Yeshua vs YaHshua -- Ye?Shua, Ya?Shua

Something is missing

by Dan Baxley

www:yahshuaservant.com

 Yeshua, or YaHshua?

I have already touched on this in a previous article but it should be made clear, the name YaHshua, as printed, is not found in the Hebrew Scriptures, and neither is Yeshua.  But wait, those able to read of Hebrew the name Yeshua is found in the Bible.  Not so, at least not in the original writings as one might think.  You see, the name, Jeshua or Yeshua, is a mis-transliteration found in the modern Hebrew not the ancient wiritings or fragments of the ancient Hebrew.  On top of that, in Jewish literature and thinking, their is a bias in avoiding pronouncing the Name of the LORD, or more precisely, YHWH (YaHWeH). 

   It pleases the devote Jew not to repeat His Name and by doing so they inadvertently treat the Name of their God, the God of the Scriptures, with the greatest disrespect, in their eye, their righteousness, they do not see the error of keeping The Name (HaShem) covered, sealed up, not used.  There is a  commanded that they, as the chosen of the Living God YHWH, are not to call on or mention and it is not the Name or their God but the names of other gods, the gods of the Gentiles (Jos 23:7).   So, what do they do?  They stop calling on "The Name" and use other terms, like "HaShem", or the Greek influenced, "Adonai" as if obeying a command directed toward false gods and in this end up treating His glorious Name as though it were of heathen origin.  In their own righteousness they do just the opposite of what they were and are commanded.

(Joshua 23:7)  That you come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:

(Deu 10:20) Thou shalt fear the LORD (YHWH) your God; him shall you serve, and to him shall you cleave (H1692 - cling, adhere), and swear by His Name.

The Missing Link

What is missing in transmission from "HaShem" (the Name) is a key part of the original Name of our Creator.  I believe this is willingly ignored in avoidance of saying His Name in effect treating His Name as if it were of heathen, or pagan origins.  I know our Lord, YaHshua, instructed us not to swear on anything (Matt 5:34) but we are discussing what is expected of those denying YaHshua as Messiah.  The instruction is clear, concerning those of the Jewish faith, they are to "swear by His Name", and they are not to make mention of the names of any other gods.  In the Hebrew/Jewish mishandling Of His glorious Name they have left something out, there is something missing.  What is it?  

  Drum roll, please -- The "H" in the Name of the God of all things, is MISSING!  The Name of our Creator and the God of Christian and Jew is YHWH (YaHWeH).  Our Savior said He came in the Name of His Father and His Name, the Name given Him at birth is YaHshua (YH-Shua) -- the Jew says His Name is Yeshua -- do you see it?  The "H" is missing!  There is no "e" in His Name, they supply that letter although some do spell it as Y'shua, still the "H" is missing.  I would challenge anyone, in support of His Name being changed to Yeshua, to explain that, why?  I have read all of the word play and the claims of the name (ha shem) being the Aramaic expression and that they spoke this dialect of Hebrew in the first century, but it does not explain the deleting of a letter in His Name. 

  In Hebrew the stand alone term, yeshua, means salvation and when, or if,  used as a name the missing "H" is expected to be replaced, mentally, by the reader (this instruction is expressed in the Preface of "The Holy Scriptures, According to the Masoretic Text", page v, 1965 edition).  This then would be pronounced as YaHshua, or YH-shua as the reader comes across this Name in Scripture, there is no "e" in the Name, ever, as the "e" is a vowel just as the "a" is and are supplied only as an asist in pronunciation.  This is also true of the transliteration for the old English transliteration of the Name Joshua, YeHoshua, and should be YHoshua or YaHoshua.  To drop the "H" is to change the Name.  You hear a lot about the term "yeshua" being the Aramaic, from the Jews for Jesus, and other Messianic groups.  This   language is closely associated with Arabic but this semetic dialect does not excuse the dropping of the "H".  Some in the Jewish Messianic movement have taken this as their mantra mostly due to having been taught this from birth.  They too need to take steps to restore the proper Name.

