The right Name? Is it wrong to say it "wrong"?

Q:

Fred,

I joined a social network that was originally called Jewish/Christian coalition. It has shifted to more of the Messianic movement and is now called http://4yahweh.ning.com. Anyway, they had a blog post recently stating that the word Jesus is a modern creation and is not in the original text. I wanted to refute that argument, but as I checked my Greek NT and lexicon, I could not find the word Jesus. Wondered if you could give me any thoughts on this. Sure would appreciate any help you can give me.

Leona

A:

The name Jesus from Hebrew יְשׁוּעָ

Trying to get a proper pronunciation for a name does not take into consideration that each language has peculiarities of sounds and that language changes over time. For instance there is no Y or J in Greek and Spanish J is pronounced H etc. Thus Yeshua in Hebrew, which means Salvation, is pronounved Iasous in Greek and the spelling changes when as a noun it is declined like ιησου. In Spanish it is Jesu pronounced Hesu, in Navaho it is Yeasu, In Latin Iesus since there is no J in Latin either; or French Jésus with an accent. Were the Jewish masoretes wrong when they accented Yeshua in Isaiah? Or Russian Иисус If you transliterated it into English it would almost be Aasus, but we have no exact equivalent for И. Croatians have Isus. etc. Or How about Aramaic which you could not read if I printed it. Even many languages which spell the name "Jesus" will not pronounce it the same due to the peculiarities of that language like German for instance. What is the use of getting the "real" pronunciation anyway. What rubbish! Is it a magic thing that makes everyone addressing our Lord unacceptable because they lisp or do not speak Hebrew?

There is no J in Hebrew. The yod is often translated into English as J like Josiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Jacob, and Javan, Yavan in Hebrew (Or more properly Ion) in Hebrew is translated as Javan (Greece but more likely Ionia) in English.

But the worst part of their arrogance is that Yeshua is not the exact Hebrew original pronunciation. The last consonent in the word is an ayin which is a gutteral like "ghh" but not as rough. This was the original sound but is not used in modern Hebrew. So Yeshua is not the real original pronunciation that would have been used by Isaiah others! Isaiah wrote Yeshuatiy which means my saviour or My Jesus in Isaiah 49:6; and he did have Messiah Jesus in mind. Read it.

Is it wrong to say Messiah instead of the more Hebrew Meshiach or Yeshua Meshiach instead of Jesus Christ? What rubbish!

I also see the group you cite gives a false pronunciation for YHWH. The pronunciation of which is lost and reverent observant Jews will not attempt to pronounce the NAME. They substitue the Hebrew word for my Lord "adonai" Like in the most popular prayer called the Schma which is "Hear O Israel YHWH our God is one YHWH." They pray in Hebrew: "Schma Yisrael, Adonai elohenu adonai 'echod." The proper pronunciation of YHWH is lost but Yahweh is an arbitrary pronunciation with arbitrary vowels the group has presumptiously chosen and most likely not correct! Who do they think they are? If over 2000 years of Jewish Hebrew speaking scholars would not attempt to reconstruct the word with vowels lest they get it wrong -- Who are these upstarts to make such conclusions and attempt to bind them on others. They are heretics pure and simple.

A new brand of Judaisers who are clueless.

All the best,

Fred