Study Sabbath: Yeshua/Jesus Dichotomy

Hello again:

Today, I will be fulfilling one of my article promises--an explanation of the difference between "Jesus" and "Yeshua" and why it matters. I mentioned in my introductory post the controversy, but also that "Jesus" and "Yeshua" refer to the same person. This is deserving of a post and explanation of its own, so, here we go.

     To keep things clear, first, I will delve into the "sameness" of Jesus and Yeshua. Israelites believe Yeshua is the only son of God, born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died (not on a cross--different post for a different time, perhaps) for the sins of the world (but specifically Israelites--different post for a different time--expect a series soon "What Makes an Israelite?"), came back to life three days after He died, spent some time kicking it around earth, then ascended to heaven. In short, He's the same guy you Christians are familiar with.

     Now, if he's the same guy, what does it matter what we call Him? "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet", right? Wrong. You will probably never hear an Israelite refer to ‘that guy’ as Jesus unless they're talking to a non/different-religious person to explain the concepts of our beliefs. Next, I'll explain where the difference comes from, followed by why it matters.

Where it comes from:

The name of 'that guy' mentioned above, in His native language, is "יֵשׁוּעַ". That language is Hebrew. Hebrew is the language of God's people, the Israelites, all the way to the beginning of the world. (If you’re interested in thisconcept/belief and have about an hour of free time, check out this video on youtube; it's fascinating).

So, His name was יֵשׁוּעַ, okay. Hebrew is a phonetic language, (like Hangul) and easy to learn, but I bet you can't read it. I can't read it. So, what was His name in English? "yēšūă". Now, as I mentioned before, I am an English teacher. I know a bit about language and pronunciation. The symbols up there above the letters mean it should be pronounced like so, "Yeh-sshoo-(ah)" (both the 'ssh' and 'ah' are short, slight sounds): Yeshua. The closest name we have in the English language to it is Joshua. Coincidentally, these names are very similar in Hebrew, in sound as well as meaning. Yeshua means "to rescue" or "to deliver", whereas Joshua (or, Yehoshua, as pronounced in the original Hebrew way) means "salvation" or, perhaps, "YHWH's gift". 

Well, now you know His actual name—but where does “Jesus” come from? It comes from the Greek version of His name. They translated it “Iesus”. The “J” came into play sometime between the late 1400s and mid 1500s in German. That’s right. The sound “j” didn’t exist in 1300. Fascinating. So, with time, the “j” made its way over to English, who’d been using the symbol “J” to stand for “y” (note, check out Scandinavian languages; they still use “J” for “Y”). So, His name was written “Jesus” with the understanding it would be pronounced “Yesus”, but, in time, we started using “J” for the “j” sound, and it became Jesus. (English is a fascinating bastard language; I could go on for days)

Alright. I hope you’re still following. What we’ve covered, the guy’s name is literally Yeshua, which, through translation of translation, led to calling him Jesus. To the nitty gritty, why does it matter, if we all mean the same guy?

(This is where my personal opinion comes in) Have you ever been to a foreign country? Talked to a foreign person about what your name would be in “their” language? The truth of the matter is, unless you have a name that is a literal noun, like “Faith” or “Summer” or “Pearl” (sorry, guys. There aren’t many straight forward noun names for you), your name will be the same. Or, it will be the same as much as the foreign language can pronounce it. For example, my first name is “Kat”. It’s pronounced just like the animal, “cat”. When I went to South Korea, the people there called me “캐트”, which sounds like “Keh-tu” (but they usually left the “u” off, making it “Keht”). Reason being Korean doesn’t have the long “aaaah” sound that is in the name Kat, but, they got as close as they could.

Bringing this back to the point, Jesus is nothing like Yeshua. The sounds are not similar. If Yeshua was walking down a crowded street, and you saw Him from afar and yelled, “Jesus!”, He would not turn around. It’s not His name.  It’s not what His friends called Him. It’s not what His enemies called Him. It’s not what His mom called Him. It’s not what His Dad called Him. It’s not what the angels told Mary to name Him. It’s just not His name. So, knowing what we know, why in the heck would we keep calling Him someone else’s name? We should be like the Koreans I had the joy of knowing. They got as close as they could. It’s only polite. You would be offended if someone constantly called you by someone else’s name, so why should be expect Him to be any different?

“Oh, well, He understands. He’ll hear me anyway”, you might say. He understands your blatant rudeness and willful ignorance? He understands your unwillingness to change a few small sounds in order to try to say his name correctly? I don’t think so. YHWH says not to misattribute his name or deeds to any other being several times in the Bible, (notably in the 10 Commandments), and I truly doubt His son thinks any differently.

Consider, who is this “Jesus” you are praying to? Can you really have a “deep” “personal” connection to a person whose name you refuse to learn or use? Yeshua is the name He was given, and after all His work to save our sorry hides, I think the least we can do is try to be polite to the guy.

Possible Sources: (Meaning, you can find this information all over)
For the linguistic side of things, check out the Oxford English Dictionary, Wikipedia.com, or any dictionary with a pronunciation guide at the beginning.
For an easy to read, all info-together explanation of Yeshua's name, check out this Wikipedia page (an English teacher? Using Wikipedia? Shocking! Actually, Wikipedia has checked out to be more accurate than the Encyclopedia Britannica, and it has the bonus of all the information in one place...).
If Wikipedia is not your style, feel free to check out the Yeshua/Jesus question using a Strong's Concordance, or a version of the Bible with extensive notes, such as the Companion Bible (King James' Version), or ask a friend who reads Hebrew, and so on, and so on.