   Yeshua as a Name 

In the name, Yeshua, we see a distortion of His true name, YaHshua, and has a different meanings for the Jewish reader.  According to the Jewish New Testament Commentary, the name Yeshu is, “…a kind of coded incantation against Christian evangelism.  Moreover, since Yeshua came to be regarded in non-Messianic Judaism as a false prophet, blasphemer and idolater wrongly being worshiped as God, and since the Torah says, ‘You shall not even pronounce the names of their gods’, the Messiah’s name was purposely mispronounced.” (emphisis added)

   Isn’t it odd, the Jewish scholars, the scribes, and Rabbis use a name they say is too Holy to say, too holy to USE.  Isn’t it odd they are commanded not to mention the names of a false god, the gods of the gentiles, and they treat His Name equally in the same manner, by avoiding it?  And to many of the Jewish faith, they see this Yeshua (Jesus) as a false god of the gentiles.  To repeat; this is exactly how Yeshua is seen --  a god of the Gentiles, of the Gentile Christians, and they use it, say it and tell Gentiles this was and is His Name -- who is fooling who?  It is their “catch 22” and they have a problem in not saying or using His Name and not using the name of other gods so they change it and sell it to the Gentiles but in doing this they again violate the command of ignoring false names as well as His true and Holy Name by their refusal to use it, to declare it, to proclaim it to the nations.  Equally, by not mentioning pagan names and of Christian god, Jesus, or Yeshua they have helped create another god, by another name -- a name not His Name.  How is this done, how do they accomplish this?  First, they do not supply the full Name of the God of Israel to the Gentiles, second they change the Name associated with the Messiah of the New Testament just enough to still be a Jewish name, after all, this man was a Jew, but not delivering THE NAME (Ha Shem) of our Messiah, a Name that literally declares our Heavenly Father, someone they do not know. 

 Jewish View of YaHshua

 The Jew/Hebrews of modern scholarship do not deny YaHshua existed, as some ignorant critics still cling to, no, he is not denied as a man, a famous Rabbi of Jewish origin.  What they deny is he was anything more than this, a Rabbi having fallen on hard times, a magician of the arts preforming miracles by magic.  They are obliged not to use or say the name Jesus, a god of the Gentiles, and they hesitate to use His Hebrew name so they use what is defined as an Aramaic name, Yeshua.  This name, however, is associated with a man they call a false teacher and liar, so they say concerning our Savior,   whom they admit their fathers executed.  On the one hand, when debating the ultra Orthodox Jew, they will argue He, the Christian Messiah, never existed then two sentences later they will say all of the miracles He preformed were done by black magic.  Odd, right, denial then addmission, and in this those of the Jewish sects witness against themselves.

They, these super religious Jews, wish to avoid the use of the name, YaHshua, or even YaHushua if at all possible.  They are happy to let the Gentiles use Yeshua even supporting this with their own modern translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, translating a name pronounced as YaH-shoo-ah but written as Yeshua.  Again, if the term, as found in the Hebrew Dictionary H3442, is used as a name, the reader is to mentally supply the missing "H" (The Holy Scrptures According to the Masoretic Text, published by the Jewish Publication Society, Pg V of the Preface), and if this term is not used as a name it remains without the "H", it is then merely a term meaning "salvation".  With the "H" restored it then is interpreted, it becomes a Name, His Name --  YaH is Salvation, or YaHshua -- the very Name our Savior came in!

They Say, It is the Short Form 

When backed into the corner of this argument they, being the Ultra Jew and some of the Messianic movement, say the Aramaic, Yeshua, is the "short form" of His complete Name.  Well, now you know why the name Yeshua is said to be a "short form", to keep from using His true Identity, to avoid using the Name that is above every Name.  Even the Messianic Jews know this is not a complete name, but it is so ingrained in their thinking they cannot shake it, just like the Christians have trouble shaking the false name, JESUS.  You can also see that Yeshua, as a name, is a pretty long "short form", and seems to me to be a very flimsy argument, but this argument is only used when all of their other arguments fall.  

  They admit, by claiming it to be a "short form", that this is only part of His Name.  When a Jewish person wants or needs to communicate this name it is, in most cases, pronounced, Yeshu (Yes ua) and is actually an insult. According to the Jewish New Testament Commentary states, “…Yeshu is also an acronym consisting of the first letters of the Hebrew insult, “Yumach sh’mo v’zikhro”  (“May his name and memory be blotted out…)”.  We can then see the insult intended when the Hebrew says, Yeshu.  When the incomplete Name used by many Christians and Jewish Messianics it is meant to be an insult.  By restoring the missing letter to this Name we have YeHshua, or YaHshua and the suggested insult is removed. 

