Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG]

Surely there is good evidence that YESHUA is a short form of YEHOSHUA 
rather than the simple noun:

1. The name YESHUA [Y"$W.A(] is pointed with tsere, not shewa, as its 
first vowel: this, as well as the lack of a feminine ending, 
distinguishes it from the noun meaning "salvation" which could also be 
transliterated YESHUA [Y:$W.(FH].

2. The name YESHUA seems to be used interchangeably, in later texts, 
for the longer name YEHOSHUA [Y:HOW$W.A(, Y:HOW$UA(]. The LXX 
equivalent of both forms is nearly always IHSOUS. The first to have 
this name was Moses' successor; his name is nearly always given in the 
long form, but in Neh 8:17 as Y"$W.A(. The post-exilic high priest is 
Y:HOW$UA( in Haggai and Zechariah but Y"$W.A( in Ezra and Nehemiah. 
Other individuals have the longer form of the name in Samuel and Kings 
and the shorter form in Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah. The division is 
strictly by books, except that the longer form is used for Moses' 
successor in 1 Chr 7:27.

Thus I conclude that the shorter form should be considered an 
abbreviation of the longer one which was preferred by the Chronicler, 
the LXX translators and in later times.

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Re: Name of Jesus
Author:  gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au at internet
Date:    16/04/1999 18:19


Kevin L. Barney wrote:

> 1.  Is Yeshua simply a shortened Hebrew variant of Yehoshua, or is it an 
> Aramaic form?  (Orthographic differences between Hebrew and Aramaic often 
> seem to revolve around the letter hey, so I would guess it's Aramaic, but 
> that is just a guess.)

Neither. Yehoshua (Joshua) can be broken up into:Yeho (Yahweh) + shua ("is 
salvation" or "is
opulence" - either a verb or noun)

Yeshua (Jesus), however, is simply a noun meaning "salvation" or "victory". 
Ther
e
is no theophoric
(divine name) element in Yeshua as there is in YEHOshua. However, there is a 
suggestion that it is
simply an abbreviated form of Yehoshua. Either is possible.

> 2.  How do we derive Yeshua as the Semitic name of Jesus?  Do we work
> backwards from the Greek transliteration Iesous based on the names of other 
> people named Yeshua, or is there some other evidence scholars have brought 
> to bear on this question?

You can do that. But "Yeshua" was a very popular name in Jesus' day. There 
were 
numerous historical
persons bearing this name whom Josephus mentions. In addition, we have the 
evidence from Ezra and
Nehemiah of the priest "Yeshua" whose name is rendered into Greek as IHSOUS 
(eg,
Ezra 3:2)..
Best regards
GEORGE ATHAS
Dept of Semitic Studies,
University of Sydney
- Email: gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au
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