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The Messiah's Name
#1
Can anyone kindly assist in clarifying what the meaning of the Messiah's name is?

A friend of mine from the US recently forwarded me an e-mail [I am not certain of the source] and any comments regarding the accuracy of the statements would be appreciated:

Quote:Jesus spoke Aramaic. Thus, the New Testament would have to be dependent upon it. Much of the Old Testament was in Aramaic as well, and the earliest Christian societies throughout Arabia from Palestine, to Syria, to Nabataea spoke Aramaic. So what is Jesus' name in Aramaic?

"Eesho M'sheekha" meaning "Jesus the Messiah".

- Syriac. Syriac is a late variant of Aramaic widespread in Christendom, thus coined "Christian Aramaic".
- Aramaic. Taken directly from the "Peshitta".
- Aramaic. Peshitta; with diacritical marks.

The "Peshitta" is the Aramaic New Testament and closely resembles the language of Jesus.

Thus, Jesus would have even called himself "Eesho" or more specifically "Eesa" since the Northern Palestinian Jews pronounced the letter "shin" as "seen". Interestingly enough we find a few striking parallels in Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic which tell volumes and uncover astounding facts.

The Hebrew word "`Esh" is by definition a bright northern star or stars in the Ursa Major constellation. Ursa Major is translated into "Big Bear". More specifically heed the note in the side margin which is displayed to the right. "Eesh" is also a reference to "the constellation of the bear" which is the same Northern constellation mentioned previously.

But what does the "Star" have to do with Jesus?

First and foremost, it is probably one of the most historically significant signs of the Messiah foretold.

"I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel..." [Numbers 24:17]

"Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." [Matthew 2:2]

Chapter 2 of Matthew details the Magi following the North Star in search of the Jewish Messiah. It was the most well known sign of the Messiah.

The Hebrew word in this verse for "Star" in this verse is "Kokab" . From this word "Kokab" came the title "Kokhba" which was given unto Simeon bar-Koziba when he was endorsed as the Messiah by the revolutionary Jewish Rabbi, Akiba ben-Yosef.

"Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph, a highly esteemed teacher of the period, enthusiastically supported the rebels and conferred the name Bar Kokhba (Son of the Star) upon their leader. Akiba also hailed him as the Messiah." [Encyclopedia Britannica, Reference Index V, page 872]

As Bar-Kokhba was falsely assumed as the Messiah he was killed in battle against the Romans in the year 135 A.D. Regarding the "Star" being the sign of the Messiah:

The Theological Word Book of the Old Testament which is a compilation of entries from Brown-Driver-Briggs and Gesenius defines "Kokab" as:
"1. star - a. of Messiah, brothers, youth, numerous progeny, personification, God's omniscience."
[Theological Word Book of the Old Testament, Brown-Driver-Briggs, H.W.F. Gesenius]

Prophets are named after the events surrounding their birth

Adam - ("Aadam") - meaning "ruddy"; perhaps from - ("Dum") - meaning "blood"; Also related to ("Adamah") - meaning tilled earth, ie from which the first man, Adam, was created.

Previously, there was an explanation to Adam's name in reference to "blood". Though the information was valids, after research, I concluded it was not strong enough as opposed to the explanation given below.

"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." [Genesis 2:7]

Noah - ("Noakh") from ("Nookh") - meaning "To Rest". His name is explained to mean "rest" at the time of his birth in the following verse:
"And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed." [Genesis 5:29]

Isaac - ("Yitzhaq") - from ("Tzahaq") - meaning "to laugh" or "he laughs". This name being chosen at the sime surrounding his birth is seen in the following verse: "And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear the a son indeed; and thou shall call his name Isaac.." [Genesis 17:16-19]

Ishmael - ("Yishmaael") - from ("shama`") "to hear" and ("ale") "God" - meaning "God heard". God announces that He has heard Abraham and his wife Hagar's prayers and gives the name "Ishmael" to the baby, meaning that He had heard their prayers.
"And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the LORD hath heard they affliction." [Genesis 16:11]

Moses - ("Moshe") - Meaning "Drawn out" since Moses was "drawn out" from the river as a baby in the basket.
"And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water." [Exodus 2:10]

"Y'SHW`" is actually based upon a problemmatic and an ignoble Hebrew nomenclature for Jesus which is littered with disagreement and controversy. For 2000 years Jesus has been recorded in history under the cursed title "Y'SHW" from "Yemach Shmo w'Zikro" ("may his name and memory be wiped out).

Hebrew records have recorded certain figures whose sparsely sentenced fragmented stories are somewhat similar to that of Jesus' as Yeshua` but none as Yeheshu`ah. There is no historical evidence asserting that those references are indeed referring to Jesus. There have been a plethora of explanations attempting to rectify this variance in the Hebrew versions of Jesus' name, but all are based on conjecture and none are based on historicity or textual evidence.


