Greek-language Jewish texts, such as the writings of Josephus and Philo of Alexandria, Ἰησοῦς Iēsoûs is the standard Koine Greek form used to translate both of the Hebrew names: Yehoshua (Joshua) and Yeshua (Jeshua). It was also used to translate Hoshea in some Septuagint verses where this referred to Joshua the son of Nun.
Yeshua was a second Temple period form of the name Yehoshua. All occurrences of it in the Hebrew Bible are in Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah. Two of the people bearing this name are mentioned in other books where they are instead called Yehoshua (Joshua son of Nun and Joshua son of Jehozadak).[7] The earlier form Yehoshua did not disappear, however, and was still used in Chronicles when referring to Joshua the son of Nun. [8] The short form Yeshua was used for Jesus son of Sirach in Hebrew fragments of the Book of Sirach. (Some concern remains over whether these fragments faithfully represent the original Hebrew text or are instead a later translation back into Hebrew.) The earlier form Yehoshua saw revived usage from the Hasmonean period and onwards although Yeshua is still found in the letters from the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-135 CE). Thus, both forms Yehoshua and Yeshua were in use during the Gospel period. No usage of Yeshua is found in the Talmud, except in verbatim quotations from the Hebrew Bible regarding Joshua son of Jehozadak.
Clement of Alexandria and St. Cyril of Jerusalem considered the Greek form Iesous to be the original even going so far as to interpret it as a true Greek name and not simply a transliteration of Hebrew. [9]. Indeed, Greek-speaking communities existed in Israel since the Hellenistic period, and the oldest extant manuscripts of the New Testament are in Koine Greek.
However, the New Testament describes Jesus as part of a Jewish milieu, reading the Hebrew Bible and debating with Pharisees over interpretations of the Jewish legal tradition. The Gospel of Mark may have him speaking Aramaic. Moreover, Eusebius reports that Jesus's student Matthew wrote a gospel "in the Hebrew language" (a term that scholars agree then referred to the contemporary dialect of Hebrew or arguably Aramaic).
An argument in favor of the Hebrew form ישוע Yeshua is that the Old Syriac Bible (c. 200 CE) and the Peshitta preserves this same spelling using the equivalent Aramaic letters ܝܫܘܥ. (The modern Syriac vocalizes the name as Isho, which can be transliterated as יִשׁוֹע, but its ancient pronunciation was similar to Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua .) These texts were translated from the Greek but the name is not a simple transliteration of the Greek form (it has "sh" instead of "s" and ends with the pharyngeal ‘ayin not found in Greek). It can be argued that the Aramaic speakers who used this name could have had a continuous connection to the Aramaic speaking disciples of Jesus and thus preserved the actual name used for him. Even if derived from Hebrew Yeshua, the possibility that it was simply chosen based on the correspondence between Iēsoûs and Yeshua in the Septuagint cannot be ruled out.
Yeshua was used as the name for Jesus in the Yossipon; however, its usage here is a translation back into Hebrew of the Greek. The Toledot Yeshu narratives conflate the people designated Yeshu in the Talmud with Jesus but relate that his original name was, in fact, Yehoshua.
The Arabic name for Jesus used by Christians, Yasū‘, derives from Yeshua. However, the Qur'an and other Muslim sources instead use a traditional Islamic title عيسى `Īsā, which can be transliterated as עִישָׂא and seems to derive from the Hebrew name עֵשָׂו ‘Esav, that is, the biblical patriarch Esau. Some Islamic scholars argue that it derives from the original Syriac Aramaic name Isho‘.[10] However, the Aramaic has the letter ‘Ayin only at the end, whereas the Arabic has its equivalent letter ‘Ayn only at the beginning. This metathesis of the Aramaic ‘Ayin is improbable linguistically. Other Islamic scholars accept that the Quranic name is a cognate of Esau and not of Yeshua.[11]
Yeshua and First Century Ossuaries
In October of 2002, Biblical Archaeology Review held a News Conference in which they recorded that an ossuary from the first century had been found that read, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" which, in the Aramaic, was written יעקוב בר יוסף אחוי דישוע "Ya'akov, bar Yosef, akhui di Yeshua" as recorded by Time Magazine [12] and Christianity Today [13]. Although the scholarly community soon came to the conclusion that the ossuary is not that of James and that parts of the inscription are not original to the box, it is worthwhile to note the spelling ישוע for the name in question on this forgery, as well as on numerous genuine ossuaries of that era (ibid.).
References
- ^ David Talmshir, "Rabbinic Hebrew as Reflected in Personal Names" in Scripta Hierosolymitana: Publications of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, vol. 37 (Jerusalem: Magnes Press: Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1998)
- ^ "שׁוּעַ", Ernest Klein, A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language (New York: MacMillan Publishing Company 1987), where it means "a cry for help".
- ^ "שׁוּעַ", William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing 1971), where it means "a cry for help".
- ^ "שָׁוַע", M. Maslow, Dictionary of the Talmud reprinted (Jerusalem: Khorev 1990), where שׁוּעַ is explained by the verb "to cry for help",
- ^ Similarly, the Septuagint's Koine Greek renders Ben Sira as saying: "Iesous the son of Naue," which stands for Yehoshua Ben Nun, "who according to his name became great unto [the] salvation of his chosen ones" (Ἰησοῦς Ναυῆ .. ὃς ἐγένετο κατὰ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ μέγας ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ ἐκλεκτῶν αὐτοῦ) (Ben Sira 46:1-2). However, Ben Sira originally wrote in Hebrew in the 2nd century BCE. The Hebrew has "in his days", not "according to his name,"[citation needed] thus does not comment on the name Yehoshua as connoting תְּשׁוּעָה "salvation": "Yehoshua Ben Nun, who was formed to be in his days a great salvation for his chosen ones" (יהושע בן נון... אשר נוצר להיות בימיו תשועה גדלה לבחיריו). Possibly, the Koine Greek understood the phrase "was formed in his days" to refer to being transformed by his name change, and thus has "according to his name" as a paraphrastic translation. The phrase "his chosen ones" is understood as referring to God's chosen ones.
- ^ "שׁוע", Ernest Klein, A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language (New York: MacMillan Publishing Company 1987)
- ^ Price, James D. Yehoshua, Yeshua or Yeshu; Which one is the name of Jesus in Hebrew?, accessed March 6, 2006.
- ^ 1 Chronicles 7:27
- ^ Origin of the Name Jesus Christ in The Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ Juferi, Mohd Elfie Nieshaem The Name of Jesus (pbuh), accessed March 6, 2006
- ^ Ahmad Deedat, Christ in Islam, Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI), pg. 7-8.
- ^ Time Magazine
- ^ Christianity Today
See also
External links
- Exposing the "Yeshu'a" Name Game A counter missionary article that argues that it is far from proven that the original name of Jesus was Yeshua and moreover unlikely.
- Who is Yeshua Ha Moshiach?
- A different view of the name Yeshua The name and the history
- Etymology of the name "Jesus"
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