Commentary on the Teachings of Rabbi Yeshua XII - "What's in a Name?" (Mt. 1:21)

 21 וְתֹלֶד בֵן וְתִקְרָא שְׁמוֹ יֵשוּ“עַ כִי הוּא יוֹשִׁיעַ אֶת עַמִי מֵעֲוֹנוֹתֵם׃

The above text is Mt. 1:21, as it appears in Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew, with pointing added by me (there could be errors in the pointing).

The name given to Jesus is יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshua). The symbol that looks like a quotation mark in the verse above is used in the manuscript to indicate that the word is a name.

Professor Howard's excellent translation of the verse is:

She will bear a son and you will call his name Jesus because he will save my people from their sins.

The canonical, Greek version is the same, except that it says "his people" instead of "my people."

This name, Yeshua, was not new; it appears in the Tanakh ("Old Testament") twenty-nine times in this spelling, and one more time in a variant spelling, for a total of thirty times. The meaning is "God is salvation," or more properly "G-d is salvation."

I think this is the only time that the full name appears in Hebrew Matthew. Most of the time a shorter form, יש“ו (Yeshu) is used, which does not imply any change in meaning.

I thought it best to make a point of this, because there has been some controversy as to what Jesus' name actually was.

It will be noticed that I give to Yeshua the title of Rabbi. This is because I prefer to think of him as a man, a teacher, perhaps one of the greatest who ever lived. I do not divinize him, as is done in Christianity and in "Messianic Judaism." The latter movement, while it includes some wonderful, spirited people and marvelous music, is in my opinion a form of Protestantism.

I do not consider myself a Christian, or a Jew either, exactly (though Reform Judaism might be a good and comfortable fit). But I see those who divinize Yeshua as involved in an idolatrous practice. Will I change my mind? You never know, but I doubt it.

Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.