I find most people referring to the Messiah as 'Yeshua' which apparently means 'Yah Saves' but is there a possible error in this meaning? In the services in the Assyrian Church in West London [my nearest church] the Messiah is referred to as 'eesho' so it is POSSIBLE that his name could mean 'star' as suggested above and hence referring to the star out of Ya'aqob :?:
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#2
Gentile Wrote:Can anyone kindly assist in clarifying what the meaning of the Messiah's name is?

A friend of mine from the US recently forwarded me an e-mail [I am not certain of the source] and any comments regarding the accuracy of the statements would be appreciated:

Quote:Jesus spoke Aramaic. Thus, the New Testament would have to be dependent upon it. Much of the Old Testament was in Aramaic as well, and the earliest Christian societies throughout Arabia from Palestine, to Syria, to Nabataea spoke Aramaic. So what is Jesus' name in Aramaic?

"Eesho M'sheekha" meaning "Jesus the Messiah".

- Syriac. Syriac is a late variant of Aramaic widespread in Christendom, thus coined "Christian Aramaic".
- Aramaic. Taken directly from the "Peshitta".
- Aramaic. Peshitta; with diacritical marks.

The "Peshitta" is the Aramaic New Testament and closely resembles the language of Jesus.

Thus, Jesus would have even called himself "Eesho" or more specifically "Eesa" since the Northern Palestinian Jews pronounced the letter "shin" as "seen". Interestingly enough we find a few striking parallels in Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic which tell volumes and uncover astounding facts.

The Hebrew word "`Esh" is by definition a bright northern star or stars in the Ursa Major constellation. Ursa Major is translated into "Big Bear". More specifically heed the note in the side margin which is displayed to the right. "Eesh" is also a reference to "the constellation of the bear" which is the same Northern constellation mentioned previously.

But what does the "Star" have to do with Jesus?

First and foremost, it is probably one of the most historically significant signs of the Messiah foretold.

"I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel..." [Numbers 24:17]

"Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." [Matthew 2:2]

Chapter 2 of Matthew details the Magi following the North Star in search of the Jewish Messiah. It was the most well known sign of the Messiah.

The Hebrew word in this verse for "Star" in this verse is "Kokab" . From this word "Kokab" came the title "Kokhba" which was given unto Simeon bar-Koziba when he was endorsed as the Messiah by the revolutionary Jewish Rabbi, Akiba ben-Yosef.

"Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph, a highly esteemed teacher of the period, enthusiastically supported the rebels and conferred the name Bar Kokhba (Son of the Star) upon their leader. Akiba also hailed him as the Messiah." [Encyclopedia Britannica, Reference Index V, page 872]

As Bar-Kokhba was falsely assumed as the Messiah he was killed in battle against the Romans in the year 135 A.D. Regarding the "Star" being the sign of the Messiah:

The Theological Word Book of the Old Testament which is a compilation of entries from Brown-Driver-Briggs and Gesenius defines "Kokab" as:
"1. star - a. of Messiah, brothers, youth, numerous progeny, personification, God's omniscience."
[Theological Word Book of the Old Testament, Brown-Driver-Briggs, H.W.F. Gesenius]

Prophets are named after the events surrounding their birth

Adam - ("Aadam") - meaning "ruddy"; perhaps from - ("Dum") - meaning "blood"; Also related to ("Adamah") - meaning tilled earth, ie from which the first man, Adam, was created.

Previously, there was an explanation to Adam's name in reference to "blood". Though the information was valids, after research, I concluded it was not strong enough as opposed to the explanation given below.

"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." [Genesis 2:7]

Noah - ("Noakh") from ("Nookh") - meaning "To Rest". His name is explained to mean "rest" at the time of his birth in the following verse:
"And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed." [Genesis 5:29]

Isaac - ("Yitzhaq") - from ("Tzahaq") - meaning "to laugh" or "he laughs". This name being chosen at the sime surrounding his birth is seen in the following verse: "And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear the a son indeed; and thou shall call his name Isaac.." [Genesis 17:16-19]

Ishmael - ("Yishmaael") - from ("shama`") "to hear" and ("ale") "God" - meaning "God heard". God announces that He has heard Abraham and his wife Hagar's prayers and gives the name "Ishmael" to the baby, meaning that He had heard their prayers.
"And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the LORD hath heard they affliction." [Genesis 16:11]

Moses - ("Moshe") - Meaning "Drawn out" since Moses was "drawn out" from the river as a baby in the basket.
"And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water." [Exodus 2:10]

"Y'SHW`" is actually based upon a problemmatic and an ignoble Hebrew nomenclature for Jesus which is littered with disagreement and controversy. For 2000 years Jesus has been recorded in history under the cursed title "Y'SHW" from "Yemach Shmo w'Zikro" ("may his name and memory be wiped out).

