Preparing.org - In The Hebrew

There is much confusion remaining among Hebrew Israelites - especially over the proper pronunciation of the Sacred Names.

The simple reason for the confusion is that ancient Israel was sent into captivity and lost most if not all knowledge of our God and culture. This was a result of Israel disobeying the commandments of Yah. Therefore, most congregations today are basically Christians who have discarded the pagan holidays and do their best to keep Torah. But the influence from European Christianity is still strong among Hebrews.

One key issue that continues to divide and confuse is the use of the name "Jesus." This is simply because most of us have lost the knowledge of Hebrew. However, Yah has given those who seek truth the knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, and do not fall for the false teaching that Biblical Hebrew is a lost language. THERE IS a modern language called Hebrew that is similar to the one the Bible was written in. But that has nothing to do with Biblical Hebrew. MANY Israelites know Biblical Hebrew (including myself).

Concerning the name "Jesus", I do not believe a person is wrong for using that name. I can prove it is not pagan and is just a Greek/English transliteration just like Moshe/Moses, Yonah/Jonah, Eliyah/Elias, etc.. To begin with, The NT gets "Jesus" from the Hebrew/Aramaic name Yeshua. The 'Y' is 'J', and there is no 'Sh' sound in Greek, so the 'Sh' becomes 'S', and masculine names usually end in 'S.' Therefore, we get Yeshua -> Jesus. Yeshua is the short from of the Hebrew word Yehoshua which is Joshua in English.

For ten years, I believed "Jesus" came from the word Zeus. But when I studied the Greek, I found that the Greek word "Iesous" is spelled with a 'Sigma' and "Zeus" is spelled with a 'Zeta.' Again, "Jesus" is derived from a standard transliteration of Greek to Hebrew. And all but two times in the Hebrew text, Yehoshua is the name used where you see Joshua.

It is well known that the name of the Messiah in English is Joshua. In an attempt to Hebraize Joshua, they coined the name Yahshua. Since it is well known that there is no 'J' in Hebrew, they change the 'J' to 'Y' to get Yoshua or Yashua. Then they add the 'H' to put the name of the Creator in His name to get YAHshua. Unfortunately, Yahshua is not Hebrew or Aramaic, but it is close. However, that name is not in the Hebrew text and is therefore unscriptural. But, since people who use that name do not know Hebrew, they cannot tell the difference.

I will concede the fact that there is no clear-cut way to pronounce the name of the Messiah. However, the Hebrew text does give the exact spelling.

There are four commonly used "Biblical" pronunciations in use: Paleo, Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Asiatic. Asiatic is the pronunciation that is used by 'melanated' Israelites who never left the Holy Land, so I use that one.

The point is, everyone has the same grammar which is based on the Hebrew Scriptures. If you use the Paleo pronunciation, you get Yahawashy, and the rest of the world says Yehoshua or Yahoshua. The Hebrew Text spells the name 'Yod-He-Waw-Shin-Ayin', or 'Y- H-W-Sh-A.' The only people who say Yahshua are those who cannot read and write Hebrew. I have yet to met a person in ten years that knew Hebrew and said Yahshua.

In the Greek, Jesus is spelled 'Iota-Eta-Sigma-Upsilon-Sigma', or IESOUS. But, we have to know that the Greek, like Aramaic, Phoenician, Moabite, and the like, all correspond directly to Hebrew.

People like to spell the Greek name using lower case. The Greek letters look very similar to English [from Latin] letters. Also, there are no lower case letters in Greek. Keep this paragraph in mind.

Yeshua is spelled 'Yod-Shin-Waw-Ayin', or Y-Sh-W-A.

Look closely - if you take a look at the Greek letter chart, you will notice that Iesous and look at the spelling using ALL CAPITALS, you get 'IHSOUS.'

Notice that 'IH' is equivalent to the Hebrew letters 'Y' and 'H' which spells Yah. The first 'S' is equivalent to the Hebrew letter Shin - the 'Sh' in Yeshua. The Upsilon or 'U' is the same as 'W' in Yeshua. And, in Hebrew, Ayin does not have a sound of its own, so it is dropped. Then, as explained previously, all Greek masculine names end in Yeshua.

Yeshua Iesous

Y I

H (make the "e" sound and is the "e" in Yeshua)

Sh S

W U ('OU' makes the "oo" sound like the 'W' in Hebrew)

A S ('S' since the Ayin is dropped)

Notice that the 'Eta', 'H' or 'e-vowel', and 'O' are not in the original name Yeshua. This is because short vowels are not written in Hebrew. Vowels points are used instead.

As far as the true pronunciation of Messiah's name goes, the Most High is not concerned with what actual name you all him in the sense of how you pronounce it. It is his "fame, reputation and essence" you call on, and not the actual name.

Here is the Webster's definition of the word 'name.'

1. a: a word or phrase that constitutes the distinctive designation of a person or thing b: a word or symbol used in logic to designate an entity.
2. a descriptive often disparaging epithet <called him names>
3. a: Reputation <gave the town a bad name> b: an illustrious record: Fame <made a name for himself in golf> c: a person or thing with a reputation.

Therefore, "name" is not always talking about WHAT is called, but WHO is called.

If you say Yahweh, Yahawah, God, etc., and are calling on the God of Israel in SPIRIT, then you are TRULY calling on the name. I am not going to the extreme to say that the name called does not matter. I am just saying that you get the same job done no matter what "name" you use...

Yehochanan Ben-YisraEl lives in Atlanta, Georgia. For a fuller understanding of this subject, he has recommended the following web page:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jovial/learn/mc/Iesus.htm