Strong's Hebrew Dictionary to the Rescue

  An earlier volume of Strong's Hebrew Dictionary supplies the pronunciation of "yeshua" as YaH-shoo-ah.  Also, this is the pronunciation supplied by the Strong's numbering system found in the popular bible software, e-sword.  H3442 - yeshua -- yah-shoo-ua or yah-shoo-ah. 

  When The Name or HaShem, YHWH, is used by many, even the Messianic Jews, it is replaced with the title Adonay, or Adonai, which means or is the same as the English use of the title, LORD, in all caps.  The Jewish Publication Society, in the production of modern Hebrew Bible into English, readily admit to following the traditions of the King James translators in the use of names -- how convenient (The New JPS Translation According to The Traditional Hebrew Text - Preface pages XV-XVii), and you will also read how much the Jewish tranlslators relied upon the Greek Septuagint.  Why?  Because they do not have the original Hebrew Writings, only partials.   

HaShem or, The Name 

You have noticed the term, HaShem, used through out this article and that it a Hebrew term meaning, The Name.  Many Jewish translations in the Messianic Jewish movement use this word, HaShem, in place of the Sacred Name, YHWH.  HaShem is not a name, it is a statement and merely another method at avoiding the use of what they think the Heavenly Father's Name is.  HaShem is Hebrew for saying "The Name", it is not a name, or His Name, as some have suggested and appears in some modern Jewish translations.  An example of this useage can be seen in The Stone Edition of the Tanach, published by, Mesorah Publications, ltd., edited by Rabbi Nosson Scherman --

Genesis 2:8 HASHEM God planted a garden in Eden, to the east, and placed there the man whom He had formed.  And HASHEM God caused to sprout from the ground every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food; also the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad

  This avoidance of using His glorified Name for lesser terms and titles is sad indeed.  Knowing that the term, HASHEM, means "The Name" you would read the beginning of verse 8 as, "The Name God planted a garden in Eden..." 

  I pray this article will be of encouragement and will inspire you to study the word for yourself.  Peter told us what to do and it was not lay up arms, or food stores or digging holes in the ground to hide but to continue in and grow in the knowledge of our Lord, YaHshua.

Transliterations -- a final thought

 We should understand something concerning the transliteration of names as opposed to translation -- The Hebrew bible known as the ArtScroll Tanach, Stone Edition, quoted from earlier, contains the Torah as well as the Writings and the Prophets, what the Christians refer to as the Old Testament.  This is a beautiful work and favors using the term, HASHEM (meaning, The Name) in place of the actual Name of our Creator, YHWH.  This term, HASHEM, is this translations substitute and when read it is easily mistaken for a "name", when it is not a name at all.  "Ha Shem" is the transliteration for the translation, "The Name".  HaShem means, "the Name" and nothing more and is used in place of HaShem, or put another way -- it is used in place of the Name, the Ha Shem. This is a perfect example of a translation as opposed to a transliteration.  YHWH, is the transliteration of the Hebrew Name of our Creator, as revealed to Moses.  It is the representation of the Hebrew into the English giving us the letter for letter pronunciation.  So, the transliteration, YHWH, with the help of a couple of "vowels" is pronounced as YaHWeH -- not HaShem.  Like the English translators, the Hebrew translators have substituted a term in avoiding the use of the Name given to Moses for all generations to remember (Ex 3:15, remember, LORD is supposed to be YHWH).  The Creator God, YHWH, says all generations are to know Him by this Name, YHWH, and what do men do, they discard the Name for a term or title. 

   The English translators substitute the term, or title, LORD, and use it as a name and most Christians are ignorant of this and use the term, LORD, as a name never questioning what His Name might really be, being satisfied His Name is "Lord" and "God", which is it neither.  What a sad state this has all become.  The glory of His Name is ignored, the Creator and the Savior of all the univers is forgotten for a title or false names that can be applied to any of the gods and even to Satan himself.  After all, Satan is called the "God" of this world --

  Without the knowledge of His Name you could read this verse as saying our Savior, the Messiah, is in the image of the "god of this age" which the context is plainly speaking of the Adversary, Satan.  We know this is not true, our Messiah, the Christ, is not in the image of the "god of this age" but is of the God in Heaven, our Heavenly Father whom He came to reveal and whose Name He came in (John 5:43).

Use this link to go to Article giving the answer,  Yeshua or YaHshua?

 servant@yahshuaservant.com