Hebrew records have recorded certain figures whose sparsely sentenced fragmented stories are somewhat similar to that of Jesus' as Yeshua` but none as Yeheshu`ah. There is no historical evidence asserting that those references are indeed referring to Jesus. There have been a plethora of explanations attempting to rectify this variance in the Hebrew versions of Jesus' name, but all are based on conjecture and none are based on historicity or textual evidence.


I find most people referring to the Messiah as 'Yeshua' which apparently means 'Yah Saves' but is there a possible error in this meaning? In the services in the Assyrian Church in West London [my nearest church] the Messiah is referred to as 'eesho' so it is POSSIBLE that his name could mean 'star' as suggested above and hence referring to the star out of Ya'aqob :?:

That whole Eesa thing is Muslim Apologetics taken from Answering-Christianity.com. In Jesus' day, his name would probably have been pronounced Yeshu`, as 1st Century Aramaic did not have vowels upon initial Yoodhs, but after them.

There is also NO evidence that Sheen would be pronounced as Semkath. Quite the reverse actually, as we see transliterations of such Hebrew words as "Israel" with a Semkath BECAUSE the Aramaic Sheen cannot be pronounced as a Semkath (but Sheen in Hebrew can with a special mark, as the letter Seen).

Yeshu` is merely the Aramaic version of Yehoshua` (Joshua), much like the difference between the French name "Jaques" vs. the English version "Jack."

The difference stems from references to the tetragrammation in Hebrew and Aramaic names.

In Hebrew it is YeHo, YaHu (Jesus: Yehoshua`, Elijah: Eleeyahu)
In Aramaic it is Ye or Yo (Jesus: Yeshu`, Elijah: Eleeyo)

The difference between the English words "Jesus" and "Joshua" is that "Jesus" usually refers to the Aramaic name, where "Joshua" refers to it's Hebrew counterpart (much like "James" refers to the Aramaic, where "Jacob" refers to the Hebrew of the same word).

Jesus' name DOES mean "YHWH saves".

The Qu`ran goofed Jesus' name royally (along the same lines of claiming that crucifixion was a means of execution in Ancient Egypt!). :-)

Shlomo,
-Steve-o
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#3
Thank you for answering Thadman. But what about what I also mentioned regarding the usage of the name 'Isho'? I have heard the Messiah referred to in this way at the Assyrian Church in West London. I think also names like 'Dad-isho' and George Lamsa's middle name use this variant of the Messiah's name. Neither the Y at the start nor the A at the end of 'Yeshua' appears to be pronounced in either of these! So what is the explanation :?:
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#4
Gentile Wrote:Thank you for answering Thadman. But what about what I also mentioned regarding the usage of the name 'Isho'? I have heard the Messiah referred to in this way at the Assyrian Church in West London. I think also names like 'Dad-isho' and George Lamsa's middle name use this variant of the Messiah's name. Neither the Y at the start nor the A at the end of 'Yeshua' appears to be pronounced in either of these! So what is the explanation :?:

See: http://answering-islam.org/Books/Mingana/Influence/

Especially the part that says:

Quote:Now the pronunciation used in the Arabic proper names mentioned above is that of the Nestorians and not that of the Jacobites. The latter say ishmo'il, isroil and Ishok etc., and not Ishma'il, Isra'il, and Ishak, as they appear in the Kur'an.


"Ishoo" or "Eshoo" is the modern, eastern Neo-Aramaic pronunciation. It is not the original, Archaic Aramaic pronunciation (in this case more accurately preserved by the Jacobites)
+Shamasha Paul bar-Shimun de'Beth-Younan
[Image: sig.jpg]
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#5
Thank you Paul. Yes I am sure that Ancient Syriac hugely influenced classical Arabic and the names of certain prophets etc as the article suggests but my initial question was regarding the meaning of the Messiah's name. I am not sure if his name is 'Yah saves' as this would be 'Yahu-shua' would it not? Whereas if his name is 'Yeshua' this, as far as I know, means 'to be safe or saved'. Hence the Yahovah component is missing.

The point of introducing the article my friend posted to me who also studies Eastern Christianity was to ask the people here who know Aramaic well whether it is possible that the Messiah's name could actually mean something different from the above. Vic Alexander at v-a.com tells me that 'Eashoa' [as he spells it] means 'life-giver', and the article I mentioned says that Isho comes from 'Ish' meaning star. It is a purely linguistic question I am asking - can Ishoa mean one of these other things, seeing that Aramaic words, as we have seen from NT verses, can mean different things [i.e. the rope and camel through the needle eye for example].
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#6
Shlama, Gentile,

Perhaps your question can be answered by useing the Tenakh alone. Here is a part of a tract I worte a few years ago - I hope it is helpful! (Keep in mind that portions of Daniel, Ezra, NehemYah, and YirmiYahu (Jeremiah) are written in Aramaic!)


"Shemot (Exodus) 33:11 And Yahweh spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Yehoshua ben Nun (Joshua the son of Nun), a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

NeHEM-Yah 8:17 And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made succot, and dwelt under the succot: for since the days of Yeshua ben Nun (Jeshua the son of Nun) unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.



Ezra 3:2 Then stood up Jeshua (Aramaic=Yeshua)the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the Elohim of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the Torah of Moses the man of Elohim.

ZecharYahu 6:11-13 Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua (Hebrew=Yehoshua) the son of Josedech, the Cohen haGadol; And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh Yahweh Tzeba'oth, saying, Behold the man whose name is Tzemach (BRANCH); and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of Yahweh: Even he shall build the temple of Yahweh; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a Cohen upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.



Again, it is clearly shown in Scripture that the name found in the Hebrew ZecharYahu, Yehoshua, is equivalent to that of the Aramaic name found in Ezra, Yeshua! These two verses are also describing the same person! "


There you have it, Gentile: The Aramaic portions of Tenakh refer to those called Yehoshua in Hebrew as Yeshua. We have two witnesses for this contraction - Yeshua son of Nun and Yeshua son of Yehotzedeq. So, from Tanakh alone we can show without a doubt that the Aramaic Yeshua is a biblically acceptable contraction of the Hebrew name Yehoshua, and thence carries the same meaning.

Shlama w'taybutha <!-- sSmile --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /><!-- sSmile -->
Rob
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(w4y</font>
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#7
Nice post Akhi Rob! <!-- s:bigups: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/bigups.gif" alt=":bigups:" title="Big Ups" /><!-- s:bigups: -->
+Shamasha Paul bar-Shimun de'Beth-Younan
[Image: sig.jpg]
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#8
This is an awesome topic. And from what you guys say, it seems that the most appropriate "English version" of Jesus' name is Joshua, not Jesus. Is that right?

Is it true that the term "Jesus" derives from "Zeus" a false god?

What is best to call him? Jesus, Joshua, Yehoshua, Yeshu or Eshoo etc?
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#9
Shlomo oH drmlanc,

drmlanc Wrote:Is it true that the term "Jesus" derives from "Zeus" a false god?

What is best to call him? Jesus, Joshua, Yehoshua, Yeshu or Eshoo etc?

The best name for Jesus is Y??shu'

The word Jesus comes from the followin:

Y??shu' <- Aramaic
Yesu <- Droping letters that the Greek can't pronounce
Yesus <- Making it more Greek
Jesus <- The 'y' in western language becomes a 'j'

Jesus <- In English
J??sus <- In French
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#10
Shlomo oH drmlanc,

drmlanc Wrote:Is it true that the term "Jesus" derives from "Zeus" a false god?

What is best to call him? Jesus, Joshua, Yehoshua, Yeshu or Eshoo etc?

The best name for Jesus is Y??shu'

The word Jesus comes from the followin:

Y??shu' <- Aramaic
Yesu <- Droping letters that the Greek can't pronounce
Yesus <- Making it more Greek
Jesus <- The 'y' in western language becomes a 'j'

Jesus <- In English
J??sus <- In French
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#11
Thanks, but was He named in Hebrew or Aramaic?

And was He called maybe in Galilean Aramaic? What is His name in that tongue? I would rather call Him what His parents and Apostles called Him <!-- sSmile --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /><!-- sSmile -->
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#12
Shlomo havr Chris,

drmlanc Wrote:Thanks, but was He named in Hebrew or Aramaic?

And was He called maybe in Galilean Aramaic? What is His name in that tongue? I would rather call Him what His parents and Apostles called Him :)

Jesus lived at a time when Aramaic was the main language of the land.
Jesus spoke to the woman in Lebanon in Aramaic.
Jesus in the Aramaic of Lebanon is pronounce as Y??shu'.

Since no one lived at the time of Y??shu' MsheeHa, then we can't say definitely, but in the Peshitta (which I take to be authoritive) His name is spelled as [Yudh, Shine, Waw, 'ayn].

poosh bashlomo,
Keepha-Moroown
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#13
>>but in the Peshitta (which I take to be authoritive) His name is spelled as [Yudh, Shine, Waw, 'ayn]. >>

And how do you pronounce that? Just "Yeshu"?
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#14
drmlanc Wrote:>>but in the Peshitta (which I take to be authoritive) His name is spelled as [Yudh, Shine, Waw, 'ayn]. >>

And how do you pronounce that? Just "Yeshu"?

I pronounce it as => Y??shu'

ܝܶܫܽܘܥ
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#15
"Ye" as in yellow and "shu" as in shoe?

I'll have to stop telling the little ones to put "ye shoes on" to avoid breaking the Law <!-- sSmile --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /><!-- sSmile -->
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